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How does scientific exploration excite and inspire you? In a page, more or less, what is it about math, science or engineering that compels you to satisfy your intellectual curiosity?
I am fascinated by nature and all that modern society has created. Both "worlds" are complex systems, which I believe contain a symmetry and beauty best described, simplified and understood through the lenses of physics and applied maths. These subjects' descriptive, computational approaches to problem solving in "any world" have and will offer me the tools to do what I already love doing, finding connections between seemingly disparate frames of reference, and then navigating the shortest path(s) between the frames. Caltech recognizes and even encourages the flexible, cross-disciplinary approach each field espouses, specifically through its Institute for Quantum Information and Matter and The Kavli Nanoscience Institute research laboratories, which makes Caltech very appealing to me.
Yet, the manner in which this exploration has manifested was anything but constructive. In fact, destruction was the route I took in discovering. Whenever I found something deceptively curious triggering my intellect, my hands would rush to the bolts and nuts to rip out its interiors and explore its inner workings. I was determined to figure out how anything that I came in contact with worked. Computers. Radios. Toy robots. They were all victims of my operations. Eventually, it came to the point where, if any piece was broken, any toy was missing: everyone knew it was me. If asked "Who broke the oven?" my family would unanimously respond "Yash" (though it most likely was me). Whenever anything went missing, they knew Yash the Surgeon was operating (and that the toy was probably not going to return anytime soon).
After receiving a sleek robot one Christmas morning, I knew that my parents would be disappointed to find it broken the next day. Yet, the outcome was inevitable, for, as soon as I saw the robots capabilities to dance (better than I can even today), I was fascinated. During those times, I believed that anything capable of such intricate motions had to have some form of a brain or control mechanism that allowed it to perform such actions. Cracking open the casing of the robot, its inner organs spilled out in front of me: batteries, wires, circuits, capacitors. Yet, none of these connections made any sense to me: how were these connections capable of replicating behavior that is, what I had thought to be, "human?"
Frustrated with figuring out how this robot was graced with such groovy moves using embedded circuitry, I continued my exploration. Countless guts of robots and toys lie on the battle ground on which I had fought this enigma for months on end. However, the answer continued to evade me. Eventually, I learned of how such circuits work through personal exploration and courses. The process of exploration, however, continued to compel me forward, transforming my previous ravenous hunger for destruction into more disciplined investigations.
Yet, "from these ashes a fire shall be woken...renewed shall be blade that was broken." Rather than remaining preoccupied with such trivial matters as learning how to dance (which I have most certainly not yet mastered), I streamed my destructive mindset into one that was more geared towards building up. My curiosity with electric circuits and powers sparked an intrigue in exploring energy. Last summer, I worked on plasma fusion. I was first drawn to fusion because I believed it offered the most complete, single worldwide energy solution. After working in fusion, and then reading about Germany's new renewable energy economy, I had to wonder if there wasn't a better way. Built on the fly in the 18 months since the Fukushima disaster, Germany's shift to alternative energy has already shown economic and production advantages over traditional production. This started me searching.
Dispersed solar utilities. Graphene energy dense storage cells. Grid improvement. Hydro. Wind and more. There were so many alternative energy paths to investigate that I beamed with excitement. For, while I may have been at a loss if asked which option is the best, I was no longer lost in my approach to the problem. A willingness to be at a loss, but a refusal to remain lost as a result of shortsightedness: this is what has come to define me and makes me most proud. As a result, Caltech's research resources and professors are honed to meet my inquisitive nature, most evident in Professor Dabiri's recent work regarding a novel design for wind turbines and SURF, bestowing undergraduates with an opportunity to partake in such groundbreaking research.
Removing the camping gear, I could feel the expansiveness of the wilderness: the opportunities for exploration were all around me. As I rose from the water and turned in a complete circle, I was at a loss, but not lost. Again, this was bliss.
