William Cummings ’24, M ’25

A cancer survivor, Cummings is pursuing his second Clemson degree


William Cummings thought the trouble he was having with his vision might have been allergies, but it became impossible to ignore while on his way to work at a Greenville, South Carolina, bakery.

“I went to turn out of my neighborhood onto Woodruff Road, and I couldn’t see oncoming traffic, so I had to pull over and call in,” he remembers. “I was like, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m not going to make it. I don’t know what is going on.’”

A few doctor’s visits later, he had his answer. Cummings, then 24, had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The diagnosis set him on course for a long, sometimes solitary, recovery during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it also jarred him onto a new path in life, one that would take him to Clemson University, where he has been a standout student.

Cummings, now 28, received his bachelor’s degree in geology in May 2024 and stayed at Clemson to complete a master’s degree program in hydrogeology that he began as an undergraduate. His determination and perseverance have left an impression on several faculty members, including Brady Flinchum, assistant professor of environmental engineering and earth sciences.

“His curiosity and his way of digesting information and asking questions strike me more as a Ph.D. student than a master’s student,” Flinchum says. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up teaching or doing research somewhere.”

During the pandemic, Cummings needed to stay home for several months to protect his health, but he took classes through Greenville Technical College and secured an associate degree. He then transferred to Clemson, where he chose to major in geology, partly to reconnect with the earth and partly because his leukemia diagnosis left him with questions.

“How do we know so much at this point about cancer treatment but know so little about environmental prevention?” he asks.

In his first semester at Clemson, Cummings signed up to help with geophysics research and was soon on his way to Southern California to assist Flinchum with data collection. Cummings has since participated in research as an intern at the Clemson Center for Geospatial Technologies. The center assists researchers across the University, giving him the opportunity to learn about issues outside of hydrogeology.

He has also volunteered with a club, Clemson Mappers, to teach how to map infrastructure in regions affected by humanitarian crises, such as earthquakes and conflicts.

Patricia Carbajales-Dale, executive director of the center, says Cummings has analytical talents but also empathy and personality. 

“He just adapts very well to all different scenarios, and that’s what makes him so amazing,” she says.

Fun Fact: In one of his final hurrahs as an undergraduate, Cummings was recognized by the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences as the Outstanding Senior in the School of Computing or Applied Sciences.

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