- I am an Eagle Scout
- I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Materials Science
- I enjoy a really wide variety of stuff
- Some highlights include science fiction, cooking, and politics
- I don't enjoy meat
- I am a Vegetarian
- I do enjoy some animal products though
- I am not a Vegan
- I would like to write a lot of books, screenplays, etc.
- I don't mind writing for free too, as long as I have an audience.
- I teach compulsively!
- My career goals involve scientific research, inventing, writing, social work, international development, entertainment, health, and education
A tale of regret
I made a few really big mistakes during my freshman year. Possibly the most critical mistake was listening to the academic advisor that I was assigned to during my orientation. I was majoring in materials science, and the materials science advisor was out of town, so a mechanical engineering advisor helped me select my classes. He discouraged me from taking an extremely easy materials science class that would have dramatically increased my enthusiasm for learning my craft. He also did not seem to find anything wrong with the fact that I wanted to take an extremely hard math class during my first semester. These two mistakes were enough to set me up for a pretty bad first semester, but even worse was my decision to not take a proficiency exam that was offered for the introduction to physics class that all engineering students must take. I had earned a 5 on the A.P. physics AB exam during the previous year, and I could have probably passed the proficiency exam. Instead I thought, "Physics is what engineering is all about, I will just take the class to pad my GPA and hopefully learn something that I didn't pick up in high school." I quickly learned that my physics class was extremely boring and time consuming, and that the quality of teaching at my high school was superb by comparison. The product of this was that my first semester of college was unexpectedly one of the most depressing periods of my life and it got me off to a really bad start for the next three years. The next year, when I became a resident advisor, I found that this was true of many of my fellow engineering students. While I believe that most of my problems were the result of my own decisions, I do think that something is wrong with engineering education in general. Something needs to be changed.