Assignment 1: Who are you?
I come from a place of privilege. Before I was born—before I was specifically planned even—my parents started a college fund for their future kid(s). I was raised under the expectation that one day I would go to college. I was raised by parents who really cared about me and were dedicated to my education; they homeschooled me kindergarten through second grade. Although my family is not extremely wealthy, they set aside the funds for me to attend Soundview School, one of the only IB middle schools in this region. Because of this, my education was very well rounded, interdisciplinary, and high-level from a young age. I think my privilege plays a great role in my education. During high school, I had access to the IB program at Inglemoor High School that challenged me and helped me to grow as a learner. I am so incredibly fortunate to have been raised by my parents in a setting that values education. Without this network of incredible support and resources, I do not believe I would have ended up in the Honors Program at the UW.
One on the most important support systems I have grown up with is community. Growing up in community has helped to shape me by offering me a wide range of experiences on which to build my knowledge. My community, Songaia, is an intentional cohousing community in Bothell Washington. Along with private family homes, we have shared lands, gardens, forest, meadow, a shared barn, and a shared commonhouse. Songaia draws in a huge range of interesting and diverse people with diverse backgrounds. Exposure to many perspectives, careers, expertise throughout my childhood helped to shape me as a learner and a leader. I gained a wide skillset and broad interests. Because of the amount of interactions and community meetings I have experienced, I have become extremely comfortable socializing and leading large groups of people. What I have picked up from Songaia—social/personal skills and varied interests—has helped me in academic settings, but has also helped me to develop as a person. More than anything, Songaia has instilledin me a vision of a peaceful world in which we love the planet and actively work to care for the earth and its inhabitants. Songaia’smembers are active. They speak up, they learn, they dream, they reflect, they grow, and they make changes in the world. I think the skills and experiences I have picked up at Songaia have been a major influence over my choice of the honors program.
When I was little and people asked me what I wanted to study in college, I would tell them that I wanted to study science until there are no more classes I could take. After that, I said, I would be a professor so I could make the new classes and keep learning. After seeing the course catalog at the UW, I can tell that I would be here a lifetime just to take every class. However, I am still committed to exploration. From here I hope to expand my world view. I want to try activities that push my boundaries. I want to be exposed to content and situations that make me uncomfortable. I want to grow as a learner and as a person. I want to find a diverse group of friends and peers that support me and challenge me mentally. Even after just two weeks living in the honors community I can see this network of peers and friends begin to take shape.
This quarter is exploratory for me. Although I am direct admit into chem/biochem, I am considering other majors and fields of study because I am not sure what field will best encompass my broad interests. I am taking engineering 101, an exploratory course that showcases all of the engineering fields offered at the UW. I hope this will help to narrow down the field of engineering into a few specific majors I am interested in. At the first lecture of honors 100, one of the speakers urged us to broaden our scope and take a range of classes before narrowing down our focus onto one discipline. Although I want to explore, it is tricky to balance the broadening and exploration with the credit intensity of an engineering major. I hope that this quarter helps me to better define what I hope to get out of my career.
Assignment 2: Personal Curriculum Planning
This was my first time laying out my academic plan. It is packed! This plan is based around the mechanical engineering major, although I am still in the process of deciding between 3 types of engineering: mechanical, chemical, and materials science.
uw_myplan____your_academic_year.pdf | |
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Assignment 3: Experiential Learning Interview
For this assignment, I interviewed a student in my Honors 100 class to explore experiential learning activities that would be beneficial to her.
Em is very interested in biology and wants to specialize in neurobiology. She recently applied to a lab that is doing work in epigenetics, but is looking for more research positions. Her life goal/dream is to become an ER doctor or maybe a pediatrician. She is drawn to these because of the excitement of the job as well as the capacity to do good things and help people. In her experiential learning programs, she is looking for some teaching experience. She says that she might be interested in teaching science. She hopes to study abroad in Spain because she speaks Spanish, but also loves Spain. She says that until hearing the recent guest speaker present, she had always thought of study abroad as classroombased experience, but could be cool and exciting to do something exploratory She would be interested in both classroom and exploratory study abroad opportunities. She would prefer to do her study abroad over the summer. She would be very interested in a program where she could spend time working with doctors.
I found 3 opportunities for Em that align with her goals and desires:
Teaching science to k-12 kids through the pipeline organization.
