He's already seen much of the world, and he's only a sophomore.
Edison Xavier Lewis - he goes by Xavier - came to Michigan State University from Southbury, Conn., as an Alumni Distinguished Scholar. So far, he has found that being a Spartan shines as brightly as his undergraduate research experiences in MSU's Diamond Growth and Measurement Group.
Lewis is a professorial assistant to Elias Garratt, an assistant professor and research manager in chemical engineering and materials science and electrical and computer engineering. The Garratt Research Group works at the intersection of materials and data science.
"Last year I learned how to operate an X-Ray Diffractometer (or XRD machine) and performed an experiment to determine the level of error created by measurements with the XRD," Lewis said. "This year I'm working with the same group, doing some legwork to get an integrated diamond database set up so that growth information can be more easily and systematically accessed, and potentially learning how to operate a quantitative birefringence (QB) machine."
Lewis said it offers a strong foundation for what's next on his career path as a materials science major.
"I'm interested in developing materials for construction and packaging that can be sustainably produced, recycled or disposed of. I hope someday we can stop the shipment of materials to other countries just so we don't have to think about the waste we produce."
Lewis is the oldest of five children and is grateful that his family has already shown him what the wide world has to offer.
"My family and I took a year-long trip around the world from 2018-2019. We visited 10 countries along the way—England, Wales, France, India, Thailand, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Japan—and even had an opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama."
Lewis and his family saw many places of natural beauty on their world trip - including "all of New Zealand" but also Vietnam and India.
"In India, I hiked up part of a mountain in the Himalayas with my father and younger brothers. The contrast of how well-kept New Zealand is as compared to Vietnam and India was disheartening. There was an abundance of plastic trash even in what would be thought of as pristine locations, the Himalayas in particular."
"In my mind, it served as a microcosm for my feelings on how the First World achieves sustainable or green environments by disposing of its garbage in the Third World. This was the impetus for me to study materials science engineering to try and find something that could mitigate or end the problem."
Lewis said he and his family learned to be flexible during their travels.
"More than anything else, I learned to roll with things as they came. We had broad plans about where we wanted to go with a couple of fixed points, but in general we tried to make the most of each and every day and kept our minds open. We didn't burn ourselves out trying to see all the sights. We were able to pick and choose."
That attitude was helpful when they arrived in Hawaii on their way home.
"We flew into Hawaii after Japan and wanted to go for a short nature walk one day, only to find that the price for entry would have been upwards of $100 for all of us. We decided not to go on the walk and instead hung around the entrance, befriending a local who was selling souvenirs. We were even invited over to her house, where we all had dinner and dessert."
As his family headed home through the Continental U.S., they road-tripped across the country, seeing national parks along the way.
"This was another inspiration for my environmentalist bent," Lewis explained. "This free-spiritedness has in general dissuaded me from the notion that there is some set path that I must follow after college and into adulthood."
Lewis said he is enjoying the wide offering of classes and subjects at MSU. Along with his materials science studies, he has minors in Mandarin Chinese and mathematics.
"I think my choice in minors reflects that, especially mathematics," he continued. "I picked it up essentially on a whim after taking, and enjoying, honors linear algebra, MTH 317H, last spring. Though my time on campus may have been truncated by the pandemic, I nevertheless hope to take full advantage of my time as a Spartan to absorb all I can, both academically and socially," he noted.
Lewis is active at MSU as the symposium director for the Materials Science Engineering Society and serves in the public relations/secretary role for the Halo Club, where participants play videogames from the Halo franchise.
"I've also gotten involved as a member of the Spartan Sierra Club, since environmental activism is important to the work that I aim to do. I joined and immediately went on a beach cleanup at Lake Michigan. What an experience that was, going to a beach and swimming in a "freshwater ocean', where before I had only ever seen the Pacific and Atlantic."
"There is opportunity if I look, and life is what I make of it. I need not worry about comparing myself and my successes to others, although I acknowledge that I have been exceptionally lucky compared to others. Indeed, I do feel a sense of societal obligation to do service for the sake of others to repay some of my cosmic debt," he added.