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high-speed camera to ascertain the flame shape, or obtain schlieren images to analyze shock
formations. When I take the glass tube assembly to other specialized labs with such sophisticated
instrumentation, such as a high-speed camera or schlieren imaging apparatus, I will utilize my
portable experiment station to supply regulated concentrations of combustible mixtures to the tube.
My results will ultimately be used in designing MEMS (Micro Electromechanical Systems) devices as
applied to micro-propulsion thrusters for station-keeping of small satellites, a major area of study in
our group. Additionally, since this information has wide-ranging applications to numerous other
fields, I plan to publish a technical paper in a scientific journal in order to share my findings with
other engineers and scientists. In graduate school and likewise in my career, I want to pursue
research topics that have application in future energy use in the United States and other countries
around the world. As a mechanical engineer, I can address those issues by exploring the
fundamentals of and designing new methods of clean combustion and alternative fuels. One
particular topic I am intrigued by is electrochemical fuel cells. These devices have the potential to be
the future of our energy storage and conversion. Fuel cells are a possible method of providing power
that is both clean and efficient. Potentially, they will have applications in powering laptop
computers, cellular telephones, and automobiles. As of now, fuel cells are still a rising, albeit crude,
concept that requires time and the attention of our country’s great scientific minds to come to
fruition. I want to do my part to help advance this budding and exciting idea, which I consider to be
the future of energy. These pages were downloaded from Writing Personal Statements Online,
available at https://www.e-education.psu.edu/writingpersonalstatementsonline/ page 5 Currently,
however, there remain serious problems with the practicality and feasibility of this concept that
need to be solved. First of all, hydrogen, in and of itself, is not actually an energy source.
Consequently, an energy source such as coal power, which accounts for 51% of the United States
power generation, or gas, which accounts for 16%, is needed to produce pure hydrogen, in which
case we are still faced with harmful emissions and waning hydrocarbon resources. Additionally, since
hydrogen is a gas at atmospheric pressures and reasonably achieved temperatures (T>20K),
hydrogen must be stored in a high-pressure vessel, which has the potential to burst, or in the form
of methane or methanol, which must be processed to obtain pure hydrogen by a reformer (a
catalytic heated chamber that strips the hydrogen from methane) that releases carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas, and reduces efficiency by about 30-40%. Another concern that requires attention is
the efficiency of the fuel cell itself. Electrochemical fuel cells have ideal efficiencies of around 80%.
However, efficiencies achieved now are much lower— around 40-70%. As a mechanical engineer, I
want to investigate this aspect of fuel cell design and development, as this is the area in which I have
the background and desire to study. Dr. Fredrick Prinz of Stanford University has determined that
higher efficiencies can be achieved by utilizing smaller channels. Such information might also be
implemented in the design of higher-efficiency, large-scale fuel cells composed of these smaller
channels. Considering my interest and background in small-scale fluid mechanics and MEMS (Micro
Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices, I aim to explore topics related to the micro-fluidics and scaling
effects of these fuel cells. My current study of the frictional effects and fluid behavior in small
channels will provide me with the proper knowledge and experience necessary to pursue this topic.
In my graduate study at Stanford University, I intend to study under Professor Prinz to advance the
development of electrochemical fuel cells, which have extensive capabilities in the future of energy,
by improving their efficiency. My communications with Dr. Prinz thus far have been promising, and I
hope to have the opportunity to realize this promise during the coming fall at Stanford University.
These pages were downloaded from Writing Personal Statements Online, available at
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/writingpersonalstatementsonline/ Lengthy Personal Statement
by a Liberal Arts Student—3 pages Personal Statement—John Lerner Mythic College has been my
home for more than three years. Our relationship started very innocently with an advertisement
campaign in which three separate postcards arrived at my house over the course of a month entitled
simply Think, Evolve, and Act. At the time, I was like many other high school kids: I knew everything.
I was in the top ten percent of my high school class—I knew academics. I lettered in track three
years in a row—I knew athletics. I was actively involved in community service—I knew how to
change the world. I served as the leader of my church youth group region, gave sermons, and led
discussions—I knew Truth. Of course, like a proper liberal arts institution, Mythic College was quick
to tell me that I knew nothing. It created a vacuum into which new and original thoughts could be
harnessed and developed, only to be questioned once again at a later time. Looking back, I realize I
once saw education simply as a means to the end of financial security. I completed numerous
computer courses and certifications in high school since both promised a profitable career. Today, I
understand education as an ongoing process in which my thoughts and actions are continuously
being molded by every new experience. Each new experience generates a unique lens through which
to view the world with a fresh set of priorities. But the most influential portion of my college
experience has been my ability and good fortune to expand my education beyond the classroom
through travels abroad. While the lessons learned in these journeys are too numerous to list, I will
attempt to concisely encapsulate their essence. During a ten-day service learning trip to Costa Rica, I
was exposed to negative impacts of globalization as I walked through a teak forest that a foreign
company would be turning into souvenir pencils. Since teak trees make rainforest soil so acidic that
it cannot be reclaimed by the natural foliage for over 100 years, the impact of such an act is felt by
several generations. As part of a three-credit course focused on Gandhi and Nonviolence, I traveled
to India to study at the Institute for Gandhian Studies. There, I lived the ritualistic lifestyle of the
Mahatma and met individuals who did not abide by Western ideals of “the developed world.”
Nonetheless, I found their lives contained a certain spark, guided by love and a conception of Truth
stronger than could ever be found in any material possession.