Ankit Agarwal – MS Student in Engineering Management

My interaction with computers began at a very early age. I started programming at the age of ten and there has been no looking back since then. Over the years, my passion for computers grew. I come from a family of engineers and doctors, and I knew I wanted to pursue computer engineering when I was in high school. After being admitted to several schools in the United States, I decided to attend the University of Kansas (KU) to study engineering. I found that KU had a high ranking among public schools and was able to provide a cost-effective education.

William Blake - Ph.D. Student in Electrical Engineering

I am a NASA Graduate Student Fellow at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center (STC). I completed my undergraduate work in computer engineering at the University of Kansas and am now pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. I have several interests outside of school, though if you ask me I would say that most things are related to engineering and its applications. I started working at CReSIS because of my interest in the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and I love everything avionics.

Carla Castillo - MS Student in Electrical Engineering

Since I was in high school in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, I knew I wanted to be an engineer. In Bolivia, engineering is not a popular profession for women. Nonetheless, I always loved math and science, and I was able to obtain a scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Kansas. I began working at Sprint Nextel as a network engineer soon after obtaining my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. After working for a year, I realized I still wanted to learn more and take on new challenges. After exploring several options, I realized KU was again the right place for me and decided to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

Adam Cyr - Ph.D. Student in Bioengineering

Hello everyone! My name is Adam Cyr and I am a Ph.D. student in the bioengineering program at the University of Kansas. I am originally from Northern Idaho, and received my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Portland in Oregon. Along with my interest in biomechanics, I love to play sports, run, play music, camp, and hike.

John Domann - MS student in Bioengineering

Growing up in Pennsylvania, many friends questioned my desire to attend the University of Kansas. Raised as a 4th generation Jayhawk, other schools paled in comparison to KU. In the fall of 2004, I started my undergraduate studies in KU’s mechanical engineering program. A short 3 years passed before my senior year began, along with thoughts of where I wanted my future to take me. I had always assumed that after graduation I would move on to a job at an engineering firm. I had worked through multiple summer internships, but I was never quite satisfied with the work I was doing. Most of the thought provoking challenges and rewarding aspects I was looking for were replaced with volumes of standards on everything from HVAC analysis to sizing water pipes and pumps. In short, I was reading instruction manuals, and I wasn’t allowed to find ways of improving the outcomes.

Jodi Gentry - Ph.D. Student in Environmental Engineering

Traditional engineering pedagogy often teaches that the way to solve the problems of the world is simple. You define the boundaries, call it a closed system, apply the laws of conservation, and then arrive at one final solution to which you neatly and succinctly draw a box around and declare to have found “The Answer.” But what happens when the structure of the problem escapes a traditional technical definition, and involves concepts that are difficult to define, such as human nature and the environment? Overlooking the social, environmental, cultural, and ethical considerations to seemingly simple world problems such as sanitation and access to clean water often leads to the introduction of inappropriate technologies in societies that are not prepared to sustainably maintain them. Technology is not always “The Answer,” and focusing on only the technical aspects of a problem often leads to the neglect of some of the most marginalized segments of society, namely those living in developing communities.

Amool Raina - MS Student in Aerospace Engineering

To most people, the sky is the limit. For me, it’s home!

I am pursuing my master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas. After receiving my bachelor’s degree in production engineering, I worked as a project engineer at the Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay, India. After a year and a half of intensive research work at IIT, I decided to pursue a master’s program in aerospace engineering. Out of the many universities that admitted me, I was thrilled by the “practically oriented” research work being undertaken here at KU.

Tiffany Suekama - Ph.D. Student in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

As a child, I never dreamed of being able to create the future. I never thought I would be doing research alongside the best and brightest. That all changed when I started doing research as an undergraduate at Colorado State University. Opportunities continued to open for me when I met a professor at KU who encouraged me to apply to the Ph.D. program in chemical and petroleum engineering. I knew KU was a good fit for me after I witnessed the excitement of KU’s students, faculty, and staff.

Annette Tetmeyer - Ph.D. Student in Computer Science

My first interaction with KU graduate programs was with outstanding faculty who persuaded me to come to KU for graduate study in engineering management. Faculty continued to influence me to pursue my goals, and I’m now a Ph.D. student in computer science.