Harsh Juneja, a former student of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been honored with ExxonMobil’s Pinnacle Award for 2018. He was recognized for his outstanding work and dedication as a member of the engineering services team at the Baton Rouge refinery. This distinguished accolade recognizes engineering innovation that fundamentally changes the way that work is done at ExxonMobil.
“It is such an honor to receive the Pinnacle Award, which came as a pleasant surprise. I feel humbled and extremely grateful for being accorded this award by ExxonMobil,” said Juneja. “Receiving this award came as a vindication of my efforts and a symbol of recognition by ExxonMobil for the hard work put in by all its employees in their quest for excellence. It reignites the motivation in me to keep putting my best effort into my work each day, while striving to stay positive and focused on growth and improvement opportunities.”
“Harsh was always very curious on a wide range of technical subject matters and also hardworking,” said Dr. Prasad Enjeti, TI Professor III in Analog Engineering and associate dean for academic affairs. “It’s an incredible and perhaps the most rewarding feeling to see your students, whom you mentored and worked with closely, succeed in their profession.”
Currently, a section supervisor in the operations support department, Juneja oversees a team of 13 chemical engineers that support ExxonMobil’s fluid catalytic cracking, sulfur recovery, alkylation and various distillation technologies at their Baton Rouge refinery.
“Since my education and core competency is in electrical engineering, this role keeps me challenged and provides new opportunities to expand my knowledge of chemical engineering while developing strong management and leadership skills in order to best serve my team and the company,” said Juneja.
In addition to his education at Texas A&M, Juneja felt the core values he learned there left a significant impact on him and have set the foundation on which he has built his career. By merging these values with those of ExxonMobil, Juneja said he is continuously reminded to take a moment for self-reflection and live with a strong sense of purpose.
“I would like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Enjeti, for being instrumental in always motivating me to strive for excellence. He instilled in me a desire to challenge the status quo in efforts to seek improvement and advancement,” said Juneja. “Dr. Enjeti inspired me to always look for ways to innovate. Innovation is what will keep a company in business, help that company evolve with the world around it and help us all achieve more than we may imagine possible.”