2011 Edition - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - The ...

Alumni SpotlightTshering Shares Incredible Journey to KU, BeyondStarting his three-and-a-half hourwalk down the mountain beforedawn, Nima Tshering was terrifiedof running into a Himalayan black bearin the dark jungle. But the eight year olddid not let fear stop him from making theseven-hour round trip six days a week forfive years to primary school.Tshering (BSEE ’02) talked about hisjourney to KU and beyond during theEECS New Student Seminar this fall.EECS Professor and Associate Chair forUndergraduate Studies David Petr leadsthe one-hour weekly discussion to linkstudents with resources and more quicklyintegrate them into the Department.Tshering was among the invited alumniasked to share their experiences andshow the wide range of career paths forEECS graduates.“Nima was an obvious choice as guestspeaker for our week on unusual careers;his close association with the royal familyof Bhutan, his strategic governmentpositions, and his graduate studyfocused on management and publicadministration certainly make him one ofEECS’s most unusual graduates,” said Dr.Petr.“My EECS experience has turned my fearinto hope, my self-doubt into confidence.It gave me the hard KU engineeringskills with soft humility of Kansas” saidTshering, who came to KU on a FulbrightScholarship. “When it comes to a career,I would like current EECS students torealize that it is not what you do, buthow you think about what you do, thatchanges the world.”Nima Tshering (center) stands with two of his former EECS Professors David Petr (left) and Gary Minden. Tshering(BSEE '02) spoke to EECS freshmen about unusual career paths during the New Student Seminar.After graduating from KU in 2002,Tshering joined Bhutan’s Departmentof Information Technology andbegan building the nation’s fledgingIT infrastructure. Internet and cellphone service would be incredibleadvancements for a country that is stilltrying to extend roads and electricity toits rural villages, Tshering said. While KUhad given him the engineering skills tosucceed, he needed management trainingfor the massive undertaking and enrolledin a graduate engineering managementprogram at the University of Canterburyin New Zealand. For his graduate project,Tshering developed the strategic planfor Tarayana Foundation, a non-profitorganization that helps poor Bhutanese inrural villages. He completed his graduatedegree in 2005 and spent the next threeyears walking to more than 300 remotevillages in Bhutan to talk to his fellowcitizens about the King’s policies.His work with the Tarayana Foundationand the King’s Office of People’s Welfareand Wellbeing led him to the John F.Kennedy School of Government atHarvard University. He is learning how todevelop business approaches and publicpolicies that will help the one-quarterof Bhutanese living in poverty, less than$1 a day. Tshering, who is expected tograduate this summer with a Master’s inPublic Administration in InternationalDevelopment, will return to public serviceand nation building under the direction ofthe King of Bhutan. •“My EECS experience has turned my fear into hope, my selfdoubtinto confidence. It gave me the hard KU engineeringskills with soft humility of Kansas."–Nima TsheringEECS News 2011 29