Who do you get when you combine a martial arts expert with an ambitious computer science major? You get Nate Martes, a junior honors student who is also minoring in cloud computing. Born in the Bronx, Martes now lives in Wilkes-Barre. He chose Wilkes not only because it is local and close to home, but because of what Wilkes has to offer. “I liked what the computer science department provided to students, and I knew it would be helpful for my career, which it has been for sure,” says Martes.
Martes aspires to become a software engineer – a profession involving many skills, including creativity, science and problem solving. “I want to make something millions of people use,” he says.
Whether it’s on a piece of paper, the computer or a whiteboard, Martes approaches application building with design thinking in mind, considering both how the pieces will fit together and the requirements that need to be met. “What does this application need to accomplish? What are the inputs coming in? What needs to be done and what do I need to give back?”
He further provides an example for those who aren’t familiar with computer science and software development. “Let’s say we’re going to watch television. When I press the ‘on’ button on my remote, what needs to happen for the TV to turn on, get power and display something on the screen that people will understand? Input is pressing the button and the output is on the screen. I conquer it step by step, develop how the input is going to change and give it the proper output that is required.”
Martes’ interest in computer science began with video games. Some of his notable favorites include Minecraft, Pokemon and Ghost of Tsushima. “I wanted to make my own things, and learn how to make video games. But then I branched off into building applications to make people’s lives better,” says Martes.
Helping him jumpstart his academic and career experience is his mentor, Tony Kapolka, PhD, associate professor for math, physics and computer science. After Martes finished the final exam for his first computer science class, Kapolka approached him with an opportunity to gain practical experience in the field. “He saw I had potential and took it upon himself to raise me up,” says Martes.
In early spring of his first year, he and two other students surveyed math and psychology professors from other universities to gain an understanding on how they tackle different problems and uncover the kind of thinking they use to approach problem solving. From their responses, they created a heat map to correlate some of the different ways of looking at problems and varying disciplines.
Not only did this yield interesting results, but a prestigious internship opportunity. Last summer, Martes traveled to Pittsburgh to serve as an intern at Carnegie Mellon University working on applications for the Department of Defense.
Working at Carnegie Mellon provided Martes the opportunity to live on his own for an extended period of time, gaining independence. Professionally, he cherished the opportunity to work alongside others and learned the value of knowing when to ask for help. “I can always search for the answer, but I can learn much more from others and make invaluable connections along the way,” says Martes.
“What stands out about Nate is his drive to keep learning and taking on new challenges,” says Kapolka. “The DevOps skills he developed during our summer research project became the foundation for his DevSecOps internship at CMU [Carnegie Mellon University] – and he hasn’t slowed his forward momentum.”
In his free time, Martes stays involved with different clubs and organizations on campus. He is vice president of the Math and Computer Science Club and is treasurer of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers chapter at Wilkes. Through SHPE, students gather at national conventions to network, talk to recruiters and meet professionals at different companies across various industries. It was at one of these recent conventions where Martes received an internship offer from NVIDIA and reconnected with Lourdes Navarro, a recent Wilkes graduate.
Another incredible credit to Martes’ ambition is his passion for martial arts, which began at age eight. “At first I didn’t like it, but grew to enjoy it, and now I feel like I’m a better person. I can express myself through martial arts,” says Martes, a main teacher and co-manager of Dual Dragon Karate in Wilkes-Barre.
With his senior year approaching and ample professional experience and connections, Martes is making plans for when he graduates. His goal is to cast a wide net into the unknown, looking for full-time work in the field as a software engineer.
“I want to be able to show people that no matter where you start, you can do it. It will take more effort, but it can be done,” says Martes. “Having a mentor like Dr. Kapolka makes that so much easier.”
After a couple of years, Martes hopes to pursue a master’s degree in software engineering, preferably from Carnegie Mellon or Georgia Institute of Technology. Whatever path he takes, Kapolka knows he will succeed.
“He exemplifies what it means to be a self-directed learner with a knack for turning what he knows into opportunities,” says Kapolka. “These are the exact qualities that will serve him well beyond graduation.”