Igor was drawn to engineering because he likes to solve problems. “Right now I’m doing a project in modular robotics. Robotics is usually very specialized, but modular robotics takes a different approach, more of a cellular model where all parts work together,” he says. “Also, most of the autonomous systems developed are too expensive to actually implement—we’re trying to make them cheaper to manufacture and easier to use instead of them just being cool.”
Igor chose Cornell for its strong engineering program, but also, like many of his peers, for the other classes that are both available and required for engineering majors. “I’m taking a class in cryptology, for example. It’s a math class focused on numbers theory, very different than math classes for engineering, where whatever you learn you just apply,” he says. “I took Psychology of Language, also a very interesting class. Next semester I’m taking History of Rock.” Igor advises incoming freshmen to take full advantage of classes outside the engineering department. “Check ’em out,” he says. “You’ll have to take a lot of engineering classes either way.”
Igor intends to work for a couple of years after he graduates from Cornell, then either go on for a Ph.D. or an M.B.A. “Next summer I do an internship for GE in their locomotion department, so I’ll see what the real world of engineering is like,” he says.
“Cornell is actually a lot less cut-throat than my high school [Stuyvesant High School in New York City],” Igor observes. “People here are very willing to work together, willing to help.” For example, Igor has worked on team projects in several classes. “That was fun even if we had to stay up all night writing the paper or manufacturing a rock crusher or building a sumo-wrestler robot,” he says.
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