Teaching English to native speakers of other languages in Spain
Nasa Space Grant Summer Research
Em is very interested in biology and wants to specialize in neurobiology. She recently applied to a lab that is doing work in epigenetics, but is looking for more research positions. Her life goal/dream is to become an ER doctor or maybe a pediatrician. She is drawn to these because of the excitement of the job as well as the capacity to do good things and help people. In her experiential learning programs, she is looking for some teaching experience. She says that she might be interested in teaching science. She hopes to study abroad in Spain because she speaks Spanish, but also loves Spain. She says that until hearing the recent guest speaker present, she had always thought of study abroad as classroombased experience, but could be cool and exciting to do something exploratory She would be interested in both classroom and exploratory study abroad opportunities. She would prefer to do her study abroad over the summer. She would be very interested in a program where she could spend time working with doctors.
I found 3 opportunities for Em that align with her goals and desires:
Teaching science to k-12 kids through the pipeline organization.
- I believe this would be a great option for Em because it will give her the opportunity to explore teaching science. The Pipeline program through the UW has many options for teaching including the alternative spring break program in which UW students spend time teaching at a school for the duration of break. The organization also has a tutoring program in which she could spend 2-3 hours per week tutoring k-12 kids in science.
Teaching English to native speakers of other languages in Spain
- This study abroad program through the UW is an exploratory program in which UW students spend 3 weeks teaching English to students in Leon, Spain. Alternatively, there is a study abroad program available through UW Bothell that explores American travelers in Leon Spain.
Nasa Space Grant Summer Research
- Although it is labeled as a space program, NASA Space Grant has summer research opportunities for many STEM disciplines including biology.
Assignment 4: Climate Change Global Challenges Event
The speakers’ discussion of the difficulties of national environmental regulation resonated for me. Before the discussion, I believed that climate change denial was focused around refusal to believe the science behind climate change. Now, I understand that the science is simple, the evidence is straightforward, but the denial stems from money driven large corporations. For these corporations with the focus of making money to appease their shareholders, climate change regulation can be extremely costly. Due to money’s large role in politics, these corporations can garner political support from candidates. In rural America, most of the climate change denial stems from the lack of regulation of corporations. While corporations are allowed to pollute heavily, individuals are subjected to strict vehicles emissions tests. These disgruntled Americans deny climate change, believing that if it is as bad as the scientists say, the corporations would not be allowed to get away with it. Listening to the discussion helped me to realize that climate change is a complex issue that spans many disciplines.
To me, the most important way to tackle climate change and incentivize consumers to make smart choices is to develop affordable technologies. If the average consumer is not motivated to make environmentally friendly decisions based on morals, the best tactic is to make sustainable technologies affordable enough that it is more cost effective for consumers. In some regions of California, Hawaii, and Europe, solar energy from photovoltaics has reached grid parity; it can effectively compete with non-renewable sources of energy. However, in most regions it continues to be much more expensive to produce electricity using photovoltaics than fossil fuels. I hope to spend my life developing inexpensive materials and high volume processes for the production of solar cells. By creating cheaper cells, I hope to increase the number of consumers able to afford solar cells. To this end, an interdisciplinary education will help me understand the broader global picture of the effects of solar research.
In addition to my career, I address climate change by buying locally sourced vegetarian foods as much as possible. One of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the meat industry. Furthermore, meat production is a highly inefficient method of food production. Animals intake grains and other plant based feeds, and convert them into meat. However, only ~15% of the food energy consumed by the chicken is transformed into chicken meat. This efficiency is much lower, ~4%, for cows. By eating vegetables and plant based foods directly instead of converting them to meat, we can create a much more sustainable society.Even though I alone can’t make a significant difference to combat climate change through being vegetarian, I find that my vegetarianism has a large impact on those around me. Because I only cook vegetarian food for my friends and family, I can educate others that meat free food can be delicious. Hopefully, this inspires them to cook some meat free meals.
To me, the most important way to tackle climate change and incentivize consumers to make smart choices is to develop affordable technologies. If the average consumer is not motivated to make environmentally friendly decisions based on morals, the best tactic is to make sustainable technologies affordable enough that it is more cost effective for consumers. In some regions of California, Hawaii, and Europe, solar energy from photovoltaics has reached grid parity; it can effectively compete with non-renewable sources of energy. However, in most regions it continues to be much more expensive to produce electricity using photovoltaics than fossil fuels. I hope to spend my life developing inexpensive materials and high volume processes for the production of solar cells. By creating cheaper cells, I hope to increase the number of consumers able to afford solar cells. To this end, an interdisciplinary education will help me understand the broader global picture of the effects of solar research.
In addition to my career, I address climate change by buying locally sourced vegetarian foods as much as possible. One of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the meat industry. Furthermore, meat production is a highly inefficient method of food production. Animals intake grains and other plant based feeds, and convert them into meat. However, only ~15% of the food energy consumed by the chicken is transformed into chicken meat. This efficiency is much lower, ~4%, for cows. By eating vegetables and plant based foods directly instead of converting them to meat, we can create a much more sustainable society.Even though I alone can’t make a significant difference to combat climate change through being vegetarian, I find that my vegetarianism has a large impact on those around me. Because I only cook vegetarian food for my friends and family, I can educate others that meat free food can be delicious. Hopefully, this inspires them to cook some meat free meals.
