Undergraduate Spotlight: Moustapha Bal

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Moustapha Bal

Where is your hometown?

My hometown is Fairfield, OH. My parents there immigrated from Mauritania in Africa.

What is your area of study and what made you pursue it?

I have always been curious on how machines around us work. I love designing things and seeing become actual products that help people--that’s why I chose mechanical engineering.

What brought you to Ohio State?

I have wanted to go to Ohio State since I was a kid. My older brother graduated from here in 2016 as well. When I visited the campus during high school, I was attracted by the wide range of opportunities in terms student organizations and electives.

What do you like most about the major and opportunities OSU allows?

What I like most about the major is the challenges it presents and the collaborative aspect of the curriculum. I've grown a lot as an engineering student during my time here because of the projects I was exposed to and worked on along with my classmates.

What is the best class you have taken so far and why?

One of my favorite classes I took was FEH (Fundamentals of Engineering Honors) during my freshman year. It was a very intensive class, but I learned a lot from it and I think it prepared me well for subsequent coursework. During the first semester I learned how to program in MATLAB and C, and also, each week we had a lab in a different engineering discipline which I enjoyed. During the second semester, I did my first real extensive engineering project where I worked with a team to design and build an autonomous robot from scratch—and we were successful which was awesome to see the robot go from an idea to a fully functional system. In MAE, my favorite courses were ME 2900: Intro to Design in Mechanical Engineering which was split into an Arduino portion and a machining portion. I also liked ME 5682: Fundamentals of Product Design Engineering as I hope to pursue this upon graduation.

What advice would you give high school students considering pursuing engineering as a major?

The advice I would give to a high school student would be to expose yourself to as many different engineering fields as possible to figure out what you enjoy. I would also say to make sure you are taking advantage of opportunities outside of class to learn and grow—whether that is in engineering or anything that interests you.

What is an important decision you made during your time at MAE?

One important decision I made during my time in MAE was starting Buckeye Solar Racing along with a few classmates during my sophomore year. The team has grown to over 50 members and we are currently one month away from finishing our first entirely solar-powered vehicle. I have grown a lot from the experience of being on this team, I have made great connections, and it is very rewarding to see how the project has allowed for other students who join to learn and grow in engineering.

What was your favorite activity to do as a kid?

I have wrestled since I was 9 years old and recently finished my final wrestling season with the Ohio State Wresting Club. Our team won the Club National Championship this season for the first time in OSU Club history.