{"id":9504,"date":"2025-11-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=9504"},"modified":"2026-03-30T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:20:00","slug":"student-spotlight-cole-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2025\/11\/13\/student-spotlight-cole-wilson\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Cole Wilson"},"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>Cole Wilson\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 computer science major Cole Wilson 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  wsu-overlap--surface-column\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n<div class=\"wp-block-image  wsu-image--style-framed\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-792x878.png\" alt=\"Cole Wilson.\" class=\"wp-image-9505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-792x878.png 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-396x439.png 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-768x851.png 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-1386x1536.png 1386w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198-179x198.png 179w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_1-e1762295064198.png 1522w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\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:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/degrees.wsu.edu\/degree\/computer-science\/\">Computer Science<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expected Date of Graduation:<\/strong>&nbsp;May 2028<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>High School:<\/strong>&nbsp;Olympia High School<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hometown:<\/strong> Olympia, WA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scholarships:<\/strong> \n<ul>\n<li>National Merit Scholar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WSU Undergraduate Research Fellow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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 WSU?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I decided to attend WSU because of the scholarships I received, and also because of the community here! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I visited spring of my senior year in high school, and loved the campus, atmosphere, and how willing everyone was to help. I was very intrigued by WSU&#8217;s student organizations and clubs as well! I chose computer science because I&#8217;ve loved working with computers and code for a really long time. Specifically, I&#8217;m really interested in both robotics and cybersecurity, and I knew that WSU&#8217;s CS major could help me learn about both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What has been your favorite class or program that you have been involved with at WSU?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The beginning C\/C++ computer science classes (121 and 122) taught by Andy O&#8217;Fallon are fantastic, and he does a great job of introducing code to freshman. Additionally, the Honors College is a great way to get involved in smaller class sizes and meet people from other majors. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Please share how scholarships or financial aid has impacted you as a student.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Scholarships and financial aid has had an incredible impact on my family and I. I would not be able to normally afford college on my own, but through the generosity of WSU and external donors I am able to attend. By receiving scholarships like the National Merit Award, I can focus on school and extracurricular activities without additional financial burden. I am incredibly grateful for all the financial aid and assistance my family has received from WSU and VCEA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What clubs are you involved in on campus?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I am involved in several clubs on campus! I am president of <a href=\"https:\/\/robosub.eecs.wsu.edu\/\">Palouse RoboSub<\/a>, sysadmin\/officer of <a href=\"https:\/\/csg.eecs.wsu.edu\/\">Cybersecurity Group<\/a>, and a programmer for <a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.presence.io\/organization\/formula-sae-wazzu-racing-2\">Wazzu Racing<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, I was one of several freshman that helped restart RoboSub after a period of inactivity during Covid. This year, RoboSub has grown from 5 active members to roughly 35! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RoboSub is an underwater robotics competition where international teams compete in Irvine, CA every July. The made-from-scratch robots must run autonomously for 15 minutes: shooting torpedoes, doing flips, and picking and placing objects in an Olympic sized swimming pool. We&#8217;ve raised thousands of dollars through sponsorships and fundraising, and are currently manufacturing our submarine &#8220;Guppy&#8221; for summer. Through this club I&#8217;ve grown my robotics skills, and also learned a lot about leadership and team management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an officer of Cybersecurity Group, I help run weekly lessons on cybersecurity topics and manage the club&#8217;s server infrastructure. I also regularly compete in cybersecurity competitions through the club! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This October, I placed 21st in the nation out of over 7,800 participants in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalcyberleague.org\/\">National Cyber League<\/a> individual game. This is a new record for me, and I am excited to see what else I can learn! The team portion of the competition is coming up soon, and the club is looking forward to a fantastic showing there as well. Participating in these competitions is great for professional development, as they are nationally recognized and can help provide metrics on applicants for internships and jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-792x594.jpg\" alt=\"man standing next to a TV screen showing test models used in space exploration.\" class=\"wp-image-9513\" width=\"792\" height=\"594\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-792x594.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-396x297.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_3-198x149.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wilson worked as a robotic servicing intern for NASA last summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, I&#8217;m also involved in Wazzu Racing: the Formula SAE team on campus. On the team, I work in the Data Acquisition section as a programmer. I help develop datalogging software for the car, and also write the code that displays numbers and lights on the dashboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last summer at the Michigan International Speedway FSAE competition, the team placed better than ever before, and Data Acquisition recieved a nearly perfect score! This year, I&#8217;m working to develop live data telemetry for the car using LoRa radio. I really like working on this team, because it mostly involves working with mechanical engineering majors. I appreciate the opportunity to work with other majors outside of EECS, and I think this prepares me for a similar job in industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Have you participated in any research projects related to your field of study?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I am involved as an undergraduate research fellow at Dr. Hosseinzadeh&#8217;s Safe and <a href=\"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/siaslab\/\">Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory<\/a>. In it, I am researching adaptive bitrate video streaming algorithms to promote QoS across streaming platforms! This is a fantastic opportunity for me to get involved in academic research, and I&#8217;m learning a lot about video streaming and ML.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Have you participated in any internships?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"446\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-792x446.jpg\" alt=\"Man standing next to NASA JPL sign.\" class=\"wp-image-9512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-792x446.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-396x223.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2-198x111.jpg 198w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2025\/11\/spotlight_2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wilson at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Last summer (after my freshman year), I was down at NASA&#8217;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a space robotics intern. During the internship, I helped develop simulations of in-space servicing for the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory mission (HWO). Using tools such as NVIDIA Omniverse and Isaac Sim, I learned a lot about robotic simulation. Additionally, I got hands on experience with physical robots and manipulators, and testbed construction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To end the amazing summer, NASA flew me out to Washington DC where I was able to attend the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stsci.edu\/contents\/events\/stsci\/2025\/july\/towards-the-habitable-worlds-observatory-visionary-science-and-transformational-technology\">2025 HWO Symposium<\/a> and meet NASA leadership and many aerospace industry professionals. On the same trip, I was also able to present my work at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland! The internship at JPL was immensely rewarding and offered a great taste of the world of professional robotics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What do you want to do with your degree after you graduate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope to get a job working with either robotics or cybersecurity and reverse engineering. I&#8217;ve been fascinated by robots my entire life, and I love how they sit at the intersection of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. On the other hand, I also really enjoy reverse engineering and participating in cybersecurity competitions! No matter what I do, I know it will involve computer science and engineering in a major way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cole Wilson is a computer science major graduating in May 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14162,"featured_media":9505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[570],"tags":[595],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[501,443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9504"}],"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\/14162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9504"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10043,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9504\/revisions\/10043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9504"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=9504"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=9504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}