Meet David Tian!
David Tian is a Sophomore at Rutgers New Brunswick from Woodbridge, New Jersey. He’s majoring in Comp Science and minoring in Chemistry. David is in the Honors College, a member of the Computer Science Club USACS, participates in hackathons (HackRU), and a member of the AIAA – American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also works at the HC Makerspace and interned at Wakefern (the parent company of Shoprite) as a software developer. He enjoys cycling and longboarding.
1. Why did you choose Rutgers?
Rutgers is close to home and inexpensive to attend. It was also the most practical choice at the time and now I feel like I made a great decision. Because of Rutgers, I made a lot of friends at HC. There’s also a lot of things to see and a lot of places to explore. Rutgers has a great emphasis on career development, so career services is always encouraging to build your resume and network with your employers. Taking that into consideration, Rutgers is probably why I got my internship with Wakefern last summer.
2. Why did you choose to major in Computer Science and minor in Chemistry?
I got into Computer Science in high school. I was very interested in engineering and technology and figuring out how things worked. It’s encouraging to write a program and see it work, and if it doesn’t work, going back and fixing it. I also did very well in biology and chemistry in high school so I thought about being pre-med. However, I realized that I didn’t want to pursue it, so I got more into chemistry. I’d like to pursue both of these in the future.
3. Which is the best spot for swiping your card at Rutgers?
The Rock or Woody’s – because I can get whatever I want. I usually get a burger, typically one with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. I usually get a Sweet tea on the side. And if I have any leftover money for the swipe, I just take whatever available snack, like cookies, chips, or yogurt cups to use up the remaining cash.
4. Tell me more about AIAA.
This year, I became the manager for the Air Drop Task Team. We’ve been building a lot of test planes and teaching new members techniques and how to properly use tools. It’s a lot of effort to keep people interested while also making sure they know the technical details. We’ll soon be designing the mechanism for releasing a bottle from a plane and impact proofing it. There are other divisions too, such as one that is building a plane from scratch and another that races quadcopters.
Engineers always have crazy ideas. One of the guys even has a fire extinguisher in their car, which says a lot about the type of shenanigans and projects we start and get involved in. It’s a lot of fun. Anyone is welcome to AIAA who is interested and wants to get involved- we’re happy to teach them.
5. If you were to be a candy what would you be and why?
I would definitely be a Twix bar. It’s my favorite candy. Their cookie interiors are structurally sound but the caramel is soft and chewy – a bit of everything.