The next time you dig into a bowl of Tillamook Mudslide ice cream or slice into a block of their extra sharp cheddar, you can thank process engineers like Willamette alum Jadrian Teunissen BS’21 who help manage the machines that transform dairy into delight.
Bringing together the precision he learned from studying laser guide stars and the collaboration he practiced during late nights in Willamette’s Physics department, Teunissen is building a career helping companies like Tillamook save energy and costs in complex industrial processes.
Whether it was through the open office doors of his faculty or in Willamette’s signature academic hearth spaces, Teunissen found plenty of support during his rigorous science and math coursework.
“The Physics hearth is probably the only reason I graduated from college. It saved my bacon a week before every final,” Teunissen says, laughing. “It was more than just getting help with homework. It was like a support group.”
Like many Willamette students, Teunissen was also able to participate in faculty-led research, spending three years in a lab studying how to model laser guide stars. Teunissen draws on that research experience today, using tools like the Python programming language to analyze complex equations.
“The skills I learned in that lab have gone on to support me throughout my whole career. I use Python daily,” Teunissen says.
With a keen eye for detail and a robust mathematical understanding, he’s able to make recommendations in an area where small changes can make a huge difference — saving money, energy, and time in Tillamook’s production processes.
“A lot of the job that I do is going around and thinking about something a little more critically than the person before,” Teunissen says.
Teunissen’s biggest challenge to date was helping Tillamook launch a new plant in Decatur, Illinois, which involved a four-month stint working on the ground setting up utility systems. Currently, he collaborates with teams across Tillamook’s three plants, bringing together finance, marketing, food safety, and environmental experts to help create safe and energy-efficient systems to help Tillamook meet its climate goals.
The years he spent partnering with others to solve thorny homework assignments or developing ways to measure the stars served as practice for the kind of intense collaborative work Teunissen now does at Tillamook.
“Willamette taught me that everything is a group project,” Teunissen says. “That's how problems get solved. It's not one genius sitting in a room as much as everyone likes to think it is. It's 20 people all staring at a blackboard or computer screen trying to figure out what to do next.”
Starting fall 2026, future students will have the chance to apply these skills in real-world settings in Willamette’s new Industrial Engineering program — where business, statistics, and data analytics come together to create flexible thinkers who can understand the interplay between systems and people. The program will help meet the growing demand for industrial engineers in fields from manufacturing to sustainability.
