Diversity, Engineering, and Inclusion
Meet master’s student Wren Iswandhi: queer, non-binary and “that person” for anyone else who’s not the stereotypical engineer.
Wren Iswandhi isn’t your typical engineering student — and it’s a point of pride.
Iswandhi, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, is a star in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»â€™s , boasting a 3.98 grade-point average and holding leadership positions in a pair of engineering organizations.
When Iswandhi arrived at Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół» in fall 2024 from Sunnyvale, they wondered whether they would be accepted in the male-dominated major. Now, they are proud to be a role model for other nonbinary people in male-dominated STEM spaces.
“I definitely try to be that person. I try to be as visible as possible in these spaces,” Iswandhi said. "I like to send out study guides and have my pronouns visible. Or just make sure that people in my classes know that the person who's doing all these things — or maybe doing well on these tests — is someone who's openly queer and has dyed hair, and might be a bit more alternative, and not the stereotypical engineer.”
More than 900 of the 1,118 students in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»â€™s mechanical engineering program are men. Three students identify as nonbinary.
“To have the gender ratios to begin with and already not be represented in my major,” Iswandhi said, “let alone being one of the only queer people in them, I was scared to get into these spaces where I knew I wasn't represented. I was concerned that people would judge me based on those things.”
Iswandhi credits their involvement with Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»â€™s with helping them find a community on campus and their voice in spaces where they were not well-represented. From the very beginning, Iswandhi was involved with , a residential and collaborative peer mentorship program for first-year undergraduate students facilitated through The Pride Center. As a sophomore, they served as a mentor for the same program.
Research at Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół» has shown students who report they feel at home on campus and have a community of support do better academically and are more likely to graduate.
“The Pride Center has made me feel welcome and supported at Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»,” Iswandhi said. “Living in the Pride House made me feel a lot more comfortable living on campus, and I appreciated being in a like-minded community on my floor.
“Having a mentor made the transition to college a lot easier, and she supported me through challenges that arose through the year,” they said. “In addition, working at the center has given me a community that I'm able to get involved with and celebrate my queerness in. Being surrounded by such a vibrant community at the center has made me prouder of my queerness, especially when I'm in a major that is traditionally not as accepting.”
Iswandhi added they also have been able to find a community of queer engineering students, so they don’t feel alone.
“I still have a lot of queer friends in my major, and I’ve been able to find people that I can’t imagine life without them. I feel so connected with them, even if I didn’t meet them through a specific queer space,” Iswandhi said.
Leadership roles
In their role at the Pride Center, Iswandhi has mentored other STEM students, and next semester Iswandhi will be the vice president of the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół» chapter of , a professional and social STEM sorority. Iswandhi feels their presence in this role will provide further inspiration to other queer students entering these spaces.
“I’ve tried to be that person for them, and really show they’re welcome in these spaces, even if it’s daunting at first,” Iswandhi said. “I’ve managed to survive thus far, and I am still able to thrive. And in my sorority, I will be the first person any of them see, because I'm gonna be running recruitment. So, immediately, everyone going into this knows that the sorority is a place where queer people are welcome, and queer people can be thriving in STEM fields.”
Iswandhi’s impact on the community has not gone unnoticed by peers and campus leaders. Interim Pride Center program director Morgan Phillips said Iswandhi is a great ambassador for the organizations and groups with which they’re involved.
“One thing I’ve appreciated about Wren is that they do a great job of speaking to that and being a hype person for the things they’re involved in,” Phillips said. “They’re super personable, and they connect with people on a human level.
“We’ve seen a lot of students in Pride House under their mentorship who have gotten involved in STEM clubs and groups because Wren encouraged them to do it and spoke about their experiences,” Phillips added. “It’s one thing to be involved; it’s another to be a spokesperson to get others on board, and Wren has that ability.”
Iswandhi, who has been active in technical theater since high school, plans to graduate with their master’s in mechanical engineering through the department’s . After graduation, they said they want to fuse their two passions as an entertainment engineer, either on Broadway or at theme parks.
When asked what advice they would impart to future queer and nonbinary students, Iswandhi said it was simple.
“My advice is you will find your people anywhere, but you have to be willing to look,” they said. “Some people find them through the Pride floor or through these queer communities that are already established but, even outside of these spaces, there are queer people in all areas of campus, and you’ll find people that you can connect to.”
