Adrienne Cibulka, one of seven Purdue Engineering Fellows, has made a mark as president of the Purdue Engineering Student Council and director of its Industrial Roundtable. 

A “top-tier student.” 

A “passionate advocate of the student experience.” 

A student whose “problem solving skills are unmatched.” 

A leader who “always showed humility, maturity and professionalism” in her work. 

Mechanical engineering senior Adrienne Cibulka, recognized as a Purdue Engineering Fellow for the class of 2025, has left an indelible mark on Purdue University. And she would be the first to say that any motivated student can do the same: Her successes are a constellation of good mentors, chance connections and a genuine love for analyzing data.  

Cibulka began as a fresh slate in engineering: She had no coding experience and very few technical skills that would help her as an engineer. She wasn’t even sure what she ultimately wanted to do, though her brother Philip (BSECE ’21) encouraged her to cut herself some slack. Cibulka’s only certainty was that becoming an engineer was going to allow her to help people. 

The St. Louis native embarked on that mission as soon as she set foot in West Lafayette in 2021. Cibulka pushed herself to try new things and ended up on the Purdue Engineering Student Council (PESC) as well as one of the seven first-year students aiding with the 2022 Industrial Roundtable (IR) in West Lafayette. She served as the registration coordinator, connecting and reaffirming details with employers alongside processing company and student registrations for one of the largest student-run career fairs in the country.  

Cibulka (left) finished her term as PESC president in December 2024.

“As the semester went on, and as we got closer to the career fair, I kind of just got the idea that this is so much fun. I love doing this. I really enjoy leading, and I thought (IR) was something that I would like to try leading and doing,” Cibulka said.  

In the spring of 2023, the IR executive council elected her as director. Though feeling daunted by the monumental task at first, Cibulka confidently set out to prepare IR with her own team of seven first-year students.  

“When I was chosen to be Industrial Roundtable director, I was like, ‘How am I ever going to do this?’ And then I reminded myself that a group of people chose me for the role because they think that I can do it.”  

Among those in Cibulka’s corner was Ben Pekarek (BSECE ’24), PESC president that year and the IR director preceding Cibulka. Pekarek contributed a nomination letter for Cibulka’s consideration as an Engineering Fellow, writing that he had never met a student “who dedicated more time and creative thought to improving the Purdue engineering experience — both for students and industry partners” than Cibulka.  

“She analyzed past data from the career fair to determine the number of opportunities available by major at the fair, then compared the proportion of available opportunities for a student of a given major to the proportion of students in that major at Purdue,” Pekarek said. “She retooled employer outreach to focus on attracting employers who recruited the underserved majors.” 

Additionally, first-year access to IR was close to Cibulka’s heart, and the data showed her a need to aid them. So she worked to open doors for new students to have their resumes critiqued, elevator pitches refined and soft communication skills enhanced with the help of professionals and student mentors before ever entering IR. 

Her skills as a problem solver gave other students ample time to prepare for one of the largest career fairs in the nation, right in their own backyard, even as Cibulka was busy handling other day-of issues. When an issue arose with the location of the food trucks, set to serve over 22 companies with timely meals throughout the fair, Cibulka quickly learned the new truck parking regulations on campus and dispatched team members to redirect trucks and transport food to recruiters. All this was done without a single hitch in the IR that unfolded, boasting the largest numbers in the event’s history.  

Cibulka’s drive to help others access IR led to an increase of 1,600 student attendees that broke the 15,000 threshold. Her efforts to make IR accessible to all majors and students led to an influx of applications for PESC and the IR team the following year. Cibulka served as PESC president the following academic year and regularly acts as a sounding board for the current IR director to flesh out new ideas.  

According to Pekarek, Cibulka’s astronomical and immediate impact comes as no surprise.  

“Adrienne is revered by her peers on PESC,” he said. “Adrienne fostered an excellent group dynamic and maintained a respectful, welcoming environment for all club members throughout the fair. I truly could not have left PESC in better hands.” 

Sustainable energy, a present and future passion

Cibulka has stayed out of her comfort zone by tackling interesting, even befuddling, problems with intriguing solutions to keep her inventive mind sharp.  She spent the summer before her IR directorial debut in Fort Collins, Colorado, working to make her mark at Anheuser-Busch Brewery.  

A brewery may seem like an odd place for an engineer, but Cibulka found it to be an eye-opening and helpful experience of practical engineering. 

“We challenge hires to make their mark in the program and within their first roles so that when global opportunities do arise later in their career, they are ready,” the trainee program’s description reads. Cibulka took this challenge to heart with her developing interest in sustainable packaging and processing procedures, especially considering shipments from brewery locations to vendors across the country. The internship provided great opportunities to collect, analyze and provide solutions through data.  

