{"id":48804,"date":"2023-03-21T07:37:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T11:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=48804"},"modified":"2023-03-24T09:15:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T13:15:33","slug":"the-skys-the-limit-ashwyn-sams-journey-from-chatt-state-to-utc-to-stanford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/03\/the-skys-the-limit-ashwyn-sams-journey-from-chatt-state-to-utc-to-stanford\/","title":{"rendered":"The sky\u2019s the limit: Ashwyn Sam\u2019s journey from Chatt State to UTC to Stanford"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ashwyn

Ashwyn Sam, second from right and standing next to former Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, was a member of the Rocket Mocs team that set a national record in 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2020 with bachelor\u2019s degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics, the guiding light in Ashwyn Sam\u2019s career path was academia.<\/p>\n

Three years later and now pursuing his doctorate at Stanford University in California\u2014where he was one of 83 students nationwide to receive the school\u2019s prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholarship\u2014he\u2019s tapping the brakes. Academia is still a maybe but now a down-the-list maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther ideas gain momentum, for instance, working at a startup or going into industry or potentially starting a company with a friend or something like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Changes aren\u2019t unusual in Sam\u2019s life. Moving from India to America at 13 years old, he graduated from Ooltewah High School in 2015, already accepted for enrollment by universities such as the Georgia Institute of Technology. But a change of plans\u2014not of his own making\u2014scuttled that idea.<\/p>\n

In the U.S. on a visa as an international student, Sam saw the five-figure annual tuition at his list of schools and immediately knew he and his parents couldn\u2019t afford it. As an international student, he couldn\u2019t get financial aid, either.<\/p>\n

He was ready to stop looking, but his parents didn\u2019t. Just before fall semester began in 2015, they learned about the Global Scholars Program at Chattanooga State Community College. Quickly accepted, he graduated in 2017 with an associate\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering and immediately enrolled in UTC.<\/p>\n

Two months before graduating from UTC, he received a phone call telling him that he\u2019d beaten 6,000 other applicants for the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, a total prize worth about $300,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked. I didn\u2019t know what to say. It was probably the most awkward phone conversation ever. I couldn\u2019t speak coherently. I had to tell myself to breathe, so there were a lot of long, awkward pauses,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

Pauses aren\u2019t in the cards now. Sam is spending five years\u2014maybe six, he said\u2014to earn a master\u2019s degree and Ph.D. He already received his master\u2019s and has started on his Ph.D. Both degrees are in aero- and astronautics.<\/p>\n

The double major makes sense for Sam. Machines that fly toward space seem to be in his blood.<\/p>\n

At UTC, he was a member of the 2018 Rocket Mocs<\/a><\/strong> team that launched a rocket reaching 11,563 feet, a world record for college teams and a height that drew a room-wide gasp when announced at the awards ceremony for the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Rocketry Contest.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that he was more focused on academics than relationships at UTC, Sam said he learned a valuable lesson without knowing he was learning it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do UTC alone; I needed others, but I somehow failed to fully grasp that during my time there. I was so focused on my academics that everything else took a backseat,\u201d he said. \u201cI went to Stanford with a more mature mindset of valuing people over academics, and it\u2019s been great so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sigrid Elschot, Sam\u2019s doctoral dissertation advisor and associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford, said she is \u201cgrateful to have him in my laboratory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a great work ethic, is willing to tackle new complex challenges and understands both the fundamental physics but also the engineering procedures,\u201d Elschot said. \u201cHe\u2019s incredibly gracious and kind and is just a fantastic student.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ashwyn

Ashwyn Sam and his family at his Stanford University master’s degree graduation. (photo courtesy of Ashwyn Sam).<\/p><\/div>\n

As a graduate student in engineering, Sam\u2019s tuition and expenses add up to about $146,000 each academic year. The Knight-Hennessy scholarship pays full tuition for three years and on-campus housing and academic expenses such as books, meal plans and fees.<\/p>\n

While the scholarship ends after the 2022-23 academic year, Stanford\u2019s policy is to find other scholarships, grants or on-campus jobs to cover a graduate student\u2019s costs, Sam said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the worst-case scenario, I don\u2019t get any of these grants,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that scenario, I will work as a teaching assistant for courses and things like that. So I will do some sort of work at Stanford in order to have it covered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanford is a research-oriented university, and Sam\u2019s evolving career goals are shaped by his own research work at the school\u2014finding a way to harvest energy in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s pretty difficult for spacecraft to be powered. There are very limited power sources,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt can get energy from the sun, but when it gets really far away from the sun, you don\u2019t have much access to that. So I\u2019m trying to come up with novel techniques to power a spacecraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were moments of fear when he was getting ready to leave Chattanooga and fly cross-country to Stanford, but Sam said he is guided by a philosophy that\u2019s determined\u2014and maybe a bit geeky: \u201cI kept thinking back to this quote from one of my favorite books, \u2018The Lord of the Rings,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don\u2019t keep your feet, there\u2019s no knowing where you might be swept off to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2020 with bachelor\u2019s degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics, the guiding light in Ashwyn Sam\u2019s career path was academia.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1105,"featured_media":48811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,123864,61,8244,12745,10197,12740],"tags":[95925,122305,122502,70328],"class_list":{"0":"post-48804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-advancement-and-alumni","8":"category-college-of-arts-sciences","9":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","10":"category-honors-and-awards","11":"category-honors-college-2","12":"category-mathematics","13":"category-mechanical-engineering","14":"tag-ashwyn-sam","15":"tag-chattanooga-state-community-college","16":"tag-knight-hennessey-scholarship","17":"tag-rocket-mocs","18":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nThe sky\u2019s the limit: Ashwyn Sam\u2019s journey from Chatt State to UTC to Stanford | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - 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