STEM Ambitions of a Driven 20-Year Old Engineer in Canada with Shayan Baghshomali

Shayan's Journey: Growing Up in Vancouver and Choosing Engineering Hi everyone, welcome to the 8th episode of Across Stem with YSIA podcast, where we explore how STEM unfolds across countries, cultures, and time. I'm Amir Ali Bonani, your host for today's episode, and I'm so excited to have you join us again. Each conversation here is about more than just STEM, it's about stories, ideas, and the incredible people behind them. Today's episode features a special guest, a long time friend of mine, Cheyenne Bakshimali, currently A at Llangara Llangara College doing the engineering transfer program to UBC, the University of British Columbia. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, he is a student with a strong passion for STEM, a drive to learn and to explore, to excel in everything that he does, all while hitting the gym, creating YouTube videos, and watching Premier League highlights of his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. Cheyenne was one of the founding members of YSI actually, and he helped tremendously in growing the organization, especially in its first days. One of the most curious people I've ever seen. I first met him in Grade 2. He's always up to something new and manages to juggle multiple hobbies, passions at once, inspiring people along the way to do what they love at his university, at U STEM initiative and beyond. A true role model. And we're going to learn all about him in this episode of Across Them with Y Side. So Cheyenne. Tell us about your story growing up in Vancouver living the typical Vancouver lifestyle. What was it like and how do you think it's shaped who you are today? Speaker 2 So yeah, hey guys, I'm Shyam Bakshmoli. I'm really thank you for having me here. Yeah, I'm really founded the organization, helped found it. And my story really starts off after graduating high school when wise I was founded. And after that I really decided like I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And when I went to SFUI was thinking of doing a tool major in applied sciences and poli sci. But after taking like a lot of courses and figuring out what I wanted to do, I just realized that more like poli sci or business was really for me. And I realized I just really liked science. It was one of the one of the subjects that I took that really interested me. So I ended up realizing I wanted to do engineering and that I wanted to go to UBC. Their engineering program just offered what does what I was looking for, their co-ops, their disciplines and the opportunities there with clubs and internships and co-ops was just what I really wanted. It was a good end goal and it's like the only way to do that is if I really transfer schools because going from university to university is quite hard. So I ended up going to Blangera and by the time I realized I wanted to go there they had a engineering transfer program. You do the equivalent of BBC first year engineering in two semesters and if you get above a certain GPA you have to guarantee admission to the school. But the problem was by the time I realized it was too late. So what I had to do was I did the prerequisites in their diploma program and if I got above the necessary grades required, I could go there. I did that and I'm about to start in around 2 weeks. So it's 6 courses in a seminar just covering, you know, the core principles of engineering we have from physics, calculus, chemistry, English, and the communications course in computer science. So yeah, it's that's basically what the plan is to do engineering. I've always been interested in science, playing soccer, exercising and reading books and stuff like that. Yeah, that's that's pretty much it. Shayan's Drive: Family Values, Curiosity, and the Plantera App Yeah. And from what I know about you, you, you really value family a lot. Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's a big thing. Just like I always ask them if like now for their approval, just like playing though, hey, like, hey, I want to do this. Like I just want to let you know, so you guys are updated on what's going on, stuff like that. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, huge Family Guy. And that also comes from, I think partly from the fact that for one, although you're, you're from, you're from Vancouver, you're born in Vancouver, raised in Vancouver. Yeah. You have a diverse background. Speaker 2 Yeah, and. Speaker 1 You're, you have family who come from a lot of places really. And you embrace that really in your culture from the food you eat, the people you hang out with, you embrace that diversity a lot, which I think makes you unique in so many ways. Yeah. And I'm, I'm curious to know how, how is that influence you academically or in STEM? Speaker 2 In STEM like, well, for instance, my my dad's brother, he initially went to do engineering, but he more leaned into business and I even spoke to him about, you know, I also like maybe we're like to create business. I might like to go to SF U.S. business school or UB CS Business School. But they also offered me like pathways of like what it could lead to you. What kind of jobs do you get with that type of work? It didn't really interest me and it really helped diverse backgrounds like eating like different foods, I guess just open up different cultures and what they generally like to do. Like I know