Engineering News, October 3, 2005

October 3, 2005 Vol. 77, no. 6F

FROM HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD: Zorigt Bazarragchaa is an EECS junior transfer this year. He grew up in Mongolia, where he spoke Mongolian and studied Russian. (Photo Credit: Rachel Jackson)

Alumni Society honors EECS junior with first Ruvkun Award

As far as Zorigt Bazarragchaa (pronounced Zor-EET Ba-za-ROTT-cha) knows, he is the only Berkeley undergraduate from Mongolia. Bazarragchaa grew up in the capital city of Ulaan-baatar, which has a population of 700,000 and is surrounded by four holy mountains. It has the coldest average temperature of any national capital in the world (31 degrees Fahrenheit). “Sometimes I miss it,” he says, though he doesn’t mean the weather. “Time is more relaxed there, and you have more free time. But here, it’s lively and active. There’s a lot going on.”

On this day, the EECS junior transfer is wearing shorts and a T-shirt appropriate for a sunny autumn day in Berkeley. In casual conversation, his speech is peppered with “like” and “chill,” and in his spare time, he enjoys going out with his friends or to the movies. On campus, he’s just like any Cal student, though, Bazarrag-chaa’s journey here is somewhat unique.

Four years ago, his father, a mechanical engineer and college teacher, sought political asylum in the U.S. So at 16, Bazarragchaa found himself in Massachusetts with his parents. He couldn’t speak English, and the only thing familiar, perhaps, was the winter chill. “It was difficult to adjust, for sure,” he says. “But back then, I looked on it more as an adventure than a hardship. I thought it was all exciting. The benefits outweighed the negatives. People in my high school wanted to get to know me because I was from Mongolia. They wanted to know another culture. I felt a little bit like a star.” He laughs with embarrassment.

Three years ago, he and his family pulled up roots once again. They moved to Oakland to be with friends. (Bazarragchaa estimates that the Bay Area’s Mongolian population is between 3 and 5,000.) English came easier now, and Bazarragchaa enrolled at Laney Community College. He discovered he liked microfabrication because — why else? “It’s cool.” He tutored others in math, chemistry, and physics. He helped his parents, who have limited language skills and are still adjusting to life in the Bay Area.

This fall, Bazarragchaa is traveling down yet another new road. He landed at Berkeley Engineering as the inaugural recipient of the Sam Ruvkun Engineering Alumni Society (EAS) Achievement Award, which is sponsored by the EAS and named in honor of the late founding EAS president Sam Ruvkun (B.S.’41 CE). Criteria include extreme financial hardship and demonstrated potential for academic excellence through a history of overcoming challenges and community involvement. The award will provide two years of support.

“I’m so honored,” he says. “I really feel like I’ve achieved something. Plus, it’s really important to me to not think about money and concentrate on other parts of the campus experience.”

That includes making it through the challenging Berkeley Engineering curriculum. But Bazarragchaa holds fast to the sunny outlook that has buoyed him so far. During the darkest, most frustrating hours in the computer lab when your mind has frozen solid, remember his advice:

“Just have hope.”

— Written in part by Patti Meagher

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