Alumni Who Inspire: Line-Audrey Nkule

Meet this month's alumna, senior autonomy engineer at Caterpillar Inc. Line-Audrey Nkule!

For the month of August, we are excited to feature Line-Audrey Nkule, alumna of the Department of Mining Engineering. Nkule serves as senior autonomy engineer at Caterpillar Inc., an American mining and engineering equipment manufacturer.

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Caterpillar Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. In her current role, Nkule is responsible for developing features and ensuring the quality of technologies that aim to address the needs of the industry and customers.

“Our alumni are both supporters and ambassadors of the excellent education that the Statler College offers,” said Cerasela Zoica Dinu, associate dean for student, faculty and staff engagement and program coordinator. “We celebrate their triumphs and their transformative journeys to provide living proof of how Statler education translates in achievements and personal success.”

Dinu: Just to kick us off, can you tell us about yourself and how you discovered your passion for mining engineering?

Line-Audrey: I hail from a town called Douala in Cameroon, Central Africa and was raised in a family of 5 with me being the first born out of 3 children. I spent the first 15 years of my life studying in the STEM field with a concentration in mathematics, life and earth sciences. During those 15 years, I lived and/or visited several countries including Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, France, Switzerland and Italy due to my father’s nature of work, but also from my passion to discover various cultures. I have always considered myself a global citizen of the world. My goal was to study at a university outside of Africa or Europe, since I had already been exposed to both continents for the largest part of my childhood. This left me exploring my remaining options which were Asia, The Americas, Antarctica and Australia.

Right around my 9th grade year, I was debating between being a civilian medical doctor or a military medical doctor considering the medical field was a natural path for those in my high school concentration. To be fair, I had an early calling for challenge and leadership which pushed me to consider tough or risky fields. My mindset turned around in my 10th grade year, as I was watching a South African show called Jacob’s Cross, which highlights Jacob Abayomi’s quest to establish a business empire in the cut-throat world of the African oil industry. The story emphasized his half-sister’s critical role in saving Jacob’s life and helping keep the business empire running while looking for investors/partners in the oil and diamond industry.

This show empowered me to believe that women could be great leaders, contrary to what my African culture depicted. It also sparked my curiosity around the energy industry – geology, oil and gas, mining. My father also helped me navigate their intricacies — he had worked in oil and gas platforms in Australia during his early career days after completing his PhD. I ended up choosing mining as a field of study, since the oil and gas industry was experiencing a lengthy financial crisis around 2009, with oil and natural gas prices falling by about 70%. 

Where did you come to learn about the mining engineering program at the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources? 

From my extensive research, it was clear to me that the US had the best mining schools which prompted my family to reach out to family and friends in the US for assistance in getting an admission at schools as an international student. As a result, at 16 I resumed ESL classes at the University of Houston in Texas for a semester. I then transferred to Howard Community College in Columbia, MD to complete my associate’s degree in general studies and engineering. To focus on mining engineering, I applied and got admitted to 2 schools: Colorado School of Mines and West Virginia University.  

You ended up attending West Virginia University (WVU) at the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. What made WVU so attractive to you?

In particular, mining engineering at WVU is a renowned program with over 150 years educating students about the advancements in science, safety and innovative technology of mineral extraction and processing. 

• WVU offered me the opportunity to pursue a double major program in mining, civil and environmental engineering. This was critical since I wanted to increase my competitiveness in the job market in multiple industries considering the mining industry was quite cyclical. I did not want to graduate and struggle to find employment. 

• The mining department was well focused on coal mining, which I considered to be the most dangerous and hardest mining. I thought learning about the toughest mining process would make me more competitive in the entire mining industry. 

• My friends attended the petroleum engineering department and connected me to specific contacts within the mining department including the WVU Chapter of SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration). The idea was to be connected to a mining professional organization as soon as I transferred to the university.  

• International student tuition at West Virginia University was less expensive than international student tuition at Colorado School of Mines.  

• Lastly, I ended up obtaining many more scholarship opportunities at West Virginia University than my friends at Colorado School of Mines.  

You left your country at quite a young age, 16 years old. Who was your biggest supporter to become a mining engineer?

My mom was the one who pushed the project forward and was ready to take the blame if things did not work out as expected for me in this country: Almost like a guarantor! Knowing that, I promised myself I would never fail and made it a daily commitment to make her proud! Every visit of hers in the US, she reminds me of how proud I made her when I graduated Cum Laude in 2018, and it is such a heartwarming conversation to have with her.

What were some of the activities and programs you engaged in as a student at WVU? 

I made up my mind very early to become involved with the WVU SME student chapter and remained involved with other engineering organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. I had the opportunity to locally support gem shows, mine site tours and coordinate professionals visits for our mining students. Along the same line, I was traveling to attend several local, regional and national mining conferences and participate in student competitions.

Moreover, due to my high interest in world cultures, I ended up partnering with the WVU Extension Services under the WVU CEOS International Student Scholarship Program. This program was a life-changing experience, as it granted me the opportunity to develop a lesson plan about my home country Cameroon to share with the Community Educational Outreach Service (CEOS) clubs. I had a chance to travel to most of the 55 counties in West Virginia, learn the culture and break the misconceptions I had about West Virginia, while meeting some of the warmest ladies in the whole world.

I met wonderful faculty members in my programs who helped me land my first ever mining engineering internship, helped me navigate the early days of my professional career while traveling to conferences and taught me early on about concepts of leadership and soft skills to remember in my professional world.

Finally, can you give a couple of pieces of advice to our students? 

• Believe in yourself: It does not matter where you come from or your background. Just believe in yourself, believe that you can achieve what you have put your mind to accomplish. By faith all things will work out for your own good and come to pass positively. Some people will often make you second guess yourself or make you think you are foolish to have certain aspirations, but do not give up.

• Ask questions: This will make you successful in both your academic and professional career. Colleagues and managers appreciate someone who is eager to learn because it speeds up the learning curve and ensures clarity in scope, time, quality and resources for project deliverables.   

• Plan, plan, plan ahead: You may not have a full picture of where you want to go, but have at least a frame or structure of your next 1-3-5 year academic/career plans to avoid unpleasant surprises that life can throw at you. My career has had some curveballs and setbacks, but I eventually always navigated my way back to the initial plan and ensured the curveballs would have a positive impact on the overarching plan.
  

Like Line-Audrey, there are so many Statler alumni here and around the world with amazing stories. Join us next month to learn more about our community and their inspiring journeys. Let’s Go!

The Alumni Who Inspire! Program recognizes alumni for their dedication to their professions and West Virginia University. The program was launched in Fall 2023 as a monthly discussion board with Statler alumni.

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