most people in the Middle East and Europe and stuff like that, just all across the world. They like, they either love going into different types of STEM disciplines. I know like, I know like the Persian stereotype is like become a doctor, engineer, lawyer. And I'm trying to satisfy one of those when you ask the kid what they're doing. So I think like. Speaker 1 Yeah, you don't have a lot of options. Speaker 2 Yeah, those stereotypes and those family values really helped me. And I, I really like just looking like learning from different types of backgrounds. I think that really helped, right? Just gives me a like a broader perspective and you know that kind of sense. Speaker 1 First of all, let's let's sit back. I think, yeah, I'm like. Speaker 2 My back's killing me. Speaker 1 It's been a long day now. You're one of the most curious people I've ever met, honestly, since I I met you in grade 2. And you're always up to something new. Yeah, you know, you managed to. I think you managed to juggle all your academics. But at the same time, you're I swear you're trying something new every day. Whether you're like you're creating YouTube videos or you're learning how to cook something new in the kitchen or trying a new workout, doesn't matter. Whatever it is. Where does this drive, this drive to learn, come from this curiosity that you've always had? Speaker 2 So it's kind of just like, I don't know, for me, when I like learn something new, it's kind of like a new challenge and person. I don't really like, like just staying still. Yeah. It just never was that, like, exciting to me. I do like relaxing, you know, like just taking a little break. I think everyone deserves a little break, but in terms of like there was this kind of a reason for why I did those things. For example, like when I was cooking to cook by myself, I wanted to see if I could just change up my palate. And I was like, you know what, let me, if I was going to like lose weight or something, I'd like set like a weight goal by a certain time a date and I had to accomplish it by that date. In order to do that, I wanted to eat a certain way, but to eat a certain way, I had to like, know how to cook like a certain food. And to do that, I had to learn how to do that. Yeah. And I, I was like learning new recipes and cooking in that manner. And it really helped. Or when it comes to like learning like a, a school subject, I would just, I don't know, make like a playlist and do that. And it'd really help by just practicing just consistency in general, which I've been having a lot of trouble with in the past. And I think most people usually have issues with that. And for like app building, it's like whenever I have like a new idea, I either like tell one of my friends about and say, what are your thoughts on this? And they offer a solution. And I think that's where we're going to dive into the plant tap later on that has a lot of story behind it. And it's just stuff that I'm interested in seeing if I can make it better. That's what really I want to ensure and try to find a solution for it or a better way. Speaker 1 To handle it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, speaking about your your plant app, let's actually talk about that now. Sure. So you're building this app called Plantera. Yeah. Tell us more about it, what it will do, it's capabilities, how you even came up with the idea for it. Tell us all about it. Speaker 2 Yeah, no worries. So Plantera was an app right now in the works and it's been in development for a couple months now. It first started out just like an idea of regarding like plant health. I in my balcony I have a a little garden. Speaker 1 That. Speaker 2 My family just takes care of you've seen it before multiple times. You even have a garden on your balcony. And most people, they just they, you know, they like to take care of their plants. Just provide, you know, life in the room. I personally like I never had a pet growing up and I always use like plants or different types of plants to kind of fill that void with like this like sense of life in the room. I, I think I bought a fetus flytrap when I was little, but it ended up dying. Unfortunately, I didn't take care of it that well. Speaker 1 I hope you've learned. Speaker 2 Well, I have, yeah. And so that the app, it stemmed from this idea of just what is it? Let's say like you have your phone and you take a picture of an app, a plant, and you take a picture of that plant and it just gives you these a multitude of information. All this you have like it's like genus, it's like scientific name, the plant's common name, as well as the plant's potential lifespan. What kind of environment to take care of it in, in terms of like the temperature and like the humidity, what type of soil is optimal for and how well you should take care of it. We, we called it botanical biometrics, applying it to plants and fauna, flora, vice versa. And what we did was we thought that that was a really good way to kind of build this type of plant community where we have this like community where people can take care, take care of plants and ask questions. Hey, like what's wrong with my plant? It can maybe, you know, identify a 'cause maybe there's bacteria growth, maybe it's decaying and it kind of just grows this community of even to local farm farmers, even to people that have plant shops and flower shops and people just like myself who like taking care