UC international student pursues childhood dream career

Until this year, University of Cincinnati student Sabrina Shrestha didn’t think engineering was in the stars for her.

Formerly a biology student in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, Shrestha joined the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) aerospace engineering program this fall.

Shrestha came to UC from Nepal, and had chosen to study biology because it is a rapidly-growing industry in her home country. She thought it would be a viable career path once she returned home as planned. She is interested in cell and molecular biology and genetics, but not to the same degree as her fascination with space.

Aerospace was her first choice of study, but she worried that her opportunities back home may be limited — or non-existent.

“Nepal is still a developing nation," she says. "The aviation industry is not huge, despite the Nepali economy’s heavy reliance on tourism.”

“I have loved outer space, planes and spacecraft ever since I was a little kid.” Shrestha recalls. “I had never thought engineering per se; I just knew I’d always dreamed about working with air- or spacecraft.”

For a while, she pushed aside her ambition, convinced that the aerospace field was beyond her reach.

“I didn’t do well in high school physics and mathematics for various reasons out of my control, like frequent teacher changes and my own health issues,” Shrestha explains. “I was not fascinated with biology, but I knew that I ultimately wanted to bring biology together with my love of space.”

Shrestha reached a turning point last semester when her roommate, also a biology major, switched her major to chemical engineering. Shrestha had a revelation.

 “I thought about my future. It made me realize, ‘Wow, people can do that!’ Who cares if I take a year later than expected to graduate?” she explains.

Once she realized that biology is not a passion area for her, she decided to finally follow her heart to engineering.

“I like how engineering is really hands-on, that you can tinker with things and learn how it works,” says Shrestha. “Luckily, I chose UC, the only school I applied to that had both biology and aerospace engineering,”

After her first couple weeks as an engineering student, Shrestha is still thinking about her next steps.

“I am still exploring. Everything excites me at this point,” she says with a laugh. “I had never found the same excitement in biology that I found in aerospace. I want to know more about every topic I see in the aerospace program!”