I achieved the Multicultural Competency by taking two classes: FSE 150 and GPH 314, Global Change.

FSE 150: Grand Challenges for Engineering

This was the class I took Freshman Year, Fall 2022. I learned about the Themes of GCSP, the competencies and classes I was required to take. Throughout the semester, we had lectures from different professors to teach us and help us choose a different theme. In the spirit of Interdisciplinary studies, we had to participate in the Future Solutions Project, where we developed a product that could solve a problem through Future Thinking. I really enjoyed learning from the keynote speakers and working on the Future Solutions project. This class connected with my drive for Sustainability, by presenting my Grand Challenges Theme Presentation where I presented food wastage and recycling to the class. From my research, I learned how various restaurants or food donation look beyond the immediate technical fix to learn about the Systems Thinking required to manage resources and food.

My Future Solutions project was about Microbots cleaning up plastics in the bloodstream. It taught me about Stakeholder Awareness as we presented it to many biomedical students and professors and we got their advice. The experience helped me understand the significance of team dynamics in addressing sustainability problems from different perspectives.

You can see my poster for the Future Solutions Projects on the left above.

 FSE 150 was my introduction to GCSP, the Future Solutions Project, the culminating experience of the class, taught me about Stakeholder Awareness and Creative Thinking. Additionally, the Future Solutions project enabled me to get comfortable working in a team, this helped me in working with cross-functional teams in EPICS and my research in reducing carbon emissions.  I also got interested in Sustainability through here, even though my project definitely fit the Health theme the best. I became interested in cleaning up plastic in general in our natural environment.

GPH 314: Global Change

This class consisted of video lectures,written assignments and quizzes about the Earth's geography, climate, and weather. Through this class, I learned about the Earth's processes and cycles, including the carbon and water cycle. I learned how to monitor the state of the Earth and the rule of humans, animals and environmental resiliency and explanation about decision making for policies or technologies introduced to the environment.

In relation to Sustainability, I learned about how the Earth's natural cycles and how humans and the environment shape each other. In relationship to my career, the parts of this class that were useful were were its focus on environmental monitoring, policy decision-making, and resilience strategies. Understanding how Earth's natural cycles function and how human activities interact with these cycles has given me a strong foundation for analyzing the long-term sustainability of policies and technologies. On the right, you can see a screenshot of a lesson that I'm using as representation for the class. 

From this, I learned about Engineering Ethics through this class ensuring that the technologies I build do not negatively disrupt fragile ecological systems. As someone who cares deeply about the planet, I definitely want to ensure whatever products I make in the future won't have a massive geological impact or are sustainable. As I move into a career in Data Science, the knowledge of biogeochemical feedback loops is crucial as it allows me to move beyond static data points to understand the dynamic impact of human activity onthe environment. Through the lessons, I am now equipped to understand the energy-intensive nature of  technology on the environment . As a Grand Challenges Scholar, it is my role to create digital solutions that do not negatively disrupt fragile ecological systems; I also know that as a human being,  technical innovation should not come at the cost of global climate stability.