National Engineers Week: Meet Varsha Paida

February 20-26th is National Engineers Week. This week is dedicated to the notable and influential work engineers do every day. We hope to inspire you to learn about their contributions and hope others choose a career in engineering and technology. We want to introduce you to the significant contributions our Albemarle Employees are making every single day.

Check out career opportunities at Albemarle Corporation.

Engineer Spotlight: Meet Varsha Paida

Varsha Paida is a Senior Process Development Engineer for our Catalysts Global Business Unit in Amsterdam. She was born and raised in India. Now, she lives in the Netherlands with her husband and kitten.

Paida completed her bachelor's degree in Industrial Biotechnology in India. She then moved to Florida in the United States to continue her education. She earned her master's degree in Chemical Engineering. Finally, her education goals took her to the Delft University of Technology. She completed an industrial traineeship program, followed by her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Twente.

Paida is passionate about her job at Albemarle. She brings a positive and energetic mindset to her team and enjoys collaborating in highly diverse groups.

How did you end up in the Chemical Engineering industry?

Varsha Paida: I wanted to apply the skills from my Ph.D. in industry work rather than in academia. Through multiple internships and projects at different companies, it was clear to me that that's where I wanted to be. I've been at Albemarle since I graduated with my Ph.D. in June 2019.

Tell us about a project you are proud to be a part of:

Varsha Paida: I work in the 'New Product & Process Development' R&D group in Amsterdam alongside a team of chemists and engineers. We develop and scale-up innovative products within the Hydroprocessing Catalysts (HPC) segment and provide engineering support to the HPC manufacturing site in Amsterdam.

My area of interest is in sustainability, so I'd like to highlight two sustainability projects I'm currently working on:

1. I work as part of a team of engineers and technologists on projects aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from our manufacturing site in Amsterdam.
2. As part of the PIVOT projects, I work with researchers to develop HPC Catalysts for processing bio feedstock.

I advocate for sustainable processes in the chemical industry and want to impact the energy transition. Additionally, I am enthusiastic about digitalization. As an engineer, it is fantastic to see the Amsterdam manufacturing site transition to using digital tools for better process monitoring, control, and optimization. I'm excited to be a part of the digitalization journey!