Meet the Senior Interns: Ellie Smith

Meet Ellie Smith, a Senior Intern with the Admission Office! Originally from the Bay Area, Ellie is a senior Chemistry major at Mudd. Knowing that she wanted a tight-knit community, she found Mudd simply by searching for the smallest colleges. Mudd was one of the first colleges to pop up, and after touring the campus over the summer and visiting during the semester, she knew it was the perfect place for her. The abundance of undergraduate research opportunities were perfect for gaining on-hands experience, and the consortium of colleges with Scripps, CMC, Pitzer, and Pomona meant that she didn’t have to sacrifice any of her hobbies. Thanks to that, she is now concentrating in dance at Pomona.

While at Mudd, Ellie has been working in Professor Lelia Hawkins’ lab since 2019. Together, the lab went to Paris, France, and collaborated with the University of San Diego, the University of Paris-Est Créteil, and the University of Helsinki on atmospheric chemistry research. Together, they studied the chemistry of various particles in clouds. The experience was enlightening, and Ellie continues to do research with Prof Hawkins as she moves into her thesis project. She is now applying to graduate school for a PhD in atmospheric sciences.

On campus, Ellie is also an AE Chemistry tutor, a member of Mudd’s social justice focused Living Learning Community (LLC), and a tour guide. This summer, she was an Orientation Mentor, and helped welcome both the freshman and sophomore classes to campus. As a freshman, she enjoyed meeting upperclassmen and forming friendships with people from all class years and majors. She received lots of advice about Mudd and going forwards after Mudd from them, and she now looks forward to passing on the knowledge that she learned to the next class years.

If she could tell prospective students one thing, she would say the cheesiest thing possible: be yourself! What makes Mudd special is that each student is passionate about what they do and what they love, and that individuality combined with the spirit of collaboration and support has built a community of students who continue to build each other up. The first time she experienced that was while she was visiting during the admitted students program. Upperclassmen were just as welcoming and excited to meet prefrosh as they were to see their friends. While the past year has made that a little harder than normal, after being on campus for just one week, she can feel the community returning as quickly as it can. She is very excited to be back, and ready to welcome you to campus!