The College of Engineering is honored to introduce this year’s student graduation speaker, Timilehin Samuel Olofinyolemi. A proud member of the Class of 2026, Timi is graduating from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he has distinguished himself through his dedication and curiosity. He has been active in IEEE (Temple Student Chapter), OwlHacks, NSBE and was even a Goldwater Scholarship recipient during his time as an undergrad. He brings his unique voice and perspective to the stage as he reflects on his journey and looks ahead to the bright future that lies ahead for the Class of 2026. We asked Timi to reflect upon his time as an undergrad and here’s how it went:   

College of Engineering (COE): What made you want to apply to be the graduation student speaker? 

Timilehin Samuel Olofinyolemi (Timi): Honestly, I felt like I am the definition of "Temple Made." I felt like I had something real to say and reflect upon. A lot of us in the College of Engineering didn't just take classes and go home. We were interning, leading organizations, doing research, and somehow keeping our GPAs intact through all of it. That experience is worth naming. I wanted to be the one to name it and be the face of it. 

COE: What was your favorite part about your time at the College of Engineering?  

Timi: The moments when something actually worked! You spend hours debugging, rethinking, rebuilding, and then it finally clicks; the hardware does what you designed it to do. That feeling never got old. Those moments gave me something to hold onto as I moved forward. 

COE: What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering?  

Timi: I have always naturally enjoyed understanding how things work. The systematic thinking behind how things come together as a whole. Since I naturally love asking questions, this led me to math. That’s where I got to ask questions and get answers that were definite and provable. That eventually led me to engineering, where I could take those answers and build something with them. 

COE: What was the most challenging part of your engineering education, and how did you overcome that challenge?   

Timi: The coursework alone is demanding. Add an internship or research, leadership responsibilities, and trying to actually have a life, and the margin gets very thin. What worked for me was applying the idea of scale of preference. Every week I tried to identify the most important things first and work down the list as the week progressed. I also stopped chasing perfection and started chasing consistency. 

COE: Were there any unexpected lessons you learned during your time as a student that will stick with you?  

Timi: Struggling is an important ingredient for success. You need pressure and some struggle to shape into the best engineer you can be. Struggling doesn't mean you don't belong. Engineering culture doesn't always make that easy to believe, but I've come to accept that successful engineers treat confusion as a place to start rather than a reason to quit. 

COE: How do you hope to make a difference in the field of engineering? 

Timi: Fundamentally, I want to help people with the knowledge I've gained from engineering. Whether that's in industry or during and after grad school. My internship and research projects have shaped how I measure the success of any solution: by how many people that solution actually helped. 

COE: What are your next steps after graduation? 

Timi: I'm starting a new role as an associate firmware engineer in one of the med-tech business units of Ametek. I'm also preparing for grad school in a year or two.