{"id":129017,"date":"2020-12-18T07:29:45","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=129017"},"modified":"2021-11-15T13:56:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T20:56:45","slug":"commencement-feature-chris-boles-aims-for-the-stars-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=129017","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Chris Boles aims for the stars (and beyond)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
Having graduated with a degree in computer engineering, Chris Boles is off to Lockheed Martin, where his work will help land humans on Mars for the first time.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

When Chris Boles graduates this December with his degree in computer\nengineering, he\u2019s setting his sights sky-high \u2013 on Mars, in fact. And at the\nsame time, he\u2019s lighting the way for those who follow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boles, who grew up in a military family, graduated from high\nschool in South Carolina and planned to join his friends at Clemson University.\nBut when his dad got orders to Colorado Springs, he made a last-minute decision\nto move to Colorado Springs and attend UCCS instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Boles wasn’t just named one of the top 10 most influential interns at Lockheed Martin \u2013 he was (informally) named one of the most stylish, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His first semester in school was tough. Boles\u2019 dad was deployed to Kuwait, and he felt he should spend more time at home helping his mom and sisters. Then he failed physics \u2013 a foundational course for an engineering degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have the most traditional story,\u201d Boles said.  \u201cI chose UCCS at the very last second. I\nfailed physics my first semester. And at that point, I thought, \u2018Maybe\nengineering isn\u2019t for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the support of his mom, Boles switched his major to\ncomputer engineering, thinking it might be a more natural fit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurns out it was way harder,\u201d Boles said, laughing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Boles buckled down, studied harder and made the dean\u2019s\nlist the very next semester. He landed a summer internship with Lockheed Martin,\nand then another \u2013 working first in information technology, then in software development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That second summer, while working in Lockheed Martin\u2019s Denver office, Boles\u2019 fellow interns nominated him for Lockheed Martin\u2019s Most Influential Intern. Boles won the competition, and was named one of the top 10 most influential Lockheed Martin interns nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Lockheed Martin has snagged Boles for a third time. After graduating, Boles will take on a full-time role with the aerospace firm, where he will focus on the simulations Lockheed Martin runs to ensure the safety of those going into space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u201cIf you really and truly work hard and surround yourself with people who want you to succeed, you can do anything,\u201d Boles said.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His work will directly contribute to Lockheed Martin\u2019s Orion program, which will send the first American woman to the room. He will also contribute to the organization\u2019s efforts to build a new refueling station in outer space \u2013 and ultimately to the goal of landing humans on Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Boles has been accepted to New York University\u2019s\nTandon School of Engineering, where he will pursue a master\u2019s degree in bioinformatics.\nThough the academics will be different than his work at Lockheed Martin, Boles knows\nthe value of striking out in new directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to be a curious person to work in this field,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cCurious to know what else is out there and what can we learn from it.\nWhat I\u2019ll be learning in my bioinformatics program can be applied to artificial\nintelligence and machine learning at Lockheed Martin \u2013 or, it will let me\ndiversify and get into a completely new field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boles\u2019 curiosity and strong connections have taken him far.\nBut for him, it\u2019s even more important that his success shines a light for those\nwho follow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As president of the Colorado Springs chapter of the National\nSociety of Black Engineers, Boles took his responsibility to light the way for others\nseriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of my friends in the National Society of Black Engineers would say, \u2018You\u2019re the best of us,\u2019\u201d Boles said. \u201cAnd I would say, \u2018I have to be the best of us right now so that one day, when you\u2019re in the same position, you can be even better than I was.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing a minority in engineering, I want to help inspire\nyounger people see that it\u2019s possible for them to pursue engineering,\u201d he said.\n\u201cI failed my first semester of physics, but then I got an internship because I\nworked so hard. I got into NYU, and they have less than a 20 percent acceptance\nrate. I want other people to know that they can do that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if he was giving advice to other UCCS students, Boles\nwould encourage them to surround themselves with people rooting for their\nsuccess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you really and truly work hard and surround yourself with people who want you to succeed, you can do anything,\u201d Boles said. \u201cJust feed off of that energy \u2013 that we\u2019re all going to make it through this, and succeed, together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boles will be one of a record-setting 1,100 graduates from the summer and fall semesters at UCCS. He will celebrate his achievement during the 2020 fall commencement ceremony<\/a> on Dec. 18. Congratulations to Chris and the Class of 2020!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Chris Boles graduates this December with his degree in computer engineering, he\u2019s setting his sights sky-high \u2013 on Mars, in fact. And at the same time, he\u2019s lighting the way for those who follow. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":129019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49,48],"tags":[114,42,332,63,60],"class_list":["post-129017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","category-science-and-tech","tag-college-of-engineering-and-applied-science","tag-commencement","tag-more-news","tag-student-life","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Image-2.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-xyV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129017"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136199,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129017\/revisions\/136199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}