“I like the number crunching and then seeing what it means in the real world. There's all these numbers and reasoning to the way that things work.” 

During Cibulka's time as IR director, the student-led career fair grew.

IR changed the trajectory of Cibulka’s career, even before she became its director.  

As a sophomore, she wasn’t sure exactly how she wanted to use her mechanical engineering degree. But a chance encounter with a recruiter transformed Cibulka’s future in minutes.  

“I heard about solar turbines for the first time from IR because they had hosted a seminar the day before the career fair in 2022. I was just chatting with a recruiter, and they mentioned (the company) was in San Diego and the work that the company did,” Cibulka said. “I just thought it was cool. So I applied, got the internship and I really ended up loving it. 

“Those sorts of weird little moments of faith change everything sometimes. I just happened to talk to this recruiter, and it put me on this direction I'm very happy to be on now.” 

Cibulka spent the summer of 2024 interning at Solar Turbines. While not the “flashiest” of sustainability-based initiatives, her passion had been ignited for revolutionizing how to tackle power grids and ecologically conscious solutions in the face of a rapidly changing climate.  

The experience played directly into her fall classes, ME 30000 (Thermodynamics) and ME 43000 (Power Engineering).  

“These classes ask the question, ‘How do we provide energy to the average person?’ That shaped a lot along with my internship this summer,” Cibulka said. “I feel like people don't realize or maybe take for granted how important energy processes are and how important it is to provide power to people. I mean, schools, hospitals, data centers all need power.” 

With a movement towards “planned obsolescence,” in Cibulka’s words, she finds creating products that will last to be a major part of sustainable power engineering. After all, it would be no easy task to completely take down a solar turbine and revamp every part. Cibulka’s Solar Turbine internship introduced her to intervals of overhauls in which engineers will refurbish and renew older parts of machines at slower, more sustainable intervals than the annual or semi-annual replacement of gadgets most tech offers consumers. 

“We are (aiming to) build something that will last and that won't need a remake every year,” she said. “I feel like nowadays products are built to break quickly so that you have to buy the newest, best, most expensive version. I see sustainability as making a good product that will serve the consumer for a long time.” 

Challenging comfort zone with confidence

As a student in ME 44400 (Toy Design) in the fall of 2024, she created a battle bot to navigate an arena of obstacles, including other robots trying to nudge hers out of the competition. Unlike the competitive ones seen on TV, this one did not include a flamethrower, much to Cibulka’s relief. 

“It was, like, 8:30 in the morning, and it was the most entertaining part of my week,” Cibulka said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is what engineering is all about: Robots fighting each other. Awesome.’” 

Cibulka (middle, sunglasses on head) said "community is everything" in the College of Engineering. She found that with PESC, ambassadors and more.

Cibulka also has found great experience in leadership and creating solutions through the recent creation of the CARES Hub, dedicated to helping engineering students through their struggles as students. As a well-known advocate for accessible student experiences, Cibulka was part of the hiring committee for the College of Engineering’s CARES Hub director. Cibulka remains involved and ready to help the program grow however she can. 

“The mission of the CARES Hub is very important because students struggle in engineering curriculum. That is just what comes along with (engineering). But what also comes along is this competition amongst students where you have conversations, like, ‘Oh, I only slept five hours.’ ‘Oh, I only slept four hours tonight.’ Or ‘I haven't eaten in two days.’ ‘I've only had five Red Bulls.’ I have been there myself. I want to do my part to just help students and meet them where they are and provide them with the help that is right there.” 

A frequent visitor to the CARES Hub study space, Cibulka hopes to direct more students toward their services not only in times of struggle, but as an everyday place to spend time. Communal study spaces are great places to build community and find out about events, which Cibulka also found to form great memories of her experiences at Purdue. 

“I think community is everything when you're in engineering,” she said. “You must be intentional about who you’re interacting with and making sure you’re not just shutting yourself in a hole all the time to study. The way that I find the balance is seeing all the things that I want to do and then seeing what is possible. 

“The experiences you look back on during college are probably not going to be the all-nighters you pulled alone in your room at your desk. It’s going to be the fun things you did with your friends.” 

As Cibulka prepares to graduate in May, she is setting on a new course to help others, this time in industry instead of on campus. The largest difference between Cibulka's first-year self and senior self is the knowledge that confidence and experience truly make an impact.  

“I started college with so many doubts. It was a big, scary thing,” Cibulka said. “Now, at the end of my four years, I feel like I'm on the edge of starting another new big scary thing and I'm not nearly as scared as I was before. Now, wherever my career takes me, wherever my life takes me, I feel ready to take on new challenges. I feel assured that I'm going to make friends. And I'm going to make the most of my life.”