I've always been interested in robotics. I cannot remember a time when robotics wasn't at least a little interesting. It may have been the stories I've read, or my exposure to the developing world of technology, but I've always liked and wanted to contribute to the world through robotics, even when I didn't understand that meant learning what is honestly a lot more math than I bargained for. Even so, my goal has always been to get a job manufacturing automated systems, whether or not I have to build that job itself from the ground up. Of course, it helps to have a target to point yourself at. To me, that target is Lockheed Martin. A defense agency that fosters connections between individuals underneath them, despite allowing independent work as well. Not only is the pay promising, but it'll allow me to work as part of a greater whole, and aid in protecting individuals from perceived threats. In order to achieve this goal, I've been taking advantage of my high school's college level readiness classes, commonly regarded as AICE classes. And though these classes have proven exceptionally difficult (AICE level Physics is both extremely interesting and challenging), I've used these to minimize the cost of taking these college level classes while actually in college, lowering the resource requirement of doing so. Additionally, I've taken steps to secure my spot at this engineering agency ahead of time. I've gotten myself enrolled in a relatively new college- Florida Polytechnic University- which not only is partnered with Lockheed Martin, but requires all students pursue internships with agencies that they've partnered with. In doing so, I can secure an internship position with Lockheed Martin, allowing me to more easily get a job there- provided I complete my education in a timely manner, which this scholarship will aid in accomplishing. However, it is clear that no plan is 100% foolproof. There will always be something left unaccounted for, that completely ruins what you've actually wanted to do. As such, I've formulated several different backup plans at various weak points to ensure that I still achieve my goals. The most fleshed out one of which, as well as an extremely promising alternate route is to begin my own robotic startup. This wouldn't be an independent endeavor, as ideas for said startup have been being workshopped with other, like minded individuals. The most difficult aspect of this alternate plan remains to be securing a loan, as ideas for what the product could be are not only plentiful, but possible. Going to Florida Polytechnic University will cost me over ten thousand per semester. This includes the price of living on campus at the university, due to the distance from home. This includes the price of the required meal plan for freshmen. This includes the tuition of the required classes to obtain my degree in electrical engineering. The "Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan" Scholarship will help me achieve this goal.

Since I was young, various jobs and tasks that need to be achieved were ones that simply seemed too large for any machinery to develop a method of doing them. A major job that had previously fallen into this category was construction. My father had worked in the construction industry for the entirety of my life, giving me a firsthand view of the current, worsening housing crisis. But, construction of new, affordable homes seems to be one of many possible solutions to help others. There exists a precedent for quick and efficient home construction. As a student in STEM, the concept of a "3D-printed" home has intrigued me for quite some time. And due to the nature of the product, I can verify that this endeavor is worth expanding to more areas. The current aspects of 3D printed homes could provide space for more jobs in monitoring and securing the technology. The new homes- constructed efficiently with the aid of this technology- can be more affordable due to the decreased cost of labor and material needed to create them, which could be passed further into the working class customer base, also benefiting individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Additionally, not only would this be capable of greater allowing the customer base to purchase newly made homes, but the lower prices would help drive down prices of other homes, as Realtors attempt to compete with the newly created market, thus allowing for more individuals to purchase other kinds of homes. My role in expanding this availability and decreasing prices of homes would be in manufacturing and creation. The current issues with 3D printed housing lie only with the lack of availability of the machines being used, something simple to fix. Not only would the creation of these large printers help create jobs in construction as the amounts used expand, but it would also create another new workforce as different individuals are needed to manufacture, produce, ship, and manage purchases or rentals of this technology. Overall, by using knowledge acquired in my studies, I'd be able to efficiently create several different work-forces and benefit the economy in more than just one area. Manufacturing of the printers alone would cause a domino effect in many other industries; allowing for consumers to be better off, drive down prices in the housing market, open new opportunities for trade work, and create new jobs in manufacturing of the 3d printer itself. This ripple effect was also seen with the advent of the suburbs. As prices for homes grew exponentially in cities, cheaper, mass-produced homes further from cities created jobs for construction workers, increased purchases of cars, and created communities that could provide for each other, boosting human connection. The past precedent for this proves that this process would have similar effects, making the dream of homeownership more realistic.

