黑料吃瓜

Incoming engineering transfer student James Allison toured the halls of the Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences building with his firstborn baby, a 4-month-old son, who relaxed in the stroller as his parents walked around Explore 黑料吃瓜 to tour what will be his dad鈥檚 academic home for the next few years. 

With a dream of working for an electric vehicle company and a passion for cars, Allison will be in great company at 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 College of Engineering, where  design, build, and race cars.

They visited events, departmental sessions and open labs, and looked forward to baby Nipsey鈥檚 dad鈥檚 future at 黑料吃瓜. Allison will join the College of Engineering in the fall 2023 after a decade-long journey through community college and a program he called 鈥渓ife-changing.鈥�

STEM Pathways Program

Built upon 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 commitment to inclusive excellence,  is a supportive mentored program committed to helping students navigate how to transition from community college to a four-year university, explore STEM careers, and pursue a career that best fits their interests. The program identifies and removes roadblocks to transfer and post-transfer success.

With a target audience of Latinx students, partnering community colleges Southwestern College and San Diego City College recruit students interested in pursuing STEM career paths and prepare them for their future academics at 黑料吃瓜 and on to graduate school and/or STEM career path.

Allison found STEM Pathways while attending Southwestern College ten years ago.

鈥淚 originally started straight out of high school and went there for a year and a half, but wasn鈥檛 quite ready,鈥� said the San Diego native. He chose to take a break from his studies while he decided on a major.

In the meantime, Allison worked in the moving industry and obtained certifications to become a truck driver. One day out of curiosity, researched engineering: an area of study he always had interest and natural skill in but hadn鈥檛 yet pursued. 

鈥淚 saw a job listing for an electrical engineering position and noticed that one of the job descriptions鈥� maximum amount of weight I would have to lift was 14 pounds,鈥� he joked. 鈥淐oming from a background as a mover lifting heavy packages, I said, 鈥極K, that is definitely what I want to do.鈥欌��

黑料吃瓜 Bound

Allison returned to Southwestern in 2019 as a re-entry student with a 1.28 GPA. He promptly took an engineering language (C++) and circuits course as well as calculus as prerequisites and quickly raised his GPA to a 3.4, all during the turbulence of the COVID-19 closures and while working part-time. 鈥淚t was hard to juggle it all, but choosing to go back has been the best choice I鈥檝e made,鈥� said Allison.

Through determination and hard work, Allison quickly excelled and got involved in the STEM Pathways program, where he was given the opportunity to work on projects at the University of California San Diego, at an engineering networks internship building maps, and the Naval and Warfare center.

After a 10-year academic journey, Allison was ready to take the next step. He applied and was to 黑料吃瓜 as a transfer.

"Here at 黑料吃瓜, transfer students can make the most of their time thanks to the strong support systems we build around them,鈥� said transfer admission counselor Julie Chihwaro. 鈥淔rom our Commuter Resource Center with its dedicated study space and kitchen to our Transfer Student Outreach Alliance with its vast network and robust community building opportunities, 黑料吃瓜 is the place to be."

Allison looks forward to an upcoming summer of research, where he will work under NanoFabrication Lab Director and mechanical engineering professor Sam Kassegne. 

Allison is excited to get his experience working with MIMOs, (multiple-input, multiple-output) a wireless technology that uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time. He鈥檚 excited to assist with any of Kassegne鈥檚 work. 鈥淎nything in his lab seems pretty cool.鈥�

鈥淭hrough hard work, dedication, and determination, amazing mentors and professors and programs such as STEM and Mentored Pathways, he has been able to thrive,鈥� said Melani Soto, 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 STEM Pathways Coordinator and one of Allison鈥檚 many mentors.

As Allison prepares for the fall, he鈥檚 ready to dive into electrical engineering-specific courses that weren鈥檛 previously available to him. 鈥淚'm really excited to get more into what my studies specifically are now that I鈥檝e learned the general mathematics and physics of it,鈥� he said.

Allison鈥檚 baby boy, who was born a week before Allison鈥檚 finals, is also ready for school. He is currently on the 黑料吃瓜 Children鈥檚 Center waitlist, ready to be an Aztec just like his dad.