Last fall I graduated from Hampshire College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics. In my final year I wrote an undergraduate thesis (68 pages) on the molecular mechanisms of cutaneous temperature sensation as driven by principles of physics. During my time at Hampshire College, my studies revolved around one focal point: physics. I chose to center my studies on this scientific subject because physics describes (most deeply) and illuminates the driving forces in all other natural sciences, including the subject I most desire to understand: neuroscience.
While studying as a student at Hampshire College, I worked as a mentor for Reader to Reader for 127 hours over 5 semesters. I led discussions through online forums with 9 different K-12 students on books of their choice. One of my students – a fifth grader – chose a short non-fictional book introducing him to atomic physics, "Great Ideas of Science: Atomic Structure" by Rebecca L. Johnson. Notably, I was able to engage with him about atomic physics in a way that he could understand and that delved deeper into the ideas presented in the book. For example, I talked with him about waves (including an application to the mechanics of active noise-cancelling headphones) to eventually elucidate "wave-particle-duality" – only mentioned briefly in the book – such as by illustrating the single-slit and double-slit experiments.
I also temporarily served as a Teacher’s Assistant for an introductory physics course on quantum mechanics at Hampshire College. Before assisting the professor with evaluating students’ work, I gave two one-to-one help sessions with students (4 hours in total) on homework problems and mathematical skills in the course.
What makes me a good researcher, physicist, and mentor is my outstanding ability to handle details and my persistency to get things right. For example, when writing to my fifth-grade student (described above) about concepts from college-level physics, I scrutinized every word I wrote to transform those complex concepts into ones my student could understand, utilizing both an attention-to-detail and persistency to make my writing clear.