Q&A with Rinas Ali

Western always felt like an extension of my high school - it made me feel at home here.

Rinas Ali

Second Year Electrical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineering

 

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Why Western Engineering?

Ever since a young age I always would solitude myself from everyone and play with sticks that I found around the farm where I lived and try to build cool contraptions with them. Such as bows, catapults, swords. I would even collect leftover bricks from construction and try to build small towers with them or even stack them around me to create my own personal room separate from my parent’s house. So, when I had the opportunity to choose what I wanted to be I always knew it would be engineering and when I applied for universities. My first choice was Western because it was in my hometown, and I heard amazing things about campus life and its environment.Western always felt like an extension of my high school - it made me feel at home here

What do you do in your spare time?


I barely have any spare time. If I do it is usually spent on my unhealthy social media addiction. But otherwise, I really like going to the gym, playing soccer, playing Minecraft with my brother, and sometimes building cool circuits and contraptions that utilize DC motors, Arduinos, soldering and they like to make me feel like I’ve already become the electrical engineer I am aspiring to be.

What was your orientation week experience like as a first-year student?

I really loved it. It was the best experience I had during the year. Meeting upper years (Sophs) was the most enjoyable part. I met a lot of people during that time too who became my friends for life. It was a big social moment that allowed me to gain bigger understanding of what university life is really like while also learning tips and tricks on how to navigate campus and how to do better on my academics from the amazing soph team.

Why did you choose your specific stream of engineering?

I chose electrical engineering and AISE, because I always wanted to be able to work on BCI’s such as Neuralink and the like. It’s the concept of attaching my self to the AI that makes me most interested. I would personally use it to make myself smarter and more intelligent by gaining faster computation strength, more memory storage, and faster perception. Basically, TURN ME INTO A CYBORG!

That’s why I chose to do AISE. But obviously the Neuralink requires other aspects on top of the software. Which is why I chose electrical engineering because from what I’ve seen hardware is way harder to learn than software and thus it would be best for me to learn it by hand at a university

What is your favourite book, movie or TV show?

My favorite book was To Kill a Mockingbird as it really inspired to treat everyone with kindness no matter their background and to stand on justice even if it means that you will be hurt by the process. It also taught me the power of reading and being more educated.