My goal for my college education and my career is to become a biomedical engineer, and my interest in this field was greatly inspired by my mother. She is a geriatric social worker. From a young age, I’ve gone to work with her and become friendly with her clients. Meeting and befriending them showed me how big of an impact one person can have on another. My mother taught me that there is more to a career than just a paycheck: what matters most is the difference you can make in the lives of others. And so, I have long known that I want to pursue a career where my work will help others. Unlike my mother, my passions lie in mathematics and hard sciences. This is why I am so excited about biomedical engineering: it combines my interests in math and science with the ability to make a direct impact on the sick and elderly. As a biomedical engineer, I can help develop new equipment, machinery, and technology that doctors need to save and improve people’s lives. I also want to make the world a better place for women in STEM. Being a woman taking math and science classes, I have witnessed acts of gender preference against myself and my female classmates. Nothing overtly meant to target me, but there was often an undeniable presumption that the women in class did not belong. Many times, in labs or other group projects, my ideas were dismissed or ignored. I wish I had more confidence in myself at the time. I let it get to me and felt discouraged. When I talked to my mother about this, she taught me how to be strong in the face of unfair treatment. She told me that the best way to change somebody’s negative opinion of you is to conduct yourself in a way that makes it impossible for them to hold onto their wrong ideas: work hard, speak up, be fair, admit mistakes, and never give up. She taught me to never accept that kind of bias, but rather prove it wrong, which is exactly what I intend to do. As more women enter this industry, we are pushing the boundaries which can make some people uncomfortable. The idea of the unknown and the possibility of new things is threatening to some, often to the men who are already in the industry but also to the women who must chart a course into the unknown. I hope to help lead the movement of women into the field so that they can feel the empowerment of inclusion and achievement too.

President Barack Obama once said, “cynicism is a choice, and hope is a better choice.” I agree wholeheartedly. One of the ways I approach challenges in my life is to be aware of my mindset and attitude. I have control over my thoughts and actions, and I can often decide how I will respond in a given situation. I think people can get stuck in their heads and consumed with negative thoughts when they are experiencing something difficult. But I have come to realize that it is often up to me to decide how I will respond to an obstacle. Will I remain cynical, stressed, and upset? Or can I turn it around and go into it with a healthier and more positive mindset? If someone else judges me, puts me down, or makes me feel discouraged and self-conscious, I know it is important to step back and gain a greater perspective. When I do, I am reminded that I am the one that is allowing myself to feel this way; it is my choice whether to internalize any negative feelings. I came to this conclusion my sophomore year of high school. Whenever I felt overwhelmed or discouraged, I realized that I often felt better and made better decisions after I took a minute to look at the whole situation and assess how I would continue. From then on, I resolved to go through that process--pause, observe, analyze, and respond--as soon as I encountered any negative circumstance, so I could resume being productive and content. This logic carries over to the way I view other people. If somebody behaves in a negative way, I can choose to be offended or I can choose to give them the benefit of the doubt. When I am troubled by other person’s ideas or behavior, I try not to be cynical about the person themselves, but rather I try to understand why a good person could think or act in that way. The key to all of this is not to suppress any emotions, rather the opposite. It is to be acutely aware of how I am feeling but to check if those feelings are justified and what I can do to change them, if needed. I always have the power to change the way I think, so it is best to have a realistic, honest, optimistic, and forgiving perspective.

In November 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I got the chance to go canyoneering at Zion National Park. After all those months of being confined indoors and being afraid, It was so liberating and therapeutic to get outside, in nature, and challenge myself on those trails and rivers and rocks. I felt bold and free for the first time in a while.

I love the story of Hedy Lamarr, who excelled as both an artist and scientist. Hedy was a famous Hollywood actress during its Golden Age, once billed as the "the most beautiful actress in the world," and yet that is nothing compared to her prodigious scientific acumen. During World War II, Hedy Lamarr invented frequency-hopping signal technology intended to prevent Allied torpedoes from being jammed. That concept--spread-spectrum transmission--is fundamental to wireless communications and is now widely used all over the globe in modern wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS devices.