Andrew grew up in small city Cottonwood, Ariz. – known for its high amount of teenage pregnancies and drug use. He earned his first job at an auto-body shop at fourteen years old and held multiple leadership positions while growing up to help his community. Hickey’s curiosity led him to compete in the SkillsUSA Engineering Technology/Design Challenge where he invented a rotary combustion engine. During the process, he researched complex concepts, taught himself how to create three-dimensional drawings and used a three-dimensional printer. After presenting in front of local engineering companies and multiple panels within the competition, his team was selected National Silver Medalist in Engineering Technology against thousands of teams.
Upon entering college, Andrew founded TinkTank, a mobile technology platform that targets underprivileged high schools to give students the opportunity to learn about STEM fields! TinkTank successfully completed many pilot programs and partnered with Arizona State University to create a revised program that allows high school students to engage in college-level coursework and learn about stimulating fields (engineering, medicine, business, etc.) while living on campus for two weeks. Andrew was the engineering instructor for multiple summer programs.
When Hickey joined Lambda Chi Alpha at Arizona State University, he quickly gained leadership positions within the fraternity, such as the Scholastic Chairman. During his term, he led Lambda Chi Alpha to improve their average member GPA from 3.17 to 3.42 and helped the chapter earn the S. George “Doc” Dirghalli Scholastic Programming Award from his implementation of an academic plan and educational events that allowed members to grow academically and professionally.
While balancing leadership positions, he conducted research for Arizona State University and interned at Ford Motor Company, Intel Corporation and a Venture Capital Firm where he made a significant contribution through his projects. He worked as a success coach during the school semesters where he mentored a diverse portfolio of students who struggled financially, academically, and/or were a first generation student and earned the “Catalyst Award” for his “exceptional ability to inspire, encourage, and motivate student success.” Furthermore, he was selected to join an interdisciplinary team that was funded with $100,000 to design a device for people with visual disabilities; as a result, his team created a device that utilized bone conduction and echolocation to enable a user’s freedom to navigate independently.
Hickey graduated with a 4.0 GPA in mechanical engineering and was the recipient of the esteemed Outstanding Undergraduate from the engineering school at Arizona State University, demonstrating his leadership and intellectual capabilities. He is now pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University while working on a startup that enhances the gardening experience by using machine learning while conserving water, which has already received seed funding.
Hickey is the type of person who will change the world. Knowing him throughout the years, I think he is very deserving to be part of the 30 under 30 because of his accomplishments, commitment to Lambda Chi Alpha and kindness towards others.
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