AI is regarded primarily as a negative thing, with negative effects on the world due to the cost of said processes. Large amounts of water are needed to cool the computers that perform billions of searches per questions. This increases costs for those living nearby the often garish or unpleasant buildings these computers are housed within. AI has the potential to be positive for the environment past simple Large Language Model (LLM) text generation, or image generation, two of the most hated aspects of AI. Lack of understanding of the sources of AI's data is the primary cause for such hatred, which also leads to poor interpretation of positive AI, such as actual machine learning. I have worked to create programs that provide unique outputs, free of stolen data, and because of such, these localized outputs offer better sourcing and no negative effects. AI such as the developed discord-integrated moderation tool, which aided to curate conversations between individuals online, able to help them by connecting conversations based on topics in "threads". This source of AI has a beneficial output on those it affected, and through localized hosting, it didn't need to access a large server to keep up with the data it had sourced. In addition, I was able to add calculation software to have the AI assist with damage calculations in a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D)-like game, allowing for greater use and amplification of actual human imagination. AI should serve as a tool to help foster human connections, and should be capable of being used as such. The implementation of AI into other services without regard for the harm it may cause, without proper restrictions to actually consider the future growth of the tool is irresponsible in the clearest possible ways. AI should be seen as an efficient tool, created to come up with realistic, plausible solutions, to minimize human harm, while showing the importance of actual effort in the changing world. This change is something not only possible to achieve, but something I plan to do. My priority in my studies of STEM is in creation. The creation of robots, capable of assisting humans and to be able to help perform dangerous tasks. To create new, better paying jobs while making menial labor something left to the robots. Something as simple as specifying the proper terms to separate LLMs- the text generating "guesswork"- from pathing systems (used in programs such as Google Maps) can spur great change. Focusing on decreasing the resources needed to keep data centers open and centralizing efforts on providing clean energy sources. AI has the potential to be useful, creative, and beneficial for humanity as a whole. If individuals could focus on making the existing AI better for everyone rather than just expanding the existing buildings, draining more resources, and placing it in unneeded areas, then AI can have a more positive impact.

Math is the language of the universe. All branches of science use math, as it is within everything. It stems from the simplest of ideas to the grandest, most complex possible ways of making things simply make sense. In art, math is proportions, scale, ratios from one color to the next. In computer sciences, advanced calculations determine everything from the movement of a mouse to the global internet connecting necessary systems across the world. Math can predict the movement of an air molecule on the other side of the universe, given astoundingly few pieces of data about the location in which the event takes place. Math is more than just numbers, it's information in its purest form. It's the closest thing to magic that exists. That's why it's so special. We, as humans, devised a system of complex symbols that when one performs a logical series of events, it not just means something, it provides data that can change everything. And unless you provide a marginally different input, the output will be extremely similar, if not the same. Admittedly, at first more complex subjects, like the proper subject of this essay, calculus, completely baffled me. If i'm being completely honest, calculus was my worst subject on the SAT. But even so, when you reach the point where math is no longer understandable by pure handiwork, the magic shows its true form. Unbelievable levels of history interwoven into mathematical proofs that power our every moment of our modern life. From simplistic things, like the usage and maintenance of wheels, to understanding gear ratios and transformative concepts such as the usage of derivatives to understand the rates of change: Speed, commerce, values. And not just modern life- ancient lives, too. I vividly remember a conspiracy so grand and overwhelming about how every side of the great pyramids are divisible by pi, and the simple explanation as to how it was possible was that a wheel was involved. A simple shape that completely reiterates that math isn't just useful, but that can clue us into history itself. Without the measurements of the pyramid's lengths and the understanding of circumference, then we wouldn't be able to take a glimpse into the past, where we learn about how others did things with long, long expanses of time preventing us from talking to the individual. Math isn't just a tool to understand the world, it's the very fabric of human connection, and I think that's wonderful, no matter how complex.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. I also wish to reshape people's perspectives on artificial intelligence and robotics. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". But, more importantly, I wish to serve as a role model. I want to serve as a person in the tech industry who people don't sneer at, who people actually see as an upstanding and proper person. Too many people in the tech industry are hated, so much so that certain undesirables who are enthusiastic about developing technology have formed a following around defending one of the worst, racist, and most cruel figures in tech. While I feel as if naming this person here is going too far, I believe that you already had known who I was alluding to by referencing them with these descriptors. I wish to be a opposite to that. I wish to be someone in technology who other African Americans and people of color can look up to, someone who supports them and their goals. I want to have a legacy of being someone in tech that has actual ethics, experience, and care for the craft. And this scholarship will help with that goal.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics, too, have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. Admittedly, books themselves have little to do with the shape of these goals. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". Finally, this scholarship will severely aid in the eventual accomplishment of a future with "safe", ethical robotics and engineering. This program will allow me to go to the college I've been aiming for, and let me learn how to build using ethics, but also grant me the ability to create and engineer robots well enough to be hired by a proper robotics company, such as Boston dynamics, and be apart of something meaningful.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. I also wish to reshape people's perspectives on artificial intelligence and robotics. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". But, more importantly, I wish to serve as a role model. I want to serve as a person in the tech industry who people don't sneer at, who people actually see as an upstanding and proper person. Too many people in the tech industry are hated, so much so that certain undesirables who are enthusiastic about developing technology have formed a following around defending one of the worst, racist, and most cruel figures in tech. While I feel as if naming this person here is going too far, I believe that you already had known who I was alluding to by referencing them with these descriptors. I wish to be a opposite to that. I wish to be someone in technology who other African Americans and people of color can look up to, someone who supports them and their goals. I want to have a legacy of being someone in tech that has actual ethics, experience, and care for the craft. And this scholarship will help with that goal.

