Hunter Wiley Email & Phone Number

Rivers, animals, and humans alike, nature has always interested me. The cabin in which I grew up taught me the intricacies of animals, whether fish, bird, or mammal. It was on this property I first dove into a stream, laid back in the grass, and watched the clouds roll by, flowing and ever changing. I saw the cows in the fields and was mesmerized with their size. I saw the fish in the man-made pond behind our house. I learned, laughed, and was awestruck with the chemical and biological inner-workings of nature, but could only imagine how they worked. I watched PBS, which had some answers, but it always left me with more questions. And then when I was old enough to read, I found fiction. In fiction I witnessed science and its possibilities: cyborgs, gene editing, transformations, interfaces between technology and nature. These stories inspired my young mind. I saw the capacity for progress, and wanted to be a part of it: engineering.Fast-forward a decade or so, and now where am I? For one, I'm a lifelong student, an in-progress craftsman looking to apply chemistry for the betterment of humankind. I'm an avid documentarian that focuses on the nitty-gritty details, skills that come in great help when designing automation for complex, and rapidly changing, chemical processes. I was a mentor, a bridge-builder of knowledge for my fellow students in our iGEM design laboratory. In our lab, like the fiction I read as a child, we transformed organisms, engineering them to produce key products and run our ideas head on against an international audience. I'm a truth-seeker, an avid reader, and a critical thinker. I also love cooking and working with food, as it is just tasty chemistry.Although I have a long way ahead of me, as I always demand a deeper understanding, I am proud of my work until this point. I would love to apply my studies in chemical engineering, my practice in controls engineering, and my synthetic biology hobby as a profession. The power of epiphany is a mighty attraction indeed.