Undergraduate / RiceU Why school of engineering [4]

Prompt: Why George R. Brown School of Engineering

My mother's trembling voice lingered in my ear. I stood, trembling, incredulous of her words. She, who had been through so much and still stood strong before the hardships that I assumed had become callous to life. Nothing ever seemed to have any great impact on her-not divorce, not parting with her both daughters, her only family and support. But just a while ago, my belief was demolished: Something did scare her. The possibility of death did scare her.

Many times she had expressed growing concern over the small "lumps" she felt on her left breast. Had she not been so cautious of her health as to continue consulting doctors despite the first two negative responses, she would not have noticed anything until all was too late. Fortunately, the little bastard had not yet developed into a serious threat. Nonetheless, she was heartbroken for the price she had to pay: chemotherapy. Its side-effects were truly daunting: Her eye sight has degraded substantially and every morning she mourns the immense hair loss.

I had long been attracted to the fragility of our health, and science's amazing ability to save those fragile lives, but never before have I considered engineering as a possible option for the future. After witnessing my mother's distress first-hand and then realizing that there are so many more in this world who are in much more dire situations, I realized that maybe more important than performing surgeries as a doctor and saving lives directly was utilizing my interest in biological sciences to contribute indirectly to the medical advances as a bioengineer.

Excited at the newfound goal, I researched many therapies that are under development and came across Professor Naomi J. Halas and Jennifer West's Gold Nanoshell therapy. After further reading articles and watching simplified explanations on videos, I instantly saw her as my intellectual hero, my role model.

It has become my greatest wish to study in the George R. Brown School of Engineering under the fantastic faculty members-among whom are my personal heroes-and participate in the on-going research, aware of their progressive achievement in the battle against cancer. I will always be motivated in pursuit of knowledge and in problem-solving through that acquired knowledge, for I will feel assured that my part, however minor, will be contributed to catalyzing the advances in cancer therapies, reducing the unfortunate victims of misdiagnosis and toxic therapies. With the school's plentiful resources reserved for the undergraduate students, I feel confident that I will be guided to the right path in my journey of becoming a well-educated biomedical engineer and a fine warrior against cancer.

--This is my short essay.. Please give me corrections!! Thanks in advance :)