From First Day to Full-Time: Marissa Sterling’s Journey at Kuraray America

Her experience has also been shaped by mentorship. Marissa credits Ramsha S. and Andrew Le Blanc, P.E. for their patience, guidance and willingness to help her learn throughout her internship and transition into her new role.

Career Spotlight

At Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI), our interns work side by side with our engineering teams to understand how real-time plant data shapes engineering decisions and ultimately plant performance.

Our 5th feature in our From-First-Day-To-Full-Time series, meet:
🪪 Marissa Sterling
👥 KAI Intern Cohort 2025
🏫 North Carolina State University
📜 B.S., Chemical Engineering
💼 Production Engineer, SEPTON, Pasadena, TX

Marissa began her KAI journey as a production intern with PVOH in La Porte, TX before joining SEPTON as a full-time Production Engineer. This transition allowed her to build on the experience gained at one manufacturing site while adapting to a new team, operating environment, and production processes.

Today, she is taking a more active role in projects from start to finish, including coordinating with vendors and supporting each stage from planning through completion.

Her experience has also been shaped by mentorship. Marissa credits Ramsha S. and Andrew Le Blanc, P.E. for their patience, guidance and willingness to help her learn throughout her internship and transition into her new role.

Watch the video to hear how Marissa’s internship experience helped shape her transition into a full-time Production Engineer role.

Explore opportunities at KAI and see where your own first assignment could lead. (Click here)