By Gabriella Chapman

WHAT some may call accidental, Tiffany Griffith calls fate and she shared her journey to becoming a valuable contributor to several sectors in Guyana, including the oil and gas.
This 24-year-old young woman is currently pursuing her Master’s in Chemical Engineering on a Government Scholarship, at Xiamen University located in Fujian Province of China.

Sharing her journey with the Pepperpot Magazine, Tiffany said that she always had a love for the sciences, though it proved a bit more challenging than the business field.

“I felt myself gravitating to it moreso because of that fact that lab work was always exciting and I always felt this is where I could help make a difference, just like many scientists that went before me. However, how I ended up here, in the field of chemical engineering was quite accidental or some may call it faith,” she said.

When Tiffany came out of high school she enrolled in the University of Guyana (UG), with her first choice being a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and the second in Chemistry.
She said that her extended family wanted her to study medicine, hence the reason for Biology being her first choice. However, she never saw being a doctor as her calling.

WORK OF FAITH
It so happened that the Biology programme at UG was filled and Tiffany ended up majoring in Chemistry. She said that as she got deeper into it, she couldn’t see herself doing anything else.

“I got my Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry, but my plan after that was to get my Master’s in some area of Forensics. That didn’t work out, nor did I get a job at the forensics lab. So I started working and had many other failures and missed opportunities later… I saw a notice in the newspaper about a scholarship being offered for a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. Having a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry was one of the prerequisites, so I was in the running. I started researching everything that Chemical Engineering entailed and the more I read the more I became interested. I submitted my application and began the wait,” Tiffany shared.

NEW WORLD
The wait was soon over as Tiffany was chosen as one of the awardees to read for her Master’s in China.
“It was time I packed my bag and journey to the other side of the globe; China, for two whole years. It was at that moment that the excitement mixed with anxiety and an ounce of doubt [stepped in]. What was I thinking? Was I really going to move all the way to a strange land and leave all that was familiar and dear to me for not one, but two years?” she reminisced.

“Settling in proved even harder than I thought it would have been. Not only was I a foreigner to the land but also the language, and we all know, communication breathes community, and I lacked both. I experienced culture shock, followed by a deep longing, not for the unknown, but home.”
However, she said that she adjusted her mind to the ultimate goal of garnering the knowledge needed to develop her home, Guyana.

PLANS FOR GUYANA
Though she had difficulties with adjusting to her new life, Tiffany managed to secure a 3.58 GPA thus far.
Explaining her field of study, she shared that chemical engineering is an incorporation of chemistry and engineering to generate useable products from raw materials.

“Other than making products, chemical engineers are involved in the designing and testing of production methods, by-products treatment, etc. So that in itself shows you that a chemical engineer can be placed in a vast [number] of industries: pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, water, textiles, plastics, food processing, and the list goes on,” she said.
After her studies are completed, the young woman said if she gets a chance to work in either the oil & gas, water or food industry, she will be quite contented.

“We all know, Guyana recently made oil discoveries in commercial quantities and that this resource holds much potential for improving our standard of living. So, as plans for laying the foundation of an oil and gas industry is taking shape, one can only realise that there is a deficit of trained personnel with the expertise for this venture and the future production of petroleum right at home,” she articulated. “George Washington once said, ‘Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.’ I strongly agree and chemical engineers are pertinent if Guyana is to engage in the large-scale conversion of crude oil into usable products such as petroleum.

But as it was also noted, solutions to problems concerning production or use of chemicals, food, water etc., can also be unearthed via this field of study, and these are all areas that Guyana would do well with an improvement.”

The young scholar continued, “But, wherever, I am placed, as I’m on a Government scholarship, I believe in some little way or the other I’ll be able to assist in the national development of my country, Guyana, and that will always be my goal,” she added.
Tiffany will be graduating this year and will be returning to Guyana immediately after completing her studies.