Will Carrara knew he wanted to be an engineer all his life, and went through many schools and programs to get where he is today.

Carrara didn’t start his engineering career at Syracuse University. He’s originally from a small town where he said no one wears shoes. He always had an idea that engineering was what he wanted to pursue, and started off at California State University, Monterey Bay with a full scholarship.

However, Monterey Bay didn’t have his choice of major, so after he got some general course credits out of the way, he transferred to Santa Barbara City College.

While at SBCC, he realized he wanted to experience the east coast, and applied to Syracuse University, among other colleges. He said what brought him here was a combination of simple curiosity and SU’s exceptional engineering program.

He started at Syracuse second semester of his sophomore year, not knowing a single person. Soon enough, he found himself involved in many organizations within his major and on campus.

Carrara works at SU MakerSpace, a fabrication lab on campus working with 3D printers. He’s also on the club water polo team, club swim team, does drone research and is involved in the Nexus program on campus, which is an organization that chooses students to give funding for technology-based projects to present at the school’s Future Friday.

Next summer, Carrara hopes to intern with NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. He said really great things have come from NASA research, and he is interested in collaborating and being a part of it.

Carrara plans work in the aerospace field upon graduation, and is thinking of getting his Master’s Degree a few years down the road. His goal is to complete his M.S. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Five years from now, he wants to apply for the Astronaut Candidate Program.

“Anyone who is considering pursuing this as their college degree, just know it’s a lot of fun,” Carrara said. “I would say you learn something new every day that you never knew before and could never derive on your own and it’s remarkable.”

Published on September 11, 2016 at 7:51 pm