Honors

Personal Philosophy Statement

As far back as I can remember I have had a deep interest in everything that flies, so I always pursued every opportunity I could to get involved in activities related to the field of aerospace engineering. Today, I am studying aerospace engineering as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, where I immersed in an environment that challenges and excites me by letting me explore this passion. I am pursuing every opportunity I can to deepen my involvement, both in the classroom, through research, and in my engineering project team.

Since starting University, I have frequently thought about what it is that drives my passions and motivates my professional work. I deeply value challenge, learning, and responsibility, and strive to uphold these core values in my professional ambitions and in my daily life. Indeed, I have found that I enjoy an analytical approach to problem solving and am most engaged when I am given the opportunity to approach problems from a systems perspective. Whenever I have been faced with such a challenge, I have not only been motivated to work towards the best possible solution; I have grown as an engineer and I have enjoyed the process. For example, in some of my aerospace engineering design courses, I have had the chance to conduct trade studies that examine how high-level system parameters interact to select a near-optimal flight vehicle configuration. I have also been able to extend this way of thinking to some of my other commitments in research or on my engineering project team, and it has been a great learning opportunity every time.

I have come to appreciate the importance of effective communication in engineering. Whether it is high-level technical communication between experienced professionals or the simplified, jargon-free language and appealing design used to spark interest in a complicated subject among the uninitiated, I have found that the way and style in which an idea is communicated is almost as important as the idea itself. Through my experiences as business director and later President of MASA, my project team, I have had the responsibility of crafting a brand that defines how the team is seen by the broader community, and I hope to continue to have opportunities to do so throughout my career.

The question of where I see myself (professionally) in the next 5-10 years is complicated. My career goals have always been to make a meaningful contribution to human spaceflight, rocketry, or space exploration, but as I have gained experience with my chosen field of study, I have found that I also enjoy the theoretical side of my coursework and research tremendously. I would love to focus on a career in academia where I can help develop the core technologies and scientific principles that guide the innovations of spaceflight. After finishing my undergraduate studies, I aim to continue to graduate school to earn Masters and Ph.D. degrees and ultimately to build a successful career in the field of aerospace engineering. My hope moving forward is that I will continue to be able to work on projects that truly challenge and excite me.

SMART Goals

1. To reach out to and get involved with research with a university professor in Aerospace. This will not only give me valuable research experience but also let me explore some fields of professional study before my honors capstone and make an educated decision on the topics I want to pursue.
2. To dedicate more time and commit myself fully to my project team while I still have time, so that I can make a difference and pass on knowledge before I phase out my involvement as other priorities (like the honors capstone) begin to take precedence.
3. To spend more time outside (especially with warming weather) and go back to playing the piano daily, maybe learn a few new pieces.

Honors Plan Development

Honors Focus Area Reflection

1. Rank the Focus Areas in order of your current interest:
   Research > Design > Entrepreneurship > Global Business/Operations > Public Service
   
   
2. How did you decide which choice to rank as #1 above?
   My decisions for how to rank the focus areas were based on which are most relevant to my chosen career path and on which I thought I would find most enjoyable. Since I intend to pursue a graduate degree, I ranked research first as a focus area, as being able to demonstrate research experience is valuable on grad school applications. I also enjoy finding out about and working to discover new things, and my experience tells me that research is something I will enjoy.
   
   
3. What Focus Area(s) would you like to learn more about?
   I would like to learn more about the design focus area, specifically about how you would go about planning a design experience, getting funding for it, and then – assuming the design stage is successful – using what comes out of the project to do what it was meant to do. From the posters posted on the canvas page for this class, I found that something often lacking is actual implementations of the solutions students propose. If I were to do choose design as my focus area, I would try to make sure that my capstone project is one that I can implement as soon as it is completed.
   
   
4. For your Honors Capstone Experience, would you prefer to write a thesis or complete a project with a presentation? Why would you prefer one over the other?
   I would prefer to write a thesis than to present my project, because writing a thesis would mean writing down in detail all of the information about my project, from the background research and experiments or data collection, to the analysis and conclusion. This would force me to do the work thoroughly, not letting me gloss over any flaws like I would be able to in a presentation. The process of doing so would also allow me to catch any errors and fix them. At the end, I could be proud of what I’ve accomplished, and the thesis would speak for itself!
   
   
5. Brainstorm 2-3 ideas for your Honors Capstone project. What type of project would be most interesting to you? What sort of project/thesis experience would be beneficial to you in the future?
   To me, the most interesting project would be one where I can say that I personally contributed to some part on a larger and more impressive project. The most important project/thesis experience to me in terms of my future career path, however, is one which clearly demonstrates that there is a certain niche within my major which I enjoy and am particularly proficient in, and which could have the potential to eventually evolve into a masters or PhD thesis topic. Some possible (very rough) ideas: compare the accuracy of linear and nonlinear finite element analysis solvers for buckling structural failure modes in cylindrical rocket airframes, investigate methods of running CFD fluid sloshing and vortex simulations in tanks during rocket flight.