{"id":95321,"date":"2025-10-20T04:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=95321"},"modified":"2025-10-22T08:30:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:30:35","slug":"from-prestigious-program-to-perfect-fit-engineering-transfer-student-finds-his-place-as-a-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/10_20_2025\/from-prestigious-program-to-perfect-fit-engineering-transfer-student-finds-his-place-as-a-rocket","title":{"rendered":"From Prestigious Program to Perfect Fit: Engineering Transfer Student Finds His Place as a Rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Toledo is celebrating transfer students as part of National Transfer Student Week.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ryan Egan walked away from one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country \u2014 and he says it\u2019s the best decision he\u2019s ever made.<\/p>\n

\"ALT:

Ryan Egan, a senior in computer science and engineering, transferred from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to UToledo after realizing he thrived in a more collaborative, accessible environment.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Arlington Heights, Illinois, native transferred from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to The University of Toledo after realizing he thrived in a more collaborative, accessible environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a bigger school with more opportunities to work with people from different backgrounds and interests,\u201d he said. \u201cUToledo checked every box.\u201d<\/p>\n

That shift in environment helped propel Ryan, a senior in computer science and engineering<\/a>, to two co-ops at MIT\u2019s Lincoln Laboratory \u2014 including a return this past summer as a team lead \u2014 and reaffirmed his belief that the right setting can make all the difference in a student\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s engineering journey began with the same curiosity that once drove him to dismantle his toys as a child just to see how they worked. At Rose-Hulman, his summer jobs \u2014 from lifeguarding to stocking electronics lab kits \u2014 didn\u2019t bring him closer to his goals. But in 2022, he used his downtime to teach himself Java and research hundreds of companies. The persistence paid off when he landed an interview with MIT\u2019s largest research group.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the interview, I showed my natural curiosity and desire to understand how things work,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThrough some amount of luck, and many hours of learning, researching and applying, I got my first real internship.\u201d<\/p>\n

At MIT, Ryan immersed himself in a culture of curiosity. He sought out world-class engineers, asked them what he needed to learn to understand their projects and followed through on every recommendation. Even though his first project was entirely Java-based, he voiced his long-term interests and his supervisor connected him with people who could guide him toward his dream role.<\/p>\n

\"\"

As a Rocket, Egan has had two co-ops at MIT\u2019s Lincoln Laboratory.<\/p><\/div>\n

That openness led to a return offer \u2014 this time in a position perfectly aligned with his career goals.<\/p>\n

Since transferring to UToledo, Ryan said he\u2019s been encouraged by professors to collaborate in high-level classes, something he rarely experienced before. He\u2019s also found a strong community through Phi Kappa Psi, where he was welcomed during Rush Week shortly after arriving on campus.<\/p>\n

This past summer, as a returning co-op at MIT, Ryan led a prototyping team working on a research proposal for a linear algebra accelerator \u2014 technology designed to improve performance for large data centers and scientific computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransferring to UToledo was the right move for me,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIt gave me the collaborative environment I needed to grow \u2014 and the opportunities to take my career to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about UToledo’s campus events for National Transfer Student Week, read the UToledo News story<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"ALT:<\/a>

Now a senior in computer science and engineering, Ryan Egan’s shift to the \u201ccollaborative environment\u201d at UToledo helped propel him to two co-ops at MIT\u2019s Lincoln Laboratory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":95327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,34,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/756"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95321"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95330,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95321\/revisions\/95330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}