It was 8:30 a.m. on a Monday — my very first day of Grade 7. I was running late because the weather was tempestuous, as it often is at the start of monsoon season in June. As the rain poured relentlessly, I clutched tightly onto my mom’s clothes, determined not to get off the motorcycle. I shielded my sister, positioning her between my mom and me. We huddled together beneath a large raincoat, the three of us, shielding ourselves from the downpour. My sister and I were afraid of falling off the bike, and all we wished for was to arrive at school safely and on time. We couldn’t have made it through school without what my mom provided.
My life resonates with those kinds of situations. I was born and raised in the rural village of Thabya in Dawei, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. Both of my parents came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. My mom started her career as a lecturer at the Government Technical Institute when I was about a year old.
My father, after finishing primary school, went straight to work on his family’s vegetable farm. In search of a better life, he moved to Thailand and later to Malaysia, where he has been working as a foreign fisherman since.
During my time in school, I felt small thinking about what I could contribute to my family in return for their sacrifices. I understood their unspoken hopes — that education was the surest route to a better life. After finishing high school, I became more responsible for my family. The weight of those responsibilities sometimes felt greater than my dream of becoming an engineer.
I started chasing greatness through the avoidance of disappointment in myself, embracing the philosophy of “carpe diem.” I call this my era of finding “the true me.” Throughout my years at Dawei Technological University (DTU), I explored the boundaries of friendship, opportunity, and my own values. My English teacher, the founder of Dawei Millennium Centre, guided me when I was lost and helped me gain entry into the English Access Micro-Scholarship, a two-year English language program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
About Aung
- Age: 26
- Ethnicity: Burmese, Tavoyan
- Country: Myanmar
School & Program
- King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
- Bachelor’s, Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Engineering
- 2nd Year in Program
Goals & Dreams
- Become a robotics & AI researcher
- Serve my family and community
- Travel to Switzerland
Loan Details
- Loan Amount: $3,750
- Amount Left To Fund: $3,700
- Contract Duration: 11 years
- Status: In School
Over those two years, I founded the DTU English Language Club to help meet the need for language skills among students. I also served as an executive member of the student council for three years, representing the Electronics Department. Through these experiences, I devoted myself to finding the missing parts of who I am, networking, and doing good deeds for the community. I was also trying, in my own way, to be a role model for my sister, who has no one else to look up to.
All of this led me to become an exchange student at West Virginia University as part of the Global-URGAD program administered by World Learning. Those experiences changed my understanding of cultural norms and helped me become a more open-minded person. My interest in computer engineering deepened at WVU, where I joined the quantum computing club and the rocketry experimental club. My initial inspiration in artificial intelligence came from case studies of VideaHealth during the Aspire Leaders Program at Harvard University.
My exchange studies ended in December 2021, and I made the difficult decision to suspend my studies due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the political instability that followed. After two years away, I am resuming my academics at KMITL, specializing in robotics and AI engineering.
My mother’s resilience, leadership, and contribution to our family are invaluable. I cannot clutch onto her forever, and so I have to lead — my family and my community. Serving society, after serving my family, would be my truest decision ever. I aim for my research in neurorobotics to benefit humanity by deepening our understanding of the interactions between humans and robots.
Written by Aung with editing assistance from Zomia’s volunteer editors.
Aung
“My mother’s resilience, leadership, and contribution to our family are invaluable. I cannot clutch onto her forever, and so I have to lead — my family and my community. Serving society, after serving my family, would be my truest decision ever.”