Greetings! My name is Jason Lee and I am a sophomore attending Purdue
University. I am currently working towards a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in management. Growing up, I have always had a penchant for math and sciences. While my peers were agonizing over some famous scientists laws, I was enjoying everything bit of the dexterity of calculus or Newtonian mechanics. Honestly it was not a sinecure but I worked hard and excelled in those fields. When high school graduation was imminent, I had to pick between engineering or culinary school. I liked the idea of opening my own restaurant one day and I was destined to do something different from my father who is an engineer. It was a tough decision because attending culinary school would mean giving up my love for math and sciences. All my life I just want to help people. Being the biggest influence in my life, my father advised me to become an engineer as it is an occupation with real life applications. Hence, I conducted research on the occupation and discovered that mechanical engineering makes its presence in every aspect of life. At that moment, I realize that I wanted to become a mechanical engineer.
Credentials and Experience
At Purdue University, I am pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME). That means taking classes involve heavily in thermodynamics, system controls and heat transfer while taking an average of 15 credits each semester. The classes at Purdue University are tough as they are rigorous but it prepares me for the working society. During my freshman year, I had to take ENGR131 and ENGR132, courses involving making evidence-based engineering decisions to combat challenges in life. The task at hand was to develop a product that involves upcycling of materials. My team and I collaborated together and it paid off as we won Most sustainable design in class. At that moment, I realized the value of team work and communication. In ENGR132, we were tasked to create a flight management system using MATLAB. It was the most complicated project as there were numerous interdependent components involved. We realized that communication and collaboration was key so we delegated the task based on strength and heeded the feedback from our TA. Our teamwork paid off as we obtained full score for assignment. Throughout the semesters, I worked hard and make use of the resources be it professors, help rooms and after-school study sessions. As a result, I was able to earned 4.0 GPA for two semesters straight while balancing extra-curricular activities. When I started my first semester, I knew that I wanted experiences beyond textbooks and grades. Hence, I took part in Engineer Projects in Community Lee, Jason
Service in my freshman year. I was on team TORCH, a team tasked on
developing a kids relay torch commemorating Indianas Bicentennial Celebration in 2016. Being the financial officer, my role is to manage a budget worth $200 and collaborate with EPICS administration to obtain more funds. Beyond that, I contributed to the prototype of the torch which we modeled using AutoCAD and 3D printers. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and learnt how to handle electronics and tinker with the Arduino. One of the ethical issue involved was designing the flame of the torch. The federal law stipulates that kids under the age of 18 are not allow to handle pyrotechnics. Hence, we made the decision to look into safer alternatives such as electronics flames. It was more expensive to do so but we understood that the users safety was paramount. During my sophomore year, I was interested in robotics after having experience dealing with electronics. Hence, I sought out to work with professors in such fields. I was fortunate enough to land a research position with Professor Nauman, a professor at the mechanical engineering department. The project involved building and conducting finite element analysis on a robot. During the research, we built a six-legged robot named Hexy that we obtained from a kickstarter project. We utilized COMSOL Multiphysics Simulation Software to analyze the prolong stress and strain acting on the joints of the robot. We found out that the chassis was impeding the robots movement and replaced it with a lighter material. One of the challenges faced was to retrofit the robot and make it perform a new task. Having no coding experience, I decided to take the initiative to teach myself Python through online resources. As a result, we were able to program the robot so that it can type the word Purdue. Furthermore, I am also currently involved in Purdue Electric Racing, a subteam of the Purdue Society of Automobile Engineers (PSAE). Our goal is to design a racing car that runs on electricity to compete in the Formula SAE Electric in Lincoln, Nebraska. We are currently working on developing the control area network (CAN BUS) of the car from scratch using the Kinetis KEA 128 StarterTRAK. My team and I have made huge strides in the development of the receive, transmit and interrupt protocols of the CAN BUS. Besides dabbling in the technical side of things, I am a Supplemental Instruction leader for calculus 2 at Purdue University. Every week, I plan after-school study sessions three times a week for students who are struggling or just want to get ahead in the course. Being a leader, I have to deal with students of all walks of life. Some students are passive when it comes to learning and it is my job to break the dependency cycle and redirect their question so that they can find the answers on their own. It is a challenging role but seeing my students succeed makes all the effort work while.
Lee, Jason
Looking into the Future: Career Goals and Milestones
This summer, I plan on doing research regarding improving diesel engine efficiencies lead by Professor Greg Shaver through the Summer Research Undergraduate Symposium. I will continue to work on the Purdue Electric Racing team and hopefully see our car at the finishing line. I strive to obtain an internship position before I graduate in order to equip myself with industrial acumen. In addition, I want to further my studies in graduate school with an emphasis in robotics at Purdue University and hopefully work for Boston Dynamics.