When I was 8 years old, I remember asking my mother a question that was not typical of most 8-year-old children. My mother was driving me somewhere in the car, and I had been staring out the window, thinking deep, 8-year-old thoughts, I’m sure. I frankly asked, “Mom, are you worried about global warming?” That day, she soothed my fears and told me not to worry. However, growing up in the modern world, I realize that we do need to care about the environment and what is being done to the earth. I don’t mean to have a Malthus-type attitude towards increasing population, but I do want to be a cautious steward of the environment. Let me tell you a little bit about my journey. All the way into my teenage years, I wanted to become a marine biologist when I grew up. I did everything possible to make that happen. I joined the swim team, I got my diving certification, and I even volunteered at an aquarium for a year. Ironically, in pursuing my passion, I decided to leave it behind. I was told by many others in the field that as a marine biologist, it is hard to be financially stable because one needs to obtain research grants from big organizations or from the government. As a 12-year-old, I decided that if I wanted to have a family (which has always been a goal of mine), I needed something more consistent. Over my high school years, I experimented with a lot of different things including computer science, biology, and physics. Of course, I ended up deciding on chemical engineering. Part of the draw of chemical engineering to me was the versatility of the field. In high school, I didn’t know for sure what I wanted to do, except that I really liked science. Chemical engineering seemed the perfect fit. Now that I’ve had the ability to do more research about the field and possibilities within chemical engineering, I have narrowed my interests to a few different things. It all goes back to that question I asked my mother all those years ago. I am currently very interested in renewable energy research. Right now, it’s still inefficient to use energy sources such as solar or wind energy. Many companies rely on government subsidies to stay profitable. I would love to be part of the solution. I want society to get to the point where they use renewable energy, not because it’s better for the environment, but because it’s cheaper. While we all love to profess our willingness to do good in the world, the thing that really brings change in our world is money. Bringing down the cost of renewable energy will motivate everyone to use it and increase renewable energy production. I want to help develop more efficient ways to extract energy from clean, renewable sources. On the other hand, there is also a large need for energy storage. Once we have renewable energy, we need to be able to use it. In transport, a lot of companies are designing electric vehicles to help reduce emissions. I fully support that. Once again, though, to a lot of people, it is not efficient to have an electric vehicle because of the need to charge frequently. If I don’t go into the energy sector, I would also love to work in electrochemistry, developing better batteries for vehicles. When it is easier to have an electric vehicle than a fuel powered vehicle, emissions will improve and climate change will not be so great a problem. I believe these areas I want to work in will help create a better world. I may not know a lot now, and I don’t know the difference that one person can make, but working with others, I can be part of something great and solve the issues that plague us. It’s not enough for technology to change around me. I want to be part of it, helping it along. That is how I will make a positive impact on the world.