University at Buffalo (UB)
[Speaker: Ali Al Qaraghuli] So my undergraduate experience here at UB has been extremely diverse, both in terms of diverse in the people I've met, but also diverse academically. I actually switched my major four times. Based on all my experiences, how I come to realize what I want to do is I want to do everything. And for me, the biggest challenge was to find a common platform that combines all my interests. So for me, in this case, in electrical engineering, electronics play a big part of creating new technology and that technology can be transferred and presented in medicine, in space, in all types of industries. One of the bigger reasons I decided to stay and work at UB was meeting Dr. Josep Jornet, who to me is not just a researcher or just a professor, but also a very good team mate, a very good leader, so it's the type of environment where you are spending all your time thinking, brainstorming, coming up with your own creative ideas, you're contributing with your own solutions, to a problem that interests you. The Schomburg Fellowship does mean a lot to me because it rewards me for a lot of my academic background that I've done, but it also highlights the work that I've done outside of the classroom in the Buffalo area. And it feels really nice that your own department has faith in you to give you the funding necessary for you to continue your education.