The Story Collider is delighted to partner with Boise State University and share true, personal science stories from their Electrical and Computer Engineering’s ECE 230 - Digital Systems course students.

Join us for an electrifying night of true, personal stories about experiences with signals—both literal and metaphorical. From debugging the chaos of life to decoding unexpected messages, these storytellers will reveal the moments that changed everything.

Doors open at 6:00 pm MT. Show starts at 6:30 pm MT.

Hosted by Kent Whipple.

There is livestream available to attend the event remotely and will be provided to all registered attendees.

Stories by:

My name is Kayden Humphries and I am a CS student at Boise State! I am working to get into the machine learning field, and hope to one day work in AI development. I have competed in multiple programming competitions, and appreciate some good problem-solving. I love to spend my time playing pickleball, wake surfing, and enjoying all types of weather.

Dr. Omiya Hassan, born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boise State University. She is also the principal investigator and director of her research lab, "LPiNS: Low-Power Integrated Circuits and Embedded Systems," where her team's primary research focuses on solving the energy-demand problem of Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerators and high-computation hardware. She completed her PhD in 2023 from the University of Missouri, focusing on building power-efficient AI hardware architectures for biomedical applications. Dr. Hassan also holds a professional degree in Music majoring in Vocal and Classical South-Asian Music. If you tune in to the national radio and national TV of Bangladesh, you might hear or see her sing the songs of Tagore. Besides teaching and researching at Boise State, you can find her hiking in the mountains, sharing cold sandwiches with her friends, or trying to ski but falling miserably with no shame during weekends.

David Hedge: I am a third year Computer Science major that refuses to give up. Despite retaking more than a few classes, and living with some terrible habits, I push through all the same and somehow manage to make my way through. I am not the most intelligent CS major in the world, nor am I the quickest, but by simple, continuous work I have gotten this far and intend to go much further.

Brooke Heller: I'm a curious, hands-on learner who loves exploring how things work and why they matter. With a PhD in engineering and a Masters degree in education, my research explores how storytelling can improve belonging, identity, and persistence for engineering students. Whether I’m solving a new engineering problem, teaching, or learning something new, I love when a new realization opens up a whole new way of seeing the world. Outside of work you can find me outdoors, hanging out with my family, or participating in something active such as weightlifting or CrossFit. 

Hunter Gregory is studying a Mechanical Engineering Major with Applied Math and Electrical Engineering Minors, plus a Mechatronics certificate. Aiming for a career in robotics and Aerospace engineering. Founder and President of the Rocketry Club at Boise State, and active member of the NASA Lunabotics team "Bender"

Joshua Wilson: Project Manager with over five years of successfully leading complex projects from start to finish. I split my time between Boise and the Wood River Valley, where I co-founded a business providing skilled labor for high-end custom homes. I’ve since managed facilities for Boise State and Northwest Nazarene University, where I championed multiple software integration projects to maximize business operations efficiency. I oversaw project management, capital planning, safety protocols, and team leadership. Now, in my junior year of a Computer Science degree at Boise State, I’m expanding my technical skills and actively seeking opportunities to apply my knowledge in software development, data analysis, and my unique background. Outside of work, I enjoy home improvement and automation projects, traveling, rafting, fishing, hunting, snowboarding, and mountain biking, often with my daughter.

Acknowledgement: “This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant IUSE-2142137.”
Disclaimer: “Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.”
Approved under IRB 24-626