Prairie State Generating Company is excited to welcome Kaylee Libbert as an chemical engineering intern for the summer of 2017.
Libbert, a senior at the University of Missouri studying chemical engineering, has always had an interest in the power generation industry. In high school she wrote a paper on the Callaway Nuclear Generating Plant near her hometown in Ashland, Missouri. That paper earned her a scholarship to help pay her way through engineering school at Mizzou.
“That scholarship wasn’t huge, but it was enough to peak my interest in nuclear generation,” Libbert said. “Throughout my senior year I researched and wrote about nuclear power plants and why I think they’re an important generation resource. I’ve just always had an interest in the power industry.”
Libbert’s professors at Mizzou told her to focus less on the nuclear generation industry and more on the power generation industry so that her field of expertise would be more broad. That advice led her to major in chemical engineering instead of nuclear engineering and eventually an internship at Prairie State.
She said that in her brief period at PSGC, she has already learned vast amounts about the coal industry and coal fired power plants.
“When I found out about this internship, I was very excited to come to campus,” she said. “There is so much to learn. Everything is so big here. I love walking around in the plant and I’ve shadowed Julie Nguyen to see what she does on a daily basis. It’s so much fun.”
Libbert is relishing the opportunity to learn all about her new environment and doesn’t expect to stop learning about the plant by then end of her internship. While sitting at her desk, she’s been reading the manuals on some of the equipment within the plant to learn more about the finer details of how Prairie State’s facilities work.
In her free time, Libbert visits local lakes and rivers. She is on the Mizzou Waterski Team and jet skis as often as possible.
With one year left at Mizzou before graduation, Libbert has already started to think about her future including where she will end up working her first job. Libbert said that she could see herself starting her career as chemical engineer at Prairie State.