As about 20 million Americans know, there are many factors one considers when choosing a university to attend. Like many, Ryan Vallee of Cumberland, RI, opted for his in-state institution as the best means to another end. “I had dreams of going on to medical school or a graduate program,” he says, “so URI proved to be the most cost effective option since I got in-state tuition and I wasn’t living on campus. I knew that I wouldn’t have any student loans once I graduated. Plus, I have cousins who went to URI and really enjoyed it, as well as my mom and one of my grandparents.” Now for the oh-so-important part: the major. Initially a Biochemistry major, Vallee’s freshman year proved to be one of academic and personal metamorphosis. While additionally pursuing a Psychology minor, his interests changed while enrolled in a psychology course his freshman year. Switching from that class to an organic chemistry course instead — a feat many view too daunting to tackle — found Vallee inspired to drop his old major’s prefix and revise his prospective minor.

As a new Chemistry major, Vallee found the door wide open for opportunity, his future brighter than ever. He wasn’t done there, though. After taking some required physics courses for his new major, Vallee’s interest in the subject piqued, and he began considering minoring. Then, with funding from URI’s College of Arts and Sciences’ Impact Fund and a university in Japan, Vallee was able to put his newfound passion for physics into action with an internship at the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research lab at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, during the summer of 2018. “My internship dealt with blue light, and how to make thermally activated fluorescents more efficient and cost-effective, as well as working with next-level displays,” he states, “Blue light emission is hard to achieve due to the energies involved, so, when importing a current, it’s hard to get a response. My research looked at achieving a darker blue emission, and I managed to achieve a 460nm dark blue emission.”

Vallee returned from his time in Japan with a new sense of purpose. His internship inspired him to further pursue a major in Physics, officially making that decision in Spring 2019. Now moving into his fifth year, Vallee looks forward to graduating in May 2020 with a B.S. the double majors of Chemistry and Physics, as well as a minor in Mathematics. As for after graduation, Vallee turned down the opportunity to pursue his graduate studies in Japan in hopes of bringing his majors together. “I wanted to bring chemistry into my research because I didn’t want to have a narrow focus on just one thing,” he states, “I think I’m more interested in physics than chemistry at this point, so I’m planning on going to graduate school to study physics.” Vallee hopes to one day become a professor of physics with a research position at a university. To those students beginning their journeys into the STEM world, Vallee looks back on his freshman and sophomore years, stating: “Don’t be discouraged by the failures or hardships you face in your first or second years. People often switch majors or settle for something easier, but you just have to continue onward. We definitely need more people in arts and sciences, especially STEM, but people turn away because they aren’t prepared for what it entails. Sometimes the things you find intimidating might turn out to be the most interesting.”

 ~Written by Chase Hoffman, URI Class of 2021, Anthropology and Writing & Rhetoric double major