Oh, the People You'll Know: Ian Bashor

5/8/2019 Amanda Maher

Written by Amanda Maher

Ian Bashor
Ian Bashor
Ian Bashor has managed to pack a tremendous amount of travel, study, and work into just a few years.

Ian started college in the MechSE department in 2015. As a freshman, he worked on ASME’s Special Projects float that won the homecoming float contest in the fall semester. In the spring semester, he worked on the Freshman Spirograph project that won second place for all freshman projects at Engineering Open House. In the fall semester of his sophomore year, he served as Special Projects director, overseeing the building of the 2016 homecoming float. 

During the spring of 2017, Ian fulfilled his dream of studying abroad in South America when he studied at the Universidad del Bío-Bío in Concepción (UBB), Chile. In addition to studying Mechanical Engineering, Ian also minored in International Engineering focused in Latin America, and this experience abroad fulfilled many requirements for the minor. While at UBB, Ian studied thermodynamics, fluids, and machine design, which were all taught in Spanish. He was able to greatly improve his Spanish linguistic skills, and even picked up the accent and dialect while he lived with a host family.

Ian is a bit of a world traveler. During high school, he spent a summer in Paraguay playing soccer and living with a host family. This experience was the catalyst for his interest in Latin American culture and is the reason he wanted to study abroad in South America and pursue a minor related to the region.  He has also made several trips to Europe, and loves traveling to national parks within the U.S., of which he has visited 30 of the 61. 

While he was in Chile, he ran for the position of President for ASME and won. Upon returning to U of I in the fall of 2017, he served as the president of the RSO. He had a great executive board during the year, and with their help, they were able to provide meaningful programs to the students in the department.

Ian also worked at the Innovation Studio as a monitor during the fall of his sophomore year and all of his junior year. He helped other students setup their 3D prints, give advice on how to cut a piece of wood, and managed the use of tools in the studio. 

During the summer of 2018, Ian had an internship at TechnipFMC, which is an oil and gas services company in Houston, Texas. During his time, he worked in an analysis group doing finite element analysis on an injection flow loop for a subsea Christmas tree. At the end of the summer, he was offered a full-time position as a rotational engineer, which he accepted. He is currently working remotely part-time for TechnipFMC’s Design Center while rounding out his senior year of college. Currently in his second semester with the Design Center, he is balancing his work time between a couple small design projects for the company. 

Working abroad or living on an oil rig are two adventures that Ian is open to in his professional future. He is looking forward to the many opportunities he has to keep exploring the world. He is extremely grateful for the education he received from the MechSE department and is so thankful for all the friends he met along the way.  He is sad to be leaving but really excited for what the future holds.


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This story was published May 8, 2019.