Azat Suleimenov

Azat is studying at Boston University’s Mechanical Engineering doctorate program. In 2014, a fresh graduate of Nazarbayev University, he won the Shakhmardan Yessenov Foundation’s grant and the future engineer did his research at a well-known Caltech under the supervision of Professor G. Jeffrey Snyder.

1. Why did you choose this specialty at the university?
I always had an interest in natural sciences, and an engineer can apply their knowledge to build something new and better. Great opportunities open up before engineers. By continuing my education, every day I learn something new and gain more and more knowledge that will certainly facilitate my future work and will definitely make it more productive. I want to be an engineer because when you apply your knowledge, you’re trying to build something new and useful for the whole humanity.

2. Anything memorable from your internship in the US?
It was my ever first trip to the US. I got to meet many interesting people from Sri Lanka, Germany, Mexico and other countries. Also, there were guest lectures by Nobel laureates at our University that we attended. I got to interact with my peers who just like me came to Caltech for a summer internship. And in the spare time I visited what I’d recall as the most interesting, other cities of the States as New York, San Diego and Washington.

3. The outcomes of the internship for you personally and what are your plans after completing Ph.D?
I am sure that the summer internship played an important role for my admission to an American University. The experience I gained at Caltech was very useful to me especially at the interviews with the admission boards of the universities I applied to.  And here I am, studying the Ph.D program. Just recently, I have passed the qualifying exam for Ph.D. So I’d say go ahead, challenge yourself and gain experience. Simply by trying something you can understand whether you want to pursue it in your life or not. I plan to stay in the industry, find a job in engineering or computer sciences and become a real engineer.