Auburn engineers abroad: Mechanical engineering alumna takes international business trip to focus on cross-cultural collaboration

Jordan Ryle, ’18 mechanical engineering, has spent the past six years in Houston where she serves as a product optimization advisor at ExxonMobil. Despite the distance, she has remained involved with Auburn from the jump.

“I started my involvement as an alumnus right before I graduated by joining 100+ Women Strong,” she said. “That program is so important to me. I want to do anything I can to help start the interest in engineering from an earlier age. I think that’s critical in building the pipeline of female engineers and Auburn has so many great programs to support female engineers.”

Ryle has since become a member of the college’s Young Alumni Council where she helps other young alumni get connected and support the next generation of Auburn engineers. And, she’s found her own community of Auburn engineers in her new Houston home.

“I don’t have a lot of close family to lean on here,” Ryle said. “But the Auburn alumni network is so strong. That was so helpful for me to start getting acclimated and find my ‘home away from home.’” 

Growing up with an engineer father, Ryle always had an interest in the industry. Her Auburn campus tour, she said, is what sealed the deal. While at Auburn, Ryle gave her own fair share of tours as a Cupola Engineering Ambassador and served as a representative for the college in the Student Government Association.

At her first position with ExxonMobil in data analytics, Ryle had the opportunity to travel abroad to Singapore and Brussels, Belgium. Being in an unfamiliar environment early in her career, Ryle learned to ask many questions.

“The key is being adaptable,” she said. “I think Auburn made me a well-rounded engineer, especially with all the extracurriculars that were available. Those helped me learn the soft skills which are important no matter what industry you are in.”

Now, Ryle focuses on optimizing ExxonMobil’s finished lubricant portfolio by analyzing multiple aspects impacting cost for the Americas offer.

Ryle recently returned from a business trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she visited a partner ExxonMobil office. The goal of the trip was to discuss how the two teams could better collaborate and learn from each other. 

“This was my first time in South America and it was amazing,” Ryle said. “The culture and the people there were great. I was only there for a week so it was a short time to work closely with the team to share knowledge, and further develop connections to maintain once I was back in Houston.”

This trip, among the other international experiences Ryle has had working for a global company, have built upon foundational life skills developed at Auburn.

“It doesn’t matter what industry you’re working in or what the topic of work is, people are still people,” she said. “Having a cultural connection and understanding is what will carry you far. Auburn really helped me with that. There was a real emphasis that it’s part of the Auburn culture to care for others.”