Alexander Wyrstiuk
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With a family history of McGill Alumni and an enthusiasm towards Science and Engineering, I chose to leave Toronto to pursue my undergraduate studies at McGill University. I’m currently enrolled in my fourth year of McGill's Electrical Engineering program and have added minors in Math and Computer Science upon developing a newfound curiosity in those fields. I currently maintain a GPA of 3.68/4.00, and am taking my degree one step at a time.
I had two main objectives in designing this website. The first objective was to arrive at a product that exemplifies my abilities in frontend design. The second objective was to create an accessible platform that showcases all the projects I've completed, in an effort to convey my knowledge and skills to those who are interested. Not only does this website help me keep record of my own accomplishments, but it also serves as a place where people can come to learn more about me.
Intrigue
I've enjoyed math and science as subjects since I was
very young,
as they were
scratching a certain curiosity itch of mine. I think I've always had a subconscious desire to reach
a level
in math
and physics where I can understand the equations on chalkboards in the background of scenes in
sci-fi
movies. In
my
first semester of university, I took a course in linear algebra which completely changed my
understanding of
what mathematics is. At the same time, there were many concepts from Einstein's Relativity (special
and
general), Quantum
Mechanics,
Electromagnetism and Fluid Dynamics that I'd wanted to wrap my head around. Black holes are
especially
perplexing, and I'm excited at the thought of studying General Relativity more closely.
Superposition,
quantum
entanglement,
and other concepts from quantum mechanics also became particularly interesting. I also wanted to
understand
what
fundamentally separates conductors from insulators, and just what makes semiconductors so
revolutionary. I
would
soon find out that quantum mechanics also had answers to those two questions.
What I've Learned
I quickly realized in university that the biggest
barrier
to
understanding
those concepts from physics and engineering was the mathematics. At a high enough level, those
concepts are
best
described in a mathematical language, which makes it difficult to deeply understand them without a
strong
foundation
in math. I also noticed that there were many otherwise
useful math courses for my major (electrical engineering)
that weren't mandatory. This realization along with my newfound appreciation for math ultimately
convinced
me
to add a math minor.
I've now completed eleven math courses at McGill: 4 in calculus, 2 in linear algebra, 2 in real
analysis,
1 in
ordinary and
partial differential equations respectively, and 1 in discrete math. I currently have three more
which I
plan to
take, two of which are complex analysis and nonlinear dynamics and chaos this upcoming fall semester
(Fall
2024). I
still have a lot farther to go, but I can already say that I'm very pleased with what I've been able
to
learn
this far, and I'm excited for what is to come.
How It Started
My introduction to health and fitness began when my
dad
introduced
me
to distance running at around eleven years old (in 2015). I really enjoyed playing video games at
the time,
but
they also kept me quite sedentary. After a few years of running, I became quite decent at it. I ran
my
fastest 10km through downtown Toronto at the Sporting Life 10k event in 2019, with a time of 42:18
(Look
me up on Sportstats - https://sportstats.one/results/100696 and search “Alexander Wyrstiuk”). It was
shortly
after that accomplishment that I decided to fully switch my focus from running to lifting weights.
My dad
was my guide
for teaching me about running, and although he went to the gym regularly, he didn’t have the answers
to all of my questions about lifting weights. Consequently, I had to teach myself.
My Progress
My progression in lifting weights was quite slow, but I
preferred
it that way. What keeps me interested in fitness is the process of putting in the work, and I was
prepared
to
take things slower if it meant learning the techniques properly and preventing injuries. I'm still
perfecting
my lifting technique to this day! During the pandemic, I had to improvise with my strength training
since
the
gyms were closed and I was limited to training in my backyard and garage. I was able to put some
things
together
with my dad's help, and was training with sandbags, a weighted backpack, a wheelbarrow, and a
dumbbell with adjustable weight. I trained like this all throughout the pandemic, through all four
seasons
of the year. Since then, I've been back at the gym and have made significant progress in my lifts.
Here are
three of my
best at the moment: Squat - 375 lbs, Deadlift - 445 lbs, Bench Press - 265 lbs.
From the Ground Up
My interest in computer science sparked when I was
quite young
as result of certain sci-fi
movies,
video
games,
and the realization that they are what drive today's world. In many ways, computers have marked the
dawn of
the technological era we live in. My introduction to programming was an "Intro to Software
Development"
course
I took in my first year at McGill which meant to teach us Java and C. The course began by explaining
what
'classes'
were in the context of object-oriented programming, which meant nothing to me as I had no knowledge
and
experience
in programming yet. Long story short, that course was very challenging for me. I barely passed, but
I
learned a great
deal and the challenge left me wanting more. I wasn't satisfied with simply knowing how to give a
computer a
set of
instructions. I wanted to understand how those instructions influence current flow in the underlying
circuitry,
and understand how computers operate at all requisite levels of abstraction. This pursuit is what
inspired
me to pursue a minor in computer science.
Unraveling AI
AI has been at the forefront of technological development in
recent
years, and has also become
somewhat of a buzzword. AI is about enabling a computer to perform difficult tasks which are
otherwise
trivial
for the human mind - a significantly more broad meaning than "machines that are significantly
smarter
than humans and intend to take over the world" as plenty of sci-fi movies would lead you to think.
Once I
discovered
that modern AI techniques mostly boil down to solving complex math problems, it especially started
to pique
my interest.
The fact that it lies at the intersection of applied math and computer science (two of my favorite
fields)
also made it an inevitable interest of mine. I look forward to learning more, both from lectures
and personal study as well as at the iSMART Lab!
Hi Parker!