Assignment 5: Portfolio Statement
Autumn quarter freshman year: where am I going?
Before I left for college, my community put together a poster full of advice for me in college. One piece of advice I have been embracing this quarter is “don’t pick a major too soon. Take some exploratory classes and broaden your scope before you narrow”. From fall registration onward, I have felt a pressing need to pick a field of study. As an engineering student, any path I choose will be very credit intensive. To complete an engineering degree along with honors, I will need to take part in an honors study abroad program and take summer classes. I found the personal curriculum planning assignment in honors 100 to be a good wakeup call for me. It helped me realize that I need to start exploring in order to narrow down my passions.
My first quarter schedule was very exploratory. I chose a broad range of courses that would help me to decide what field of engineering I want to pursue. The most influential in shaping this decision for me has been my honors materials science approach to the solar cell course. On our first lab tour, we visited the molecular engineering building to learn about the various types of microscopy and spectroscopy equipment. The dual beam scanning electron microscope absolutely captivated me. The lab tech used the ion beam to slice through a thin film layer. He then turned the sample and used the electron beam to view a cross section, about as thick as the anti-glare coating on ski goggles, of the material. Technology inspires and drives me. I need to work in a position where I have access to amazing technology.
Beyond preparation for a career, a university level education serves a greater purpose: to prepare me to make informed and conscious decisions throughout life by developing a broad understanding of the world and an analytical skillset with which to interpret it. While I am narrowing my focus down to an engineering and specializing on a particular field, honors will provide me with an interdisciplinary foundation in which to ground my studies.
I plan to pursue a career in the sciences. To this end, Interdisciplinary learning is important to me because it encourages me to continually reframe my subject matter to draw connections. My goal as an engineer is to contribute to human and global progress, therefore, as well as its pure scientific aspects, I must be able to assess the social, political, historical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of my subject. The honors program will encourage me to take a broad range of classes in many fields, and provide a structure for me to reflect and tie my education together.
Living in the honors community in Terry Hall has been the highlight of my freshman quarter so far. Everyone in my building is very friendly and makes a conscious effort to say hi. The honors community creates a warm and welcoming environment in which I feel at home. It has enriched my quarter to live in a place full of freshmen who have common interests, passion, motivation, and share classes.
Before I left for college, my community put together a poster full of advice for me in college. One piece of advice I have been embracing this quarter is “don’t pick a major too soon. Take some exploratory classes and broaden your scope before you narrow”. From fall registration onward, I have felt a pressing need to pick a field of study. As an engineering student, any path I choose will be very credit intensive. To complete an engineering degree along with honors, I will need to take part in an honors study abroad program and take summer classes. I found the personal curriculum planning assignment in honors 100 to be a good wakeup call for me. It helped me realize that I need to start exploring in order to narrow down my passions.
My first quarter schedule was very exploratory. I chose a broad range of courses that would help me to decide what field of engineering I want to pursue. The most influential in shaping this decision for me has been my honors materials science approach to the solar cell course. On our first lab tour, we visited the molecular engineering building to learn about the various types of microscopy and spectroscopy equipment. The dual beam scanning electron microscope absolutely captivated me. The lab tech used the ion beam to slice through a thin film layer. He then turned the sample and used the electron beam to view a cross section, about as thick as the anti-glare coating on ski goggles, of the material. Technology inspires and drives me. I need to work in a position where I have access to amazing technology.
Beyond preparation for a career, a university level education serves a greater purpose: to prepare me to make informed and conscious decisions throughout life by developing a broad understanding of the world and an analytical skillset with which to interpret it. While I am narrowing my focus down to an engineering and specializing on a particular field, honors will provide me with an interdisciplinary foundation in which to ground my studies.
I plan to pursue a career in the sciences. To this end, Interdisciplinary learning is important to me because it encourages me to continually reframe my subject matter to draw connections. My goal as an engineer is to contribute to human and global progress, therefore, as well as its pure scientific aspects, I must be able to assess the social, political, historical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of my subject. The honors program will encourage me to take a broad range of classes in many fields, and provide a structure for me to reflect and tie my education together.
Living in the honors community in Terry Hall has been the highlight of my freshman quarter so far. Everyone in my building is very friendly and makes a conscious effort to say hi. The honors community creates a warm and welcoming environment in which I feel at home. It has enriched my quarter to live in a place full of freshmen who have common interests, passion, motivation, and share classes.