Life of a Materials Science and Engineering Student

My name is Andrew Merz, and I believe in hard work.

The portrait is centered on a threshold image of my face. This picture was chosen purposefully as two features stand out in particular: the bags under my sleepy eyes, and the hefty beard. The eyes speak for themselves. As for the beard, it is something that has been a part of my look for nearly two years now. However, this was the longest I have ever grown it out. Being something that kept my face warm during the winter, the beard was also a product of being a college student with long nights and early mornings and no time to shave.

In the background of the portrait are graphics of gears and a crystal structure to represent engineering and materials. Being a Materials Scientist and Engineer is something that I take pride in. Not only is it a fairly new discipline of engineering (which many people don’t know exist), it is one of the most needed and hottest areas of study for the innovation of practically all existing and future technologies. I’m glad to say that I’m passionate about engineering, however studying it and earning a degree is no easy task. I love learning, but unluckily the workload for engineers is mentally and physically demanding. But hey, it builds character.

Overlaid on my face are the following words: persistent, innovative, creative, diligent, determined, and pragmatic. I’ve always believed that no matter what is that you’re doing, make sure it’s your best work. Always put forth your full effort and care, and pay attention to detail. I’m not the best at expressing myself, so I try to let my work reflect my greatest qualities. Mediocrity is something I simply hate. Innovation relies on great minds working hard. With that being said, I’m excited for the future, and I hope to play a role in shaping it. The following are two quotes from Elon Musk that I believe sum things up pretty nicely.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”

Elon Musk

Anson Tran   2/12/2017

Phillip Merz (twin brother)   2/12/2017

Every engineering student has (1) had fun with a micro-controller, such as the Arduino, (2) coded in an environment like MATLAB, often frustratingly, (3) walked down a dark and empty hallway way past midnight after finishing a project in the computer lab, and (4) has encountered some interesting and weird things in the laboratory. Each picture depicts a different photographic style (thirds, closed, open, and symmetrical). The vibrant colors and contrast in the first photo of the Arduino represents the “fun” or “cool” factor when working with micro-controllers. You can code them to do pretty much anything. The screen in the second photo was altered so that the code on the screen is more visible. Also, the colors around the computer were toned down and shifted towards the blue/green spectrum to give a more miserable feel. Coding for many, especially those who are not CSE majors, is sometimes frustrating. The third picture depicts a dark and eerie hallway. On countless occasions, especially when I was a freshman, I have found myself walking back to my dorm around 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning after completing an assignment. Walking alone, and everything being so quiet, it’s surreal. The last image of the bio-hazard boxes just shows what weird and fascinating things engineers do in the labs. The vibrance of the photo was turned up while the saturation was lowered a bit, which turned out to make the red/orange bio-hazard labels pop out.

The pictures above represent some aspects of the community here at Ohio State. The first row of images are of Scott Dining hall. Love it or hate it, eating at a crowded dining hall like Scott is just part of the college experience. The bottom row of pictures are of Thompson Library, a place most students find themselves in especially during finals week. The top row of images show altered exposures. A balanced exposure produces the nicest results, as detail is lost in an underexposed and overexposed image. The bottom row of images show different “temperatures”. I think the cool temperature fits this specific image better because it depicts the wintry season (from the context of no leaves on the trees). The warmer temperature might fit the autumn or summer season better, or enhance a sunset when there is more of gradient in the sky.