‘A culture creator’: CSM graduate uses major shift to spur innovation

Wesley Cooke, who is set to graduate from the College of Science and Mathematics with a double major in physics and computer science, will cap off a standout academic career and leave behind a legacy of excellence and involvement.

Cooke, who received the 2025 Outstanding Undergraduate in Physics Award and the 2025 Academic Achievement Award for a 4.0 GPA during CSM’s Honors Night, will graduate with admiration from his fellow students and the faculty members who taught him.

Any story about the student all-star involves some exclamation of his academic stature, ease with problem-solving, willingness to help or his tireless work ethic.

“In my 30 years of teaching, he is one of the best students I have ever taught,” said Andy Hauger, PhD, professor of physics and Cooke’s mentor. “He outworks, without a doubt, almost any student I have taught in those 30 years.”

Tom Colbert, PhD, chair of the Department of Physics and Biophysics, calls Cooke one of the “culture creators around here.”

“He is the student who asks the really good questions and often challenges thinking and concepts at a deep level,” Colbert said.

Cooke’s reputation is doubly impressive considering he hadn’t originally planned to be a physics major.

Pathway to physics

“I actually started in cybersecurity engineering because I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Cooke said. “It wasn’t until I started doing research that I thought, ‘Oh, wait, no, I actually do kind of like the physics side of things.’”

It was not an easy decision for Cooke, who at the time of his switch was lined up for a cybersecurity internship. Changing majors would require starting over completely.

Ultimately, his desire to pursue an electrical engineering pathway won out. In 2023, Cooke made the switch to physics and computer science during his junior year. The move extended his graduation schedule, making him a “super senior” on top of adding another slate of demanding classes to his already full plate. He hit the ground running and never looked back.

“What really got me in was electronics,” Cooke said. “I really like building things. I like doing things with my hands and actually seeing a physical system do something.”

Cooke has spent most of his time in the Electronics Lab, located in the CSM Building, working together on practical research projects with his fellow Augusta Utilities Program interns. The Augusta Utilities partnership with the Physics Department offers students across a wide range of majors a chance to create devices that can be applied across Augusta to collect ecological data for the Augusta Utilities Department to use.

Cooke estimates that nine out of 10 times, he can be found in the electronics lab helping students or doing his own research. His computer science friends would often joke, “We figured you would be here,” whenever they would visit the Health Sciences Campus.

Over the summer, he and the other interns spent 40 hours a week in the lab, while during the semester, Cooke and his classmates are in the lab between classes, in the evenings and over weekends, as well.

“It’s almost a second home,” Cooke said. “I think the amount of time I spent in class and the amount of time I’m in the lab are fairly close.”

Journey of innovation and mentorship

As part of his Augusta Utilities research, Cooke has developed an autonomous watercraft that can navigate itself along the Augusta Canal to take ecological measurements, known colloquially in the department as “The Self-Driving Boat.” He also helped integrate a dashboard system for many of the other students’ devices through long-range radio and cellular microcontrollers.

Altogether, Cooke has had a hand in all five of the projects that have come out of the program since he joined. He has helped build and calibrate many of the sensors for other students’ projects, which also connect to his watercraft and dashboard.

“Pretty much everyone in the lab has had Wesley help them on some part of their project, even if it is something small,” said Emma Herndon, a fourth-year undergraduate ecology major and intern in the Augusta Utilities Program. “He’s a very hard worker.”

When he is not busy with class and his internship research, Cooke has served as a leading member of the Cybertronic Makers Club, which provides electronic engineering workshops to all students. Cooke also helped conduct the Arduino Camp held by the Physics Department every year, which focuses on teaching future lab assistants how to program electronic microcontrollers.

“Being part of the Augusta Utilities Project and the electronics lab in general and as a physics major, the sense of community that we have here is awesome,” Cooke said. “All of these people have been awesome to work with.”

Cooke credits Hauger with helping him navigate his research and his future plans.

“Dr. Hauger has been the most amazing person you could ever ask to work with,” Cooke said. “Being able to learn from him has been one of the most influential things for the direction of my career.”

Cooke now plans to prepare for his direct PhD program in electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University starting in the fall. He has toured with their faculty and found a few labs he may want to join. He plans to work as an engineer after his graduate degree before becoming an engineering teacher.

“I think he’ll be good at it,” Hauger said about Cooke’s plans to become a teacher. “He’s one of the few who has natural teaching instincts. He does it in a very humble way, but he’s very willing to help people learn.”