Persiana Saffari

The problems, questions and equations are complex, and failure at some point is almost certain. I’m very grateful to my parents for showing me all of the ways that failure can be a blessing. Failure provides the opportunity to learn. And the ability to bounce back says much more about one’s character than any combination of failures. These values came from their own personal histories. They are from Iran and came to the U.S. during the revolution, a turbulent time. I consider it a blessing not only to be at Stanford, but to be a citizen of a country that believes if you have the drive, your greatest dreams can be realized.

I was interested in engineering when I came to Stanford, but I didn’t have much exposure before I came here. Being surrounded by a group of strong and resilient women engineers in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) gave me the confidence to go into engineering.