GuruColl

I started my college journey as a Math major, completely convinced I’d be buried in proofs, theorems, and late-night problem sets for the foreseeable future. And honestly, I loved it: the logic, the structure, the challenge, it all clicked. But then, somewhere between semesters, I randomly signed up for a CS course, mostly out of curiosity. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but that one choice ended up completely changing how I thought about my future. A few years later,

I built a fully controllable acoustic levitator—moving objects in 3D using sound. 1. Who I Am & How It Started A quick intro: me, my studies, and what I do now I am Yashovardhan Bamalwa. I studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Rutgers University. I now work in my family’s jewellery business, focusing on building systems and procedures in a traditionally unorganized industry. The “distracted” kid in class Teachers often saw me as distracted and disinterested.

It was the end of February at 4am in the morning when the rest of my family was fast asleep and all you could hear was the occasional chirping of the birds and my thumping heartbeat, when I was glued to my laptop frantically refreshing the UIUC admissions portal to check whether the decision was out yet. Suddenly, after one such refresh, I see the webpage change, confetti appear on the screen and the words “ You are an Illini ”. I erupted with a sense of relief and excitement