- I really travel across the world and I discover many different cultures, different languages and just to be able to meet different people, different communities, it's really exciting.

- Hi, I'm Riley and I'm on a mission to talk to as many engineers as I can about their lives designing the world around us.

Today, I'm talking to an engineer who has traveled all around the world.

I wanna find out what his job is like and how he engineered his future.

Ready?

Let's go.

Hi, Adam.

- Hello, Riley.

- So, I've heard that you've traveled to many countries around the world, tell me about the coolest places you've went.

- So, my two favorite spots is really maybe Egypt and Dubai.

Egypt, where really I had the chance to see the pyramids and just kind of learn about ancient culture there.

And Dubai, we just had the chance to explore the culture, learn the language, so we really had a blast.

- That sounds like a lot of fun.

When I get older, I wanna travel just like you.

So, how did you fall in love with traveling?

- Growing up, my dad was in the Military, so I had the opportunity to travel with him across the world.

I'm originally from Chad in Central Africa, but I spent my time traveling to a lot of countries in North Africa.

I traveled to Europe as well.

I mean, you name it.

I've traveled really to many countries across the world.

- That is great.

Thanks to your dad, you're really into traveling now, but I also heard that you travel a lot for work.

So, can you tell me about that?

- Yes, I do.

So, I work at AES.

AES is an energy company and its mission is to accelerate the future of energy together, which is really about transitioning the energy industry from fossil fuels to using clean and renewable energy, and I'm Director of Innovation and New Technologies.

We have wind farms, solar farms, energy storage assets all across the US and sometimes remote areas.

So, I travel across the whole country to see how our technicians are doing out there on the field and support them to accomplish their day-to-day responsibilities.

- Sounds like you have a very important role at AES.

What's the coolest thing you've gotten to work on?

- I enjoy really working on robotics.

If you look at a solar farm, there is a lot of grass that grows very tall to the point where they can shade the solar panels.

And when the solar panels are shaded, then you're not producing electricity.

So, we have a lot of mowing and it is very labor intensive.

Going forward or thinking to use robotic mowers.

That way our technicians can really focus on things that are more important.

- What do you think is better, wind power or solar power?

- So it depends really.

Wind or solar, you may need both.

In fact, you may need a third component.

If you look at wind or solar, there are what we call intermittent assets.

Meaning that you can produce electricity for the wind turbine only when the wind is blowing or for the solar panels only when the sun is shining.

So, you need both.

In addition to that, you may also wanna be able to store that energy that you produce in batteries, for instance, so that you can release it in order to have electricity 24/7.

- When you're not researching, what do you like to do for fun?

- I really just like to spend time with my family, my lovely wife and my three kids.

Do a lot of outdoorsy stuff.

I'm also really learning how to dance.

My wife is teaching me how to dance salsa, bachata, merengue.

It's quite intensive, but it is really fun.

- So, do you have a big family?

- I do.

I'm the oldest of 10 siblings.

I was one of those fortunate really to have had parents that helped me really get a good education.

But a lot of people there are not fortunate to get a good education.

So, I spend a lot of time learning about how to help others within our communities.

- So, how can you help people in the Chad, if you're here in the US?

- I travel back to Chad every year.

My family is still in Chad, so I go back, I communicate on daily basis with them.

- Was it ever a struggle when it came to moving to the US?

- It wasn't necessarily a struggle, because I really traveled the world growing up, but it was the first time leaving my family completely and coming to live in a country where I didn't have much of a family, but very quickly I made a lot of friends and then really build up a family away from home.

- So, how did you figure out that engineering was for you?

- Very early in my life, I enjoyed thinking about making things easy, making things simpler, what we call optimization.

I liked science, I love math.

Math was really my favorite subject.

- So, how did you fall in love with math and how did it help you with engineering now?

- I just had a great teacher that just made math so fun and I became addicted to math.

As soon as I get home, I open my books learn about it, and ensure that I can relate it to me and relate it to the world.

- So, how can a kid like me grow up and work at a big company like AES, like you?

- Really my advice is follow your heart.

Once you find your passion make everything revolve around it.

You're gonna try, many times you're gonna fail, but every time you know you fail try again and you will succeed.

- Yes, of course.

Thank you so much, Adam, for talking with me and showing me how you engineered your future.

Bye.

- Take care, bye.

(upbeat music) - Mission accomplished.

(upbeat music continues) - Sorry, gonna have to retake that again.

(upbeat music continues)