UM–Madison chief engineer fights for underrepresented communities

Allen Jonathan Roman's parents grew up in Iztapalapa, Mexico, where an earthquake hit in 1985 and left the Mexico City neighborhood with damaged buildings and homes. The earthquake left his father unable to work and attend school, so he came to the United States — with no money, no education and no knowledge of the English language, Roman said — and found a job in a restaurant. Roman's mother eventually left for the U.S., too.

Roman's father got a factory job as a machine operator and took community classes to improve his chances for a promotion.

"I vividly remember my mother taking us to Oakton Community College [in Illinois], where my father would take courses so that we could spend time with him in our breaks, never breaking the family bond. We would sit and keep busy in the communal areas and then would head back home late at night to finally rest," said Roman, who was raised in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood.

"My sister and I will always continue fighting for success in our profession, but something that my parents have instilled within us is to also fight for those around us. For that reason, my sister and I, in addition to our profession, are actively involved within our community," he added.

Roman studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned his bachelor's degree in biological systems engineering, machinery systems, and master's degree in mechanical engineering. He is also working on his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering, with the expected graduation of September 2023.

As an undergraduate engineering researcher at UW–Madison's Polymer Engineering Center, Roman was exposed to plastics: "I helped with experiments to better understand the dispersion behavior of glass fibers within injection molded parts and soon continued designing a rheometer, which would be used by Bosch to conduct fundamental experiments to further understand fiber evolution during polymer processing events."

Roman was appointed chief engineer at the Polymer Engineering Center in 2019, which he considers a career highlight.

"As a first-generation student, a child of immigrants who were not able to finish their high school degree, I never envisioned myself working towards a doctorate. Not because I didn't believe I could make it, but because I never knew these types of opportunities were out there for students like me," Roman said.

His research led to a patent in 2021 "for a novel intelligent 3D printing mechanism capable of accelerating the fused filament fabrication process without sacrificing part quality, multiple research articles in internationally renowned journals and numerous national/international conference presentations." He has also received four invitations to be an international visiting lecturer for a modeling and simulation course at a technical university in Germany.

"Moreover," Roman said, "I have been awarded multiple successful grant applications that funded my research projects and instruments that would be useful for plastics educational instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. My dedication to research and education has led to an invitation to develop a new Additive Manufacturing textbook and the third edition of the Understanding Polymer Processing textbook, where I will appear as a front-cover author for both texts."

Roman said it was difficult, as a first-generation student, to navigate through imposter syndrome, especially at the beginning of his career.

"For that reason, the best advice I have received was to stay as positive as possible and to persevere because 'El pan no llega solo,' which translates to, 'The bread does not arrive by itself.' That was the phrase instilled in my head by my parents fighting to survive in a new country as they knew that they needed to push through all of the negativity and focus on working hard to hopefully find opportunities to succeed, because one must work hard to enjoy the fruits of success," he said.

Roman is involved with many associations and organizations, including the Society of Plastics Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Graduate Engineering Research Scholars at UW–Madison's College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Advisory Committee, Polymer Processing Society and a Diversity and Inclusion Student Advisory Board Member.

"At the Diversity and Inclusion Student Advisory Board, I assist our vice chancellor for student affairs and associate vice chancellor in organizing initiatives that will aid in the recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented communities and students with a disability," Roman said, including "discussing grants that we can apply for that provide funding for initiatives, brainstorming about what issues students face today at UW and analyzing the data from the campuswide campus climate survey to ensure we prioritize what students deem as most important."

In terms of the industry's need to expand efforts in diversity and inclusion, Roman said: "Representation is crucial for having an increased interest in the field of plastics from historically underrepresented communities. Organizations need to actively recruit in areas where diverse communities are heavily present. This includes going to minority-serving institutions to chat with students, attending NSBE [National Society of Black Engineers] conventions, SHPE [Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers] conventions, and conventions aimed towards students who come from historically underrepresented [backgrounds]."

Roman said the industry's culture "needs to change" and those who are actively involved should be rewarded and compensated for their work. "From my experience," he said, "it is often the students from these underrepresented communities who are doing the legwork in creating initiatives and advocating."

To advance his career, Roman said the "biggest step" he took was working hard with very few resources to attend a top university.

"There weren't any steps showed to me, so I made my own steps and made sure to inform those not as fortunate about what I did to reach certain goals. I continuously seek for advice from current professionals who were also first-generation students from a historically underrepresented community on 'steps' they took to navigate through this tough field, which sometimes seems uninviting from the outside," he said.

"The lack of knowledge and opportunities within the Latino community is noticed by many but … for that reason, I mentor first-generation students to join the Polymer Engineering Center, to conduct research and to know that there are people like them in graduate school," Roman said. "I aim to be the person I wish I had during my undergraduate career."