Honors Portfolio
Welcome to my Honors Portfolio! This site is the roadmap and scrapbook of my undergraduate experience at the University of Washington. You will see artifacts and commentary from a variety of classes I have taken as a student here, both through Honors and Engineering. Additionally, I have included personal pages about myself as well as my experiential learning opportunities.
All UW Honors Program graduates create an online portfolio of their undergraduate achievements. Although there are many classes represented here in my artifacts, there are also many that have not been included. If you would like to hear more about my other classwork or extracurriculars, please contact me. Thanks for checking out my site!
All UW Honors Program graduates create an online portfolio of their undergraduate achievements. Although there are many classes represented here in my artifacts, there are also many that have not been included. If you would like to hear more about my other classwork or extracurriculars, please contact me. Thanks for checking out my site!
Portfolio Statements
Below are my two portfolio statements. The first is from Freshman Quarter when I was first introduced to UW and took Honors 100, and the second is from my final quarter as a senior, when I took my Honors capstone course. I like to think of them as bookends for my entire portfolio, and a window into my life here as an undergraduate, and the changes that took place. This is merely a starting point, so please browse everything on the site!
2010 Statement I have learned a lot about interdisciplinary experiential education this quarter, and how it relates to the Gulf Oil Spill, as well as my education and life outside of school.
I would like to think of most of my education thus far as involving a great deal of interdisciplinarity, although I did not have a word for it up until now. Before this point, I have mostly referred to it as a “well rounded education”, or “multi subject learning”, but I believe much of that is actually an example of interdisciplinary learning. I was homeschooled from the middle of forth grade through my junior year of high school, and this unconventional education gave me a unique opportunity to be involved in many extracurricular activities, a great deal of hands on learning, and the ability to travel. My education has shifted in my transition to college, but it has become no less interdisciplinary. In my classes here at the University of Washington, I have mostly been studying in each discipline separately, but Honors 100 has been encouraging us to use our knowledge of multiple disciplines to solve problems in the real world. The Gulf Oil Spill is a tragedy that involves many different disciplines in its cleanup, solution, and future prevention. Let us start with the humanities. Obviously, in order for any problem to be addressed on a large scale, the public must be aware of the issue and receive proper information, as well as have the ability to voice their opinion, and take action. This is a communication issue, involving the media, journalism, free speech, debate, and expression of ideas. This incorporates social science, English, communication, and even art; after all, what better way to communicate an issue than through photos and illustrations? This is something that Professor Frances McCue asked us to consider in one of the Honors 100 sessions. She showed us a picture, and asked us what the humanity was in this picture. I think anytime a picture moves you, or changes your view, then it has humanity in it. I think this helps tie the different disciplines together very well; all people and fields of thought are needed to solve such a far-reaching disaster. Taking the thread on social science, we could expand this to include law. After all, the practice of law and debate is the way rules and regulations are passed in our country. Next, let us look at the science perspective of the Gulf Oil Spill. I think the connection here is very clear. Engineers were the people who designed the oilrig, along with experts in various other scientific fields. They made a very grave mistake in their design, and its application, and now need to do two different things: first, they need to facilitate the cleanup, repair, and restoration of this tragedy, being the people with the most technical expertise and problem solving capacities, and second, they need to redesign all other oilrigs to ensure this tragedy does not repeat itself. Both of these tasks require interdisciplinary action. Obviously, engineers are needed to repair and restore the current oilrig, as well as design new safety features for other existing rigs, but they will need to work with many experts in other fields to accomplish this. Physicists, chemists, and electricians all play a part in this, and especially marine biologists, in a very powerful way. I think nearly every field has a component of interdisciplinary work to it. If you are an architect designing a building for example, you need to draw on your knowledge and experience of art to be original and create something beautiful, and at the same time use math and physics to correctly measure the dimensions of the building, as well as ensure it will not fall down. If you are naturalist studying various life forms, and you make a discovery that something is endangered, or you come up with a theory of some sort, you must be able to use your knowledge of English and writing to properly communicate and persuade other people of your findings or arguments. I am planning on getting a degree in mechanical engineering. I think there are many ways that an interdisciplinary education and lifestyle will be beneficial to me. First of all, I have not yet decided what exact I want to use my degree to do, but I know there