Hey guys!

My name is Sarah — I’m a senior from Duncan College, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Engineering Design. Definitely a *unconventional* combination, but I’ve had a lot of fun these past three and a half years with it, and intend to finish out strong 🙂

The one thing I’ve made that always makes me smile requires a bit of a backstory. I grew up in the Silicon Valley in California, where around me everyone and their mother is an engineer. Rebellious teen that I was, I decided I would not major in engineering, instead opting for psychology and people-oriented studies. But I’ve always liked making up-cycled designs from random household objects, starting with this uber-simple, index-card-and-tape design I came up with to hold glasses in freshman year of high school:

I’ve made one for every room I’ve lived in. Here is my current contraption, next to my Duncan College shrine.

My family likes to point to the version of this I have in my room at home as proof that “engineering design is in my blood.” After taking ENGI classes at Rice and surprising myself with how much I enjoyed them, I learned to embrace this.

Team Camerrocket, my Freshman Design team (complete with a classic eyes-closed Josh), the best decision I made freshman year.

This semester, I definitely want to learn more about 3D printing, as I feel like my theoretical knowledge of it is good but I’ve never gotten a chance to apply it. To borrow Dr. Wettergreen’s analogy from today, I’ve read all the books on driving, I know which pedal is the brake and which pedal is the gas, but I haven’t actually gotten behind the wheel yet. While I do want to maintain my signature “scrappiness” (index cards, paper towel rolls, twist ties, and tape will forever be in my heart), learning how to 3D print will open up so many more doors for the things I envision and create.

Outside of academics, I’m really active in the world of Rice Admission, working as the co-chair of our tour guide program as well as an intern for the Marketing and Communications team within the Office of Admission. I was also a senior interviewer in the fall. Between all of these things, I spend maybe 75% of my time thinking about prospective students and finding ways we can all stay engaged. I want to go into admissions after graduation, and while there isn’t a 1:1 translation of skills between Engineering Design and college admissions, I will definitely be bringing the problem-solving skills I developed and the “scrappiness” mentality I’ve cultivated to my future career path!

P.S.: one instance where my EDES minor and my Admissions engagements directly intersected was when I recorded the official virtual OEDK tour!