Some Background

Hey all; my name is Duncan Dockstader, a first-year student in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, declared to the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. I was born and raised in the city of Pittsburgh in the Bloomfield neighborhood. On the personal front I enjoy many hobbies, including fiction writing, digital art, and character improv through the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, all of which serve to inspire and support one another in many respects.

I have experience in a myriad of team-based roles including a past internship with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and have worked in both student and professional settings in various technical theatre roles across several productions. Of the latter, one of my favorite opportunities was to work as a followspot operator during a travelling Bunraku act sponsored by the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. Titled Akutagawa, an extremely important figure in the Japanese literary canon, the story followed the eponymous author’s life through the lens of his short stories performed in the over two-hundred year old technique of Kuruma Ningyō (cart puppetry). Each short story was punctuated with short vignettes of the author’s actual self supported by recurring visits from a Kappa, a mischievous creature from Japanese folklore; I could go on, but I’ll spare you the further details for brevity. If you couldn’t tell from the above, I hold a deep respect and admiration for the Japanese language and cultural traditions, and plan to pursue additional studies at Pitt to support this interest and open my future career up to international work as well.

On Plus3

In the first half of May I will be abroad on the Plus3 program in the Netherlands alongside 23 fellow students from Pitt’s Engineering and Business schools. As mentioned I have an interest in international work in the future, so I jumped on the first opportunity to get experience in this regard; that being Plus3. The Netherlands was my first choice as I was really interested in getting to see not only the beautiful architecture and landscape of the country, but also the Dutch approach to public transit, city planning, and water management (to name a few), all with an aim of learning what goes into maintaining those systems. On a professional level I’m excited to meet with foreign companies and the people behind them and learn some more about what it’s like to interact professionally on an international level. Personally, I’m not the most outgoing person, so I thought Plus3 would also be a great way to meet new people with shared interests and build up a network of peers I’ll continue to work with throughout college and beyond.

I can’t wait and am really excited to get to know you all as we embark on this experience,

– Duncan Dockstader