Published 10/2/2024 by Praniti Gulyani
When I met Aarya Borele for the first time, the inquisitive journalist within me cast an inadvertent glance into her partially-open laptop screen. Among the never-ending trails of school assignments, I observed a bright deck of slides filled with images of her summer experiences—beaches, internship highlights, and an ice cream tray. But it was the sight of a whale shark, captured in its underwater world, that piqued my curiosity. Assuming this to be an ordinary summer sighting, as I sat down to begin our interview— I did not realize that these whales would, in fact, constitute the absolute epicenter of our conversation.
A Chemical Engineering Major with a strong interest in sustainability, Borele began our conversation by referring to the challenges that she faced during her initial semesters at Berkeley. “Like every other international student, I think it was very challenging for me to be brought into this unfamiliar environment of a whole new country,” she said.“The way of learning was also completely new, and above everything else, there was always this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that told me not to speak too loudly or disagree with my professors. In India, we’ve always been told to respect our elders and to not disagree with them… However, coming to the U.S. made me realize how disagreement is actually cherished. It was truly liberating to witness how age was not a restriction and no one here was too small or young to establish significant change” she added.
Talking of professor-student relationships and this openness towards academic disagreement, Borele brings up a personal anecdote that seems to have had a significant impact on her personality. “I distinctly remember one of my first conversations with a professor here at Berkeley who emphasized the importance of not being similar, and instead being an outlier. This piece of advice made me embrace the mindset of taking up big challenges, significantly impacting my time here at Berkeley,” she explained.
One of those challenges has been her work on marine conservation. Drawing upon the endless beyond-the-textbook opportunities offered by UC Berkeley, Borele describes her research on Whale Sharks— an effort that unexpectedly merged scientific research with deep emotional resonance. “I’ll never forget the baby shark we encountered,” she says. “It wasn’t supposed to be in our system,” Because of a boat, this little shark had its fin damaged which is why it could not migrate. It was stuck in the current when we saw it, and had this giant scar running down its fin. On further investigation, we realized that its hearing had been damaged because of drilling under the ocean floor, and whales are really dependent on their hearing for navigation. This one had swum too close to a boat,” she added.
Moving onto the reason behind underwater drilling and how the phenomenon is actually a wolf in a sheep’s clothing, Borele talks about greenwashing and how she learned to identify it. “We hear so many people talk about taking measures to make the environment sustainable, and also come across companies that claim to create green energy. But if you study their proposals carefully, you’ll realize that it is actually greenwashing— claims to make the world a more sustainable place are actually harming marine life everywhere,” she emphasizes.
Going back to her experience with the baby whale shark, and elaborating on the change that it motivated her to work towards— Borele describes her present collaboration with the Government of Portugal. “Right now, we’re working in collaboration with students from all over the world— such as Vietnam and Portugal— to build a noise reduction surface. It is a great feeling to be globally connected with people through a shared passion for sustainability,” she says.
Borele's entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t stop at marine conservation. She co-founded Ecowind Dynamics, a startup that designs noise-mitigating solutions for offshore wind turbines, reducing noise pollution without consuming extra energy. “Our product is sustainable not just because of the noise reduction but because we use recycled ocean materials, keeping the process eco-friendly from start to finish. It’s exciting to see how our innovation can make a difference,” she said.
Segueing into advice for incoming students, Borele encourages them to move out of their comfort zones and engage in multi-dimensional conversation. “I understand the comfort of community, but I do also want to mention how easy it is for international students to blend in with members of the same community. It is so important to meet diverse people, and I’ve had some of my most life-changing conversations with people who are completely different from me,” she explains.
“And, for first-year international students — I want them to remember that we came to the U.S., to a place as prestigious as UC Berkeley, because we’re seeking something that our home countries may not yet offer. In that pursuit of growth, we belong here as much as anyone. It’s that quest for the bigger and better that unites us,” she concludes.