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Spotlight

John Dean

’19, Electrical Engineering
If you look closely, you can find engineering everywhere. I kind of think about it as the magic behind how so much of the world works. I’ve known since I was a kid that I wanted to be in this field and contribute to making cool and impactful things happen.

I’ve also always had a fascination with space, but I didn’t really think it was a viable career path until I came to Stanford and joined the Stanford Student Space Initiative (SSI). SSI opened my eyes to what a big industry aerospace is.

My favorite thing about aerospace is the sense of adventure it evokes. If you look at any period of history, I think the most remarkable achievements came out of whatever allowed civilization to explore beyond what was believed to be the limit during that time. Whether it was climbing a mountain to find what was on the other side or setting sail to explore the world beyond land – space exploration to me is our opportunity to push beyond what we currently know. And I can’t help being excited by that.

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