During my riding days, on a Triumph Street Twin
Soho, New York

Hello, I'm Caroline.

I was born and raised in the Philippines, in the province of Cavite. The middle child of three (with Andrew and Melanie). Raised in a modest household, by our parents, Ave and Ed.

Our childhood in the province meant playing with mud, leaves, and climbing anything climb-worthy. To me that meant water towers and Aratiles trees. During blackouts (we called them brownouts and they happened quite often) our dad would whip out his guitar, a couple of Beatles songhits (a compilation of lyrics with guitar chords), light a candle and sing for hours. Without a brave critic nor an audience, really, we would sing in the dark without any care in the world whether we sounded good, or not.

Reuniting with our mom after five years.
Taken at Dulles Airport, VA, right after our arrival in the US.

During a Nationals Robotics Competition, with Krongchai Praponpoj,
for our research in Autonomous Robot: Strategic Delivery and Pick-Up,
Borough of Manhatttan Community College, New York

My exposure to STEM can be traced to bits of piqued curiosities throughout my childhood.

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I remember the MSDOS computer in our first grade class. I remember how our principal, Mr. Trinidad, treated it and the room where it sat with such reverence. Afterwards, he shared with us his newly published autobiography. Someday, he said, we would write our own and if we do it ourselves, it's not biography but autobiography.

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When I was around seven or eight, I stumbled upon my dad's Intel book. I don't know what kind of an electronics book it was but it was an illustrated one; with a small person walking around which I now know as circuit boards with surface mount components. Surrounded by resistors and capacitors, he seemed at home and happy.

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That summer, at camp, our instructor told us that we could build anything we wanted with popsicle sticks. She did not seem like she had anything planned for us that afternoon. I liked her. My peers used their popsicle sticks to build more picture frames, basing it on the past picture frames we already built. I was so bored. I took my popsicle sticks and fashioned a robot, with a boxy head, a boxy body and flimsy arms. I could tell that our instructor did not expect my random creation. It almost seemed like she did not know what to do with it. She later on awarded me the most creative kid in camp - no big deal. That memory makes me smile because it reminds me that boredom and creativity are two sides of the same coin.

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In sixth grade, we were tasked to memorize the periodic table. I do not remember the entire periodic table now (I do own a kick-ass book about it though) but I remember with absolute clarity how scared I was of not delivering what was asked. Teacher Lilah conducted her class with an iron fist. I thought she was so cool. That year my only contribution to our grade was our class motto, "Fools are leaky faucets, dripping nonsense".

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That same year, we learned HTML. Aside from wishing for a chance to play Putt-Putt which I barely got, I paid attention to HTML. I loved it, I learned it. That year was when I first learned that computers are binary. I remember wondering how does the computer understand 0's and 1's? The universe does not falter in heeding one's curiosities. These questions served as my yellow brick road to the wonderful Emerald City of electrical engineering. When it comes to thoughts, I find that, what goes around comes around.

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When I was a sophomore in high school, we were tasked to catch a frog which we will eventually dissect for our biology class. Seven of us ventured out on a rainy day with a rice sack. The Philippines does not have a shortage in the frog department and sure enough, we found The One. From the moment we captured the frog to the moment we dissected it, I vowed to the universe that I will never be doing anything remotely like that ever again. To me it was, "goodbye medical field, it was nice not knowing you."

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That same year, our school held an overnight stargazing event called Astro Camp. They rented about 15 telescopes which were positioned and were scheduled to be visited throughout the night. What an unforgettable experience, that was. Getting a glimpse of Jupiter and Venus; seeing the moon up close for the first time; and staring at stars that shone like shattered silver ignited something in me that would eventually fuel my passion for curiosity, beauty and knowledge.