I'm a mechanical engineering student at Rice University with an interest in rockets and UAVs. Right now I serve as the Assistant Student Director at the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL), where I co-lead the program for students who care about growing as leaders, which is just as essential as growing as an engineer.

On the engineering side, I've gotten into a variety of projects. I'm working on building the world's first edible quadcopter drone, which is exactly as chaotic and fun as it sounds. I also work on sub-teams within Rice Eclipse Rocketry, and I'm the External VP and CAD Lead for Rice's new SolidWorks User Group, where I run bootcamps and training sessions to help members of organizations like FSAE pick up CAD skills and better contribute to their sub-teams.

What drew me to RCEL in the first place was the emphasis on leadership as something you practice, not just talk about. As Assistant Student Director, a big part of my job is making RCEL the go-to community where students have the resources to grow into stronger leaders and engineers. I think good engineering depends on more than technical skill. You also need to know how to work with people who think differently than you, stay steady when things are unclear, and say what you mean. Those are the kinds of skills RCEL pushes its students to build, and I've seen it make a real difference myself.