Math is the language of the universe. All branches of science use math, as it is within everything. It stems from the simplest of ideas to the grandest, most complex possible ways of making things simply make sense. In art, math is proportions, scale, ratios from one color to the next. In computer sciences, advanced calculations determine everything from the movement of a mouse to the global internet connecting necessary systems across the world. Math can predict the movement of an air molecule on the other side of the universe, given astoundingly few pieces of data about the location in which the event takes place. Math is more than just numbers, it's information in its purest form. It's the closest thing to magic that exists. That's why it's so special. We, as humans, devised a system of complex symbols that when one performs a logical series of events, it not just means something, it provides data that can change everything. Admittedly, at first more complex subjects, like calculus, completely baffled me. When you reach the point where math is no longer understandable by pure handiwork, the magic shows its true form. Unbelievable levels of history interwoven into mathematical proofs that power our every moment of our modern life. And not just modern life- ancient lives, too. I vividly remember a conspiracy so grand and overwhelming about how every side of the great pyramids are divisible by pi, and the simple explanation as to how it was possible was that a wheel was involved. A simple shape that completely reiterates that math isn't just useful, but that can clue us into history itself. Without the measurements of the pyramid's lengths and the understanding of circumference, then we wouldn't be able to take a glimpse into the past, where we learn about how others did things with long, long expanses of time preventing us from talking to the individual. Math isn't just a tool to understand the world, it's the very fabric of human connection, and I think that's wonderful.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. I also wish to reshape people's perspectives on artificial intelligence and robotics. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that those books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". But, more importantly, I wish to serve as a role model. An entrepreneurial career is the most efficient way to achieve that goal. To help others is a wonderful thing, and if in any way I can help others, I'd like to do so. The sheer variability in this field, in the endeavors being pursued, is why I'll be successful. Robotics pushes people towards a safer future, a better future, expanding on what's already there, not just remaining stagnant in ideas already achieved. To me, success is the ability to suffer a detriment to benefit others. To give back to those that have helped you. In this way, so many of the highest profile individuals still aren't successful. I want to be an outlier. I want to help people, and show others that helping people can make both you and others successful. I want to make the world a better place.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. I also wish to reshape people's perspectives on artificial intelligence and robotics. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". But, more importantly, I wish to serve as a role model. I want to serve as a person in the tech industry who people don't sneer at, who people actually see as an upstanding and proper person. Too many people in the tech industry are hated, so much so that certain undesirables who are enthusiastic about developing technology have formed a following around defending one of the worst, racist, and most cruel figures in tech. While I feel as if naming this person here is going too far, I believe that you already had known who I was alluding to by referencing them with these descriptors. I wish to be a opposite to that. I wish to be someone in technology who other African Americans and people of color can look up to, someone who supports them and their goals. I want to have a legacy of being someone in tech that has actual ethics, experience, and care for the craft. And this scholarship will help with that goal.

