Experience 1: Spring 2024 FSE150

I enrolled in FSE150 in the spring 2024 semester. FSE150 first gave us an overview of GCSP, including the competencies we needed to fulfill in order to graduate as a Grand Challenges Scholar. The semester was then divided into four parts, each part focusing on one Grand Challenges Theme. For each theme, our class engaged in a myriad of activities, from debating and energy market simulations, to guest speakers and student presentations. Each guest speaker was a faculty member of ASU who conducted research in a GCSP theme. For example, our last theme was sustainability and our guest speaker was Dr. Matthew Green, the director of Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. He shared his work on the Mechanical Tree, which is a large device designed to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.

Throughout these focuses, we also engaged in assignments that were meant to establish a foundation for future GCSP endeavors. The most notable of these assignments was the GCSP Planning 2 assignment, where we had to find three faculty at ASU whose research aligned with our interests and schedule a meeting with one of them to learn more about their work. For this assignment, I was able to meet with Dr. Jiwei Li, where I learned a lot about his work mapping coral reefs. Not only did I learn about the technical aspect of Dr. Li’s work, but I also gained insight into the funding and social impacts of his work as well.

Our other notable assignments were the individual GCSP Theme Paper/Presentation, and the Future Solutions group project. The Future Solutions group project allowed me and my team to research a problem we found interesting and design a futuristic solution for it. Our group researched the issue of access to clean water for Puerto Rico after natural disasters, and our solution was to create an underground water bunker complete with disaster detection and filtration services, as well as other emergency supplies. Since our solution was futuristic, we had to identify both already existing technologies and nonexistent novel technologies that are crucial to enable the success of our solution. Similar to the GCSP Planning 2 assignment, our Future Solutions project did not just focus on the technical aspects of our bunker. It also explored social impacts and challenges, such as cost, government regulations, and public approval. Our individual assignment, the GCSP Theme Paper and Presentation, involved creating a paper that covered three research projects with at least one project conducted by ASU faculty, connecting it to our theme of interest, and then presenting one of these research projects to the class. My theme of interest was sustainability, and the three research projects I wrote about were creating a decision support tool for waste collection, using remote sensing to map coral reefs, and creating a structural behavioral model for rights-based fisheries. While I ultimately ended up making my presentation on coral reefs, I found the paper on rights-based fisheries the most fascinating by far. This is because prior to reading the research paper, I had no knowledge of fisheries whatsoever, and I learned much about the nuances of striking a balance between ethics, efficiency, and cost for the fishing industry.

To reflect upon my FSE150 experience, I believe the most valuable thing I learned was the social, economic, and political considerations of creating global solutions. Upon the completion of this class, I think that I am much better equipped to identify the nontechnical challenges that may arise during the engineering process. Additionally, this class has also fostered my love for research and global impact. Learning and talking to ASU research faculty has been an extremely insightful experience, and it has even inspired me to start looking into research as a career. Moving forward, my goal is to further involve myself in the GCSP community and apply my findings in both my academic and professional pursuits.

Experience 2: Summer 2025 ASB 300

My second course to fulfill the multidisciplinary competency was ASB300: Food and Culture. The course involves using the case of food to analyze how culture shapes human behaviors, whether it be political, economic, or social. It promotes a systems mindset by going into the decision-making and interconnectivity of food and culture, showing the different ‘systems’ at play. 

Throughout the course we learned about the several different impact of food on someone's identity, and how globalization affects food systems around the world. In addition to being quizzed on instructional material and creating discussion posts about it, we were also tasked with writing essays on food and culture. For example, one essay was written about a ritual food meal within the family and how it is culturally significant, to which I wrote about the Filipino Christmas dinner of Noche Buena. The next two essays were on completing a food ethnography, where I observed a Malatang restaurant in San Diego. 

This course explores the interdisciplinary topics of food, culture, policy, and ethics, which is tied to my theme of sustainability. For example, if a food is unsustainable to manufacture or cook there may be policies created to account for this. There may be ingredients that are difficult, costly, or unethical to find, which can be cause for a more sustainable alternative. It can also be tied to engineering and technology; food can be engineered in different ways for different diets. Finally, developing the ability to communicate ideas on food and culture also meant being able to discuss complicated and culturally sensitive ideas in a respectful way. This ability is valuable in the globalized industry of software and technology, and I expect to utilize the communication skills I developed in this class throughout my industry career.