To the College of Engineering Committee,

To me, engineering is not an end, it is a means by which to contribute a perspective that

appreciates the deep complexity of people and the human condition. It understands how our
identities, based on but not limited to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ability,
within a society impart privilege and oppression. Historically, technology has not only excluded
lenses from marginalized identities such as black, queer, and feminine, but manipulated and
erased them to serve privileged agenda. As engineering is a discipline that serves the betterment
of human experience, it is important to think about the people we are designing for. My
exploration outside of the classroom has been catered towards developing cultural competency
and a critical, intersectional lens on identity and oppression that will inform my engineering
practice.

My privileged identity as an able-body changed early in high school, when I developed chronic
migraines as a result of an injury. Although a barrier in my academic journey, I believe this shift
in my human experience has illuminated understandings that would have been otherwise
inaccessible to me in raw form. I’ve learned to be mindful towards people; because the invisible
nature of my condition limits its perception, I am aware that people come into engagement from
all walks of life, and therefore should be given the space to affirm who they are as they are.

I had the opportunity to further learn and develop my cultural competency skills during my work
experience with The Washington Bus. The Washington Bus, on paper, was a political fellowship
designed to impart the skills necessary to be a community and political organizer. In practice, it
was an intentionally created space for individuals with marginalized identities to come together
and formulate our experiences. We learned from one another self-advocacy skills to be able to
present as our authentic selves, challenge the norms that inhibit us from doing so, and help others
do the same, both individually and systemically. Acknowledging our humanity, especially in the
academic/professional setting, enriches the means by which we learn and produce. It adds
considerations that better serve and nurture both the people working, but also the people we are
working for. What we produce when we come together is all the more accessible and holistic to
people.

I began my journey in the College of Engineering with the bioengineering first-year interest
group in the fall, as bioengineering as a discipline was the most obvious in its positive impact on
people. Through the quarter however, I realized that it was not the medical devices themselves
that attracted me to bioengineering, it was the emphasis placed on universal design. It is
important to me, both from a personal and intellectual standpoint, to center people, in all their
diverse manifestations, from the onset of the design process. This method of thinking is what I
am passionate about.
Tinder. Prior to attending the Honors Grand Challenges event during fall quarter, it was just
another app to facilitate human relations. Now I see it as an app with a history of invalidating
trans womxn as womxn, inadvertently excluding them from this space. The individuals who
wrote the algorithm behind Tinder did not think about trans womxn or those with non-traditional
gender identity, and in that omission there was great societal harm. This was one discussed
example of the intersection of technology, society, and ethics. The experts at this event,
representing various academic and professional disciplines, made it clear that with technology
dominating more and more of our lives, the engineers behind it need to actively advocate and
create space for the BIPOC, the differently abled, the impoverished, the systemically oppressed.

There was a time in my life when I sincerely believed that coding had no relevance to my life,
that it could not help me in my goal to further the world in the way that it values human life.
Then I learned that code is simply another form of language, powerful language, and it is the
message that it conveys that is of relevance to the world. Computer Science & Engineering and
Electrical & Computer Engineering would allow me to help shape that message, so that it serves
not some but all, for what I have learned is that the few left behind are not few at all, and that the
gifts they impart in their diversity and difference is irreplaceable.