hey guys, this is the first stanford essay prompt.
I would love some feedback, imput, anything you have to say about my essay :)
As always, thanks in advance!
Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
What can be assembled from a broken-down bicycle, a decaying 90's CPU, and a rusted circuit board?
For me, high school science seems almost entirely cerebral: a process of identifying a problem and through reciting a set of tediously memorized, obtaining a fixed solution.
However, for me, the significance and value of a theory always lies in its application, where it truly demonstrates its benefit. So when I first heard about the engineering program with an emphasis on renewable energy production, I was instantly intrigued.
Immediately, the first concept that came to mind was hydroelectricity. Singapore is a country that experiences continuous rain, and if even a fraction was harnessed, significant amounts of energy could be generated.
However, the only materials I was given were rusted parts from an old refuse bin. I could not simply rely on a pencil and paper to find the solution. The parts wouldn't simply magically assemble themselves into a micro hydroelectric generator once a few formulas were written down.
Rather than relying on uninspiring definitions, innovation and unconventional thinking was required.
A turbine could be constructed from a run-down bicycle wheel, a computer fan could be used as the rotor, a commutator could be constructed from diodes from the circuit board...
While these answers were certainly unorthodox, they were effective, and this to me epitomizes the true purpose of science. It is not the mathematical calculations or the chemical equations that makes for riveting science, but rather it is their application to real life. This is why I am pursuing engineering: a subject where the theoretical meets the practical; where concepts become reality.
I would love some feedback, imput, anything you have to say about my essay :)
As always, thanks in advance!
Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
What can be assembled from a broken-down bicycle, a decaying 90's CPU, and a rusted circuit board?
For me, high school science seems almost entirely cerebral: a process of identifying a problem and through reciting a set of tediously memorized, obtaining a fixed solution.
However, for me, the significance and value of a theory always lies in its application, where it truly demonstrates its benefit. So when I first heard about the engineering program with an emphasis on renewable energy production, I was instantly intrigued.
Immediately, the first concept that came to mind was hydroelectricity. Singapore is a country that experiences continuous rain, and if even a fraction was harnessed, significant amounts of energy could be generated.
However, the only materials I was given were rusted parts from an old refuse bin. I could not simply rely on a pencil and paper to find the solution. The parts wouldn't simply magically assemble themselves into a micro hydroelectric generator once a few formulas were written down.
Rather than relying on uninspiring definitions, innovation and unconventional thinking was required.
A turbine could be constructed from a run-down bicycle wheel, a computer fan could be used as the rotor, a commutator could be constructed from diodes from the circuit board...
While these answers were certainly unorthodox, they were effective, and this to me epitomizes the true purpose of science. It is not the mathematical calculations or the chemical equations that makes for riveting science, but rather it is their application to real life. This is why I am pursuing engineering: a subject where the theoretical meets the practical; where concepts become reality.
