Please answer the following questions by writing short essays (200-400 words per essay)

Involvement in research: Please provide a brief summary of all of your research

experience including course work, work with professors, work with peers, and
independent research. What was the purpose of the research? What type of training
did you receive? What skills did you acquire? (If you do not have any experience, it is
okay to state that you do not have any prior experience).
I have never participated in scientific research, but I perform industrial research and
development tasks for the company I work for. I am responsible for researching, designing,
developing, and testing limited-production motorcycle parts at a custom motorcycle
manufacturer.

Please describe, your 5-year and 10-year educational and occupational goals. How will
BUILD PODER help you to achieve these goals? What other activities are you engaged
in that will help you to reach your educational and occupational goals?
In 5 years I want to be conducting research on biotechnologies as a graduate student. I
wish to secure patents on new technologies in the fields of Nanoengineering and Biomedical
Engineering. In 10 years I hope to release a new technology stemming from my research for
testing and production and use the profits to further education in chemistry and material
sciences among K-12 students. I hope to incorporate practical applications of my research in
the field of Civil, Structural, and Medical Engineering, and use the same technology to open an
independent engineering solutions firm.

I believe BUILD PODER and subsequent research initiatives can be my way of

developing a technology that can help the world. The program will enlighten me with the
discipline required to operate in a research environment and develop testing skills in the fields of
Chemistry, Nanoengineering, and Biotechnology in order to develop practical products.

For this reason I am currently occupied developing engineering solutions and products
with a partner. We are researching and designing a motorcycle control system to automate most
functions and solve problems related to moisture in a motorcycles electrical system. We also
plan to include functions for maximal hands-free operation of the vehicles accessory functions
(startup, radio, navigation, shutoff), increasing safety for riders through cutting edge technology.
This initiative will continue throughout the next few years until we can release a finished product.
In addition to this, we have other projects we are pursuing, such as consumer accessories for
cars and motorcycles . Collaborating with another designer, I am working on designing and
producing artistic pieces for limited-run motorcycles. All these projects include not only research
and design components, but also manufacturing feasibility issues and marketing issues that
must be addressed. I believe this enriches my skill set for the development of new technologies
and products.
What area(s) of research are you interested in? How far have you pursued this interest
(e.g., havent reviewed literature but only thought about; have reviewed literature and
hope to perform a study)?
I am extremely interested in creating an artificial muscle fiber that does not decay as fast
as flesh, that is compact and dense, and that can be activated by minimal electrochemical
signals. I think such a fiber or material can be used for medical rehabilitation/reconstruction,
industrial production, and search and rescue applications, as part of an exoskeleton or stand-
alone prosthesis. It gives me great pleasure reading literature on artificial fibers, and believe
usable muscle fibers or bulk materials are obtainable by combining electroactive polymers
(EAP) and metal-coated coiled polymer strands. These could be activated using electric signals,
external magnetic fields, or current-induced internal magnetic fields between the windings of the
coiled strands.

It might also be possible to replicate natural proteins by replacing the structural

backbone with less degradable bonds, but keeping the active sites similar, and then activate the
muscle by chemical signals. This might enable the fibers to activated by human synapses. For
this purpose I am interested in researching non-invasive techniques to connect human nerves
with electromechanical/chemical control systems, all without contacting the nerve directly.

I am also interested in researching methods to introduce foreign molecules and

structures, both organic and non, into human tissue and have then replicate and maintain
themselves through a quasi-organic system taking resources from the human body.

How would your participation in BUILD PODER contribute to the program's goals of
increasing the number of traditionally underserved students in the sciences?

I wish to conduct community outreach experiences with K-12 students, MESA programs,
and through California and the country. I resent the lack of such programs in my own
educational experience, and I believe they are very important to get young minds interested in
the fields of Chemistry, Engineering, and Sociology, and in research experiences in general. It
might be beneficial to institute independent research programs like BUILD PODER starting in
middle school or high school, in order to ingrain research skills into the curriculum of future
researchers at a young age.

I currently work as a volunteer tutor for STEM subjects at the MESA program of
Pasadena City College, and know how to effectively review scientific topics with students. I think
I would greatly enjoy producing and managing outreach presentations and programs for K-12
students, conducting chemical demonstrations and experiments, all while incorporating new
technologies to make understanding of subjects easier. Example of these technologies are VR
viewers like Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, which could be distributed to students and used
to demonstrate chemical models or engineering solutions in 3D, for example, forgoing physical
models and allowing for real-time manipulation of the models.