New Stanford grad Ahmed Muhammad remains committed to his Oakland community

STANFORD, Calif. - Surrounded by family, friends, and others whom Oakland’s Ahmed Muhammad credits for helping him on his journey, the 22-year-old marked a milestone, graduating from Stanford University on Sunday.

"I felt really good," Muhammad said. "My parents were there, my grandma, my brother, my sister, all my friends and family and mentors and teachers, folks from back home, and so it felt like we were all graduating together."

Gratitude to his Oakland community 

It was a collective achievement, the mechanical engineering graduate said, as he paid tribute to his Oakland roots.

"I'm really grateful to come just from such an amazing village, an amazing community of Oakland, and all my friends, family, teachers, mentors, peers," Muhammad shared. "I wouldn't have been able to graduate. All these things that I've been very fortunate and blessed to experience wouldn't be possible without the support and sacrifices of everybody that comes before me."

The graduation ceremony was a stop in Muhammad’s ongoing education at Stanford, where he's finishing up what's known as a coterminal degree program, a five-year program which allows students to pursue their master's degree while simultaneously completing their bachelor's.

Throughout his four years so far at Stanford, he’s continued his work with his non-profit, Kits Cubed, generating new initiatives while remaining committed to his mission to "introduce youth to the wonders of science through fun, affordable, and accessible means."

The non-profit, which Muhammad launched when he was only 17 as a senior at Oakland Technical High School, began with an idea to provide science kits and hands-on learning to Oakland school kids, hoping to spark interest and engagement in science, especially among underserved communities.

"Learning science is currently a privilege, when it should be a fundamental piece of every child’s education," the teen told KTVU back in 2020, shortly after starting Kits Cubed.

Since then, the non-profit has grown and expanded to heights that the then-17-year-old likely could not have even imagined. 

Dig deeper:

This past school year, he started a free pilot after-school program at Oakland Unified School District’s Oakland Academy of Knowledge, called "The Energy Lab." 

The program was in partnership with the Golden State Community Foundation and was held twice a week for about 10 weeks.

The Energy Lab was led by a group of young people, four Oakland high school students and a rising senior at UC Berkeley, who taught alongside an Oakland elementary school teacher. 

The group was heavily involved in creating the curriculum. 

They worked with Muhammad as well as a team of educators from around the Bay Area, including specialists in early elementary education and experts in the field of climate or marine science, in building the program. 

"We brought us all together, and we just fleshed out this curriculum over the course of a couple months, and then we implemented it," Muhammad shared. 

In addition to the kids being exposed to lessons on renewable energy, and design solutions learning, he was delighted to witness how well another objective of his Kits Cubed mission worked: getting older students involved, acting as mentors to kids, and taking part in the process of building up their community. 

"The older kids were telling us how they learned about science. They learned a lot of new things and sort of fell in love with science more, while being able to teach the younger kids," Muhammad explained. "And the younger kids, they really resonated with, I guess, the older versions of themselves, which the is cascading mentorship style of Kits Cubed –  kids teaching kids and young people teaching younger people is something that's been really effective."

The program at the East Oakland school proved to be such a success, Muhammad said plans are in the works to bring The Energy Lab to other OUSD schools. 

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With his life at Stanford having him embedded on the Peninsula, the university student also found ways to expand his mission to his community there.

This past school year, Kits Cubed partnered with East Palo-based StreetCode Academy, which has a mission of enhancing and "advancing communities of color through technology," by helping young people build skills in tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship. 

Muhammad piloted a new curriculum around 3D printing.

"We built out a 3D printer together. We taught them sort of the elements of computer-aided design. We got the 3D to print our own things," he shared.

‘STEM Adventures’

Back in Oakland, Muhammad is also continuing Kits Cubed’s reach in his home community through a new initiative he calls "STEM Adventures."

"We started some STEM adventures earlier in the school year, but we're going to be doing field trips, basically," he explained. Those trips include getting hundreds of kids out to San Francisco to the California Academy of Sciences, which he noted was one of his favorite places on earth. He’s also a board member of the non-profit.

Annual STEM Fair:

And of course, there is the hugely successful annual Kits Cubed STEM Fair held at his high school alma mater, Oakland Tech, a community event which grows every year. 

Last year, the fair drew almost 4,500 people, the non-profit said. 

The 5th annual Kits cubed STEM Fair will be held on Sept. 13.

Community influence 

Muhammad has used his growing influence in the community to help raise money for the Warriors Community Foundation and was invited to make the opening remarks at its annual Charity Poker Tournament at Chase Center back in February.

The event raised a record $3.8 million dollars.

The foundation has been an integral supporter of Kits Cubed’s programs.

"They sponsor all these different amazing community organizations to continue their work and improve the lives of youth in the Bay Area through education through wellness," Muhammad credited the group, adding, "Kits Cubed really wouldn't be where it is right now without the support of the Warriors Community Foundation."

College life 

Muhammad has juggled these activities while being fully involved in his Stanford community.

He has been chosen as part of an elite group of 12 people for the Mayfield Fellows Program, which offers cohorts immersive and rigorous learning opportunities to build skills in entrepreneurial leadership, innovation, strategy, and creativity.

At the world-renowned university, Muhammad has proven himself to be a standout student and is being praised for his contributions to the Stanford community.

What they're saying:

"Ahmed is an exceptionally talented and driven student whose passion for STEM and dedication to impactful research have distinguished him as a leader and innovator," said Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Monroe Kennedy III.

Kennedy has also been the student’s research mentor. Muhammad joined his lab through the Mechanical Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in 2023.

"Ahmed has made significant contributions to multiple research projects—from experimental design in precision fluid estimation using novel camera systems to leading the development of a bi-manual mobile robot for assistive tasks," Kennedy shared. "His creativity, technical ability, and commitment to making a difference in both research and education make him a standout member of our academic community."

What's next:

For his immediate future, the young innovator will begin a summer internship come Monday at a tech company in San Francisco.

After he finishes his coterminal program, the lifelong Bay Area resident hopes to do more traveling. 

"I think I need to spread my wings a little bit and see a little bit more of what out there," he shared, noting that he’s benefited greatly from being able to travel as part of his education at Stanford.

"I was able to study abroad in Chile. I was able to work on a sustainable agriculture project in the Bahamas. And those experiences have really opened my eyes just from more a global perspective," he reflected. "I want to get more of that learning, more of that experience."

Future outlook 

And as for a broader look into his future, the college graduate said that he’s still not sure what that will look like and acknowledged that his goals will likely not remain static and will shift and evolve. 

Though he said that his time at Stanford has reinforced his passion to build. 

"I really love building things, and I really love building things that can help people and make the world a better place," he said. "Whether that's building technology or building curriculum or building programming, I don't know yet, but I just want to be involved with building something positive for our world and for our community."

Characteristically to his nature, as he looked toward his future, Muhammad, the first college graduate of his immediate family, also gave a nod to those whose shoulders he's stood on, including his family, as he gave special acknowledgment to his grandmother, a refugee from Cambodia.  

"For my grandma to see her grandson graduate from college and from Stanford, it was a very powerful, moving experience for her," the grad said. "That's why I said, it feels like we all did it together, because there's just so many sacrifices that had to be made, so many things that had to go right, in order for the family to achieve this." 

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