Meet Dieunette Adusei-Peasah, Maintenance Engineer at Chesterfield and Nahla Abdul-Hadi, Safety Specialist at Hopewell, two early-career professionals whose journeys from scholarship recipients to full-time AdvanSix team members highlight the power of investing in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
The chemical industry can only evolve and innovate if its skilled workforce continues to grow with it. Finding the chemists, engineers, biologists and technologists of tomorrow is a top priority. Every year, AdvanSix proudly partners with the Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI) to support students pursuing STEM degrees at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Through partnerships with chemical manufacturers and other stakeholders, FOSSI awards $40,000 scholarships to students pursuing degrees in critical STEM fields, providing financial support, internships, leadership development and mentoring opportunities. Over the past four years, AdvanSix has contributed nearly half a million dollars and sponsored 16 scholarships annually.
Two of those scholars, Dieunette and Nahla, are now thriving in full-time roles at AdvanSix, bringing their passion and fresh perspectives to our plants and teams.
Dieunette’s journey: From first-generation college student to maintenance engineer
As the first in her family to attend college, Dieunette is keen to pave the way for her younger siblings. She pursued electrical and electronics engineering technology at Virginia State University and graduated cum laude as the only woman in her major.
Now a maintenance engineer at AdvanSix’s Chesterfield plant, Dieunette works closely with operators and technicians to maintain critical equipment and support preventive maintenance. “There’s always something to fix or improve,” she explains. “It could be as small as checking a valve or as big as troubleshooting a system that could bring down operations for a day. The work is fast-paced and keeps me learning constantly.”
Her internship experiences helped bridge the gap between classroom and career. As a student, she interned at AdvanSix’s Hopewell site, where she was exposed to the complexity of plant operations and gained valuable exposure to reading piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) and an understanding of how engineering changes flow through a facility. “It’s funny because the drawings I used to update as an intern are similar to the ones I now use in the field, which makes it easier for me to understand what I am looking at,” she says. “My internship experience has given me the ability to understand how to read the P&IDs that I use almost every day.”
For Dieunette, perseverance is key: “Push through. Honestly, push through,” she says. “When challenges arise, it’s easy to feel unsure where to begin, but perseverance makes the difference. Keep moving forward, because at the end of the day, the job must get done, and progress will lead you to success.”
Nahla’s path: Turning a love for science into a career in safety
For Nahla, STEM wasn’t always the obvious choice for her degree. She initially considered business but was drawn back to her love of math and science, ultimately pursuing a degree in biological sciences with a concentration in forensics at Delaware State University.
Nahla is now a safety specialist at the AdvanSix Hopewell site. “We basically help keep everybody safe day to day,” she says. “We’re in charge of making sure people are following the rules and regulations, wearing PPE, walking down new equipment and jumping into action if something happens. We’re pretty much involved in almost everything!”
Her multiple internships with AdvanSix gave her confidence stepping into the role. “I started my sophomore year at one site, then my junior year I was at a different site with a different department,” she recalls. “You can do so much here. It was exciting to see what people do on a day-to-day basis, even when it had nothing to do with my major.”
Each rotation gave Nahla a broader view of the company and the chemical industry as a whole. By working with different teams, she was able to see the many functions that keep a plant running, from operations and engineering to safety and compliance: “Being here during the summers prepared me to go into adulthood and start my career, specifically with this company.”
For Nahla, working in STEM can be summed up in one word: “Unpredictable. It’s always going to be unpredictable, but you just have to enjoy the ride!”
Investing in the Future of STEM
Nahla and Dieunette’s journeys underscore why programs like FOSSI are so important. By investing in the next generation of STEM leaders, AdvanSix is helping to build a stronger future for the industry.
If you’re interested in learning more about STEM careers with AdvanSix, take a look at our careers page.