Dakotah Cooper

I applied to the MSOM program because I was looking for a degree that offered an assortment of courses relating to different parts of management I had yet to be exposed to. I have a very good understanding of the technical side of being a chemical engineer, but was lacking experience in other parts of management that would be needed to grow professionally. While speaking to my plant manager about the skills needed, he mentioned how the MSOM program helped him gain those skills and encouraged me to look into it. What I found was perfect. I found a program that was flexible and would expose me to different aspects of operations I was not familiar with yet. 

While having an intentional reason for taking each course I did, courses such as Economic Decision Making, Strategic Management, and Supply Chain Management had the largest impact on me. These courses exposed me to those different sides and needs of management that I had not been apart of before. Most importantly they helped me become a more strategic thinker. 

Currently, I’m an Operations Engineer at Albemarle and am solely focused on manufacturing. As my career progresses into management roles I will have to broaden my focus to other aspects of operations. The MSOM program made it to where I will be prepared to step into those roles and have an immediate positive impact.