As a young man growing up in Detroit, Willie Brake remembers feeling indecisive about his future.
“When I graduated from high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” says Brake, now 47. “I knew I was good at math and I was good at computers — they came naturally.”
Brake’s indecisiveness about choosing a career path extended into his time as an undergraduate student at Wayne State University. By the time he graduated in 1996, Brake had settled on a degree in interdisciplinary studies. The program offered a broad foundation in the liberal arts and allowed him to put his STEM skills to use.