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Ahmed Alansi is a mechanical engineering student with an interest in control systems, computer programming, and renewable energy. Ahmed is the youngest of six children, and the first in his family to attend a university. During his high school career, Ahmed spent his weekends and summers working with his father and brothers. Together, they would restore fixer-upper homes and tackle various projects. In 2012, Ahmed helped his eldest brother set up a rig to turn vegetable oil into diesel fuel; projects like this sparked his interest in the field of engineering. 
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Ahmed pursues his passions. He genuinely cares, and will take command of any situation to ensure the best possible outcome. These traits are exemplified by  the year he worked for UCSB Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS), where he held sections twice a week to tutor classes of students in both Math and Physics. Ahmed exceeded expectations by creating coherent lesson plans and worksheets for his students, making himself available outside of work-hours for additional help, and frequently surveying his classes for ways to improve his sections. Ahmed’s efforts proved to be fruitful as he received positive feedback from his students, and maintained high attendance rates among his classes.  
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Ahmed always takes the proper steps to complete what is asked of him, but remains on the lookout for improvement. This is demonstrated through the administrative work he did in the CLAS main office. Ahmed was frequently asked to reconcile expenses, a time-consuming process that involved cross-checking numbers between two spreadsheets. With no prior programming experience, Ahmed took it upon himself to learn Python to automate the process. He created an easy-to-use program that turned a two hour task to just two minutes.  
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Ahmed plays an important role for his Capstone team. When necessary, he will step up and take charge to ensure a timely completion of the tasks at hand. Additionally, Ahmed helps facilitate communication between his team members to ensure proper integration of the work distribution. While this is Ahmed’s first time working on a team to design a product of this magnitude, he has experience with numerous trades that give him foresight to the design process. Ahmed has worked in carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and construction, to name a few. 
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Ahmed chose to develop GreenSpace because of his interest in renewable energy. Additionally, Ahmed and his brother have plans to return to their family’s village and install photovoltaic (PV) systems in homes that are without electricity. This project provided him with an opportunity to learn about PV systems. To this end, Ahmed has long been interested in pursuing a career in renewable energy. Through previous courses and job experiences, Ahmed also has a newfound passion for programming, control systems and theory, and teaching. 
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