Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.

My STEP project has really allowed me to take the jump to follow my career goals and aspirations. Using my STEP money, I was able to pursue a research project with geography and public health professor, Dr. Root, on the social determinants of health. Because of this project, I discovered my passion is in the field of public health, specifically mental health. I find these topics very interesting, as mental illness is on the rise in the United States and has hit my generation especially hard with the introduction of social media into our lives.

In this position, I was able to learn about the social determinants of health and which determinants were most important according to experts from around the country. Additionally, I became very fluent with Qualtrics and learned how to analyze data simply using Qualtrics. From that, we were able to draw conclusions much more easily. Additionally, Dr. Root provided me with so much insight into the research process itself. One thing that I found very insightful was seeing how to handle suggestions on the work Dr. Root had done. Dr. Root explained that the suggestions that people had to improve the current list of the social determinants of health could be used for the next iteration of the Index. I always knew researchers used suggestions but did not know how they incorporated them at the end of a project.

What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.

I believe that before this project, I misunderstood my passions. I have always been an advocate for health and wellness at the University. Last year, I served as Director of Health and Safety for Undergraduate Student Government. Because of this project, I realized that I can be in that field.

Additionally, I assumed that the project would be similar to the work of the other Ph.D. students I had been doing research for. I thought maybe there would be elements of spreadsheets and coding and other things I had been familiar with. I turned out, there wasn’t much of that but a completely different software program that I worked on, which gave me tangible skills for the future. It also showed me the amount of knowledge researchers need to know to be successful is so vast, which was very exciting for me to get to understand another tool.

What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.

Seeing Dr. Root be able to handle such an important topic and listen to other experts in the field really empowered me to pursue what I am passionate about. Our conversations about how important health is in various communities was really inspirational and I really appreciated hearing her talk about the subject. She made me feel like I could do this work and be successful at it. Additionally, she seemed to really respect my opinion. She would continually ask me if the survey was ready to be put out, which made me feel like a valuable resource to her.

In terms of Qualtrics, it took some time to get used to it, but I was able to do some impressive things on there that I had no idea were even in the repertoire of the software. I researched the software heavily before I made the survey, and I was able to continually preview the survey to make sure it read in the way we wanted. Because of this research on the software, I was able to become proficient in using Qualtrics. It was such a good piece of information to know and I will definitely be using it in the future.

Lastly, I believe the relationship between Dr. Root, and I will help me immensely in deciding what career path I want to take. She has been such a mentor in my life, and I am so grateful for all the time she spent helping me become the researcher I want to be. I am very grateful for her time and patience. Additionally, she taught me about the person I want to be in the future. If I decide on the career path of going into mental health advocacy, I want to be that mentor for someone else as well.

Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.

This project has been fundamental to my career trajectory. Recently, I have connected with an employee at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who works as the Director of the Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Families program. As I talked to the program director, he was ecstatic to learn that I had prior research experience with the social determinants of health. We talked about potential internship opportunities for the fall in terms of researching for Nationwide Children’s Hospital on the social determinants of health. That plan is currently in the works, and I am excited to see where it leads.

I have also decided to attend graduate school for a degree in public health. I want to specialize in health behavior and health promotion. This way I will be able to promote mental health advocacy in a variety of spaces. I may also decide to get a Ph.D.in this field so that I can work on mental health promotion in higher education institutions. Because of this project and Dr. Root’s guidance, I was able to see that this career path is possible and highly necessary.

Overall, my STEP experience has led me to several opportunities that have made me see my career path in a clearer light. I am honored to have learned from such a distinguished and well-respected professor and I am so grateful that she trusted me with such an important project. I am very appreciative of STEP for making my experience possible and for opening so many new doors for future endeavors.

