What makes you a Difference Maker?
My parents are the ones who fundamentally shaped my quality as a difference maker, and always being exceptionally good and aiming for nothing less than excellence in everything I decide to do. Growing up in a family full of love and support, not only I was able to excel and stand out since I was a little kid, but also have continuously and persistently been able to inspire everyone that surrounds me, to create a better version of themselves, to improve every day, and to aim and work toward a better community with people that follow their dreams, work hard toward them, and never give up. Whoever is part of my ‘team’, set goals, and without any doubt pushes themselves hard toward achieving them.
“Devil lies in the details,” and I strongly believe that the key factor behind the increasing curiosity, inspiration, and determination for continuous self-development, professionally and personally, through any kind of experiences, resources, already achieved goals and problems faced during the way, is the inner voice within anyone of us, and the moto of giving extreme importance and not underestimating every single detail.
I had the chance to realize when I was about 11 years old that I was talented in Math. My uncle, who was one of the best Researchers & Professors of Mathematics in Albania, was the one that inspired me and also the first one to notice my talent. Since then, I had a tremendous increase in my curiosity of knowing behind any boundaries of the class grades. This increasing inspiration to learn more and beyond the limits got me also passionate about physics, further enhancing my logistics, patience, and eagerness to get into the unknown. This curiosity never stopped and led me to the path of programming and engineering, which I enjoy doing nowadays, as it utilizes my inner passions and logistics since I was a kid. I want to be for others the same as my uncle was for me.
I want to ‘trigger’ curiosity in others, help them discover who they are, inspire, motivate, and push them toward working hard, such that the ‘impossible’ always becomes ‘real’. I believe I have successfully done this up to now, but I have not even started yet!
Tell us about your leadership experience.
I believe my strong leadership skills are mostly driven by the desire for anyone around me to achieve nothing but excellent results in everything they try to do. I have consistently shown this since I was a little kid. When in 6th grade, I used to learn Mathematical, Physics, and Science Concepts and Problems of 9th Grader. Being always steps ahead of my classmates/teammates, I have been the one they come to ask in case of questions or need for advice. In High School, my teachers called me “Professor”, because of my passion and determination to help anyone to do well, and am exceptionally good at it.
This certainly continued when I came to UM-Dearborn. Driven toward achieving excellent results, but also prioritizing helping my classmates to do the same, I was recruited by Prof. Alan Wiggins from the Department of Mathematics as a Teaching Assistant for Linear Algebra, as well as recommended by him as a Math Learning Center tutor, right after my first semester on UM-Dearborn.
Boiling things down to the fundamentals, details, and explaining everything up from there, did not only impact the students’ grade results, but also inspired them to get to love Mathematics, and changed their way of thinking on how to approach a problem solution, beyond the subject. Everything done with passion and love will certainly inspire! Due to this determined and passionate work as a TA and Tutor, in which I worked for 3 semesters, I was awarded Math Mentor Certificates for 2 consecutive years.
Most importantly, I have always been chosen as the team leader in the laboratory works and projects for ECE Department Classes, due to my passion, dedication, desire, and inspiration to consistently push the team and myself toward choosing to overcome challenges that lead to self-improvement and future desire for learning, and strengthening our skills, and certainly, to achieve excellent results.
What is your dream career or goal?
I want to change the world, and make it a better place by targeting problems that will define the sustainability and quality of future life here on our planet, and beyond. For that reason, I want my current knowledge and experience to further expand both in Academic and Industry directions with the following significant focuses: Machine Learning/AI, Automotive/Space, Sustainable Energy, Quantum Technology! “Know more every day that you knew the day before and ease the suffering of others!” Indeed, knowledge is the key, and I will passionately strive to utilize my knowledge to give solutions to problems that most do not even try to deal with and will certainly and continuously inspire others around me to do the same! For me, there is never an ending; it is always the beginning!
What is your most defining moment?
It is definitely not ‘one’, but the whole journey. However, I am pointing out 2 of them here:
I would start with the moment that I was recruited for the Quantum Technology Research from Prof. Lu Wei (ECE Department), which incorporated my inner passions as a kid for Mathematics and Physics, with the current skills, knowledge, experience, and desire for algorithms and programming. This was an amazing combo, which resulted in more than 2 years of intense research, the results of which will be published soon. As an Undergraduate, I am thrilled about this publication, as it officially marks my first publication (paper’s author). The unknowns of Quantum Mechanics and the Quantum world, and the future impact that this will have in the area of Quantum Computing and the enhancement of technology, boosting healthcare, energy, finance, security, is something I am more than excited to continue to learn about even in the future!
Secondly, I would like to point out the journey throughout the Senior Design Project, which is not a typical class. In fact, it is the perfect example of how industry projects work. Being a team leader and leading the team toward all the phases of a project, consecutive presentations, documentation, and milestones to be hit in order to successfully complete it was a great experience: starting with the concept, and requirement specification, High & Low-Level Design, Implementation, Testing/Validation and demonstration results at the end.
If the 2 years as a Quantum Technology Researcher prepared me extremely well on how to conduct and document future research when in my Ph.D. studies, the Senior Design project better strengthen and shaped my leadership skills, and again, proved that I can indeed make the difference by inspiring and leading me and my team throughout the whole process of an Industrial Project, resulting in an excellent deliverable product, as well as detailed documentation at the end.
Ultimately, not only the above-mentioned experiences, but every experience and challenge to come, which will shape and enhance my professional and interpersonal skills, and allow for personal development, will be an important factor in defining and strengthening me as an Engineer, Researcher, and a Leader!