Upenn Engineering Archives - Tony Ward Studio

Nina Zhu: Looking Forward

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Nina Zhu

When I first began attending courses designated for my degree, listening to professors in windowless, dark buildings, my understanding of engineering did not expand beyond general math and science equations. Throughout my four years at the University of Pennsylvania, I have witnessed the construction and opening of a state-of-the-art building with a contemporary design on campus. At the same time, my outlook on the potential impact of engineering has also become brighter and more innovative.

The Singh Center of Nanotechnology is the newest building on the engineering side of campus, with extensive laboratory spaces as well as large conference rooms and ample forum space. The modern architecture of the building and its high ceilings allow for natural light to reflect onto the people and statues inside the building. The orange colored theme of the rooms in the building also brings brilliance to a building where researchers spend much of their time working with tiny nanoparticles. Especially under the sunlight, the orange walls brighten up the hallways for all who are inside.

Similarly, I have felt that as I have taken on more bioengineering related courses, my understanding of what my skills can create has grown. Beyond just mundane problem solving, I am developing skills that in the future can be applied towards building devices and pioneering solutions to address a variety of technical and medical problems. I feel that my understanding of engineering has matured into a more modern and complex realm, alongside the erection of such a grand and open building design. There is a bright potential for what engineering and hopefully my degree can contribute to improving society.

The construction of the building reflects the school’s confidence that nanotechnology will play a meaningful role in the future in science. I hope that with my degree, I too have the confidence to make important contributions to the scientific field.

About The Author: Nina Zhu is a senior bioengineering major at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2015.

Subash Poudel: One Step at a Time

Posted on April 6th, 2015 by Subash Poudel

Engineering has been all about the intricacies of differentiation and integration of partial and ordinary differential equations. Four years have past at UPenn dwelling in numbers and formulas that I barely understood. I was even more confused about using those results and methods when it came to real life.

I always wondered whether the designers really used the Young’s Modulus and formulas for tensile strength anywhere in the process of constructing those beautiful stairs. If they did, how and why was the beauty not compromised with boring equations? After all I never imagined that those equations could help build something so wonderful and aesthetically pleasing.

Some stairs start in the middle of nowhere, and some run to nowhere, but they all exist to serve a purpose. For some individuals, stairs are just pieces of concrete that serve them to reach higher ground, for others, they serve as a banal place to kill time. Some find stairs as a place to rest and wonder about a million things; others just pass by.

For me, stairs are intriguing although I am not sure whether it is the art or the structural integrity of the stairs that I find more beautiful. Their geometry fascinates me and their beauty never cease to amuse me. Every time I pass by unusual stairs, I am amused as to how well the designers combine the theoretical equations with a genuine sense of aesthetics to create them. Did theory or laws require the bars and the railings on the side of the stairs or was it just the desire of designers to put them on as fashion? If it was just for fashion, why do every set of stairs have similar looking bars? If it was required by the boring equations, why do all of them look equally amazing?

Although I wish numbers and formulas were equally pleasing, stairs or equations, they are both constructed one step at a time and they both lay strong foundations for continuous use many years into the future, as they serve a utilitarian purpose, and look wonderful when seen from the top.

About the Author: Subash Poudel is a senior Engineering student enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2015.

Nina Zhu: Future Fears

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Nina Zhu

For some, the idea of the unknown and the endless possibilities in the future is exhilarating. For others, the future only indicates more chances to make mistakes. Amy’s unclear future is frustrating to her. She doesn’t know what final career path her life will take. She’s spent hours working on classes in the engineering building to create medical devices and solve complex math derivatives, never quite sure if any of it will pay off in the end. But with the constant talk of ten-year college reunions as we near graduation, Amy can’t avoid her discomfort with her unclear future any longer.

At times, it feels as though the fate of her future is in everybody else’s hands but hers. Recruiters will determine if she’s qualified for a job, school administration will determine if she’ll be successful in graduate school. She can only put her best foot forward, but she will never get the honest opinions or get into the minds of those directly influencing her future. She will never know what they truly want from her.

The anxiety of being completely unclear as to what her life will look like after she obtains her master’s degree used to chew away at her. Amy knows that she wants to become a professor after her schooling but is also cognizant about the intense competition required to be successful in such a career. She truly doesn’t know if she will reach her goal after all is said and done.

Yet, as she’s watched her peers take on their first jobs, she’s found more peace with her uncertain future. She understands that she can only control so much. So, instead of focusing her energy obsessing over that which she cannot control, she’s chosen to focus on the positive aspects in her life. She has supportive friends and family and she’s gained an immense amount of knowledge these past four years. Amy is surrounded by love and laughter and for now, those are the only things she truly has control over.

About The Author: Nina Zhu is a senior bioengineering major at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2015.

Jared Sobel: My Mother

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Jared Sobel

From sorrow to joy, from sickness to health, Lynne had to undergo an odyssey of emotions while moving toward victory. While her family followed and supported her, the journey was mainly an individual one. From dentist to endodontist to oral surgeon, she was ferried back and forth to figure out what was wrong. Upon hearing the news, Lynne and her husband, Neil, were devastatingly sad. Lynne had cancer, stage two non-Hodgkins lymphoma in her cheek. For months Lynne had to undergo chemotherapy until the doctors knew that the tumor of cancerous cells was gone. The time dragged on longer and longer, and Lynne could only feel despair at how far away the end of the journey was.

Finally, she made it to proton therapy radiation, something that only the University of Pennsylvania and three other hospitals offer on the east coast of the United States. Each and every day for a long and tiring month, Neil drove her an hour to go to the very thing she hated the most, and yet the very thing that was saving her life. Each time she would have to have the mask bolted on as she lay on her back on a cold, metal table.

The final round of proton therapy ended, and Lynne rang the bell signaling the end of her journey. Her family accompanied her and there were smiles all around, but none as big as Neil’s smile which was filled with love and happiness. To this day, Lynne is one of the largest influences on my life, and I look up to her each and everyday as a role model of strength and perseverance and as my mother.

About the Author: Jared Sobel is a sophomore enrolled in the School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. Class of 2017