Engineering Spotlight
Dorian Gangloff
In Dorian's words, his co-curricular involvements "made my education a whole."
His desire to pursue a degree in both Science and Engineering led him to transfer from the University of Victoria to UBC, where he now studies in the Electrical Option of the Engineering Physics program.
"Expanding your horizons...having more than midterms, and partaking in the campus dynamics in any facet that you can think of is an integral part of your education, and is something I would recommend to every single student who enters university," says Dorian.
Dorian is deeply involved in Engineering Physics. As President of the Engineering Physics Student Society this past year, and on the council since 2006, Dorian has improved networking possibilities within the organization, and coordinated social and academic events among the 250 Engineering Physics students. Furthermore, he has co-organized a research seminar series for students in Engineering, inviting researchers from UBC as well as industry in Vancouver
Dorian helps coordinate a tutoring program for first-year Engineering students and teaches several exam-preparation lectures to answer any questions they might have.
"This is university, to me, it is far more than class...it is the whole thing," says Dorian.
Through his involvement in co-curricular student leadership, Dorian has been able to apply the knowledge he acquires in the classroom. For example in 2007, he stewarded the Engineering Physics entry in the annual Engineering Ball Model Competition. The entry involved building a robot that could paint a stylized portrait onto a large plain surface; it was showcased at the annual Engineering Ball and even helped raise money for Engineers Without Borders.
Through the co-op program, Dorian gained placements in his related field, two of which were at University of Ottawa as a research assistant and in Germany as an electrical engineering apprentice. At University of Ottawa, Dorian conducted his own research which resulted in his co-authoring a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The goal of his project was to verify whether a recently-proposed theory for synaptic plasticity (which underlies memory and learning) held up to the inclusion of more biophysical detail, namely the inclusion of noise (stochastic effects). His work consisted of researching mathematical models of synapses from the neuroscience literature and modifying them to incorporate stochasticity. As a result of his excellent work during these placements, Dorian was awarded the UBC Science Co-op Award for 2008, and the provincial Association for Co-operative Education Student of the Year Award.
Dorian's high academic standing has earned him a number of scholarships, as well as a place on the Dean's Honour list from 2006-2008. Furthermore, in 2008 he was also selected among 400 applicants to present his research in the inaugural Rising Stars of Research Poster Competition; he received an Honourable mention for his poster presentation.
Following his graduation from UBC, Dorian hopes to attend graduate school with the goal of pursuing a future in academia; the flexibility for creative research and academic freedom are quite appealing to him.
"I really like the university environment because it's multi-faceted; you interact with professors from other disciplines and with students, which is very important," says Dorian.