For years, the thing I've wanted the most is a 3D printer. Once I had finally managed to acquire such a device, I made masterful use of it. In the beginning, I had simply taken free-use designs from the internet and used them to sate boredom- fidget toys, and the like being some of my favorites. However, I saw greater opportunity one little things around the house started to break. individual parts of cheaply made or maliciously crafted mechanisms, things that aren't sold as standalone products, making it so that the average person would have to buy a whole new product due to one missing part. There I had remembered the 3D sculpting software known as Tinkercad. Despite having a 3D printer, I felt extremely detached from the art of creation. I had doubted myself, and my abilities. But I had wanted to take a chance. I had wanted to be able to create like others did, and I had a problem I had to fix. From there, I took the broken pieces of everyday items, such as a car's ac vents, and I had meticulously measured them. I used a protractor to get the angles just right, and I had scaled it to the exact same measurements as the original. While the copy was a bit angular and rigid, it had fit in exactly, and had functioned perfectly. Since then, I've slowly stemmed into creating things of my own preferences. Figures of characters that had no existing merchandise, gears that interlock and spin a small astronaut around, fidget toys to my own preferences, all brought to reality from my own mind. Furthermore, this experience has shown me that sometimes, problems are more simple to solve than they may seem, or than others want them to seem. And still, a major problem that significantly impacts others' qualities of life is the perpetuation of requiring to purchase a new item, just from the individual parts breaking in highly replaceable ways. If I had the time and money, I'd be able to create perfect replacements for every individual piece, not just in household objects, but in factories too. Manufacturing replacement parts for things that otherwise would be wasted, by taking proper care to examine what went wrong, and how one can prevent it from happening again in the future. Not only would I be able to rectify costly mistakes at cheaper rates, but I'd be able to boost overall efficiency, moving society to a much better operated future.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics, too, have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. Admittedly, books themselves have little to do with the shape of these goals. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". Finally, this scholarship will severely aid in the eventual accomplishment of a future with "safe", ethical robotics. This program will allow me to go to the college I've been aiming for, and let me learn how to build using ethics, but also grant me the ability to create and engineer robots well enough to be hired by a proper robotics company, such as Boston dynamics, and be apart of something meaningful.

My family doesn't have a history of going to college. My sister and mother were two of the first members to actually go, and both of them went into medical studies. I would be the first member of my family to go to any other type of college- and the type of college I want to go to is a college in STEM. Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics, too, have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. Going to college- to me- means breaking a tradition before future generations feel trapped within it. Going to college means that my nieces and nephews, and even potential children, don't feel forced into either a trade, like most the men in my family, or medicine, like my mother and sister. I want to be able to do something I genuinely enjoy, and I want to share that joy with others. I want to not feel trapped in a job I hate just because it pays the bills. To me, that's what college is. College is an opportunity to live a life I won't hate myself for.

Ever since I was young, I've been interested in technology. Wires were my first passion, as they had demystified the "unknowable" aspect of technology. With a direct line of power, cords made sense. They were simply the things used to transfer electricity from an outlet to a device. From there, everything tied into each other. Even now, I'm intrigued by power sources and ways of generating electricity- even if most of them boil down to heating up water and spinning turbines. But most of all, I've become interested in robotics. Robotics have been a passion of mine ever since I learned about autonomous systems. My dream is to meaningfully advance robotic technology, whether it's in the field of cybernetics or manufacturing. I want to make things easier, and artificial intelligence- the non-generative kind- deserves advancing and improvement. In the wake of generative AI, many people have gone to saying "I want AI to do my work and dishes so I can do art and writing, not AI doing writing and art so I can do my work and dishes". That, too, perfectly encapsulates my dream. I want to create robots that foster creativity in people, robots used for posing studies so artists can draw better- or robots that function as "false patients" so that medical students can learn without the need for potentially endangering a real patient with an inexperienced doctor. I also wish to reshape people's perspectives on artificial intelligence and robotics. The majority of fictional novels I've read may deal with artificial intelligence, but not only are they nearly always the villains, they lack physical forms, instead needing to influence their environment. However, I suppose that the AI's common apprehensive nature allows me to consider if robotics is a safe endeavor- to which I state yes, it is. Artificial intelligence is built off of data it's given. If you put an AI trained off of hostility into a robot, hostility is what you will be replicating. I suppose the true way that books have shaped my goals is through my ethics, reminding me that even in the face of prosperity, there is a such thing as going "too far". But, more importantly, I wish to serve as a role model. I want to serve as a person in the tech industry who people don't sneer at, who people actually see as an upstanding and proper person. Too many people in the tech industry are hated, so much so that certain undesirables who are enthusiastic about developing technology have formed a following around defending one of the worst, racist, and most cruel figures in tech. While I feel as if naming this person here is going too far, I believe that you already had known who I was alluding to by referencing them with these descriptors. I wish to be a opposite to that. I wish to be someone in technology who other African Americans and people of color can look up to, someone who supports them and their goals. I want to have a legacy of being someone in tech that has actual ethics, experience, and care for the craft. And this scholarship will help with that goal.