If I got a nickel for every time my freshman year roommate tried to convince me to switch to Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), I’d probably have enough nickels to pay for laundry until I graduate. (This is a non-insignificant number of nickels.) I definitely thought about it for more than one occasion although evidently, I wasn’t swayed, but Aishu Sivamurugan ‘26 both talked (and talks, present tense) enough about her major for me to associate it nearly purely with her.
I used to joke that it was ISE propaganda to war against my ECE and CS classes; after all, balance has to be achieved in roommates. Now that we’re juniors, let’s find out a bit about Aishu and why she loves ISE so much!
The conversation below has been edited for brevity and clarity.
If you could summarize your life before college in one sentence, what would it be?
Bro, Anna, that’s too hard.
I grew up in Waukee, Iowa, which was a pretty small town without that many exciting things to do. (Particularly compared to Los Angeles.) The most notable part about my life before college was my many odd jobs: I worked as a sneaker reseller, at a library and coal mining museum, on a political campaign, at Starbucks, tutored, and probably more that I’m now forgetting.
Working at so many different jobs exposed me to many worldly experiences even while living in a place where there wasn’t much going on. This ultimately influenced me to want to study engineering, especially ISE. At each of these jobs, I watched a variety of business systems in practice, especially all of the things that didn’t work about them, and it inspired me to make things better someday as an engineer.
Okay, let’s try again. If you could summarize your life at college in one sentence, what would it be?
Lit. Crazy. Movie.
Growth. Academically, professionally, and socially, I have grown and developed in so many different ways since coming to USC. Getting to be around people, whether it’s my professors or my peers, who are incredibly passionate and good at what they do, has accelerated my growth immensely in the past three years in a way I never thought was possible.
Why did you choose ISE specifically out of all of the engineering fields?
I came to USC unsure about engineering and what to study. I knew I wanted to study engineering to solve problems that I was passionate about, but I was unsure about which kind of engineering allowed me to do this best.
My favorite class in high school was statistics, so I picked the major that allowed me to dive deeper into the field while simultaneously offering me a broad set of experiences and tools that I could apply in very diverse fields. This mattered to me because I was unsure about what I wanted to do in my career, and so far it has been a great experience. ISE has introduced me to so many different interesting topics, such as human factors in engineering, mathematical modeling, manufacturing and supply chain management, and so much more that can be applied to so many different fields.
So many possibilities for this major, both in and out of the classroom! What are you involved with on campus?
I am involved in HackSC, a club that hosts USC’s annual hackathon, on the engineering team. I am also part of QuantSC, USC’s quantitative finance club. I also do undergraduate research through the Center for Undergraduate Research in Viterbi Engineering (CURVE) at the Center of Risk and Economic Analysis (CREATE), where I do supply chain resilience research. Finally, I am an ISE tutor at the Viterbi Learning Program, where I tutor students in ISE classes!
Now some random stuff. What’s your hyperfixation meal right now?
I have been eating the same thing for breakfast almost every day for the past two years: yogurt mixed with chocolate protein powder, milk, and cinnamon powder. It’s delicious and so easy to make, which is why I never skip breakfast.
Breakfast is also my favorite meal of the day. Another random question: What’s one hobby you really want to get into in 2025?
I really want to learn how to play chess! Not online chess, but I want to sit in a park and play chess on a real chess board.
We’ve both still got a year and a half left, and I can’t wait to see where we both end up in this time and after!
