Aidan N. (IN A NUTSHELL)

Hi! I'm Aidan, a student at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in Los Angeles. I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and I grew up as a lover of both art and science. While other students at my high school would play football, I would spend my time in the art studios, practicing painting, photography, filmmaking, and 2D design. This is where I really fell in love with art and began to consider its applications to science. My school experience has made me a design-thinker, and it is most definitely a skill that I would instill in any of my mentees. I went to a small, Catholic middle school where church was expected to be attended at least twice a week. This strict schedule has made me a more understanding and open-minded teacher and listener on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, and other social demographics because I felt the lack of understanding in my education. For college, I left Nashville to head to the west coast to study engineering at the University of Southern California. There I pursued my interests in climate change technology, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and filmmaking. I was awarded a merit scholarship to attend USC, and since then I've worked on science projects like building devices to mitigate climate change in healthcare, as well as creative projects like shooting photos for National Geographic's magazine. I recently was admitted to Stanford to do a master's degree in environmental engineering. I also took up rock climbing, skiing, surfing, and hiking. My favorite thing to do in my free time is explore. I'm constantly asking my friends to go to Yosemite with me, and I love to explore the Los Angeles area on the weekends. I am notorious for going off the groomed path when I go skiing, and I just love to get lost in nature. My favorite book is The Elephant Vanishes, by Haruki Murakami, and I also have one other strange hobby: I make my own perfumes! I got really into it over COVID-19's peak, and I have made hundreds of fragrances for my family and friends, and plan to launch a business soon. The most important thing I care about as a mentor is establishing a personal relationship with my student. My goal is to have my students reach out, after our sessions, to either ask to learn more, or to set up more time to chat and learn about each other. I not only want to help other students learn, but I want to provide them the guidance in their careers that I did not have, so that they can not only be successful, but be successful doing the things that they are truly passionate about.