Hey everyone!
My name is Kurt Atwell, and I am currently a freshman at The Ohio State University! I originally am from Denver, Colorado, and I currently reside in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. When considering colleges to attend the autumn of 2015, Ohio State immediately stood out to me. Being a student that has a high interst in engineering and pioneering the next “big thing,” I was looking for a university that could offer me the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research, as well as have a strong curricula base–Ohio State met and exceeded my expectations for this.
When I hear about new products being invented, I’m quite interested, especially on the chemical side of things–how can a product be produced cheaply, yet environmentally friendly at the same time?
I worked the summer of 2015 as a lifeguard on Lake Erie, and to say I loved the job would be an understatement. Every day, I would experience excitement around me, and I truly loved coming to work every morning. Unfortunately, on many days, my co-workers and I would be faced with the job of picking up trash on breaks. By far, the most littered piece of trash on the beach are black-and-mild cigarette tips. These tips are non-biodegradable, and thus get washed up by waves, and are littered by patrons who use the beach daily.
A morbid sight would be an understatement, as us lifeguards continued to pick up thousands of these tips throughout the summer season. And so, I began to ask myself “Is there anything I can do to help stop all this littering, or a way to create a biodegradable cigarette tip?” This caused my mind to start turning, and I knew that beginning a track in chemical engineering with a focus in environmental improvement would be a career I’m interested in.
While I don’t know much about the reasons yet, my thoughts are here. Over my next 4 years and my career, I would like to focus on the developmental side of products, using chemicals to create materials that are inexpensive, yet environmentally friendly for people and the planet.