Becoming a Grand Challenges Scholar

My journey through the Grand Challenges Scholars Program has shaped me into a more thoughtful, globally aware, and sustainability-driven engineer. Each of the five GCSP competencies pushed me to grow in different ways, and together they helped me understand how engineering can improve lives, strengthen communities, and create a more sustainable future. My experiences across research, interdisciplinary coursework, entrepreneurship, global learning, and service all connect to my GCSP theme of Sustainability, and each one contributed to the engineer I am becoming.

Research / Creative Project

My work on solid-state electrolyte materials through SURI and my ongoing research have taught me to think critically, analyze data, and contribute to long-term clean-energy solutions. This research strengthened my understanding of sustainable materials and energy storage. A key part of my GCSP theme. It also gave me hands-on experience with experimentation, prototyping, and technical communication.

Interdisciplinary Competency

Courses like ASB 222 and ASB 300 helped me understand how culture, history, identity, and global systems shape human behavior. Through assignments such as my Super Bowl ritual meal analysis and my Thai Basil ethnography, I learned how food, culture, and sustainability intersect. These courses taught me to view engineering challenges through human, social, and cultural lenses—an essential skill for designing sustainable solutions that work for real communities.

Entrepreneurship Competency

In FSE 301, I developed a venture concept based on my solid-state battery research. I learned how to conduct customer interviews, analyze competing solutions, and pitch ideas clearly and confidently. This course helped me understand how sustainable technologies must be framed in terms of value, feasibility, and user needs. It strengthened my communication skills and taught me how innovation and sustainability go hand in hand.

Multicultural / Global Competency

My experience studying in Taiwan and learning about global food systems, cultural exchange, and international perspectives broadened my worldview. I learned how culture shapes sustainability practices and how global communities adapt to environmental pressures. This experience helped me understand the importance of designing solutions that respect cultural diversity and global interconnectedness.

Service-Learning / Social Consciousness

My service-learning work as an E2 Camp Counselor and my participation in the EPICS Ogoja Biogas Project were some of the most meaningful experiences of my undergraduate career. As a C2, I mentored incoming engineering students and helped build community within the Fulton Schools. Through EPICS, I worked with an interdisciplinary team to design a biogas digester for refugees in Ogoja, Nigeria. A project that directly addressed sustainability, energy access, and humanitarian need. These experiences taught me that engineering is ultimately about serving people.

Connectivity Across My GCSP Experiences

Across all five competencies, a clear theme emerged: sustainability requires both technical expertise and human understanding. My research taught me how to design sustainable technologies. My interdisciplinary courses taught me how culture shapes environmental behavior. My entrepreneurship work taught me how to communicate value and feasibility. My global experiences taught me how sustainability varies across cultures. My service-learning taught me how engineering can uplift communities. Together, these experiences helped me see sustainability not just as a technical challenge, but as a human one, requiring empathy, collaboration, and a global mindset.

How GCSP Prepared Me for My Future

GCSP helped me grow into an engineer who can think across disciplines, communicate clearly, design with empathy, understand global systems, work with diverse teams, and approach sustainability from multiple angles. These skills will guide me as I pursue a career in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and sustainable engineering. GCSP strengthened my confidence, broadened my perspective, and helped me understand the kind of engineer and person that I want to be.

Overall Reflection

My GCSP experience has been challenging, meaningful, and transformative. It pushed me to think beyond the classroom, connect with communities, and reflect on the impact I want to make as an engineer. I am grateful for the opportunities, the experiences, and the growth this program has given me. GCSP helped me find my voice, my purpose, and my commitment to building a more sustainable and equitable world.