of plants or even fruits and vegetables. But to do that, it's a pretty lengthy process. But Oh yeah, so far it's it's going pretty good. Yeah. Speaker 1 OK, so this will help you know a wide range of disciplines really. Speaker 2 Yeah, various disciplines. Speaker 1 You know, from agriculture to. Speaker 2 Food and nutrition, stuff like that. Yeah, food. Speaker 1 And nutrition, it's huge. And how are you? So where is that at right now? You know, where do you, where do you, when do you hope to, you know, publish the app? Where is that at right now? What are the next steps right now? What are the challenges you're trying to figure out in the process of building it? Speaker 2 So the initial goal was to launch it before before the school started. Unfortunately, we had some setbacks with just development and spending money and just lots of just costs that we need to figure out. And the plan is that hopefully within the next couple of months, sometime in the fall, ideally by the new year. It's just we spent so much time working on it, but we need the accuracy rate of taking a picture of a plant right there for it to have a high accuracy rates. We know what kind of plant it is, how to take care of it, what kind of environment to take care of it of. And then you also need to deal with the marketing aspect of it and the websites. You know how we're going to even present this because after you build the database, you need to build the app and then you need to build all the features of the app and then eventually garage the community through marketing. So there's there's a lot of steps that you need to take care of. And I'd see right now it's about maybe close to halfway done. We're kind of getting there. But I guess soon we'll have more of the developmental things underway within the fall. We purchase most of the necessary tools regarding like the storage space, how we're going to store all this data, how we're going to train this AI algorithm to do all that. So I mean to do tweak a little couple over the things that we're still working on, other features that I haven't mentioned yet. Yeah, so far it's so good and we're on the right track. Speaker 1 Interesting you're you're building this in a team. Speaker 2 With your friends? Yeah, two of my closest friends, both of all three of us were built together from our love of plants and just curiosity about building something new. And we want to build an app that would actually use and that other people actually use and make it accessible for all. Speaker 1 Very cool, very cool idea. And I like that it comes from, you know, it comes from heart. You know, you all three of you, you enjoy plants. You appreciate plants from a child from. I mean, at least from what I know about you, you were fascinated by plants and now you're making something from it. I know for a fact that my dad's going to use it because you know how much he loves plants. He's he he's probably going to be the number one user of your app. So I'm. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, definitely, definitely. He would be very excited to find out you're making something like this. Beyond the App: Substack, YouTube, and Engineering's Future So creating an app that's one of your many endeavours, What else are you doing at the moment outside of university? Speaker 2 So outside of transition university for college, the one of the other things that I'm planning or well, I plan on doing is I recently launched a sub stack and I did that earlier in summer. I planned it for the spring. But some things got in the way. I had some ideas I wanted to go through and a lot of other articles that I was helping with YSI and other events with YSI that we ran by each other. And the sub stack is basically just my personal page in accordance with YSI about writing about things I'm interested in regarding STEM and anything ranging from sciences to chemistry to physics to even business tech or even the news if it relates to STEM, the organization. And I thought I would tie that in to a YouTube channel that I recently launched. It's called the Drafting Table. I didn't really couldn't really decide on the name. It was either that or things of curious. Speaker 1 I love the name. It's pretty. It's pretty creative to be honest. Speaker 2 Thanks. Yeah, I, I got inspiration from you, science from vanity. And so that's also going to be where I'll just provide 30 to 62nd, like informational videos on just stuff I'm interested in. Like the first video that I'm going to launch this week actually, that I've been editing for a while. It's on like time and consciousness. Like does time really exist? And the next one will probably be on like genetics, like what is a Helix, a double Helix, What's adna strand, stuff like that. Basic information that people can see in the form of short form content, right? Stuff like that. And I want to build that in a community associated with YSI and what other people are doing and just seeing if they're interested and if they're not, glad for them to visit the page. Just making sure my presence is out there and just scrolling. Speaker 1 My presence through space. Speaker 2 Yeah, my space is just a show. Everything and famous likes it. Yeah, I'm just glad. Speaker 1 And. Speaker 2 It's great to have that with YSI. Speaker 1 Definitely and first of all, welcome to sub SAC. Thank you. I'm I'm no, I'm no, you know, famous big writer on sub SAC, but I've been on the platform for a few years and it always excites me when I see someone I know join the platform. So. Speaker 2 Yeah, it's great to have a familiar face. Yes, I was really like weird looking through the UI. