{"id":9880,"date":"2026-03-12T07:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=9880"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:21:07","slug":"student-spotlight-puumaaya-tahiru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2026\/03\/12\/student-spotlight-puumaaya-tahiru\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Puumaaya Tahiru"},"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>Puumaaya Tahiru\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 cybersecurity major Puumaaya Tahiru 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\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"913\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-792x913.jpeg\" alt=\"Puumaaya Tahiru.\" class=\"wp-image-9882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-792x913.jpeg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-396x457.jpeg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-768x886.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-1332x1536.jpeg 1332w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858-172x198.jpeg 172w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/IMG_5858.jpeg 1536w\" 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:216px\" 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\/cybersecurity\/\">Cybersecurity<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expected Date of Graduation:<\/strong>&nbsp;Spring 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>High School:<\/strong>&nbsp;Bethel High School<\/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 come to WSU because I saw how strong the engineering community is here and I wanted to be a part of that. I chose my major because I&#8217;ve always loved tech, and finding ways to secure it fascinates me.<\/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>My favorite class has been CPTS 122 because it was my second-ever coding class, so I knew the basics of coding, but it was still challenging and pushed me to learn a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-792x521.jpeg\" alt=\"A group of people with students holding certificates in front of a projector screen.\" class=\"wp-image-9896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-792x521.jpeg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-396x261.jpeg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-768x505.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-1536x1011.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-2048x1348.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-49AB4F0B-724E-416C-9229-5AE77DE409B2-198x130.jpeg 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Puuymaaya (third from right) and his team were the winners of the 2025 AgAID Hackathon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\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&#8217;m an active member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/wsu.presence.io\/organization\/national-society-of-black-engineers-washington-state-university-chapter-nsbe-wsu\">National Society of Black Engineers(NSBE)<\/a> on campus. I&#8217;ve been in the club my entire collegiate career, twice as VP and twice as president. The club has forced me to come out of my shell and be a more personable person which is an important skill all engineers need to have. I&#8217;ve also developed professionally because of all the professional development opportunities like the national conferences, collaborations with industry partners and our workshops like LinkedIn, resume, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"594\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-792x594.jpeg\" alt=\"A group of persons wearing lanyards, posing for a picture.\" class=\"wp-image-9888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-792x594.jpeg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-396x297.jpeg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A-198x149.jpeg 198w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2026\/02\/original-B925D9F2-935A-43E1-9A99-4A9F203A4F2A.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Puumaaya (first from right) and his team at the NSBE&#8217;s 49th Annual National Conference in Atlanta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Have you participated in any internships?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes I currently work as a Desktop Support Technician for Addium here in Pullman. I love the job because they know I&#8217;m a student so they let me do tasks outside of my job role like administrating certain core systems, helping with pen testing and more.<\/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 want to work as a product security engineer making sure products that get deployed are safe and secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Puumaaya Tahiru is a cybersecurity major graduating in May 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14162,"featured_media":9882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[570],"tags":[605],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[501,443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9880"}],"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=9880"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9919,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9880\/revisions\/9919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9880"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=9880"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=9880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}