My name is Jackson Friedman and I was born in Evanston, Illinois. I began attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2022. I am a junior majoring in engineering mechanics and minoring in mathematics. I am also pursuing a computational science and engineering certificate. I am a James Scholar have been since the Fall 2023 semester. I made the deans list in the Spring 2022 and 2023 semesters. I am a project lead for Engineers Without Borders, we are working on a rehabilitating a drinking water distribution system in Woodford County, Illinois. I am passionate about research and hope to use engineering to create a better future!