As a marine biologist with Coastal Marine Education and Research Academy, I was one of 5 main researchers to educate, demonstrate and instruct proper field work tagging methods for sharks and sting rays in the Tampa intercoastal waterways. My most prominent responsibilities surrounded both animal and student safety, as only two staff researchers were on a boat with 10 students (and one was captaining the boat) I was the one who demonstrated to students how to set animal catching methods, how to retrieve catching tools, how to bring sharks and stingrays onboard safely, untangle, de-barb, and secure the animals, then instruct on tagging and releasing methods as well all while educating on speciation, identification and ecology of the animals as we caught them. Outside of the field day, I was responsible for completing daily boat maintenance and cleaning, transporting students to program housing, preparing bait, and aiding in “lecture” demonstration before the field day begun.

There are two major educational takeaways I received from this research experience. Not only did I solidify my ideas of graduate schooling on marine ecology and biology, but I also grew a great understanding of what my potential as an educated research scientist is.

After schooling on general zoology at Ohio State, I knew I wanted to pursue a research based professional track, but I didn’t quite know what route in the biological kingdoms I wanted to pursue. I had always loved the ocean and the animals in it, but I always saw marine biology as farfetched and impractical, as Ohio State focuses on land and freshwater systems predominantly. After spending time with CMERA as a student in 2020, I got the little taste of marine research and what it could be. After getting to spend two full months not only with CMERA but actually as a staff marine biologist, I know that marine science is the field I excel in and also am most interested in.

I was also very fortunate to get to be an eye witness to the changing health of our oceans and grew a deep connection to climate change as a major issue in society today. Day after day I returned to the same spots and watched as less and less fish appeared, less sharks and rays get caught, and more dead and decaying plants and animals in the water.

While with CMERA, I was extremely fortunate to become close to two of our resident professors who teach the daily lectures and utilize our data for many research projects. As I felt more and more comfortable working with the sharks and rays, I decided to devote some time and energy into developing a professional research grant proposal. I built a full graduate thesis proposal surrounding the data I was collecting at CMERA and when I sat down with the professors and some other staff, I was backed with an overwhelming amount of both excitement and support on my ideas. This was the moment I realized that I am more than capable of working in a research field without the aid of a class or school. I am extremely proud to say that proposal, “An Examination on Barb Defense Mechanisms of Florida Intercoastal Sting Rays,” is now in the hands of several shark research labs programs and aiding in my graduate schooling applications!

I also developed a greater understanding of the threats our ocean faces in terms of global warming and other environmental detriments. To start, when I arrived in Florida, I was taken to Piney Point, more specifically at the water treatment plant in that city, which just drained thirty million gallons of wastewater into Tampa Bay, causing a mass seagrass death and subsequently the highest Manatee death rate in the last 10 years. Nearly 6 weeks later, CMERA was forced to move to a marina 5 or so miles up coast to escape the worst and earliest red tide Clearwater has ever faced. Red tide is a harmful algal bloom that deoxygenates the ocean. The spread of this bloom started at and remained in highest concentration at Piney Point, right at the wastewater drop point, it also resulted in a mass fish death for nearly 4 miles of coastal water, driving all large species off shore and northern. After moving north, the first shark I caught was an 8-foot immature Lemon Shark, Negaprion brevirsostrus, the shark had a plastic shipping strap wrapped around his head and sinking into his flesh, with several spots already surrounded with healed scarring. The plastic not only was causing his swimming to be affected, but also kept the large male from migrating to tropical mating and feeding grounds in the Bahamas.

Being present for these events really opened my eyes to the reality of the health of our oceans and how quickly they can change quite literally in front of our eyes. It’s one thing to stay current in ocean research and global warming events on paper and in media, but actually witnessing small scale climate change effects in front of my own eyes is a different feeling of fear that I hadn’t ever felt before. I had always been concerned for climate change, but as of right now, while I type this out, I feel as if I should be obligated to continue to tell people about what I saw and how it will only get worse with no change. All in all the best outcome of my project was growing a great appreciation and drive to continue to help our oceans through research, education and outreach of my work.

Growing up I was always told that doing what you love is worth more money than any other job. I always took this to heart and continue to do so every time I think about my future. Since the first time I dove into the gulf and pulled up buckets of sand dollars, shells and other little critters, I was in love. I would sit in class as a child and doodle waves, I would ask my parents to go back every Christmas and birthday that passed. As high school came around, I really started to realize that science was my future, I was good at it! I didn’t really think though, that the ocean and science could work together for me. As college passed, I watched a multitude of national disasters, tragedies and uprisings, war, peace and everything in between. The biggest threat to the entire planet is hands down climate change, yet it is the most on the backburner, in fact it may not even be in the kitchen at all. Climate change is rooted in the ocean, no blue no green: no blue, no us.

