71 Essays that Worked at Cornell University (New York)

After boarding a Harbor Tour at the Port of Long Beach, what was once the fresh smell of seawater quickly transformed into the rotten smell of decayed eggs. As the nauseating odor wafted towards me, ambiguous thoughts confronted me: What is this stench? What exactly is causing it? This obscure predicament ultimately spurred my passion and curiosity for marine conservation research (MCR).

To further this passion, I joined the Hawksbill sea turtle conservation research group at UC Santa Cruz’s Science Internship Program. In joining this team, I was able to further my MCR interest at the species level. From the inspirational conversations I had with my sixth-year graduate student mentor about the tagging and mapping process of sea turtles to the Google Maps tours my fellow intern and I gave each other of our respective neighborhoods, I not only gained a new understanding of the scientific world outside my city bubble but also gained a new appreciation for my local community’s academic diversity and determination. The research feasibility limitations of today’s climate have inspired me to search my local community for these opportunities. While species-level inquiries within MCR are most popular, many overlook unconventional methods--my evaluation study on the effectiveness of the Aquarium’s new Ocean Neighbors program for my AP Research class. In finding myself beside like-minded individuals, I obtained new-found confidence and strength, allowing me to flourish in this collaborative academic environment where sharing one’s thoughts is both encouraged and praised. Before these societal constraints, my supervisor tasked me with assembling a mock abalone release crate for one of the Aquarium’s exhibit-interpretation stations. With a limited amount of resources at my disposal, I learned the importance of strategizing beforehand. Instead of carelessly using a hand saw and hot gluing the pipes together, I created drafts upon drafts of sketches, detailing the measurement and placement of each straggling piece of kelp and each hand-made clay abalone. Hence, this intellectual journey allowed me to enhance my creativity in painting the rocky California substrate and finding unconventional solutions to any problems. It turns out that the rotten egg smell comes from hydrogen sulfide, a hazardous chemical that can arise from rotting organic matter--including seaweed, algae blooms, and deceased fish. Yet, research is neverending; it presents even more questions - that is why I love it. With a Cornell postsecondary education, I hope to search for these questions to further the scientific field of biological sciences. With a concentration in marine biology, studying at Cornell will allow me to immerse myself in marine science both on-campus at Professor Harvell’s Marine Ecosystem and Sustainability course--a CALS faculty member who helped place the Sunflower sea star on the IUCN Red List - and off-campus at the Shoals Marine Laboratory - a remote island field station in the Gulf of Maine. Having over 30 minors, CALS would also allow me to pursue interests in other fields of study, such as climate change. Within this minor, the Climate, Archaeology, and History course demonstrates CALS strength in the humanities while the Business and Economics of Energy course displays similar depth in the social sciences--thereby providing students similar academic flexibility to those in the College of Arts and Sciences. As a federal land grant institution in New York state, CALS gears towards giving back to humanity. Through civic engagement in my local community, I have made similar strides. According to the City of Long Beach, "residents and businesses throw away approximately 368,000 tons of residential, commercial, and industrial waste"--that is 1,494 pounds for each 450,000+ individual! For this reason, I helped initiate sustainability workshops throughout our community to help counteract this crisis. Aiming to continue my academic journey to graduate school and beyond, I aspire to have as much an impact on the state, national, and global scale. To me, civic engagement means solving prominent issues facing society--by oneself or, even better, alongside others. Collaboration reaps the ultimate benefits!

Every year in April I drag my dad to the open house at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College because it is exciting to see all the fascinating projects, from Stirling engine demonstrations to joint replacement technology. Each station is like someone’s imagination brought into reality and laid out in front of me. My enthusiasm is rooted in how math and science always give me the immense satisfaction of creating concrete things, whether they are mathematical proofs or electrostatic robots. However, I never realized my work would be part of the open house until I joined a research group at Dartmouth that studies origami-inspired engineering. My first project as a research assistant was to study an origami-inspired spring structure, which is useful in robotics. I spent hours exploring its mechanical properties like the Poisson’s Ratio and the elastic modulus, continuing the work even at home. After a fruitful twenty-one-month journey I presented at the largest international physics conference. Charged by the experience I eagerly started various new projects with graduate students, including the development of a thin film-based flexible electrostatic device which was inspired by kirigami, a cousin of origami. Throughout my research, the physics concepts underpinning my studies particularly excited me. This love was solidified in physics class at my high school; I had studied independently over the summer to take physics one year earlier as a junior. Every day I would anticipate my third period, the energetic morning atmosphere adding more drama to the interactive experiments. It thrilled me how I could predict velocities or the center of mass, with just a pencil and paper, and then I could verify them in real life. For my final project I studied the physical properties of the origami Miura-Ori structure, which reminded me of how origami is deeply connected with physics. These experiences struck me with the certainty that I want to study physics in college. For a long time I have admired the research of Professor Itai Cohen, a physics professor at Cornell and a leader in origami-inspired physics. I am particularly intrigued by his work on folding graphene, the thinnest possible material which is only one atom thick. It is incredible that understanding the physics of graphene allows us to fold these microscopic sheets into three dimensional structures. I would be thrilled if I could be part of his research, which is at the forefront of the field. Another Cornell professor who inspires me is applied mathematics professor Steven Strogatz, who is an extraordinary communicator. I learned about him when applying for the international Steven H. Strogatz Prize for Math Communication, and after I won an award I had the honor to meet him. When talking to him over Zoom, I loved his straightforward and humorous style of explaining mathematical ideas. He was also incredibly supportive, sharing my origami-inspired math lesson plans (for which I had won the award) with other math educators. Not only are the professors exceptional at Cornell, but also there are nurturing organizations like Women in Physics and Related Fields (WiP+). I would love to meet other female scientists who would guide me throughout college and affirm my passion for physics. While I aim to become a scientist, I am a lover of language arts through my blogging and poetry. I would plunge into Cornell’s creative writing scene, relishing the Imagining Rome program and contributing to the “Rainy Day” publication. I am excited by the wealth of resources at the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, including technical writing courses like ENGL 2880-2890 (Expository Writing) which would refine my scientific writing skills. From the excellent physics program with fascinating research to the exciting writing opportunities, Cornell is where I want to grow. It is the best place for me to become a dynamic, persuasive, and innovative researcher who can use her work to make lasting positive change in society.