are a lot of options, and many of them appeal to me. First off, we are on the edge of a new frontier, the age of sustainability, and engineers will be needed in almost every breakthrough we make on our path toward infinite sustainability. Note that I use the word “infinite” with sustainability. This is something that has come from my education in biology and natural history, subjects almost foreign to engineering. Through my other studies, I have learned about the age of the earth, and evolution, and how humans are merely the last sentence in the gigantic book of history. Now, we all know that this book has a sequel, and we get to be the co-writers of the next chapter. If life has existed on the earth for hundreds of millions of years, and the earth is expected to continue to be able to sustain life until the sun goes out, in a projected four billion years or so, then we have a long time left on this earth. If we want to continue to coexist in a beautiful world such as this, we need to be careful in how we use resources. We need to be certain that everything we do is infinitely sustainable. As an engineer, I hope to use my knowledge of biology and natural history to help develop new technologies that will allow us to continue our lifestyle in a sustainable way, whether through fuel, resources, engines, transportation, or materials, my interdisciplinary education will help me. Next, if I am going to be successful in changing the world, I will need to draw from my knowledge of economics, human behavior, and English to properly persuade other people to become a part of this transformation. If my product or alternatives are not profitable or appealing, or I cannot write persuasive arguments, and speak in a productive manner to people, then I will not be successful. In addition, I believe an interdisciplinary education and lifestyle will also help me in my personal life. It will help me to be a more interesting and understanding person, who can work with many different kinds of people. Once again, all these things come from my interdisciplinary education, and I intend to continue to advance my education and experiences even beyond my college career. |
2014 Statement I grew up in a small town in rural Western Washington, so moving to the city was a big change. I had done running start and taken classes at a community college for my senior year and had done well, so I felt prepared to enter the university environment. I was terribly wrong.
I showed up to UW completely alone. Although my hometown is less than two hours away, I had no friends from high school that ended up coming to UW. Contrast that with some of my California roommates who had nearly all of their friends join them here. My first quarter hit me like an academic freight train. I considered myself a good student, but I simply couldn’t compete at the same level as most of my peers, and I got completed destroyed by math and Honors Physics. I didn't even know I was getting destroyed at the time, and was in denial about my poor scores. Actually, I wasn't even paying attention to my scores. I was so swamped, I didn't have time for that. I was determined to make friends, and to make the most of my college experience. However, I was naive in thinking it would all come so quickly. While I made many new acquaintances, I was not close with anyone during my first quarter. I returned home slightly disenchanted over Christmas break, but my parents encouraged me to be more outgoing, and not give up. When I finally got my grade report, I also received an email from the Honors Program. The email said: "Your GPA is currently a 2.87. If you do not bring this up to a cumulative 3.3 by the end of Spring Quarter this year, you will be transitioned out of the Honors Program." I was devastated. Not only might I get kicked out of the Honors Program, but my poor grades in math and science might prevent me from getting accepted into the Mechanical Engineering Department as well. I decided to buckle down and solve the problem. When I returned in January, all of my friends seemed so happy to see me. I was almost as if we had become friends remotely over break. In the end, it was Honors that helped me make my first friends on campus. Not my Honors classes as I had expected, but Honors housing. I became close with many of the people I lived with, and remain friends with them today. Although it didn't all change at once, I improved my study skills over the remainder of the year. Mostly, I studied harder. By the end of Spring Quarter I had a cumulative GPA of 3.31, and remained in the Honors Program just barely. The trials of my first year behind me, I set my sights on getting accepted into my intended major, Mechanical Engineering. I knew that my choice of major was very competitive, so I strived to improve my grades in my engineering classes, and succeeded. Fortunately, I was accepted into all three of the majors I applied to, and continued as a mechanical engineer. Finally accepted into the Mechanical Engineering Department, I no longer needed to stress about my grades and I was able to take upper division ME courses. Meanwhile, Honors allowed me to continue to pursue my interests in subjects other than engineering. I've always liked exercising both sides of my brain, and this interdisciplinary style of education fit me perfectly. At this point in senior year I have developed a great friend group and am delving deeper into my engineering courses. My choice of Mechatronics as a specialty was challenging, but I've developed many new useful skills and made many friends. Next year I continuing my education by going to Graduate School here at UW for Mechanical Engineering. I'm really not ready to leave this place, and I'm sure graduate school has many further opportunities to offer. |