Student Spotlight: Sofie Roux, Sustainable Architecture + Engineering

I’ve always loved both art and science, but more than anything, I’ve been drawn to people. When I was six, my grandmother told me I might enjoy being an architect, and I declared then that I wanted to become a “sustainable development architect.” I wasn’t even sure that was a real thing, but the idea just fit.

Studying Sustainable Architecture and Engineering at Stanford has been everything I hoped for – and then some. I’ve spent countless joyful hours in the Product Realization Lab, learned by building things, and – most importantly – grown alongside extraordinary classmates and mentors. Two communities at Stanford that have been especially formative for me are the Stanford Solar Car Team and the X-Fund Entrepreneurs Ethics Fellowship.

I joined the Solar Car Team early on and have filled multiple roles over the years: safety officer, driver, solar array lead, and now driver operations and strategy lead. We’ve poured ourselves into redesigning our vehicle, Azimuth. This August, we earned second place at the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Kentucky, the best finish the team has had in nearly a decade. The late nights, setbacks, technical breakthroughs, and team grit taught me more than I ever imagined – and gave me some lifelong friends along the way.

With X-Fund, I’ve been part of deep conversations about how entrepreneurship can drive meaningful, ethical impact. It’s a space where innovation and responsibility meet, and I’ve valued every moment of it.

These experiences converge in the work that matters most to me: expanding access to high-quality STEAM education. I founded BloomBox Design Labs, a social enterprise transforming shipping containers into solar-powered learning labs for high school students in Malawi. We currently have four BloomBoxes up and running across urban, rural, and refugee camp settings, serving around 8,000 students with computer access, internet, and mentorship. We’ve seen gains in exam scores, graduation rates, and university enrollment – and we’re just getting started. Our goal? Scaling to 140 schools over the next five years, with an increasing focus on sustainability and climate education.

Being a Stanford CEE student means being surrounded by innovation, design, and collaboration. I’ve learned to build, to think, and to dream in a way I never could have imagined at six. As I approach my senior year, I feel both grateful and a little anxious about what comes next – but I’m starting to understand what it really means to live into that phrase I said as a child: being a “sustainable development architect.”