{"id":5478,"date":"2023-04-20T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=5478"},"modified":"2025-08-15T12:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:45:29","slug":"student-spotlight-erich-whitley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2023\/04\/20\/student-spotlight-erich-whitley\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Erich Whitley"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"breadcrumbs\" typeof=\"BreadcrumbList\" vocab=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/\">\r\n\t<!-- Breadcrumb NavXT 7.2.0 -->\n<span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/\" class=\"main-home\" ><span property=\"name\">Voiland College<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"1\"><\/span><span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College Student Success.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\" class=\"home\" aria-current=\"page\"><span property=\"name\">Voiland College Student Success<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"2\"><\/span><\/div><header class=\"wsu-article-header \">\r\n\t<h1 class=\"wsu-article-header__title\">\r\n\t\tStudent Spotlight: <br>Erich Whitley\t<\/h1>\r\n\t\t<\/header>\r\n\n\n\n<p>What makes Washington State University&#8217;s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture stand out from the crowd for those looking to get a degree?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We ask chemical engineering major Erich Whitley for his thoughts on what makes WSU such a special place.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap wsu-spacing-after--xxmedium\">\r\n\t<div class=\"wsu-overlap__container\">\r\n\t\t\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full wsu-image--style-framed\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"357\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/08\/Erich-Whitley-Picture-e1755284804550.jpg\" alt=\"Erich Whitley.\" class=\"wp-image-9052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/08\/Erich-Whitley-Picture-e1755284804550.jpg 357w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/08\/Erich-Whitley-Picture-e1755284804550-168x198.jpg 168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column  wsu-overlap--surface-column wsu-overlap--overlap-xxmedium\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<div style=\"height:70px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer wsu-hide--tablet\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container wsu-dropshadow--medium wsu-color-background--white wsu-spacing-top--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-right--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-left--xmedium wsu-spacing-bottom--sxxsmall\" >\r\n    \n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Major: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/degrees.wsu.edu\/degree\/chemical-engineering\/\">Chemical Engineering<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expected Date of Graduation:<\/strong> May 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Activities:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/wsu-american-institute-of-chemical-engineers\/\">AIChE member<\/a>, VCEA student ambassador, Undergraduate researcher, Honors College<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\t<\/div> \r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What made you decide to attend Washington State University?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I chose to attend WSU because of its excellent engineering department, its reputation as a research university, with special emphasis on undergraduate research, the talented and passionate faculty and the warm and welcoming Cougar community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What have you learned at WSU that will help you in your career?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the most important thing that I&#8217;ve learned so far from my time at WSU is how to problem solve. In life, we constantly face problems that we need to solve, and they often times are overwhelming. However, from my experiences, academic or otherwise, I have found that you generally can apply the following approach to most problems you face: take a step back, consider all aspects of the issue, break it down into small, more manageable pieces, devise a plan to complete these pieces and execute it, hope it works, but if not, revise and repeat until it does. Also, never put off solving a problem for too long as they have a tendency to compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">What is your favorite activity at WSU?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My favorite activity has been doing undergraduate research. I found it to be an incredible learning opportunity, as I get to work hands on with materials and apply the concepts I&#8217;ve learned in the classroom, as well as work alongside and learn from the grad students and professors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erich Whitley is a chemical engineering major graduating in May 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30232,"featured_media":9052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[570],"tags":[591],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[498,443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5478"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9053,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions\/9053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5478"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=5478"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=5478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}