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. It's always nice when you know someone on the platform and I look forward to writing stuff with you. Me too. We need to do some collapse posts and and following the growth of your publication also YouTube channel. Speaker 2 Yeah, I have some plans with why so well. Speaker 1 To watch videos. The yeah, the drafting table as a whole, the the drafting table empire, as I like to call it. I'm excited to see what you'll you'll create with it along with your work at university. Speaker 2 Appreciate it. Yeah, Thanks. Yeah. Speaker 1 So more about your personal life. You've, as I said, grown up in Vancouver. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 Do you plan to stay in Vancouver in the near future or do you have ambitions to go abroad? Speaker 2 My plans are right now just to transfer UBC for engineering, maybe elsewhere if I'm interested in or if I tend to apply to another school for my undergrad. I was thinking maybe to the States or even for my undergrads to go to the States. It kind of depends on where life takes me and where if I get in or not, if I apply. But hopefully the plan is maybe continue my education either somewhere in North America, Canada or the US that offer an interesting STEM program. I've looked at a couple schools and I'd say it's too early to say, but there are some schools that caught my eye. Yeah, yeah, so far. We'll see how it goes. Speaker 1 Interesting, we'll keep it up, thanks. Get into those big uni's whether it's EBC or anywhere else. Now I'm wondering with regards to engineering. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 It's a very broad topic and did you have to decide exactly what type of engineering you want to pursue? Speaker 2 Yeah. So I know that once you get accepted to EBC I believe if I'm not mistaken you have to submit a 750 word thesis so. Speaker 1 Right. Yes. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm sure your friends have probably told you about it. Speaker 1 It's painful, yeah. Speaker 2 Yeah. And it's basically why you want to study that type of engineering. There's many disciplines there. It ranges from civil materials, environmental, geological, and then you have the main of mechanical, computer, software, biomedical, all that sort of stuff, all types of disciplines across. And for that I have a couple of the disciplines that I'm interested in. I really personally love chemical and bioengineering as well as mechanical. And there are a lot of reasons that I'm sure we'll go into later on why they're interesting. They just offer like just a lot of opportunity and it's just really interesting about what the program offers, the people you can meet in the program and just the programs like course load and the courses that are in there. Just the content itself is pretty interesting. Speaker 1 Interesting. And in terms of the research, I know you like to watch videos about engineering and you like to research about it, but engineering as a whole, it's, it's very practical. Applied. Speaker 2 That's applied sciences. Speaker 1 Yeah, applied sciences. But are you, are you also very, do you want to do research? You know, write papers and engineering? Speaker 2 Yeah, I'd be open to it. I know there's, in your undergrad, I know that you might have the opportunity to join a lab and stuff like that, or even on subsect to like co-author like a paper or a study that you might do in accordance with your respective university, UC, UW, whatever it might be. And I would really be open to say something that's related to my discipline and maybe sister discipline. Like, for example, you're in neuroscience and if I was in biomedical engineering, we could do a paper on something related to those fields. And it's always been something I've caught my eye on. It's, you know, brought in my engineering portfolio whenever I'm either applying to a job or a masters program. Or do you even just deepen my interests? And yeah, it's always been something I've really been interested in. Speaker 1 Very cool, very cool. Now is let's say, OK, you're in the future. And I mean, with AI especially now we're figuring out a lot of solutions to engineering challenges, but is there a specific engineering challenge that you have in mind that you would like to help solve which? Speaker 2 Owns that mind. Speaker 1 I think it could be anything really. Speaker 2 Well, we'll talk about probably AI, but it's a really challenging subject. It's just, there's so much, how do I say it, there's so much like opportunities and problems that it has, but also problems that it solves. So it's it's kind of oxymoronic. It it has a lot of things that you can use it for, but it's not efficient at solving those things. Yeah, that's the issue, yeah. Just trying to make AI, because it's been emerging in this STEM world. We've been using it in all different disciplines and it'd be great to just make it more efficient. That'd be one of my goals because I just wanted to make something using AI, which is like the main technological paradigm shift that we've had to make it memorable, something that is more efficient and that people can use. That'd be one of the engineering problems that I tried to solve. So to provide a more optimal solution for people, for users. Speaker 1 Very interesting. I'm not when it comes to engineering, I'm not the most knowledgeable, so you can definitely. Speaker 2 That's OK, you can learn. Speaker 1 I'll I'll learn from the the drafting table. Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Speaker 1 Everything you write. Yeah, Everything you write, all the videos you make, I'll just, I'll use that to increase my knowledge of engineering. So that leads me to this question of what? Shayan's Core Values: Open-Mindedness and Community Building with YSI This is kind of philosophical, by the way. OK, What do you truly value in life? Speaker 2 And I truly value in life. OK, that's really. Speaker 1 Yeah, I I don't usually ask friends that I've known for so long these questions, all right, You know, because we're always speaking very casually about things. But, you know, on this podcast, I want to put you in the spotlight. What is something? Speaker 2 What is? Speaker 1 Something I or a few things you know that that you truly value. Speaker 2 I think one thing and this isn't related to like STEM or anything, right? Speaker 1 Yeah, it doesn't have to be, I think. Speaker 2 One thing I truly value in life would just be how do I say it? It's kind of just like making my mark out there. However, it may be like just contribution to society is that is. Speaker 1 Yeah, definitely, definitely one thing. Speaker 2 Just yeah, making making something that matters and always just being open minded, always being open minded to everything and whether it's good or bad, just to see whether it could be an event you're going to, a friend you're meeting, an app you're building to take risks and be open minded and just to not really regret the result you get. So just if really try to contribute something, if you can try to be meaningful and happy to your friends. I don't know. Be good to your friends, be good to. Speaker 1 Your friends? Yeah, but just. Speaker 2 Just be more open minded regarding everything. Speaker 1 Definitely make a difference in people's lives. Speaker 2 Yeah, I, I think all those things are just intertwined with one another. And yeah, that's kind of a, it's a pretty basic answer, but provides a lot of information. Yeah, that's. Speaker 1 I mean, that's what I would say. I can relate a lot to that too. And I know that you're a very commutative kind of person. You know, you like to go up to people, talk to them, get to know them. And in doing so, yeah, you know, you connect with a lot of people. You know, I know you have a ton of people who you became friends with at Lungara, for instance. You're gonna make a lot more friends at UBC or wherever you go after. And that comes from your friendly nature and also your open mindedness, you know, to become friends with anyone you meet, establish a true connection with them. Yeah, regardless of where they're from, what they study, where anything about them. And part of that, I mean, it comes from your confidence. You're a very confident person. Speaker 2 I'm pretty scared. Speaker 1 No, no, I mean, from what I've seen all these years, over a decade of knowing you, you're super like, trust me. No, believe me when I say you're the most You're my most confident friend. Speaker 2 One wrong word and I'll be thinking about that for the rest of my life. Speaker 1 No, OK. But honestly, like the way I see you approach people, you know, with such demeanor, I don't know what is such aura. I think it's Aura. Speaker 2 I think most people would agree with that. Speaker 1 Honestly, man, you just like, I swear to the audience, this guy, he's walking in the street, randomly sees someone you know, thinks are cool, whatever it is about them. Might be their trip goes up to them, sparks the whole conversation. That's not something every anyone does, you know? I mean I want to know like where does that? Speaker 2 Where does that come from, by the way? I'm like, like scared shit. Soon it comes. Speaker 1 To that, maybe you're good at hiding it, because I don't. Speaker 2 See that no I that honestly comes with like a feeling of being like like completely scared out of my mind and just and just like No Fear of regret afterwards. Just be open mind anything I just being risk taking the sense of talking to more people. Speaker 1 I I know I would. Speaker 2 Like to talk to people and going there I won't really care what they think of me afterwards, I would just love to get to know. Speaker 1 Them or whoever it might be, yeah. And that's very important. Speaker 2 I don't know. It is not whatsoever. I'm just like, if it doesn't work, I'm like, Oh my God, like I'll just keep thinking about, but it's OK. We we just, we live, we learn. Speaker 1 I guess man, I I don't think then you must really get a hiding it too honest. No, no, if you're actually scared. Speaker 2 Honestly I think like I think everyone has the curiosity to do it, they just choose not to but they always think about it in. Speaker 1 Their mind, yeah, I mean, people are curious, of course, whether you're. Speaker 2 Introvert or extroverted? Speaker 1 Or. Speaker 2 In the middle. Speaker 1 Yeah, but it's actually a matter of actually going up to people, sparking a conversation, you know, getting to know them. Yeah, which is something you're tremendously good at. Speaker 2 I hope so. Speaker 1 And you've been because that that's the plan. And I, I say this from from, you know, my perspective growing up, I was an introvert. Yeah, pretty like. Speaker 2 Great since then YSI meeting new friends. