The following are a collection of different documents
from my undergrad years. Some like my letters of intent
are post graduation, and were developed when I became
interested in pursuing graduate study in STS. I'm not
sure why I post these old papers, mostly because they're
still part of my intellectual trajectory. I haven't read
many of them recently, but it's not worth orphaning them
at this point. Even if I don't agree with aspects of my
work which I've done previously, it's better to keep
these thoughts available rather than attempting to hide
them. It's about personal, public, and intellectual
honestly I think.
This was the SURF proposal I turned in to Caltech,
which was then funded during the summer of 2000. I have
many fond memories hanging out with the Scottish guys
and enjoying Caltech's beautiful campus.
At the end of the Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship (SURF) at Caltech/JPL, you are required to
turn in a final report. This was mine.
I worked with a younger student at Drake and friend of
mine named Andrew Thompson, who went on to follow in my
footsteps working with the WebWinds group at Jet
Propulsion Labs (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. I helped him
create this proposal which was then accepted by Caltech
and funded during the summer months of 2001.
This was the application letter that got me an award
from the Aerospace States Agency (ASA).
This was the proposal for a independent study which
later turned into my senior capstone project DarwinSim.
A description of the XML entities used by DarwinSim and
a nice example of a data driven model for simulation.
I like taking up interesting positions on subjects and
this paper is no different. It was a take on the
cultural revolution in China, using the argument that
this kind of event which was extremely complicated is
not necessarily entirely un-useful.
I'm not sure what to make of this. I'd better not
attempt to grade this, I might fail myself.
This paper looked at the mind-body dichotomy and some
of my blather.
This paper was done while I was still and
undergraduate. I haven't read it recently, and am not
going to open it. I think I was interested in looking
at the (un)natural distinction, especially in the
context of technology.
Updated for the grad school application process.
This paper was done while I was still and
undergraduate, then later updated (see the MIT version
below) for use as a writing sample for graduate school.
Much like the other stuff on this page, I don't really
have the heart to go back and read it.
This is the letter of intent I sent to Cornell when
applying for graduate studies. They rejected me
quickly.
This is the letter of intent I sent to MIT's STS
graduate program. I didn't get in, but I didn't get the
rejection letter until very late, which I like to
pretend means I made the short list. :) I can pretend
right?
This is the letter of intent I sent to RPI. I got in
here, and have been happy for the most part. I like
having the three of these here, because it's just my
way of being honest about what I sent to each of the
programs.