Malik Salami poses for a photo with Reveille. Photo from Malik Salami.

Meet the Texas A&M Student Studying Biomedicine While Breaking the Internet

Article By: Jackie Cook, Contributing Student Writer | BCS Chronicle

What You Need To Know:

  • Biomedical engineering student, Malik Salami, also known as “Salami The Aggie,” is one of Texas A&M’s most well-known influencers, making content about college life and Aggie traditions.

  • Salami’s journey in content creation began with basketball videos that he would post to YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Salami branched out to TikTok in early 2024, with one of his first videos, a playful jab at high school seniors touring A&M, accumulating over 93,000 views. He currently has 16,000 followers on TikTok.

  • Taking inspiration from trends on TikTok and his own imagination, Salami has partnered with companies such as Aggieland Outfitters, and receives money from posting on Instagram and TikTok.

  • Salami graduates in May 2026 and is planning to stay at Texas A&M for his master’s degree, with a goal of designing prosthetics.

Anyone would expect a biomedical engineering student to be buried in textbooks, rather than trending on TikTok.

“Salami The Aggie,” one of Texas A&M’s most well-known influencers, somehow manages to do both.

Behind the screen name, Malik Salami has created hundreds of lighthearted videos that have drawn thousands of followers on both Instagram and TikTok.

With his quick wit, it’s clear why the senior from Sugarland connects so easily with his followers. Balancing the rigor of a demanding STEM degree with the creativity of online content, he has redefined what it means to be a scholar in the digital age.

In 2020, Salami began making basketball videos in his backyard during the COVID-19 pandemic and posting them on YouTube. At the time, his top video attracted only about 3,000 views, but he didn’t care because that’s where his passion for content creation began.

After experimenting with basketball content, college life became his new inspiration. Arriving at Texas A&M in 2021, he began capturing the everyday moments of life at the state’s largest campus. .

From fall 2022 to spring 2023, he posted physics tutorials that averaged 2,000 views each. That fall, a video of him trying out for the Aggie football team hit 18,000 views — his highest on YouTube so far. He now has almost 3,000 subscribers on YouTube

When Salami branched out to TikTok in early 2024, one of his first videos, a playful jab at high school seniors touring A&M, skyrocketed to over 93,000 views. He’s now reached 16,000 followers on TikTok.

“Salami the Aggie” gives a Gig ‘Em wearing his Aggie ring. Photo from Malik Salami.

​​At first, he wasn’t interested in posting on Instagram, but a friend encouraged him to give it a try. In late January 2024, he posted his most popular video to this day. It reached over 92,000 likes and more than 200,000 views.

In the video, he goes around A&M’s campus talking about A&M’s traditions and their interesting backstories. He highlighted traditions like not walking on the grass near the Memorial Student Center, camping out early for the University of Texas game, saying “Howdy,” taking pictures at the big ring in Haynes Ring Plaza, and joking about Reveille being cloned, with Salami’s friend saying, “she’s not a real mascot.” It’s his favorite video.

His friend challenged him to post every single day for a year. So from Feb. 1, 2024, to Feb. 1, 2025, Salami carved out time in his daily routine. “It’s like anything else in life. You have to make time for it if you want to see it prosper.” He now has 40,000 followers on Instagram.

His creativity, he said, comes from trends on TikTok or his own imagination. Of course, he has experienced online hate, but he has never let that stop him from posting what he wants. He has also done brand deals with Aggieland Outfitters, and receives money from posting on Instagram and TikTok.

Salami graduates in May 2026 but he’s not going far. He’s staying at Texas A&M for his master’s degree, with a goal of designing prosthetics when his academic career ends.

He plans to continue posting, even if that means making videos about other areas of his life after graduation.

Whether he’s in the lab or behind the camera, Salami approaches both worlds with the same mindset: curiosity, persistence and desire to connect with others.

“I’ll keep posting as long as it makes people smile,” he said.