My whole life had built up to lead me into working with the ocean, but working with CMERA was the first time it actually came into fruition. I was actually hands on, taking specimen samples, collecting unknown data, tagging 500 pound tiger sharks, and teaching people about the ocean and the threats to it. I was allowed to make a difference, I was allowed to utilize my education and be a voice in science worth listening to and yet, I am only just beginning. My work with CMERA has since turned into a returning employment position, meaning I will return to CMERA every season to continue collecting, educating, and exploring. The opportunity to complete this work was truly a turning point in my life where I went from being the student to the point where I was the teacher. I can go into new ventures in my graduate schooling with a sense of confidence in myself and I know that I will continue to love working for the future health of the ocean.

Prompt 1:

My STEP Signature Project objective includes coming up with a mobile energy storage application that utilizes systems engineering design principles in requirements, architecture, and resilience. ESaaS is the concept of offering energy storage as a service (ESaaS) to people in need of an environmentally safe and reliable mobile power energy.

Prompt 2:

My experience have taught me the value of entrepreneurship and the power of networking within the campus and the local community. It has been a challenging yet rewarding journey of research. It has opened the doors to many valuable conversations on growing sustainable initiatives in our communities and has even helped me to start an education and outreach program with my startup company for local school districts. 

Like any successful person, you must have the passion for what you are doing.  Without passion for your idea, you are simply going through the motions and won’t take the extra steps necessary to be successful.  Surround yourself with people who share your vision and passion for the idea.  A great team will find ways to overcome obstacles and challenges on their journey. Also, make sure your vision is bigger than yourself! It will scare you enough to execute everything with precision but inspire you enough to never stop pushing.

Prompt 3:

As members of the Smart Campus Organization at Ohio State, we are always on the lookout for innovative solutions to problems we see on campus. Anyone that has been to Ohio State’s Stadium on a football Saturday knows how passionate people are about their Buckeyes, and would undoubtedly hear the roar of generators being used to power the fandom. Identifying the problem was easy, but developing an efficient solution that could be easily integrated was a bit more challenging, especially considering the barriers in cost and other resources. That’s when we came up with the “energy when you need it” model. By bringing energy to people when they need it, you can incentivize them to adopt, and become more comfortable with the sustainable alternative. Being on a college campus in the middle of a city like Columbus, there are no shortage of events every season. From tailgating to music festivals, the opportunities to provide people with sustainable energy are endless.

In addition to our energy storage devices, each pack has cloud connectivity with the ability to provide real-time data. Through our app, people can order battery packs by simply telling us how, when, and where they want their energy. In the app, people can view their total energy consumption, the amount of emissions they have averted, and also receive fun tips and tricks to help them be more sustainable! Because sustainability is our top priority, we deliver the packs using environmentally-friendly electric cargo bikes. The overall goal is to show how easy and convenient clean energy and being sustainable is. Our packs are also not limited to smaller appliances and can be scaled to larger events such as concerts, festivals, trade shows, etc. 

Lastly, I would attribute our success to the tenacity of our team. Having a team to lean for support makes overcoming the challenges of being an entrepreneur less daunting.  Every member brings a unique skillset to the table which amplifies our ability to innovate and move quickly.  Our successful journey thus far can also be attributed to the resources, funding, and immense support from our partners: Ohio State, MJV, Transitus, and 99P. It’s great to believe in a vision but it’s even better when others believe and invest in it as well.

