Ethan Thayumanavan

Ethan Thayumanavan SEAS '21 is from Amherst, MA and is a Biomedical Engineering major. He is a Dean's Discipline Student Navigator with the office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (SCCS) and a member of the SEAS Class of 2021 Senior Fund Committee, and has also served as a Resident Advisor (RA) during his time at Columbia. Outside of school, he loves writing poetry.

Student Council

Ethan was elected to the Engineering Student Council (ESC) as a Class of 2021 Representative for 2019-2020, and was re-elected to the same position during the 2020-2021 school year, along with his Class of 2021 party, Well-SEASoned. He has also served as a member of Communications Committee throughout his time on ESC.

Goals: To equitably represent and include all members of the Class of 2021 and the SEAS student body; to help facilitate students' access to resources during the COVID-19 crisis; to improve distribution of information, resources, and ESC initiatives to the student body; and to increase the transparency of ESC.

Accomplishments

• ESC Website - Reimagined and redesigned the Engineering Student Council website to increase the transparency of ESC policies and initiatives, improve aesthetics, and provide students with access to campus resources. Regularly updates the website with new initiatives and minutes from general body meetings, in order to help the student body stay up-to-date with ESC policies and initiatives.
• ESC Taskforce on COVID-19 - Helped advocate for academic and financial accommodations for students at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and served as a liaison between the student body and ESC.
• Schedule a Chat with ESC - Created and monitored a Google Form to enable students to schedule a meeting with members of ESC to discuss any ideas, initiatives, policies, or concerns. This initiative helped improve the transparency of ESC, and include the voices of members of the student body in the ideation and implementation of ESC initiatives.
• Just Desserts - Collaborated with the ESC Class of 2021 Council, the Center for Career Education and the ESC Class of 2022 Council to host a networking event between SEAS students and alumni, with dessert-style appetizers.
• 3-2 Mixer - Helped plan an outdoor mixer to welcome new 3-2 students to campus and give them a chance to network with returning 3-2 students, as well as faculty, in collaboration with ESC Class of 2021 Council and 3-2 representative Josh Guggenheim.
• Transfer Mixer - Helped plan a mixer for transfer students with pizza and music, in collaboration with the ESC Class of 2021 Council, as well as Class of 2020 and Class of 2022 Councils.
• Apparel - Helped design SEAS Class of 2021 Apparel, taking into consideration student input on apparel choices.

Poetry

Ethan has a love for poetry, that began when he joined a slam poetry team at Washington University in St. Louis, prior to transferring to Columbia. In addition to performing spoken word, Ethan has recently begun an exploration of written poetry. Central themes in his poetry include love, nature, race, and masculinity. He has recently been featured in publications The New Verse News and The Eunoia Review. Archives of his published poetry can be found below:

• Poesis - Published January 12, 2021 in The Eunoia Review
• January 20, 2021/Date Poem - Published January 20, 2021 in The New Verse News