 Hi, good afternoon. My name is leave and saying I have a first year PhD student at the University of Washington studying electrical computer engineering. So, to give a little bit of background about, you know, my journey to electrical computer engineering, how I kind of gotten to UW, the path to a PhD program. It really all starts, I think at elementary when I first been both in this after school club that was trying to get, you know, low income minority students interested in STEM. And we were able to build things like audio amplifiers FM radios and different different types of circuits really overall. And I think that really sparked my interest in terms of getting started with electronics. Fast forward to the future, I got involved in a program that many of you might be familiar with this running start, and I was taking classes both community college that would count for high school credit. And eventually I transferred to the University of Washington, where I got my bachelor's in science and electrical engineering, and I continued on with the PhD program, which is where I am today. What really interests me about electrical engineering is really the wide scope of how much you can really do with it. If you want to be an electrical engineer, you're not limited to one skill center one focus to be working in power. You could be working in photonics and optics you could be working on computer engineering and computer design. There's a lot of different range of versatility within within this field is something that really attracted me. A lot of times some people might have some doubts or they might have some, some hesitations when it comes to joining a program. And it's just really right for me, am I limiting myself if I choose to go this route. Well, the thing is to choose a field that basically develops a wide range of skills something like electronics or electrical engineering, for example. If you look at the job prospects and the type of work that you can be doing is really, it's really up to you at that point, because you're developing multiple skills and that's really the most important thing. You shouldn't really look at school or university as something that will get you one type of job. We should really be looking at this developing skills and becoming somebody who's really able to learn and navigate different to range. And in doing so you're going to find that you're not going to be limited to one specific job requirement. So what you've got stem is that you're able to do that for a wide different range of fields. And just because you study electrical engineering isn't necessarily mean that's all you have to do that point you've developed some skills and different interests to really go into a wide range of different careers. You'd be surprised to know that there are many people that got their masters in electrical engineering, or they're specializing in a focus or a type of degree, but they're working as patent, patent agents or patent attorneys on the side of law basically. But they're really able to bring that technical edge with them to a field that many might not consider an issue. So like I mentioned I was at running start I was at Highline College before I transferred to the University of Washington as a running start student. I see an extra year to complete some prerequisite classes physics, multi variable calculus, and a circuits class. You know, oftentimes people will see somebody and will be like, Oh, he's so and so as a PhD student or so and so you know transfer to the University of Washington, you know, must have been easy for them right. But oftentimes, you know, you'll find that it's, there's a lot of hurdles and things that you have to kind of get past to get to that point. And it was basically the same for me as well. So at Highline College, like I mentioned I was a running start student. The first quarter things that went really well. I thought that I'd learned the system and adjusted, but I quickly found that, you know, taking the finals for a pre calc one class, not studying for not really preparing for it. That would really be the trigger point that would really be the point for me to after getting that final meeting seeing a tank the final, you know, I have to change these habits right. I have to I have to do something different. If I really want to succeed. I'm not going to stop because I've been so adamant on getting a STEM degree and this is my passion to graduate electrical engineering degree. I knew that that wasn't going to stop me from getting what I was looking for. So there were so many different resources and people that I can't even name because there have been so many things that helped me get to the path that I am today. But things like the math resource center, the Mesa Center really developing that community and finding similar minded people similar interests to study with and work with and struggle with these things really helped me going to office hours as cliche as that sounds. Being able to talk with professors on a deeper level to the material that was being conveyed in class. All of these things really helped me, you know, get to where I am today and, you know, it's good to struggle because this shows you where you can adapt the shows to the world. And if everything, you know, it's easy then everybody would have STEM degrees. Something else that I'd like to mention is getting involved like outside of outside of just academics right to just go home and study and then rinse and repeat. This doesn't really make somebody a well rounded engineer or, you know, academic or whatever it is that you're seeking getting involved with other people in organizations and societies is super helpful in finding people that share similar interests. But, you know, you can also help inspire other communities. Once you get past that point as well. National Society of Black Engineers at Highland was a critical community that really helped me get to where I am finding people that were also black engineers that had different interests. Being able to work with those people was very beneficial. So getting involved, I would say, find people that share similar interests, whether it's like a physics, physics study group or a physics society, you know, or a physics club, a computer science club. All of these things, you know, they can really help, you know, not only find people that have some interest, but it can really develop a sense of community that's going to transcend beyond Highland College. Find people that you can transfer with and take classes with having that kind of community is really, really helpful. There's some things that I wish people had told me when I was a student. You know, when you're in the context of I'm just trying to get my degree I'm trying to work, trying to just kind of get out right sometimes just really easy to relax and just take it easy because assuming that you're in good health and things are well right you really have the rest of your life to work and get these things, at least for many of us right now circumstances are different for different people. So I would say that it's really important to just kind of put things in the context understand that things will work out, and that all you can really do is try your best. If you're not doing that, then that's very different song right, but if you're trying your best, you're putting in the hours and you're staying committed to what it is that you're really trying to see that I can almost guarantee that you're going to the end of the finish line you're going to get there, you're going to find I graduated with my bachelor's in the midst of a global pandemic at that point it's like, I got to find a job immediately I got to figure out what I got to figure out how to, you know, get my degree and graduate get a job immediately and figure out how to get past this right. You fast forward two years and you see that you know, what's the difference between six months or three months looking for a job, or you know networking and trying to develop these different skills. You know, time really flies. You just have to roll with it. You have to roll with this bunch because that's just like. So I would I would advise many of you, not all of you right to put things into that context to try your best to network and connect with people that are going to benefit you're not only at high level people that you'll have his friends beyond. And you just wait and see what it takes you will be successful in your endeavors if you do so. I wish you guys all the best. I'm just one example of many of the people that went from Highline to the university through transferring and without the support of many people, you know, this certainly wouldn't be possible. I wish you guys all the best in your academic endeavors and I hope that I can be a resource for the next generation of STEM scholars.