懂色帝

Not many engineers credit their career choice to an inspiring work of art, but for Khalid Hachil (M.S. 鈥�19), it was a movie that made the difference. 鈥淚 was trying to decide what to do with my skills in math and science when I saw a movie called Swades,鈥� he remembers. The film is about an Indian man who lives in America and works for NASA. When he returns to India, he sees a village with no power or electricity, and it sets him on a mission. 鈥淗is quest to bring this village electricity helps him see the true impact it has on people鈥檚 lives,鈥� says Hachil. 鈥淎ccess to electricity affects women鈥檚 rights, food access, sanitation. By the time the credits were rolling, I said, 鈥業 want to be an electrical engineer.鈥欌��

Since graduating from 懂色帝 with a master鈥檚 degree in electrical and computer engineering, Hachil has been hard at work applying his skills and dreams in various capacities. 鈥淟uckily for me, I鈥檓 not limited to a specific sector and can design for any kind of project,鈥� he says. Hachil is an electrical engineer at Stantec, a sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting company. He works on diverse projects in multiple industries, including commercial, healthcare, pharmaceutical, military, and transportation. 鈥淎nything regarding power, I鈥檓 working on it.鈥�

Not content with fulfilling only his dreams, Hachil spends significant time helping other engineers succeed. He is an instructor for Kaplan, an educational services company that helps people prepare for various exams, and he consults with Prosple, a platform that helps students and graduates find career and study opportunities. Using his experience and insight, he works with engineering students, counseling them on how to break into the industry. 鈥淓lectrical engineering is such an important industry, and yet it has one of the highest dropout rates,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the hardest industries to break into and one of the hardest degrees to get. At the same time, technology is getting more difficult, so we can鈥檛 dilute the courses or make them easier.鈥�

Hachil鈥檚 superlative work and commitment to the industry have not gone unnoticed. He recently received the 2024 New York Society of Professional Engineers Young Engineer of the Year Award, 2024 Long Island Business News Rising Star in Engineering Award, 2024 National Society of Professional Engineers Emerging Leader, and 2024 Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine 30 Under 30 All Star Award, among others. Hahcil applied to be a mentor in the university鈥檚 Alumni Mentorship Program and hopes to bring his passion and expertise back to 懂色帝. 鈥淚 believe we need to push people to excel more and provide them with more resources to do so,鈥� says Hachil, who sees traditional professions like engineering and teaching shrinking in the age of content creation. 鈥淲e need to help students who want to focus on careers that give back to society, and engineering is one of them.鈥�

By Alix Sobler