Major: Computer science
Year: Fourth year

Tommy Moawad taught himself how to code in fourth grade using YouTube videos. When it came time to pick a major in college, computer science was a natural fit.

Now a fourth-year student at Case Western Reserve University and president of the Case Engineers Council, Moawad is working to show others the power of engineering. He’s leading the council’s efforts to coordinate the annual E-Week celebration, a series of events hosted in partnership with Case School of Engineering faculty and other student organizations. With events scheduled through Feb. 27, E-Week is designed to demonstrate appreciation of the contributions engineers make to society while letting the CWRU community participate in activities to learn more about the field and have a chance to win prizes.

“Our goal is to take care of the marketing and logistics so that the other organizations can focus their efforts on planning the stellar events that we see every year,” Moawad said.

In his role, Moawad has been grateful to work with others on the Case Engineers Council team, including Jadon Wolf, Nate Perez, Zane Varner, Zack Rosso and Michael Brough, as well as advisor Genine Apidone. He’s most looking forward to the Engineering Game Show, an event taking place Feb. 25, that he organized with fellow students Joel Lineback and Kathrine Glaess.

Moawad appreciates E-Week because it focuses on his earliest reasons for loving engineering: the need for problem solving. He enjoys learning something new and improving himself every day, and aspires to one day be a chief technology officer.

“I’m less interested in the fancy job title and more interested in the challenges that I expect to face along the way to becoming and after I become a CTO,” he said.

As a student, he’s begun gaining experience. During his first and second years, Moawad interned with CWRU alumnus Paul Chaffee’s Progressbook, a Cleveland EdTech company, spent time remotely interning with global consulting firm McKinsey, and served as a residential assistant for First-Year Experience all four years. And backed by his pride as a Egyptian-American Christian, Moawad has volunteered on the tech team for his church.

He looks forward to launching his career in the industry following graduation this year.

(From The Daily, 2/23/2021)