Career Center – Plan after college
Graduating Students: Share your career plan after college. All respondents will be entered into a drawing for 1 of (20) $50 gift cards!
Magazine – Hot off the press
Excited to unveil the latest issue of our College of Engineering magazine! Explore out-of-this-world research to see where the next-generation aerospace engineers will take us as we aim for the stars. Read the full story now!
Student Profile – Tida Ngov
Tida Ngov is a remarkable young person on a mission to make a difference in the world. A third-year biomedical engineering student at SJSU College of Engineering, Tida’s values are laudable due to their deep commitment to giving back to their loved ones and the community.
As the first in their immigrant family to attend college, Tida’s drive to succeed is fueled by a desire to not only better their own life but also support those who have sacrificed so much for them. Their interest in healthcare stems from a combination of their love for science and their role as a caretaker within their family from a young age. This exposure to the medical field ignited a passion for using their skills to create positive change in people’s lives.
Tida’s choice of biomedical engineering perfectly aligns with their desire to work at the intersection of science and medicine. It allows them to combine their love for hands-on work and scientific curiosity. Their double minor in biology and Asian American studies further reflects their well-rounded approach. The biology minor strengthens their scientific foundation, while Asian American studies allow them to explore their cultural identity and develop a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by their community.
Outside academia, they participate actively in BMES and BMEidea, student organizations that support biomedical engineering students and offer industry experience. They also interned at Asian Health Services, a facility where their family has received care before. Through the internship, they gained invaluable insights into community-based healthcare and advocacy for marginalized populations.
After graduating, Tida plans on taking a gap year to prepare for medical school to achieve their dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. Their motivation for this is their grandmother, who suffered a brain aneurysm and had to undergo multiple brain surgeries. However, their ultimate goal is to work on healthcare policy and advocate for underserved communities, who are overlooked in the healthcare system.
Tida’s journey hasn’t been without its challenges. As an openly queer individual from an immigrant background, they have encountered moments of doubt and insecurity, in particular thinking that what they do in the end won’t matter, because they don’t fit into society’s norms. Yet they overcame these challenges by reaffirming their commitments to the community and knowing that who you are is enough.
Their advice to their freshman self is “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and do things that you may not have done before, or might be scared of doing. And remember to be kinder to yourself, it’ll all work out in the end.” Trust the process that you will be where you needed in the end and move through the obstacles that life will throw at you.
SJSU Engineering Students Triumph at UC Davis Hackathon!
The first competitive Hackathon was held recently at UC Davis in California. SJSU engineering students Sai Naveen Chanumolu, Harsh Raj, Jeripothula Sai, Anuraghav Savadam, and Suhaas Teja Vijjagiri were among the over 800 competitors that participated in the event. The team of four SJSU engineering students won Best Interactive Media Hack for their Mātrā Artificial Intelligence (AI) project.
Mātrā AI helps non-native bilingual children enhance their English speaking skills by not just allowing them to listen and read, but also interacting with stories. The application gives complete audio feedback by highlighting which words were pronounced incorrectly and teaches children how it should be correctly enunciated.
Mātrā AI was developed into a full-scale application in a sleepless 24-hour period using React, Flask, APIs from OpenAI, Speechace, ElevenLabs, and Supabase for data storage. Heroku hosted the application and made it accessible through the team’s .tech domain. To learn more about project Mātrā AI check out the team’s website.
MESA End-of-Year Banquet
Thank you to all the students, families, staff, faculty, and company partners who attended MESA’s End of Year Banquet last week on Wednesday, May 8th. We all came together as a community to celebrate our year together and recognize the great work that our students, program, and diversity organizations have been doing. Congratulations to all of the graduating seniors, we will miss you and we wish you good luck with your endeavors!
Driverless Cars – Prof Ahmed Banafa
Even as driverless cars become more common throughout San Francisco, people still tend to stop and stare. But soon, spotting a vehicle at an intersection with no one at the wheel could become a more regular occurrence beyond city limits.