Savannah Sperry
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With the school year coming to a close, spring commencement is fast approaching and graduating seniors are preparing to say their final goodbyes to their college careers.
Soon-to-be graduates of each of the six academic colleges shared their plans and college experiences.
College of Science and Mathematics: George Brusch
At age 29, married and with a baby on the way, biological sciences senior George Brusch hasn’t followed the typical path to graduation.
As a first-generation college student, Brusch struggled academically when he first came to Cal Poly as a freshman in 2003 — that’s when he met his wife.
Brusch referred to himself as a “classic first-generation college student” his first time around.
“I had to support myself financially, and seeing how much it costs, my grades were slipping, so I lost any kind of scholarships,” he said. “Everyone from my hometown became a mechanic or joined the military. I was spending all of this money for something that didn’t seem like it meant anything, and so I left and just started landscaping, and I did that for six or seven years.”
Brusch became restless working as a landscaper and wanted pursue something more meaningful.
“I figured I’d give it another shot and just get a degree,” he said. “I was never officially kicked out, even though I had, like, a 1.4 GPA or something ridiculous. I just left on my own. In 2011, I basically asked Cal Poly, ‘Will you take me back?’ and I was a forestry major again.”
He then realized his passion for biology, and switched his major to biological sciences. Since being readmitted, Brusch has been on the Dean’s List seven out of eight quarters and has first-authored a scientific manuscript about the thermal tolerance of lizards.
Brusch conducted his research in Costa Rica through the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Brusch also co-authored two more scientific papers with a graduate student. The first looked at long-distance translocation of rattlesnakes, Brusch said. They are currently working on another paper related to rattlesnakes.
“We’re cutting this gland out of rattlesnakes, because they sense pheromones — that’s how they bite something, they follow the pheromone trail,” Brusch said. “We were manipulating that and seeing how that affected their movements.”
Brusch will pursue a Ph.D. at Arizona State University in the fall. He was awarded a highly competitive graduate research fellowship from the NSF, which will help support up to three years of his Ph.D. program.
“It allows me to just focus on my research,” Brusch said. “I applied for physiology and was one out of six who got the grant, and I wouldn’t have gotten it if it weren’t for Cal Poly. It took me 11 years, but it’s better late than never.”
College of Engineering: Tanner Stevenson
Biomedical engineering senior Tanner Stevenson was recognized as the College of Engineering’s top graduating senior for academic excellence this year.
Stevenson also took on leadership roles with the Cal Poly triathlon team, including that of bike coach, volunteer coordinator and apparel coordinator, and he designed the team’s race suits and shirts.
For his senior design project, Stevenson worked on a three-person multidisciplinary team to develop a traumatic brain injury detection device.
“The goal was to make a military field-use quantitative device to diagnose traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs,” he said.
Stevenson said that today, many tests for TBIs are qualitative assessments that are difficult to put into numbers. These types of tests involve psychologists observing patients for forgetful behaviors.
“The premise was there’s a lot of research in biomarkers correlating with TBI severity,” he said. “Biomarkers are just stuff that’s in your blood that would indicate a TBI. So what we’re looking at is developing a machine that can perform that lab protocol for measuring that biomarker semi-automatically.”
However, this doesn’t involve military field usage, which was one of the goals of the project. To combat this issue, Stevenson and his team have implemented a second part to the solution.
“It’s a sensor that goes inside their helmets, which will trip at different accelerations or forces of the head and indicate whether or not there’s a potential TBI,” he said. “And so that would be the in-field use, and if the sensor is tripped, the soldier would be sent back to the field hospital.”
In 2012, Stevenson took fall quarter off to do a six-month co-op at Sadra Medical/Boston Scientific, a biomedical engineering company that develops heart valves in Los Gatos, Calif.
There, Stevenson created an Excel spreadsheet program that automated one of the company’s tedious manufacturing line processes.
Stevenson is hoping to go back to work for Sadra Medical/Boston Scientific after graduation in September. After working for two years, he would like to go to graduate school to earn his Ph.D. in neuroscience.
College of Architecture & Environmental Design: Cameron Hempstead
When she was 13, architecture senior Cameron Hempstead knew she belonged at Cal Poly.
Now in her fifth year, Hempstead has started working on a project in Bukhubalo, Uganda.
