Sam Tang is a class of 2018 Mechanical Engineering major who has worked for the past four years as student employee for the UCR Library’s Cyberinfrastructure department.

This position requires Tang to maintain computers and peripherals for library users and to help staff solve problems connecting to email, printer malfunctions, and other troubleshooting issues.

“It’s taught me a lot about working in an office and communicating with people,” he said. “Be patient, be kind. That was a huge lesson in IT, apart from all the technical stuff about hardware and specific applications that the library uses. I learn so much on the job.”

“Sam is a valued member of our team. He is smart, kind, honest, and reliable,” said Dan Szilagyi, Manager of Cyberinfrastructure. “He’s a hard worker who produces timely, efficient, and effective results.”

Tang grew up as an only child in Irvine, CA. His father is a biomedical engineering professor at UC Irvine. His mother was a piano teacher during his childhood, but she now works as an office manager for a law firm. Before moving to Irvine, Tang’s family lived in Virginia while his father worked on the gyroscope for cruise air missiles for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

Tang originally planned to study media and arts at UC Riverside, but changed his major to Mechanical Engineering (ME) during his junior year. At first, he had no plans to study math. “I actually failed pre-calculus in high school, so I thought that math was the opposite of what I wanted to do,” he laughed.

However, he tried a few math classes here at UCR and felt like the work was rewarding. “I wanted to get the most out of learning as possible,” he said. “In high school, I was super lazy about everything. I only cared about not doing schoolwork. But that changes a lot during college when your work actually matters and you’re held responsible for the work that you put in.”

Part of what inspired Tang to become a ME major was his respect for Professor Sundararajan Venkatadriagaram. “He’s one of the nicest guys I know, but the material he gives out is super-hard and it really forces you to learn everything you can about ME,” Tang explained. “You can ask him about anything in ME and he’ll know the answer, and he can also prove it on paper. Having that kind of knowledge in engineering is something I’d aspire to do.”

After graduation, Tang could picture himself in a few different roles. “The skills in IT aren’t at all the same as what you learn in ME, but I could see myself doing research and developing in either field.” However, he has one dream that aims even higher. “If I could do anything, I’d like to be an astronaut,” Tang said. “It’s a good mix of physics, mechanical engineering, and some IT, as well, because you need to know how to operate a lot of electronics.”