Hikaru

What is your passion?

I’m passionate about technology and how it can better our lives. I find quantum computing and bio-engineering to be really interesting because they have the most potential to contribute something great to the world.

How did your desire to learn about computation and engineering manifest itself into your passion?

When I was little I wanted to improve things. I would take my Legos, piece by piece, and build things with them. They were manual at first, very basic. But, eventually, I began to make my own creations. They were pretty cool and innovative for a kid.

You’re about to graduate high school, that’s a big deal. So with that in mind, where do see yourself going with your passions? Engineering and computation, both very impressive feats.

In the fall I will be attending University of California, Irvine, pursuing a degree in computer engineering. I want to ultimately own my own business that focuses on bio-engineering, mass producing prosthetic limbs via 3-D printing. The implementation of 3-D printing is even more desirable when that ability to personalize each desired prosthetic limb is added.

People are whimsical. You don’t always know what they’re going to do, how they’re going to do things. What, if possible, do you think would make people open up about their stories?

People are unpredictable. Sharing their stories would depend on their personality and their comfort. They need to feel comfortable with you. It also depends what part of their story you’re wanting to learn about.

People struggle with self-expression, it’s something they’re not used to doing. How do you express yourself?

If I were to give myself a word to express myself, it would be “smart.” I suppose I’m the nerdy type. There are a lot of positive assumptions that go along with people assuming you know everything. But along those positive assumptions there are downsides. There’s this pressure given to you. Its pressure you have in order to keep up with the expectations.

Any advice you would like people to know, learning the ropes type of thing?

You need to balance things out and spend more time on the things you don’t like. Like with homework it sucks but you have to do it so you can get better at the things you do like.