Salil Naik

Outstanding graduate Salil Naik discovered his love for coding at just 10 years old. Now graduating with a degree in computer science from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University,  he says that part of what sets the field apart from other disciplines is the vast online community that is freely available to everyone. 

“From a deep collection of free open-source software to debugging forums, every programmer is building upon the dedication and volunteer work of millions across the world,” Naik says. “I like this collaborative atmosphere.”

For him, the iterative engineering process starts with an objective or rough idea of how to solve a problem. Once he accomplishes the goal, the unexpected happens.

“I don’t stop,” Naik says. “I keep looking for opportunities for improvements, setting new goals in the process. This cycle of setting and accomplishing goals is fun and somewhat addictive.”

During his time at ASU, he pursued every opportunity to cultivate his skills. He helped develop a self-driving golf cart prototype to serve as an automated safety escort vehicle at ASU for his Engineering Projects in Community Service project. 

As a Barrett, the Honors College student, he conducted research in quantum machine learning at the Sensor, Signal, and Information Processing Center. This work resulted in him publishing two papers as a first author and presenting both at international research conferences, one of which earned him the Best Student Paper award.

Through Barrett’s GlobalResolve program, Naik engaged in cross-border collaborative projects for water security and environmental educational content in Mexico and Barbados.  

“As sister states, Arizona and Sonora face similar issues,” he says, “so idea-sharing was extremely valuable. We also had the opportunity to travel down to Hermosillo, Sonora, and collaborate with local students from Tec de Monterrey.” 

For the Barbados project, Naik developed environmental teaching guides and displays that emphasized a hands-on approach to environmental care. He also constructed and installed the on-site environmental displays. 

“I was motivated to get real-world experience in problem solving through engineering,” he says. “I appreciated the opportunity to give back to the local and global community.”

After graduation, Naik will be working as a machine learning engineer at Honeywell.

“I am interested in pushing the boundaries of machine learning and playing my part in building cutting-edge technologies,” Naik says.

Favorites

TV show: Breaking Bad
Movie: Interstellar
Activity: Hiking
Sport: Basketball

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ fall 2025 class.

Written by Hannah Weisman