Justin Bui can build a hovercraft in the time it takes the earth to rotate around its axis. Need I say more?

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Justin Bui, SEAS ’19, Chemical Engineering, born and raised in the DMV

Claim to fame: Starting the Columbia University Percussion Ensemble. Having one of my scientific publications on the front page of Reddit. Building a working hovercraft in 24 hours. Shamelessly singing High School Musical songs in public.

Where are you going? Moving to the Bay Area to pursue a PhD in Chemical Engineering with the National Lab at UC Berkeley on an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2023?

1. Strive to find people who make you happy. Every time I was on a college visit, the tour guide would say something like, “My college years were the best years of my life.” They’re not wrong. These past four years at Columbia have made for the craziest, busiest, most thrilling and fulfilling experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. That said, they often leave out that being happy at Columbia takes effort. No one ever arrives at Columbia and is instantly settled into their new life. New York is this singular place where we all practically live on top of each other, yet somehow everyone feels cold and isolated. It takes time and work to find the people who will make your Columbia experience worthwhile. Know that you don’t need to settle for that friend you met at NSOP who only wants to eat out if it’s at the Times Square Olive Garden. You deserve better, so really take time to explore and find the people that will support you during the roller coaster that is a Columbia undergraduate education.

2. Do things that you love, not things you “should be” doing. Being at Columbia you’re going to be constantly surrounded by a lot of very… high performing(?) people. Or at the very least, people who want to make sure you know exactly how high performing they are. When you’re surrounded by these people it’s easy to get sucked into thinking about all the things you “should be” doing. Don’t be. Take the 15 credits that make you excited to wake up in the morning instead of 23 credits that’ll leave you miserable. The best part about college is that you finally get to trim the fat on your education. Spend time excelling in the things that you love, and when the dust settles, you will be just as successful as the people who flexed their courseload on you during Gen Chem.

3. Professors are friends, not food. Um… I mean don’t be afraid to reach out to and make genuine connections with your professors! It’s what they are there for, and I can assure you that most of them are very willing to provide mentorship for an undergrad. I can’t even begin to tell you how many doors were opened up to me because I decided to go to office hours and ask questions about a professor’s research or because I decided to use the phone number on a syllabus to text a professor about thermodynamics. Columbia is full of incredible minds. Don’t be afraid to shoot your shot and get to know them. You never know what will come out of it.

“Back in my day…” the Makerspace was just a tiny room in Mudd 12 run by a couple superusers with a dream, Orgo Lab was only one semester, completing the Pokedex was almost cool, and Trump Parodies were still in vogue. #V122 #MakeColumbiaGreatAgain

Favorite Columbia controversy? Nutellagate. It gave me hope that one day if I ate enough Nutella, I could make back the money I spent on my tuition.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I’m not as hot as Ryan Gosling, but I can recite all of his lines in Papyrus. (If you haven’t seen it, go watch it now!)

What was your favorite class at Columbia? Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics with Sanat Kumar — a man whose personality is only matched in size by the thickness of the rims on his glasses.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I had to give up bread at age 17 due to Celiac, and honestly, I can’t afford to cut another food group out of my life.

Whom would you like to thank? I’d like to thank my friends and family for being unwaveringly loving and supportive. Shout outs go to my mother who always picks up FaceTime when I’m freaking out about an exam at 2AM, and to my father for never forgetting to remind me that life is first and foremost about the people you meet and the connections you make.

One thing to do before graduating: I cannot leave Columbia’s Chemical Engineering department without having a sip of Prof. Bozic’s award-winning, homemade wine.

Any regrets? If I had to do it again, maybe I wouldn’t have tried to be a physics major at the start. Nothing against physics majors, but I was never able to wrap my head around the religion and mythos they established surrounding Prof. Brian Cole.