Trust Your Gut: Finding Your Own Path

Olivia Holbrook, an NC State environmental engineering alum and graduate student in Ocean and Resource Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, shares her unconventional path from graduation to graduate school. She reflects on taking time to discover what truly interested her, working in the service industry, overcoming imposter syndrome, and building confidence by trusting her instincts. Olivia also discusses her research designing low-cost ocean instruments that make scientific research more accessible while encouraging students to embrace uncertainty and recognize that growth rarely follows a straight line.