By Kiara Craig, February 3, 2026
Teaching mechanical engineering courses ranging from levels 100 to 500, Paul Nissenson has encountered students of diverse acclimation to university life since joining Cal Poly Pomona in 2011. But, as each semester passed, Nissenson saw the same confused expressions on students’ faces as they contemplated the direction of their college careers.
Knowing students needed guidance and with podcasts gaining popularity, Nissenson began developing a new idea in 2015. After a few years, he launched the first episode of The Engineering Student Experience Podcast in 2019.
The Engineering Student Experience Podcast is a project produced, edited and hosted by Nissenson that focuses on clarifying questions current or future engineering students may have.
The podcast has released 40 episodes over seven years and featured students, faculty and industry professionals as guests. In the latest episode released November 2025, Nissenson met with two CPP alumni who now work at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo. This episode, along with many others, give students insight into a potential career path to consider after university. Not all episodes are geared toward the post-graduate life, episode 32 features a conversation with an engineering student who is also a veteran.
“I can’t draw; I can’t paint,” Nissenson said. “It’s like my artistic release. It’s the way I can do art.”
The Engineering Student Experience Podcast is not Nissenson’s first project. The mechanical engineering department also has a Youtube channel Nissenson originally co-created in 2013. With videos, ranging from 360-degree digital tours to tutorials on fluid mechanics, this channel and Nissenson had the same goal: to help students.
“From the beginning, I knew this was going to be a very niche thing,” Nissenson said. “But those people, primarily engineering students or high school students, thinking about engineering for them, it might be very impactful.”
Nissenson funded the project through the Special Projects for Improving the Classroom Experience grant, which allowed Nissenson to buy recording devices and lavalier microphones for the initial setup that has since been upgraded to newer equipment.
The podcast receives around four to five episodes per year due to Nissenson’s packed schedule as a professor and researcher. According to Nissenson, once guests are secured, it takes a little over an hour to record. Connecting with students and faculty through his main responsibilities is how he finds new guests for the podcast.
Assistant professor of geological sciences and engineering Jessica Perez has been a recurring guest on the podcast before of their work together in the engineering department. Beyond guest work on the podcast, Perez has used the platform to show students what they have to look forward to at CPP. “You hear about different types of jobs, and it gives a full picture of what engineering is,” Perez said. “Because we have so many student and professional voices on the podcast, it really helps engineering become more approachable for everyone.”
Nissenson intended for a miniseries on the podcast to follow two engineering students in their journey from their first to final year of university. With help from Perez, two engineering students were selected, Jared Changizian and Monica Felix, in 2019.
While the series was interrupted by the spread of COVID-19, they were able to do an exit interview for one of the two students in fall 2024. In episode 37, Changizan reflected on his time at CPP through an exit interview.
“For a student that came in as an engineering student my first year, I didn’t really have resources like that,” Changizan said. “I saw it as a great opportunity to give back to people who were coming into the program.”
Nissenson said he hopes to attempt a similar series in the fall 2026. The series will follow students with a biweekly check in to see how the thoughts and attitudes of students change over the course of the 16-week semester.