Adam Ulissey is Creating a Sustainable Design for his Future as an Environmental Engineer

Adam Ulissey

DCCCD STEM Institute Scholar, El Centro College

Adam Ulissey is creating a sustainable design for his future, one where he can make a difference in the world as an environmental engineer.

“I want to work in sustainable design – my dream career would be biomimicry design of buildings,” he says. (Based on the Greek words for “imitating life,” biomimicry is the science of biologically-inspired engineering, using examples from nature to solve human design issues.)

Through the STEM Institute, Adam has benefited from personal advisement by Dr. Kendra Wallis, a STEM Citi Faculty Fellow and physics professor at Eastfield College. “Having a personal mentor is like having a friend who’s always willing to do something for you,” he says. “It’s been good to be able to ask direct questions to someone who knows what’s going on in the field, and to have help with the transfer process to a four-year university.”
Since last summer, he’s also had a paid internship at Ft. Worth’s Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), where he works with its living rooftop, constructed to mimic a naturally thriving ecosystem. “My project has been

surveying insects on the rooftop habitat, and helping analyze data to compare it to their original ecosystem,” he says, already exhibiting the excitement of a research scientist towards his work. “Having an internship has been great. I want to get real experience in my field every step of the way.”
The next step in his educational path: earning a bachelor’s degree for a future career that he hopes will include biomimicry design, creating energy-efficient homes and appliances, and championing recycling. He was recently accepted to Colorado State University, which offers a nationally renowned environmental sciences program