Global Awareness:

In my first two years at Ohio State I have taken a few classes which exposed me to the world outside of the United States. Most notably I have taken a photography class which showcased the different styles of photography around the world and a seminar on the differences between comics, anime, and dessin animé. I am planning to continue to take course work that will expose me more ideas and culture from other areas of the world including Scandinavian literature class, a history of art class, and a history class on Tudor England. I also plan to pursue research abroad. Many of the best laboratories in the world are outside of the United States. I would especially like to work in a European country because I will probably be working with ESA, the European Space Agency, later in life since I want to work for NASA and because I may want to apply to graduate school in a European country if they have the kind of research I want to be doing. There is a lab in Germany that offers internships for the summer that I am interested in applying for next summer that would allow me to experience a lab in Europe. It is a good idea to learn about how labs in Europe differ from America so that I have knowledge about to understand the difficulties my colleagues might have.

Original Inquiry:

The last two summers I have done research focused improving the Hamiltonian for the ammonia molecule at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and I enjoyed learning about all the different types of research while there. This summer I will also be working at JPL on an instrumentation project designed to determine the chirality of molecules and ultimately help in the search for live in our universe. I have also begun my art minor by taking a class in digital photography which allowed me to produce some of my favorite photographic series including one of self-portraits and a photographic book of fairytales.  In the next two years here, I plan to continue with my art minor as well as find a lab position in Ohio State’s Astronomy department so that I can produce a senior thesis.

Academic Enrichment:

I am a physics and astronomy double major. I haven’t decided if I want to go get my doctorate degree in physics or in astronomy, but I know that either way I want to use both in my future. I have designed my Honors Contract to allow me to take all the necessary course work for me to graduate and move on to graduate school with the tools I will need to succeed going into graduate school. I decided to add an art minor because I love art and I think it is important to cultivate my creativity. Art is a great stress reliever that allows me to be a happier and healthier student which will also help me to succeed. I view college as an opportunity to learn about all kinds of things I will never otherwise have had the ability to and I picked my GEs to be the most interesting classes to me, even if they have nothing to do with physics or astrophysics. I love to learn and I am using my time at Ohio State to learn as much as I can about everything I care about.

Leadership Development:

I have never had trouble being a leader. My leadership issues stem more from the fact that I tend want to be the leader and am not comfortable as a follower and that I am over cautious. So I have joined a few clubs as a general member. Most important to my career in physics, I work on physics with a group of people which allows me to understand how other people think and approach problems which is important for working in groups in the future. In the future I plan to work with the astronomy department to help retain students and I am also planning on working as a tutor, both of which will help me learn how to approach and discuss important topics in my future career.

Service Engagement:

While I have yet to begin to do any community service, I’m very interested in talking to girls in the community about math and science, I think it will help a lot of middle school girls to know that math and chemistry and physics are not just careers for men. I have been looking into community service opportunities that would allow me to reach out into the community and do such a thing, such as the American Association of University Women. I am also planning on tutoring student athletes for SASSO, because being able to teach others concepts is often the best measure of understanding. In addition, tutoring student athletes will help me understand the different priorities and viewpoints of the people around me and expand my understanding of how other people think.