Andrey Yudin speaks like an average young American who was raised in the South, politely answering questions with a “yes, sir,” and “no, ma'am.” This may seem unremarkable until the 22-year-old system planning engineer for Oncor (Dallas, Texas, U.S.) reveals he is a native of Moscow, Russia, and has only lived in America for the past eight years. Thanks to his talent for mastering new skills and acclimating to unfamiliar situations, Yudin has achieved success that most people his age can only dream of.

“My father's job brought our family to Houston, Texas, when I was 14 years old,” he recalled. “Adjusting to living in a new country was brutal. I was homesick, and I spoke almost no English. The school I attended placed me in ESL [English as a Second Language] classes for a year, where almost all of the other kids spoke Spanish.”

Instead of slacking off like many teenagers would be tempted to do, Yudin spent his spare time at home reading aloud to erase his Russian accent so he could “sound more American.” At the same time, he discovered many of his academic abilities — particularly math and science — were more advanced than most of his peers.

“In Russia, students go to school six days a week, including Saturday, and we aren't allowed to choose what classes we take,” he explained. “I think this is part of the reason I was ahead of some of the other kids.”

Yudin was so far advanced, in fact, that he graduated from high school at just 16 and enrolled at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin to study electrical and computer engineering. Once again, he found himself an outsider.

Undaunted, he dove into college life, becoming an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, joined the school's rugby team, and worked for a Ph.D. candidate who was employed by the UT Austin Space Center.

After his sophomore year, Yudin had his first co-op, working for CenterPoint Energy in Houston.

“Working for CenterPoint Energy gave me a chance to learn a lot about the power industry and apply many of the concepts that I learned in school,” he said. “One of my projects consisted of writing an application for the real-time transmission operators to determine faults in the grid.”

The aspiring engineer also became involved in UT's Solar Vehicle Team, designing and assembling printed circuit boards for the Samsung Solorean's comparator and power distribution boxes as well as assisting with the vehicle's complete disassemble and reassemble.

The summer before his junior year, Yudin obtained an electrical engineering internship at GE Healthcare in the monitoring solutions division.

“I configured and maintained four separate test labs at GE,” he said. “I was also chosen to design a summary-management tool that provides a way to view things like current lab configuration data, diagrams and documentation. I really liked being part of team that was doing work to help other people.”

Today, Yudin continues to do work that helps others — this time as a system planning engineer at Oncor, which he joined in June 2009 just after graduating from UT.

“I perform interconnection studies and load characterization analysis on transmission lines in the west Texas region,” he said. “My job is challenging but also fun. I am always learning something new, and I really enjoy the people I work with, which I think is an important part of being happy and successful.”

According to Yudin, the company's mentoring program has helped him foster friendships with his peers as well as Oncor veterans.

These close relationships are one of the aspects Yudin will miss most when he leaves the company this August to pursue his MSEE degree at Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.

“Penn State is one of the best universities in the nation that offers an excellent program in engineering,” he remarked. “Joining this challenging program will help me acquire valuable experience and excel in the field of engineering.”

Relocating to another state will also mean leaving behind family and friends yet again. This time, however, Yudin has experience plus technology on his side.

“I have only been back to Russia once since I left, so I am used to carrying on long-distance relationships,” he said. “I talk to my grandmother, who still lives in Russia, three times a week. Technologies such as Skype and e-mail make it pretty easy to keep in touch with everyone.”

In addition to attending graduate school, Yudin plans to continue competing in marathons, with a goal of qualifying for the 2011 Boston Marathon. He also intends to keep volunteering in various community programs.

“It is important to me to give back to the community,” he noted. “I feel very fortunate, and I want to share that with other people.”