My Interest In Studying Material Engineering At University

My favourite toy as a child was building blocks made out of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, more commonly known as Lego. Much to my parent's discontent, my favourite part about Lego was building with it, and not actually playing with it, but to me, there was something satisfying about building a new structure. This repeated discipline of logical thinking and creative solutions at a young age is what I believe kick-started my interest in engineering. I believe that the subjects I’m studying at A-level provide a valuable foundation for me in order to develop into a material engineer.

My favourite part of both maths and physics has to be mechanics, as I like applying maths to real-world contexts and problems. I feel that this synergises well with any discipline of engineering. I also appreciate the significance of handling sets of data and good old-fashioned calculus. Chemistry is crucial for material technology as understanding the physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry of a material is as fundamental as understanding the physics properties. However, another reason why chemistry is special to me is that it introduced me to nanotechnology. Now economics may not be the obvious choice at first, however, I now understand the scarcity of useful resources, which reflects current issues faced by engineers today. I also understand the vitality of supply and demand in a product market, which I believe will benefit me as I intend to work in the industry. I attended the InvestIN's Young Engineer Programme, where professionals from all disciplines of engineering came to give lectures and set engineering related challenges. The most intriguing challenge was the electric car vs petrol car challenge, where we had to come up with a solution in order to make long journeys with electric cars more efficient. I have also attended a number of other engineering events at both Imperial College and UCL, including the Imperial Festival 2018.

As well as that, my interest in nanotechnology, lead me to pick up Dr K. Eric Drexler book "Radical Abundance". Reading this made me realize the necessity of nanotechnology in the forthcoming APM revolution, and the impact it will have on global crises. Furthermore, it helped me realize that the future of nanotechnology does not lie in its current conventional use of processing information, but in its potential use to process matter. I feel that this amusingly shares the same principles as Lego because in order to enhance the largest structures you must start by altering the smallest building blocks. On another note, I have experience with CAD/CAM as I have designed using SolidWorks, 2D Design and SketchUp. Alongside that, I have operated CNC machines, 3D printers and laser Cutters. I was Lucky enough to do my work experience at WSP London.

My time there was extremely beneficial due to the concrete exposure of real engineering. I learnt that the most important thing in a working environment is teamwork and communication skills, as it was emphasized to me on multiple occasions. I genuinely enjoyed doing the hands-on work and wished I could stay for another week. This experience proved that engineering was the right profession for me, but also it helped me realize that civil engineering wasn't exactly the stem of engineering I was passionate about. I play tennis at a semi-competitive level. I have represented the borough of Enfield twice in the London Youth Games where I demonstrated leadership skills as a senior member by organizing my team and I demonstrated sportsmanship by honouring my opponents. I have also participated in multiple matches for my club. Other than sport, I have a grade 7 flute qualification and perform in my school's wind orchestra. At University I look forward to; gaining imperative knowledge and experience, make lifelong friends and invaluable connections, and make a real impact on my life.