Ryan Wolfarth

In high school, guitarist Ryan Wolfarth requisitioned his father’s old RCA stereo for his garage band.  Piecing receivers and amps together with more vintage gear from the drummer’s dad, their band soon had a killer sound system.

What it didn’t have was a name.  “We played two gigs and we still didn’t have a name.  It was a high school do-nothing band.”

But something about the tinkering triggered a spark.  “I wouldn’t call it an aptitude, but an interest.”

A champion multitasker, Wolfarth was declaring for early enrollment at Miami as he joined the Ohio Air National Guard.  He missed his first semester to complete training in Texas and arrived on campus in spring 2007, ready to see where his interests led.

Chemistry nearly took him out.  “It was a good thing I got kicked while I was down early.  That was my first tough college class.”

Soon he was turning to engineering, declaring a major in electrical engineering with a minor in engineering physics.  Over the years, he started to see the difference Miami made for him.

“I had two friends in engineering, one at Ohio State and one at Wright State.  As sophomores and even juniors they were going to big lecture halls for their engineering classes.  I like to sit in a class of maybe 20 other people.  That’s real comforting and easy for me.”

Wolfarth served as teaching assistant in some of those small classes and tutored others.  He also kept one foot in the National Guard camp, becoming a jet engine mechanic.

One of his major projects was the Multifunction Autonomous Robotic, nicknamed RedBlade.  His Miami team placed second in the National Snowplow competition, creating a robot that both moved snow and mowed grass.  “We’re the only team that built a robot with one platform doing two jobs.  The others built two machines.”  He’s staying around after graduation to see RedBlade take on its competition, all one-trick robotic ponies.

In summer 2010, Wolfarth added research to his resume, working as an Undergraduate Summer Scholar (USS) with assistant professor Peter Jamieson on a software project.”  Dr. Jade Morton gave me a lot of attention, too.  In the engineering school, if you go seeking somebody to put you to work, they’ll definitely do it.

“I felt swept away.  I saw the end result of engineering and set incremental goals for myself.”

His next goal is graduate school in computational science and engineering at Miami, with fieldwork in Alaska on GPS navigation.

With two more years yet on campus, Wolfarth analyzes his Miami experience so far.  “Opportunity won’t come to you, you have to look for it and make it yourself.  But it’s not hard.  You just have to ask.”