Checksum Arcanius

Application Certification and Submission

Your application for the College of Engineering has been successfully submitted and is now complete and closed.

The deadline is February 1, 2006, 5pm. All I am really looking for at this point is grammar and spelling checks. Thanks.

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While I haven’t spent every waking hour studying recently, the percentage of my life devoted to school is definitely a lot higher this quarter than last, despite what I suspected when I signed up for one less credit.

When I first applied to the University of Washington in 2001, I listed my major of choice as Computer Science. I was accepted and even offered early admission to the CS program. Instead, I took a different path before ending up, in many ways, right where I had started – but with much more experience, motivation, and dedication, not to mention many more credits. I learned something very important about myself along the way as well. I discovered that I would not be happy as a pure “computer scientist.” Programming, in and of itself, did not resonate with me. Computer Science was not my calling. However, I also realized that computers and technology were far too interesting for me to not study them.

Along with my experiences working at Microvision and mentoring the Titan Robotics Club, I uncovered a truer passion – namely, embedded systems. Though similar in all the good ways to Computer Science, Computer Engineering struck me as the perfect blend of hardware and software, of theory and application. Though it’s a bit dramatic, as a computer scientist I always imagined myself trapped forever in a dark cubicle in front of a glowing monitor tapping away late into the night. As a computer engineer, I see myself in a somewhat brighter cubicle working not quite as late into the night, and enjoying myself a lot more. In short, I think that Computer Engineering is about balance – the right balance for me.

I believe that my unique experiences and accomplishments will bring a lot to the Computer Engineering program. For example, I am an active mentor with a FIRST Robotics team, the Titan Robotics Club (TRC), which I co-founded during my senior year in high school. The TRC had such an important impact on my life that when I returned to the area, I began working with the team again so that I could help other high school students have an experience similar to mine. Since I rejoined the TRC, the club has won back-to-back regional competitions and placed highly at The Championship (5th and 9th out of 300 teams). I say this not to boast (though I do like to brag about the kids on the team), but to show that I understand the motivation and dedication it takes to build a winning team.

Another example is my work experience at Microvision. Originally slated as a three to six month position, I have now been at it for nearly two years, and I have worked projects that I would never associate with an intern’s normal role – including business trips to meet with important clients and the development of mission-critical applications delivered to partners and consumers. The arrangement has been mutually beneficial – they provide flexibility and experience and I deliver high-quality work and timely results.

Finally, Computer Engineering is not my only interest. From my transcripts, you will see that I have chosen to take a wider variety of science and engineering classes than is necessary to apply to the department. This is because I genuinely enjoy learning about and understanding how our universe works and because, if I am so lucky as to be accepted to both Computer Engineering and Bioengineering, I plan to major in both. In my ideal future world, I would like to use this “Biocomputer Engineering” degree to facilitate the fusion of biological and computer systems to develop devices such as artificial eyes that could restore vision to the blind and enhance visual capabilities of normal human beings. I would also be quite happy to study Computer Engineering alone and concentrate on developing the types of embedded devices I currently work with at Microvision.

Although I did not know it at the time, I see now that my interest in Bioengineering first took root when I participated in the role-playing game Shadowrun. Based in the year 2050, the Shadowrun universe features a somewhat post-apocalyptic earth where magic and myth run amuck among a high-tech society that is the fusion of Japanese and American cultures. Yet in spite of the powerful magic spells and the intricate Matrix-esque world of the “deckers”, I found that for me, the most intriguing part of the Shadowrun world were the cybernetics – an assortment of electro-mechanical implants that would turn an ordinary individual into something extraordinary. My interest didn’t stop there, however. Unfulfilled by the limited offerings in the official “Sourcebooks,” my companions and I developed a completely new set of cybernetics and compiled the Rachman Catalog. While many of the details have faded in the years since I last played, I still clearly remember the slogan we placed on the front of the Rachman Catalog: “When the going gets tough, even the weak can go shopping.”

Years later, during my senior year in high school, I conducted a research project into cybernetics, though I quickly learned that the correct term was “bionics.” I was thrilled to learn about the state of the art, including the highly successful cochlear implant and the early work into restoring vision to the blind. Perhaps, if I had attended the UW then, I would have learned about the nascent Bioengineering department and enrolled. Instead, I took a different path, before eventually finding my way back here. Yet looking back through all the turmoil that led to my departure from BYU, I realized that at least some part of me knew what I really wanted to do all along – for when I finally sat down with an advisor, we were both amazed at how much of the Bioengineering curriculum I had already completed, without ever consciously planning to do any such thing.