“My project is basically everything from a secondary school and tertiary school: a medical center, housing, a cultural center and amenities,” Hempstead said. “You’d go there to take a class, or you’d go there for school, or you’d go there to get medical treatment, or you’d go there to watch a performance, or learn about an instrument or dance.”
The site rests on 16 acres of land. Six of those acres will be preserved for agricultural purposes, while the other 10 acres will be left for building. The compound will come to be 35,000 square feet total.
Her client, Stefano Mahande, grew up in a small Ugandan village similar to Bukhubalo, and was able to become an electrical engineer by obtaining scholarships.
According to Hempstead, the Ugandan government pays for four children per family to go to primary school, though the average birth rate is six children per Ugandan woman.
Secondary school is another story.
“The government doesn’t pay for anything for secondary school,” she said. “So there becomes a huge drop from primary school enrollment to secondary school enrollment — it drops down to 16 percent enrollment from around 100 percent.”
Hempstead’s facility will house approximately 500 students to start and will expand to accommodate up to 1,000 students.
This past January, Hempstead visited the compound’s build site. Though she has completed the preliminary groundwork for the project, the final product will not be built for several years.
“There’s going to be more design work done and more engineering work and a lot more consultants are going to need to be brought on board for this to actually be completed,” she said. “The first step is there, right now it’s just in the design stage.”
The project has yet to be funded, but Hempstead hopes both government entities as well as private benefactors will financially back the project.
In mid-July, Hempstead will begin work full-time at HGA Architects and Engineers in San Francisco.
College of Liberal Arts: Jenna Davis
Communication studies senior Jenna Davis was a co-winner of the University Academic Excellence Award in the College of Liberal Arts.
She was originally recruited to Cal Poly to run track and field, and eventually became a team captain.
Davis found her niche within communication studies by blending her academic ambitions with her passion for athletics.
“With the help of professors and additional classes, I’ve been able to specifically focus in on what I want to do, which is sports marketing,” Davis said. “I was able to craft my own specialized little niche of the department.”
Davis explored the professional world of sports marketing with an internship with Adidas last summer.
“I interned last summer in Portland, where Adidas is based, and I worked with the marketing team for the running department,” Davis said. “I was focused specifically on figuring out how Adidas can better resonate with a high school and college female athlete, which is kind of perfect for me.”
Davis conducted her own research and presented product and brand-marketing proposal plans to key designers and department heads of Adidas.
Since last summer, Davis has continued her work with Adidas remotely, working as a consultant with the company’s innovation team.
Davis’ plans for the future, however, have yet to be confirmed.
“I have the opportunity to continue my work with Adidas, so I’ll either do that or find something in Southern California,” she said. “I’m also looking into grad school. I’m not sure if I’m going to do it, but I would potentially like to go back and get my MBA.”
Orfalea College of Business: David Albrecht
Business administration senior David Albrecht’s interest in business bloomed while living in Tenaya, surrounded by other business administration students. He was encouraged by the people he’d be working with.
Since moving out of the residence hall, Albrecht has found himself interested in cross-disciplinary projects and was able to teach a course on campus last year.
“I taught my own class for Advanced Corporate Finance,” he said. “One of the professors brought me in and he asked me to teach their evaluation project that I did the quarter before, and that was awesome.”
Albrecht has been continually involved in both academic and campus life at Cal Poly. He has been in the Honors program and was a treasurer last year, as well as being a Week of Welcome leader. He also spent a quarter abroad in Australia, exploring the fields of agricultural business and wine and viticulture.
In August, Albrecht will begin working at the multi-national accounting firm Ernst & Young doing risk advisory, he said.
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences: Chandler Wilson
When agricultural systems management senior Chandler Wilson came to Cal Poly, he immediately got involved with agriculture department clubs, including the Agricultural Engineering Society (AES) and the Poly Royal Tractor Pull.
He took on the role of agriculture counselor representative the following year, became more involved in the college council and ran for the Board of Directors. In his fourth year, Wilson was appointed the Agriculture Council president.
Wilson has also been involved in Cal Poly Western Bonanza — a livestock show — and Alpha Zeta, the honorary fraternity for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
After graduation, Wilson plans to move to Napa, Calif. and work for Barbour Vineyards, a vineyard management company.