| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My most memorable experience is probably the time my siblings and I jumped off of the roof onto our trampoline. I'd say I had a rather rowdy childhood growing up with six siblings, and this time definitely exemplifies that. The story goes that my sister had the idea to cover the trampoline in pillows, and we all had a blast climbing out the window onto the roof and jumping off, over and over for the better part of the day. In hindsight, I'm surprised no one was hurt, but I'll still always think back fondly of the event. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My second oldest brother, mainly because he and I have very similar personalities. We like to joke that we both have the same brain. In a different world, I could have just as easily taken the music composition path he did, while he could have become an engineer like me. I really enjoy how our interactions often have fun synergies where we'll merge our different domains of knowledge leading to all sorts of interesting conversations and ideas. Lately I've definitely grown a lot closer to all the rest of my siblings, but he was really the first one I made a deep connection with. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | Curiosity
- ability to question/reevaluate beliefs
- creativity
- consideration/thoughtfulness, i.e. the ability to consider the impact and consequences of actions. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | There a lot of mildly funny things that are all pretty close in magnitude of funniness, but I guess one that typifies them is the egg drop project I did in 10th grade. Egg drops are a science project where you have to construct a device to protect an egg dropped from a height. Personally I'd done many in the past, and loved the challenge. I was aware of the conventional solutions that worked, but being me, I thought it would be fun to make something more elaborate. My solution consisted of a water bottle that I would pressurize with a bike pump. The egg would sit on top, and right before the device would hit the ground, a mechanism would twist the cap off, releasing the pressure, an in principle cushioning the landing. When I dropped my device, it turned out I hadn't put enough weight on the bottom, so instead of falling in the correct orientation, it fell sideways. The funny part is how when it hit the ground, the cap twisted off, but because it was sideways, instead of cushioning the egg, the device shot the egg into the ground, utterly destroying it in front of the whole class. I just find the whole situation of my project performing the exact opposite of what it was intended to do quite comical. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Given infinite money I should like to go to the moon, as it would be quite an adventure. For more conventional destinations, I'm honestly not all that interested in travel. I have a more utilitarian view on travel, and really think that it is subordinate to whatever I'm trying to accomplish. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy visiting different places, just that I'm not really compelled to. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | The capacity to change the world, and the personality/character to make such changes that are positive. Basically I'd hope for them to be smart enough to have a substantial impact, but also altruistic enough to ensure that their impact is to the benefit of everyone on the planet. |
