Alumna establishes legacy through tradition of giving

At Mississippi State University, legacies left by alumni have the ability to take many forms. Paula Jean Kardos’s legacy will annually impact a Bagley College of Engineering student.

Kardos, a 2004 Mississippi State graduate, resides in Houston, Texas and works at ExxonMobil Development Co. as the Arctic and Eastern Canada Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS) manager. She credits her career success in mechanical engineering to the education she earned over a decade ago.

“Mississippi State makes you an excellent engineer,” Kardos said. “Using an MSU engineering degree, along with critical thinking and the skill sets I developed through extracurricular leadership activities, has made me an integral part of the ExxonMobil organization.”

Kardos’s career in mechanical engineering was inspired by an award-winning high school science fair project featuring the production of biodegradable baling twine. After receiving encouragement to pursue engineering from a science fair judge and her parents, she declared mechanical engineering as her major and never looked back.

Spending four years at Mississippi State in leadership positions with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers enabled Kardos to create long-lasting relationships with her professors and peers. During that time, Kardos also developed a love for the university that her husband Brian, a Northwestern University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, believes to be unmatched.

“I think that there is no better representation of the ideals Mississippi State stands for, than how they are embodied in my wife,” Brian said. “Being able to participate in that directly, as well as having an opportunity to share that with future generations, is something that is very special.”

The Brian Kardos and Paula Jean Runge-Kardos Endowed Scholarship is awarded to a female mechanical engineer whose engineering drive and background mimics its namesake’s. Originally from a rural Mississippi town, Kardos specied that the recipient possess a similar origin and have entered mechanical engineering as a freshman.

“I feel that I had more opportunity made available to me because I went straight to Mississippi State,” Kardos said. “As a 17-year-old, I had to grow up. The relationships I built ultimately increased my college success and then transferred on to my professional life. I want to stimulate that with someone else.”

The scholarship specifations also include maintaining a 3.5 GPA and exhibiting financial need. The couple’s collaborative effort on a scholarship is a way for them to recreate a financial opportunity that each received during their own college careers.

“I hope to impact somebody else’s life so that they can come back to do the same for Mississippi State and another young student trying to get a great education,” Kardos said.

“We were on the receiving end when we were younger, so we have the obligation to do that for the younger generations coming forward,” Brian said.

Because of the matching programs by ExxonMobil and Brian Kardos’s employer BP, which offer charitable giving matches of 3-1 and 1-1, respectively, the endowed scholarship was fully funded within three years of its establishment.

Kardos’s dedication to Mississippi State as an alumna doesn’t just include establishing an endowed scholarship. She furthers her service with participation in on-campus ExxonMobil recruitment and mechanical engineering’s advisory board, with intentions to continue sharing the love-at-first-sight experience she had in her initial moments on campus.

“When I first came to Mississippi State, it felt like home,” Kardos said. “I walked on campus, and I knew that this was the fit for me. I belonged nowhere else.”

The Bagley College of Engineering is online at bagley.msstate.edu. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching for @msuengineering.

By: Amanda Meeler