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, I've, I've kind of opened up, you know, I, I used to be in like an ice cube. That ice cube has melted. I actually approached people to talk to them, try to connect with as many people as I can. Honestly, you've had an effect on me in that regard because I, I look at people like you. That's the plan. I Yeah. And I see that you go up to people so comfortably, or at least it seems seems like you go up comfortably and then, you know, you just talk about anything and then you become friends with those people. Speaker 2 Yeah. And most of those, most of those friends either fade or most of them really connect and. Speaker 1 Doesn't matter. The point is that you're the one who initiated a conversation, who initiated a friendship. Doesn't matter what it is. And you have honestly had an effect on me in that regard. I appreciate, you know, because hanging out with people like you as a child helped me grow in that sense, to become more extroverted, to actually talk to people. Speaker 2 Likewise, you'll do STEM initiative. It's hard to just go out there and talk to people. Now look at us. We're doing a podcast. Speaker 1 Exactly. Exactly. And yeah, definitely you STEM initiative is a part of that, Yeah. Then all the incredible people I've met around the world through it. It's just I'm really grateful for. And I could have never done that if I never, you know, if that ice cube never melted and if I never stopped being an introvert, you know? Yeah, of course I'm. Speaker 2 Glad that you've gone around your shell and I mean it's great. I love YSI. She will have Archie on here. Archie's another Co founder everyone. Speaker 1 Yes, we will be. We will be having a little little joy session. Joy session. Speaker 2 And yeah, we're just +3 with a lot of others, just trying to get people to get interested in STEM, whether you're in college, whether in university or even high school. Yes, it's open to everyone. And it's really great that we've kind of garnered this community and we've even took it online with podcasts and articles and stuff like that. And it's good. It inspired me to continue engineering. That was one of the reasons, and I think it's going to inspire a lot of other people. Yeah, it's great. Speaker 1 I really like it. Nothing quite like the power of community, to be honest. It's true. And I realized that from building YSI, from meeting new people. Yeah, Fosters. Speaker 2 The sense of just like social cohesion and everyone just wants to support each other in that regard. And that that's something I really like about it's use some initiative. Speaker 1 It's hugely important. Speaker 2 Like any questions you can just ask the community and there's hundreds of people from different international chapters that help you out. Like you asked a question, I remember someone from from Kazakhstan was helping me in Astana or someone from our Dubai chapter was helping me out with a physics problem. And I thought that was like really cool. Someone has a 12 hour time difference. Yeah, knows the answer to. Speaker 1 My question and you haven't, you don't know that person personally even, but you're in the same community and you're able to communicate through that community. Speaker 2 Stuff. Exactly. And you have like all these intelligent minds, like all over the world. Speaker 1 That's that's the beauty of it, really. Speaker 2 It's got to connect with them. I really like it. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's great. So that's that's your vision for YSI and I'm curious like as a whole for a youth LED science organization like you sound initiative, what do you think is the most important thing, the most impactful thing that such an organization can do? I mean, it doesn't have to be one thing, could be, could be multiple things you can talk about to answer this question. Speaker 2 Honestly, I think the fact that to even get people that are to get become more interested in STEM, it's the thing that really interested me. Like I was really surprised that how many people in our servers were like, thank you MRI for like doing this or thank you whoever helped the problem. Like I was struggling with this physics problem. I was struggling with this or just even providing basic advice. And I thought just the fact that we're doing that is one of the biggest reasons, just fostering a community. That's the main goal of the STEM initiative, Fostering community, bringing members in, bringing people that are interested in STEM, bringing people that aren't interested in STEM into this community together. And that's what we've created. And I thought that was really cool. I thought that was the like the one of the biggest things that we've done. And I think that's like just one of the main goals that we should just continue trying to achieve. Speaker 1 And you have this support network along with it, right? I mean, whether you need to reach out to someone, let's say, I mean, maybe you wanted to study, study abroad somewhere, right. You want to go to, you want to go to Kazakhstan, to Dubai. Yeah, exactly. There's to Europe anywhere, even like. Speaker 2 What is it, Turkey or Greece or Egypt or anywhere? Yeah, it's like it's really diverse. Speaker 1 One of the chapters for instance. Speaker 2 But everyone, it may be diverse, but everyone is focused on the same thing, either a different science discipline. It could be from anywhere in the world. Yeah, that's what's really great about it. Speaker 1 Yeah, and you can reach out to those people and they can give you advice. You know, hey, if you want to come to Greece, let's say this is what you do, this is what to keep in mind. Here are some programs you can apply for. It expands your, you know, your perspective on what STEM is like in other parts of. Speaker 2 The world more open minded. Speaker 1 Exactly. Again, goes back to open mindedness and then that's that's really the beauty of it. And I'm glad that's that you saw that beauty and that through your perspective you were able to help build the organization. