I grew up in Mumbai, India to a typical middle-class family, however, I was very lucky to be born with two engineering parents. My education, like that of many others, started in the traditional classroom environment at a government school — a world filled with textbooks, lectures, and theoretical knowledge. I was taught the fundamental concepts of engineering, but something was missing. I felt disconnected from the real-world applications of what I was learning. The concepts felt abstract, and I couldn't see how they truly fit together to build something tangible.

It wasn’t until I came to United States to pursue my Masters and Ph.D., that I stepped into the labs and started working on hands-on projects that engineering truly came to life for me. The first time I held a piece of equipment in my hands, soldered components onto a circuit board, or tested a design — that was when I really understood what engineering was all about. It was in the labs, surrounded by tools and prototypes, that I began to see the theory from my textbooks transform into reality. I realized that the formulas and equations I had been memorizing had a purpose, and that purpose was to solve real-world problems.

The hands-on experience ignited a passion I hadn’t known existed. I started to appreciate the trial-and-error process of designing, building, testing, and improving. Each failure was a valuable lesson, and every successful project gave me a sense of accomplishment I had never felt before.

Looking back, I realize that my true engineering education began the moment I moved from the classroom to the lab. Theoretical knowledge will always have its place, but it’s through hands-on experience that I truly learned how to think like an engineer, problem-solve in real-time, and create meaningful solutions. That journey from textbooks to practical, real-world engineering has shaped who I am today, and it's why I am so passionate about helping the next generation of engineers learn through doing.