Overall, my decision to join GCSP has impacted my career far beyond what I could have ever anticipated. When I started classes at ASU, I knew that I wanted to become a different kind of engineer—to not only have the technical expertise to succeed in my field, but also to be equipped to look at my work in the big picture and consider the economic, societal and cultural implications of my ideas and solutions. The Grand Challenge Scholars Program gave direction and a clear outline of how I could accomplish all of my goals for my career, and unified these goals within the theme of becoming qualified to solve the great global engineering challenges of the 21st century.

As I worked through the program’s components, I realized I was not only gaining crucial interdisciplinary skills to help me solve global sustainability challenges, but I was also gaining real-world engineering experience as an undergraduate student. Through Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) I was challenged to work on a project with real stakeholders, and to hold myself accountable to deadlines as I worked through the engineering design process. Through FURI, the GCSP Research Stipend, and the Gore Funding Grant, I was given financial support and mentorship for my research, where I have gained research skills that will be crucial to my ability to investigate and solve a problem both in my pursuit of a Ph.D. and future career. My experience travelling to the UK, and in completing the “Energy in the Global Arena” cou rse, has significantly expanded my view of the issues within the field of sustainability. Meeting scientists from other countries who are passionate about the same global issues was both helpful—as it gave m e the skills I need to communicate across cultures and countries—and enlightening—as I gained a perspective of how other communities view and attempt to solve environmental challenges. Bioethics, which I took as completion of the Interdisciplinary requirement, taught me of the ethical issues associated with new technologies. I learned to be considerate of these issues as I work with genetically-engineered microbes in my research—as these are a topic of public concern that must be addressed for industrial biotechnology to be a feasible solution for sustainability. With entrepreneurship courses FSE 301 and IEE 220, I learned how to make my engineering ideas economically feasible, and of the process to take my design from an idea to a business.

The past four years completing my Chemical Engineering degree in the Grand Challenge Scholars Program has both prepared me for my career in engineering, and clarified my career goals. As I worked through the program requirements, I was able to narrow down my interests in sustainability to a single topic with enormous potential for global impact: Industrial Biotechnology. It was in the introductory GCSP course that I discovered my interest in industrial biotechnology—a field which has shaped and will continue to shape my career as I pursue a Ph.D. and strive to apply genetically-engineered biological tools to improve the sustainability of industrial manufacturing.

Beyond the fact that the program gave meaning and unity to my many varied, interdisciplinary experiences in my undergraduate studies, as a Grand Challenge Scholar my commitment to improving global sustainability has led to countless additional opportunities. I have had the opportunity to broaden my understanding of the field of engineering by meeting engineers from around the world when I was funded to attend the 2nd Global Grand Challenges Summit in Beijing, China, and, recently, I met and networked with engineers from across the country when I served on a student panel at the National Academy of Engineering’s GCSP Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

In other words—my time in the ASU G rand Challenge Scholars Program has helped me to discover my interests, and taught me to be a well-rounded engineer—capable of looking at my work from the point of view of others, and able to consider a technology, tool, or inv ention from a cradle-to-grave perspective, so that I can conscientiously engineer lasting solutions to the challenges our world faces.