Personal Statement for Dean's Excellence Award (2017)
The self-examination of one’s motives is an essential tool for personal discovery and development. My innermost desire to give credit where credit is due requires looking outside myself and upward to the Creator of all that is in existence. The intricate design of the universe, at all length scales, is the subject of the life work of millions today in the scientific realm. I, too, have dedicated my life to studying the creation through scientific discovery, but my primary mission is serving the Creator.
Growing up, involvement in STEM crafted my interests and life ambitions through supplementary educational opportunities and professional experience. Beginning in fifth grade, I began school, region, and state competitions in the areas of science and math, one of which allowed me to present rocket science at an international engineering conference. In high school, I took a diverse group of 14 AP classes. Additionally, my dad taught me chemical engineering through lessons on calculus, differential equations, and fluid dynamics. These pre-college experiences granted me access to many of my current opportunities. Without my ambitious high school curriculum and extracurricular activities, my fully-funded college and freshman internship would not have been possible. Finally, my professional experience at Eastman Chemical Company and Oak Ridge National Laboratory exposed me to chemical engineering industry, materials engineering research, and graduate student life. All of these opportunities directed my interests and shaped my specific future career ambitions, as well as materialized some short term goals I did not consider possible before this year.
These prior experiences were born in an insatiable thirst for challenge and learning, and they helped develop my interests and life ambitions. Inside my mind is a ravenous appetite to devour every scientific piece of information I can possibly encounter. The “why” for the challenge-seeking nature lies solely in a God-given intrinsic motivation bestowed upon me for difficult tasks and learning. The exposure to the chemical engineering world by my dad fueled my passion for engineering, efficiency, and renewable energy. Reading Popular Science invigorated my desires specifically for materials engineering research. Observing the lives of Ph.D. students and full-time researchers in materials engineering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has confirmed my previous conviction for the graduate school-to-research route. My time at ORNL was the genesis of my short-term goals of writing a first-author research paper, synthesizing a nanomaterial never previously synthesized, and obtaining a Ph.D. in materials engineering from a prestigious research institution, such as MIT.
My life ambitions fall into two categories: those that permeate my very life existence, and those that are merely icing on the cake. The icing consists of obtaining “R&D 100” awards and patents, entering the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, being the subject of a Popular Science article, and even becoming a household name like Isaac Newton. To these, however, there is no end. I can always get more awards, more money, more patents, more famous, but I can never get more salvation by grace. My ultimate life ambition is to impact the world for Jesus Christ through the scientific community. With money, I will give it away. With awards, I use them to glorify my Maker. What good is being remembered as a great scientist if not connected to my passion for Jesus Christ? It follows naturally that my true life ambitions are to initiate disciple-making revolutions all over the world and lead 100 people to Christ.
Ultimately, my life ambitions are both for this life and life after death. Materials research, scientific discovery, and innovative engineering solutions are only mechanisms by which the true end of God’s glory in Himself and His creation are achieved. Although my work is dedicated to studying the created universe through science, my life is dedicated to the Designer.
Growing up, involvement in STEM crafted my interests and life ambitions through supplementary educational opportunities and professional experience. Beginning in fifth grade, I began school, region, and state competitions in the areas of science and math, one of which allowed me to present rocket science at an international engineering conference. In high school, I took a diverse group of 14 AP classes. Additionally, my dad taught me chemical engineering through lessons on calculus, differential equations, and fluid dynamics. These pre-college experiences granted me access to many of my current opportunities. Without my ambitious high school curriculum and extracurricular activities, my fully-funded college and freshman internship would not have been possible. Finally, my professional experience at Eastman Chemical Company and Oak Ridge National Laboratory exposed me to chemical engineering industry, materials engineering research, and graduate student life. All of these opportunities directed my interests and shaped my specific future career ambitions, as well as materialized some short term goals I did not consider possible before this year.
These prior experiences were born in an insatiable thirst for challenge and learning, and they helped develop my interests and life ambitions. Inside my mind is a ravenous appetite to devour every scientific piece of information I can possibly encounter. The “why” for the challenge-seeking nature lies solely in a God-given intrinsic motivation bestowed upon me for difficult tasks and learning. The exposure to the chemical engineering world by my dad fueled my passion for engineering, efficiency, and renewable energy. Reading Popular Science invigorated my desires specifically for materials engineering research. Observing the lives of Ph.D. students and full-time researchers in materials engineering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has confirmed my previous conviction for the graduate school-to-research route. My time at ORNL was the genesis of my short-term goals of writing a first-author research paper, synthesizing a nanomaterial never previously synthesized, and obtaining a Ph.D. in materials engineering from a prestigious research institution, such as MIT.
My life ambitions fall into two categories: those that permeate my very life existence, and those that are merely icing on the cake. The icing consists of obtaining “R&D 100” awards and patents, entering the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, being the subject of a Popular Science article, and even becoming a household name like Isaac Newton. To these, however, there is no end. I can always get more awards, more money, more patents, more famous, but I can never get more salvation by grace. My ultimate life ambition is to impact the world for Jesus Christ through the scientific community. With money, I will give it away. With awards, I use them to glorify my Maker. What good is being remembered as a great scientist if not connected to my passion for Jesus Christ? It follows naturally that my true life ambitions are to initiate disciple-making revolutions all over the world and lead 100 people to Christ.
Ultimately, my life ambitions are both for this life and life after death. Materials research, scientific discovery, and innovative engineering solutions are only mechanisms by which the true end of God’s glory in Himself and His creation are achieved. Although my work is dedicated to studying the created universe through science, my life is dedicated to the Designer.
Reflections (2020)
This personal statement represents my writing for the application for the Dean's Excellence Awards my sophomore year, of which I was a Finalist. This statement still is accurate to this day. My overarching life goal is to glorify God with everything I do, say, and think. That goal reflects in how I spend my time, energy and money. I am currently invigorated by the pursuit of a career in academia, getting a Ph.D. in Materials Science or Physics and being able to use computational techniques to set the stage for materials discovery and design for decades to come.