Alumni Corner – Dayana Arrue

Dayana Arrue is an environmental staff engineer for the engineering consultant firm Langan while also pursuing an advance degree from the Colorado School of Mines. She is a proud graduate of Essex County College, Class of 2015, coming a long way since her family emigrated to the United States from El Salvador when she was only six.

Settling in Newark, Dayana graduated from Science Park High School and saw that ECC was her best option. “I felt I was at a low point academically and very uncertain about myself when I came to ECC. But that all changed once I started classes. I can say with 100 percent certainty that I would not change that part of my life,” Dayana said in a telephone interview from Golden, Colorado.

Dayana was part of ECC’s intense Honors Program, graduated with Highest Honors in Biology, Pre-Medicine, and earned the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Transfer Scholarship.  She then transferred to Rutgers University-Newark, from where she graduated in 2018 with a degree in Geoscience Engineering. 

It was through her Honors Program Capstone project that Dayana had the opportunity to conduct thermal analysis research at Rutgers. She started working at Langan during the Summer while attending Rutgers. That led to a fulltime position with the firm. 

Her biggest project at Langan has been the preliminary environmental investigation ahead of a major expansion at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Looking back at her time at ECC, Dayana said Dr. Eunice Kamunge’ s Microbiology class was her favorite. She also left a favorable impression on Dr. Kamunge, now head of the Division of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. “She was highly motivated and focused on her educational goals. She is a perfect example of what we do here at Essex County College,” Dr. Kamunge said of Dayana. 

For now, Dayana is concentrating on earning her Master’s degree in Hydrologic Sciences and Engineering, and working part-time on assignments out of Langan’s Denver office.

“Essex County College opened my mind and eyes, and challenged my world view. I will also always be thankful for that,” Dayana said.