About Me
My fascination with engineering began in childhood, during countless nineteen-hour flights from the United States to India. Each goodbye to my family left me in tears, but those journeys also gave me perspective. They showed me that despite vast distances, human ingenuity made it possible to see my grandmother and cousins after only a day of travel. The engineers who built those aircraft brought my family closer through their craft. That realization deepened years later when, at sixteen, I saw the first image of a black hole. Decades earlier, Einstein and Hawking had predicted black holes in their theories. Yet, as Ernest Lawrence remarked in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, “theory will only get you so far.” It was engineering that enabled scientists to capture that image—and once again, to share it with the world. These moments sparked a profound curiosity about how things work and how to build them. They made me realize I was meant to be an engineer.
But an engineer of what, exactly? Growing up near the water, I first imagined building submarines and machines to explore the ocean. That changed when friends of my parents gave me a book about the universe. Its dazzling images of planets, moons, galaxies, and nebulae pulled me away from the blue depths below and toward the vast expanse above. I dove into exploration by devouring books, binging documentaries, and keeping up with the latest discoveries online. These breathtaking visuals were made possible by the creativity and perseverance of people who turned imagination into reality. They reminded me that exploration—whether of the sea, the sky, or the stars—begins with human curiosity and the will to build.
In my early research, I noticed something else: the same technologies used to explore beyond Earth also help us understand and protect our own planet. Satellites, sensors, and imaging tools now track deforestation, climate change, and environmental shifts. That struck me deeply as someone who cherishes the natural world. During my time at UCF, I learned to surf at Cocoa Beach and earned my open-water scuba license in Florida’s springs. While interning in California, I spent weekends exploring the coastlines and deserts with fellow engineers. I cannot, or rather do not want to, imagine an Earth stripped of its natural beauty by human actions.
My goal as an engineer is to contribute to technologies that expand what humanity can reach, while preserving what we already have. Whether it’s exploring new worlds or improving life on this one, I’m driven by the same belief that first took hold on those long flights: engineering connects people, pushes boundaries, and makes the impossible possible.
