Marcus Stilwell

Engineering Futures Mentor

Inspired by the work his older brother was doing, Marcus Stilwell decided to pursue a degree in computer science.

“I thought that the work he was doing was fascinating, so I decided to try it out. I have really enjoyed computer science ever since.”

Three years ago, Stilwell moved across the country from his hometown of Nyack, New York, to study at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU.

“My family has been very supportive of me and my time at ASU,” he said. “Being so far away from home can be hard, but they come out to visit when they can and help me whenever they can.”

He will be returning this Fall for his fourth and final year. In addition to finishing out his degree, Stilwell will continue working as Engineering Futures mentor, guiding first and second year students through the engineering program at ASU.

This summer, he worked in North Phoenix as an enterprise application intern at Republic Services, where he gained real-world experience in the computer engineering field, in an environment that valued the learning experience.

“My internship has been important along with my formal education. I have learned a lot at Republic Services, and I have been able to apply the skills I learned at ASU and apply them to software that is going to be used by people every day,” Stilwell said.

Previously, he participated in the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) through the data mining and machine learning lab at ASU, where he worked on analyzing bot behavior on Twitter.

“The best advice I can give to other engineering students is to have a project outside of the classroom that lets you apply your knowledge to something tangible,” he said. “Whether you are studying civil engineering and join ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) to work on one of their projects or you are studying computer science and you build an app, having a project can let you see your progress outside of tests and labs.”

After graduating, Stilwell hopes to get a job as a software engineer at an innovative company.

“Engineering is about solving problems and solving them in an impactful way,” he said.

By Summer Sorg, Science and Technology Writer, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
July 11, 2019