Last quarter, I received warnings from two friends I met on a flag football team (of all places!), both of whom had left the Bioengineering program. They told me that the courses, especially the labs, were highly unstructured and often hard to parse or comprehend. While at the time I nodded sagely at their advice, upon reflection I realized that this is exactly how the real engineering world is. If my experience at Microvision is anything to go by, innovation rarely comes from following the well-trodden paths. Instead, innovators must take roads less traveled, perhaps stumbling on occasion, in order to learn and create. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that what my two friends had described was not only acceptable, but necessary for a cutting-edge program. If we are truly “inventing the future of medicine,” we cannot take Main Street and expect a novel destination. I am excited at the opportunity I have had to apply to this program and I can honestly say that I have never been more motivated or directed in my life.

I believe that my unique experiences and accomplishments will bring a lot to the Bioengineering program. For example, I am an active mentor with a FIRST Robotics team, the Titan Robotics Club (TRC), which I co-founded during my senior year in high school. The TRC had such an important impact on my life that when I returned to the area, I began working with the team again so that I could help other high school students have an experience similar to mine. Since I rejoined the TRC, the club has won back-to-back regional competitions and placed highly at The Championship (5th and 9th out of 300 teams). I say this not to boast (though I do like to brag about the kids on the team), but to show that I understand the motivation and dedication it takes to build a winning team. Another example is my work experience at Microvision. Originally slated as a three to six month position, I have now been at it for nearly two years, and I have worked projects that I would never associate with an intern’s normal role – including business trips to meet with important clients and the development of mission-critical applications delivered to partners and consumers. The arrangement has been mutually beneficial – they provide flexibility and experience and I deliver high-quality work and timely results. Finally, Bioengineering is not my only interest. From my transcripts, you will see that I have chosen to take a wider variety of science and technology classes than is necessary to apply to the department. This is because I genuinely enjoy learning about and understanding how our universe works and because, if I am so lucky as to be accepted to both Bioengineering and Computer Engineering, I plan to major in both.

If given the chance to graduate in Bioengineering at the UW, I cannot promise anything astonishing. I can, however, promise that I will devote myself to excelling in all aspects of the curriculum. Based on my record I hope you will agree that this is good enough.

Picking up right where you left off is usually a good thing, unless where you left off was this:

Spring Term 2002
  CHEM   351   001         Organic Chemistry                3.0  C    

Yeah, thats right. Organic Chemistry 1 was part of my Worst Term Ever, a very not-good part of my life. And after the first two quizes in my Chem 238 (OChem II) class here at the UW, I seem to be right on track to do just as well, or worse.

A wise man once told me that some day I would be in this situation, and how I dealt with it would be very important. Well, now we shall see how Ryan deals with it.

So far, I am greatly enjoying living “on my own” again. Sure, I don’t own the place, but I feel like I’m in a good place. Certainly, the 8-minute ride to school is unbeatable — just long enough to make sure that I use the bike, just short enough that I don’t mind it. Furthermore, its downhill to class, and uphill back, so I get extra speed on my way there (which is exactly what I need) and a little workout on the way back (which I have found is also quite nice).

Yesterday, I went on a shopping spree before breaking the kitchen in by making some lasagna. I didn’t have the right tools to ix the mozzarella and ricotta, but other than the chunkiness of the cheese, it turned out quite well. My floormate Mario was attracted enough to the dish to offer me money to have some; instead I simply gave him a piece. As he’s in CSE 142, he’ll need such nourishment to make it through.

I get along with all of the housemates, but I still only remember two of their names: Dan and Mario. The guy who lives next door, the French exchange student, and the Asian dude upstairs, I need to hear a few more times before they stick I guess. No one has noticed, I don’t think. Speaking of names, I finally picked up the name of the girl who sits next to me in Biology. We exchanged names on the first day and then I promptly forgot hers. Reviewing things right before the test, however, I managed to see her name on her notes, and being a visual learner, I managed to remember it this time.

And speaking of Biology tests, the first one happened today. I feel that I did alright, with the exception of some memorization that I didn’t do. In hindsight, I should have known — in fact, I suspected that three of the four values would have been important, but I chose to believe the teacher when she said that her tests were about understanding concepts and not about memorization instead of going with my instincts and going over the numbers a few times. Oh well, I’ve learned and I’ll do better on the next one.