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm glad I got to contribute to something like this. It's been a great experience, so. Speaker 1 Far. I'm glad to. The Future of STEM in Canada: Diversity, Innovation, and Youth Leadership So where do you see yourself in five years? Speaker 2 That's a very good question and I would be honest, I have no idea. Speaker 1 I know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's usually the response I get. I have no idea too, but where do you anticipate? Maybe I just give a hint. Speaker 2 Either, I don't know, maybe if I create something successful after my undergrad, I continue to make something that I'm passionate about, or work at a place that develop something, or create something that interests me. Just some place, anywhere that interests me in the field of engineering that I can contribute to with a community. That's where I see myself contributing to a goal and creating something that matters. And I feel like getting my education is one of the steps towards building that. And for now, it's the undergraduate. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's huge. Speaker 2 In applied sciences. Speaker 1 That's your top priority at the moment. Speaker 2 But if someone asked me I would say I have no idea. Speaker 1 Makes sense. No one has. I mean, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Speaker 2 That's true. Speaker 1 The next second, Like, never mind five years. Speaker 2 Yeah, time is relative. Speaker 1 Of course, and you you talk about that in your YouTube video coming out. Speaker 2 Yeah, it's going to come pretty soon, probably sometime this week. Speaker 1 Make sure to watch it. In fact, by the time this episode is out, it'll probably be out. Yeah, I can provide the link to it. My last question for you tonight is specific to Canada because we both grew up in Canada and the country itself just like you, very open minded, very diverse, embraces global perspectives from really anywhere in the world. And I want to know your thoughts on STEM in Canada as a whole. What do you think has what? First of all, what do you think the STEM environment is like? What has shaped it the most and how do you help? How do you hope to help contribute to that? Speaker 2 Well, I think the STEM environment in Canada is pretty prominent, as it is in the United States. They have many universities that offer undergraduate programs in various STEM faculties and disciplines. And I think that those faculties offer opportunities and those opportunities offer connections. And that really fosters the sense of social cohesion that we fortunately have diverse perspectives from different, you know, backgrounds that are all interested in the same thing and on what it's contributing and what I can contribute. That was the answer. I can contribute, I guess, something that I perceive, find that I'm interested in that can help others, that'll make a long lasting impact, something that people will use everyday. And I think people around the world, whether it be, for example, doctors, they're contributing medicine with medical papers and saving people's lives or whether it's business creating pharmaceutical needs for various drugs or medicines that people need. I think everyone is kind of just working together on this team, weather and all around Canada. And I think that it's even growing ever with the emergence of AI, Yeah, especially. And I think that more and more people will either realise that, hey, maybe this is really interesting when they're in the STEM faculty and contribute to it. And I think it's just a great way to foster community. I think Canada is one of those places where you can do that one. Speaker 1 100% and I'm going to give a few thoughts on it myself too, having grown up here as well. I think it's a very educated country, one of the most educated in the world. At the same time, you have, you know, it's a melting pot of cultures. You have all these diverse perspectives, experiences, you know, each person a living storybook coming from a different place of the world. And I think that diversity is really contributed to the diversity of research that goes on in Canada, the diversity of innovation, the discoveries there are, you know, I think the country as a whole punches way above its weight. It's on a very popular, it's a huge country by size, but not that populist. But Despite that, it punches way above its weight. And it comes from that element of, of diversity and also open mindedness of the people. The education and really the systems are in place too. I think there are a lot of places in the world where there are a ton of educated people, but the system is