About five years ago, I was given the opportunity to job shadow a friend of my mom's, Theresa Sands. Ms. Theresa is an engineering tech for a manufacturer of medical adhesive-based products. Her main jobs include working with dyes, used in production to cut and assemble materials, and drafting. I look up to Ms. Theresa because of her strength and enthusiasm. After going through a divorce, Ms. Theresa raised her son, who is blind in one eye and has developmental disabilities, on her own. For a time, Ms. Theresa had financial trouble and cleaned houses for a living. Through hard work, she found a much better job in the STEM field. She still does not lead a perfect life. She has trouble at work and full schedules just like other people. But every time I see her, she has a smile on her face and is ready to laugh. In a sticky situation, she is quick to jump up and help. In a moment of discouragement, she is quick to give advice. It was Ms. Theresa who first suggested I look into chemical engineering, which is now my major. Ms. Theresa had a huge impact on my major choice and decision to go into the STEM field, and I hope to achieve something similar to her. She works for a company that produces medical adhesives, some of which are exclusive to that company. These products are used to make daily lives more comfortable or even to save someone’s life. I also want to work for a company that makes life better. Specifically, I’m very interested in environmentally friendly production. The more we innovate and make new products, the more we take from the earth. But innovation can also be used to help the earth and use fewer resources. I would love to get involved in a company that strives to reduce their negative impact.

Indecision was the hardest part of my college application process. Which college do I want to attend? What major should I choose? Despite assurance from adults in my life that it was okay to start off college as undecided, I felt pressure to figure out what degree I wanted to pursue. Suppose after deciding on a major, I found out the college I had chosen didn't offer it? But it was very hard to nail down what degree to pursue when I was considering everything from engineer to author to translator. Feeling pressured by scholarships that required a declared major, I eventually narrowed my choices down to engineering, where I still felt I had plenty of options. Would I rather be a civil engineer? I could help build the new idea of smart cities and find greener ways to make a building. Or would I rather be an electrical engineer? It sounds like fun to solve problems with circuits, like a puzzle that does the world good when finished. Or should I consider becoming a chemical engineer? "Chemical engineers can do a little bit of almost anything," someone once told me when I mentioned I was considering it. That statement is what really sold me on declaring that my major, if I'm being honest. Sure, I liked chemistry in high school, but there were plenty of other subjects I liked. Despite being inspired by a friend who was studying chemical engineering and a mentor who said it was right up my alley, I wasn't sure I wanted to follow in their footsteps. Part of me even held on to the idea that I could switch my major at any time. Chemical engineering was just a stepping stone to get me into the engineering department. Then I could decide what I really wanted to do. But more than any of those things, I chose to pursue chemical engineering hoping that one phrase would be true, that I could do almost anything. I'm glad to say that studying chemical engineering did not disappoint. I've moved on from liking chemical engineering for how it allows and aids my indecisiveness to liking chemical engineering for what it is. I've fallen in love with my chemical engineering classes, and I wouldn't change a thing about my major. One of my new favorite things about chemical engineering is being able to use my degree to have a positive impact on the environment. Human history has shown a transition from living off the land to materialistic societies that don't always use the most environmentally-friendly resources. More recently, new solutions that use resources more responsibly without sacrificing performance have been discovered. Chemical engineering, and more specifically material science, is an important part of developing these new solutions. When getting involved in undergraduate research, for example, I looked into many research projects. One of my professors had research looking into new and improved vaccines, ones that require less preparation time. Another professor had a project involving nano-particles. Her research is important for understanding how nano-particles in medicine behave in the body and how nano-particles in fertilizer affect plants. Since some nano-particles are too small to be processed by certain organisms, they can build up to dangerous levels. This professor's research helps explain this process and prevent that from happening. The research that I, personally, became involved in was synthesis of silica aerogels. Aerogel is an interesting substance because it is transparent (letting light through), but insulating (not letting heat through). This is a rare combination of properties, and it could revolutionize architecture as we know it. A building full of windows is a beautiful sight, but glass is not an ideal insulator. The majority of heat produced in a building is lost through the windows, and windows can't be replaced because other transparent materials have the same issue. Replacing windows with aerogel, or a combination of aerogel and glass, would allow windows to stay transparent without sacrificing lots of heat lost to the environment. Not only could this save the owner of the building money that would be spent on more heat, it also means less fossil fuels are burned to produce that heat. Aerogel is also useful to convert solar energy to thermal energy. This is a completely renewable way to produce heat, so once again, less fossil fuels will be needed. While these examples are my own experience with environmental applications of chemical engineering, there are plenty of others. Chemical engineering may be the key to longer lasting batteries, more recyclable materials, and better medications. I may have narrowed my options in committing to a major, but my chances to change the world are still as wide as ever.