Prompt 4:

The change is so valuable because it has helped open the door to how I can give back to future generations. We have developed a curriculum that is rooted in bridging IOT and sustainability and have partnered with schools in the community to share them with through hands on experiences. The curriculum for our education and outreach program is also heavily based on our technology and system architecture. It is an opportunity for us to give back to our community and show students how their classroom knowledge can be applied to the work we are doing here at Electrion. The curriculum covers sustainability, internet of things (IOT), energy storage, and software development. The most exciting part is providing students with the technology and resources they need in order to create their own sustainability-focused projects. Through education and mentorship, students will have the opportunity to showcase their work to their school and local community. Not only do we plan to expand to more schools but we also hope to expand into the greater community. While completing this project we realized how much of a knowledge gap there is to be sustainable, especially in our day to day efforts. So that will focus a lot more on how we can be more intentional in our day to day lives when it comes to leaving the world better than how we found it.

OSU is also growing daily in research and innovation, diversity and inclusion, and building stellar faculty and staff. Being able to be a part of this and connect with buckeye alumni is invaluable. From being a co-founder of an energy startup company, Electrion, to even everyday connections I make in-person and virtually on LinkedIn, I have gained experiences that I could have never had at another school. One thing to note is how extensive the list of OSU alumni & facilities is and the weight that the name carries. Having this large system/ community is something like no other. You have so many people across the world rooting for you and encouraging you just based on where you attended school at.

Prompt 1:

While portable power isn’t a new concept, Electrion strives to make it convenient and affordable for people to choose a zero-emission option for their portable power.  Sure, today you can go buy a portable battery pack off-the-shelf, but most people will still turn to the gas generator because of the high cost of batteries, which cost 3 to 5 times more than an equivalent gas generator. What makes Electrion unique is our Energy Storage as a Service, or ESaaS, model. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of portable clean energy through a short-term rental model available at the press of button in our app.

Prompt 2:

While we believe Electrion can have a positive impact on the environment, we also believe in using our platform to educate future generations and our communities on the importance of sustainability. The goals of our education and outreach program include first, introducing new concepts while building a foundation in areas such as IoT, sustainability, software, and energy. Second, helping students understand how their course-work applies to real-world applications. And lastly, providing hands-on experience with software development and IoT. We believe in providing students a new lens through which to view the sustainability problems our world faces and inspire them to create their own solutions.

Prompt 3:

Electrion is trying to change the lens by which we view portable energy storage. In remote regions of the world, big companies will deploy stationary units, on the order of megawatt or gigawatt hour of energy, to power towns and villages. While this is a much needed service for those with limited access to power, we believe there is an opportunity to not only shift our focus to the small-to-intermediate scale, but also change the way we think about delivering energy.  By providing a rapidly deployable unit, Electrion empowers people to utilize the energy in a way that meets their needs. The large scale efforts cannot be overlooked, but it’s really the little things that add up to make a great impact.

Another differentiator for Electrion is our use of 2nd life automotive batteries. Second life batteries are batteries that are no longer fit for their original purpose but have enough remaining capacity for other use cases.Through our partnership with Honda, we are taking batteries coming off electric vehicles (EVs) and repurposing them for smaller mobile energy applications. Not only are we extending the life of these batteries, but we are reducing our own waste by avoiding purchasing new batteries. It truly is a win-win for sustainability.

Having a team of young minds leading Electrion is one of our greatest assets. We are a part of a generation that is heavily influenced by culture and keeping that in mind, it has shaped how we present sustainability to the community.The creativity we bring to the world of energy storage from our choice of color in our designs, marketing, and even delivery are far from traditional. Creativity isn’t going to solve all of our problems but it certainly makes the journey more enjoyable for everyone! Filling the knowledge gap on sustainability through our education and outreach program coupled with offering energy services in diverse applications definitely keeps the ions flowing.

Prompt 4:

When we look at the world around us, what do we see? The legacy of those that came before. Good or bad, every person leaves behind a legacy that impacts those who follow in their steps. If we are not leaving behind a better world for future generations, then what is our legacy? It is our belief that everything we do should be about sustainability. With unlimited access to knowledge, our generation and those to come not only have the opportunity, but the responsibility to drive positive behavior changes through innovation in sustainability. This is where Electrion finds its home. This project has so much value outside of labs because it is a daily opportunity to go into the community, classrooms, workplaces, etc. and educate them on how they can leave the world better than they found it.