Ethan Secklin

From a relatively young age, Ethan Secklin has been interested in how things work.

“At first, I chose engineering because I was doing well in physics classes,” says Secklin. “Once I began it seemed like the next logical step. From new and exciting technologies to everyday objects, I was learning more about how things work.”

His decision to attend school at ASU was an easy choice for him. He found his niche at The Polytechnic School.

“My parents went to ASU and the project-based courses at the Polytechnic campus sounded hands-on and exciting,” says Secklin.

Secklin points to Fulton Schools Associate Professor Pavlos Mikellides as the first professor to really challenge him.

“Many textbook materials have you jumping straight to an equation when solving a problem and leave you lost as to how that equation was found,” says Secklin. “Mikellides’ classes required you to derive the equations. It was a struggle at first but then even the harder problems made sense.”

Beyond his coursework directly related to mechanical systems engineering, Secklin has been surprised by some of the skills he’s gained working as a tutor with the University Academic Success Programs.

“I did not anticipate all the skills I would be learning,” he says. “Working as a tutor, I was not just working one-on-one with my peers, I was also leading exam review sessions for them. I found from that experience that, while I was not perfect, I was doing much better in other areas, like when having to give a presentation on a class project. Being able to stand and present in front of a critical professor and not break under the pressure has been one of the more rewarding moments at ASU.”

Being able to speak authoritatively and communicate complex information will serve Secklin well as he starts his career, but one goal he’s planning to tackle once during the course of his career is learning to solve the Navier-Stokes equations.

“It is one of the Millennium Problems,” says Secklin. “I look at it as a future challenge to work towards, growing and learning more until a solution is achievable.”

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ fall 2019 class here.