corrupt, you know, or there's not good infrastructure or anything. I think Canada has robust infrastructure for STEM as a whole. Speaker 2 There's a lot of opportunity. Speaker 1 And it's ton of opportunity. Yeah, not as much as the states, to be honest, But I mean, the states, they're less educated. It's OK, we're Canadian and we can make fun of them. Less educated, less diversity. I think, I mean, they're for the most part less open minded than Canada, but I think Canada in this respect is super unique and it's nice to see people like you who I think represent Canada very well. Speaker 2 Likewise. Speaker 1 Thank you even though I moved away, but thank you anyway. You know, contributing to that scene, to that scientific innovation scene in in Canada. And there are a lot of youth LED organizations, you know, it's not just some initiative. Obviously there's a ton. Of organizations that I was a part of before before I started U SEM initiative. Speaker 2 That all contribute to the. Speaker 1 Same exactly. Yeah. And there's a lot of them in Canada. And that speaks to how students in Canada from a from a young age, they are inspired by 7. They want to be leaders in STEM, which I think it's really exciting to see. Yeah. To see them being leaders from a young age, from, you know, being able to organize these teams of like minded students who share the same passion, the same passion for innovation, for for learning. Speaker 2 And they ultimately want to do the same thing. Speaker 1 Exactly. Yeah. And that leads to, you know, these, these organizations that boost education, that boost cooperation, connection between students, which I think is crucially needed, especially in the modern world where people are disconnected in many ways. And I'm glad to see that it's one of the things that inspired me to, to make you some initiative in the 1st place. That's. Speaker 2 What I'm glad you did. Let's give our round of applause for that speech, ladies and gentlemen. Speaker 1 Thank you very much. To you round of applause for sure. And everyone. Yeah. Thank you. Speaker 2 Everyone, we watched this. Yeah, it was a pleasure to be. Speaker 1 Here, yeah, don't worry. We're we kind of had to be formal in this podcast. Speaker 2 But when Arsh is here, it's going to be a lot less formal, yes, and a lot more fun. More. Speaker 1 Conversational, More conversational, more casual. Yeah, more jokes. It's it's going to be really fun. It'll be a fun episode with the three of us, so stay tuned for that regardless. Speaker 2 Thank you very much, Cheyenne. Always a pleasure. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's almost midnight's here. I know it's it's been a long day but even though you sleep very late every every night, pull all nighters all the time regardless, thank you for being. Speaker 2 Here sleep is good, sleep is good. Get your REM sleep in. Speaker 1 Yeah, pretty, pretty ironic hearing that from you it. Speaker 2 Says the one saying neuroscience. Speaker 1 Is sleeping there. I still somehow managed to sleep more than you, I don't know how. Speaker 2 What time you sleep last night? Speaker 1 Last time was an exception. Bro, you don't. You don't want to know what time I stopped that, but I think it was still early, earlier than you somehow. It wasn't even midnight, it was early morning. I took. Speaker 2 Like 13 hours. Oh, did you? Yeah, from 11:30 to like. Speaker 1 OK, so you'd probably like sleep that much and then for a whole week then don't sit. Speaker 2 For three to six hours and then repeat the cycle. Speaker 1 OK. Yeah, very, very healthy guy here. Thank God you're not going. Speaker 2 To put it again, thank you very much for everyone here that's going to watch this video. I really appreciate it. Hope you guys are doing well. Take care of my life for having me again. Speaker 1 He's a great communicator, by the way. I really, I don't know if you can tell, but he's. Speaker 2 That's the plan. We're going to be here with Arsha again, in a less formal setting, talking about STEM, talking about personal life and how that intertwines together. Speaker 1 Absolutely. Speaker 2 How we manage it? Speaker 1 Absolutely and. Speaker 2 We hope you guys will watch it and yeah, thank you very much. Speaker 1 Thank you very much. Follow us on socials, you know, follow the our Spotify rate US on Spotify. Speaker 2 There's also a new podcast with Amorelli that's going to be hosting it. I have a YouTube channel in accordance with my aside. Speaker 1 We'll be sharing all that. Speaker 2 As well as Shine Bexwell on Subsec and according to Mysi and Amorelli on Suspect Science for Humanity. We really hope you guys enjoy that. And yeah, is that. Speaker 1 Thank you. He's also great at advertising, clearly. Speaker 2 That's the plan. Speaker 1 Very good at advertising. Yeah. So across time with YSI, you know what to do. Give your thoughts. Rates follow. Keep up with all our new episodes coming out, including the one with Cheyenne, myself and Arshiya, which will be a very fun episode. We're looking forward to it, to having it later this month. As always, peace, stay curious, you know, spread stem everywhere you go. Keep inspiring, keep innovating, keep learning. Never stop. I go to motivate them, bro, Come on. Anyway, we're Yeah, we're going to head out now before they kick us out of this place. But we love you guys and stay tuned for more episodes. Have a. Speaker 2 Great day. Speaker 1 Peace.