Originally from India, Ishita Pai Raiker spent eight years in Singapore before moving to the United States. She stepped onto NC State’s campus ready to explore, learn and grow. Graduating this December from the College of Engineering with a degree in computer engineering and a minor in philosophy, she has left a lasting impact through programs such as the Grand Challenge Scholars, Social Innovation Fellows and transformative research in cutting-edge labs.

A Freshman’s Leap into Entrepreneurship

While most freshmen are just finding their footing, Ishita was sprinting towards the next challenge. Driven by curiosity and a desire to create impact, she naturally gravitated towards entrepreneurship. She discovered the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) early in her college career and eagerly dove in, exploring startup strategy, problem solving and innovative thinking long before most students would. “If something sparks my curiosity, I run towards it immediately,” Ishita explains, a mindset that has brought her some of the most formative experiences at NC State and shaped how she approaches challenges and opportunities. 

Early on, Ishita had a very different perspective about entrepreneurship than most. For her, it was not about launching a company or chasing profit— it was about solving real-world problems, understanding community needs and creating solutions that really matter. 

Growth Through Immersive Innovation

Her path through NC State’s entrepreneurial ecosystem was shaped by a desire to understand complex problems from multiple perspectives. The Social Innovation Fellows (SIF) program offered the interdisciplinary environment she was searching for, allowing her to collaborate with researchers, coastal business partners and nonprofit leaders on the Blue Economy Initiative. The project challenged her to weave together insights from environmental science, policy analysis and community engagement, ultimately helping shape the statewide Blue Economy Report. 

Her curiosity did not stop there. The EEP gave her the chance to build like an engineer and think like a founder. Working alongside teammates to design a garden-protection robot, she stepped into a leadership role that taught her how technical decisions, user needs and business strategy all intersect.

“Translating stakeholder needs into technical requirements taught me the core principle of entrepreneurship: listen first, build second.” 

Ishita’s time in VenturePack Challenge added another layer to her development, pushing her to refine her ideas intentionally. It challenged her to truly think like a founder — testing assumptions, defining her “why” and grounding each step in real-world needs. The frameworks she first explored in SIF strengthened her approach and ultimately helped her secure the 2024 Changemaker Fellowship to continue building her idea.  

Her entrepreneurial journey came full circle with immersive trips to New York City and Silicon Valley, where Ishita engaged with entrepreneurs, explored cutting-edge innovation and reflected on her own ambitions. “I remember being on the flight back from San Francisco, journaling nonstop, mapping out how I wanted to live, think, lead and create,” she recalled.

Exploring NC State’s Spectrum of Opportunities

In addition to those flagship programs, Ishita immersed herself in a variety of programs at NC State that challenged her academically, professionally and personally, helping shape her time on campus in meaningful ways. The Grand Challenge Scholar’s Program gave her purpose, helping her understand global-scale problems and see her engineering work in the context of humanity, while thinking across systems and disciplines. 

The Oak Leadership Scholar Program reshaped how Ishita approached justice, responsibility, leadership and community. Her research in the Neurocomputational Ethics and Active Sensing Laboratory further shaped her path — working with the Pepper robot, analyzing physiological signals from older adults and building embodied AI systems confirmed that research was the space where her curiosity and technical skills could thrive. 

Reflection and Life After Graduation

Each experience taught Ishita that her work must always be people-centered, ethical and grounded in real-world needs. Through entrepreneurship and research to leadership and teaching, she honed her curiosity, empathy and problem-solving skills.

As she once captured in her journal, “entrepreneurship is the mapping of the world’s abstractions into real, tangible change.” Building on this mindset, Ishita has applied to pursue a Ph.D. in embodied AI and human-robot interaction, aiming to create technology that supports people and improves lives on a large scale. Every program, project and challenge at NC State prepared her intellectually, emotionally and creatively for this next chapter.