Learning Statement

My college journey feels both linear and completely disconnected at times. While I feel as if I've always had an idea of what I wanted to do - a central motivation or goal - the way in which I pursued this goal has not always been constant. Going into college, high school even, I knew that I wanted to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering (EE). This was a path that I was fairly certain I wanted to go down, even at a young age. While this was no doubt inspired by the many experiences and adventures I had with technology as a child, part of me feels as if I was somewhat predestined to go journey down this road.

But, this road ended up being far bumpier and less clear-cut than I initially expected. While I never strayed too far from the path, I often found myself experimenting with how far away I could veer - trying new things and experimenting with how I could shape EE to fit what I wanted it to be. My experiences throughout college have shaped my path in ways that I could not foresee going into college.

While the coursework I have pursued throughout college and the knowledge I have gained in doing so have been instrumental in building my skillset professionally, the lessons I learned outside of class were often times far more valuable. For example, defaulting to saying "yes" rather than "no" by default was something that didn't necessarily come naturally to me, but it opened countless doors for me to grow socially and professionally. Being proactive and speaking my mind, whether it be asking for help or requesting a new project, proved to be invaluable. However, the further I progress, the more I realize I still have to learn and experience.

Now, I am at a pivotal moment in my life. In many ways, college delayed my childhood by four more years. I am still yet to make the jump into adulthood. I feel just as uncertain, if not more than I ever have before, but I have more knowledge, friends, experiences, and tools at my disposal to tackle the obstacles ahead. Reflecting back on my college journey, I take comfort in knowing that no matter how rocky the road may seem, there are greener pastures ahead.

My portfolio is organized chronologically, documenting my journey throughout college, from sitting in my bedroom in my Freshman year taking online classes, to graduating as a Senior, ready to take the next big leap into the workforce.

My intended audience for this portfolio, beyond the honors community, is really anyone who wants to get to know me better. I hope that it will serve as a sort of archive of my college self, that others (and myself) can look back on many years down the road and see just part of my life journey. I plan on keeping it up for as long as I see fit, and may even modify or continue to update it in the future, perhaps as a personal blog.

Experiential Learning - Huskies Precious Plastics

Arjun Simha
2023-2024 Experiential Learning

Introduction

This project, which was also one of my experiential learning experiences, is something that I have been working on with 3 other students at UW for the better part of a year. We had a vision for a system that would let us teach students about recycling in a hands-on manner. We entered in the Husky Seed Fund competition and were awarded a grant to bring our vision to life. For the past year or so, we have been designing and building a modular, portable cart system that holds and can power a variety of equipment, including a plastic shredder and injection molder. Recently, we have brought this system to several events around UW, where we have informed, educated, and recruited many students to our cause. I feel that this artifact is of particular importance to me because not only is it a cause that I am passionate about, but I was able to harness my skills from engineering to actually construct and bring our idea to life. I hope that by including it in my portfolio, I can show how my experience in different engineering classes and extracurricular experiences gave me the skills and know-how to achieve this. Below is my initial submission, and later my reflection, for this experience in my experiential learning portal.

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Experiential Learning - Monod Internship

Arjun Simha
2022-2023 Experiential Learning

Introduction

This experience, which was also one of my experiential learning experiences, is something that I have been doing for a little over a year and a half, part-time, outside of school. At Monod, I work on the engineering team, where we are developing a diagnostic medical device. Through this experience, I have been able to build my skills, both on the technical side and the social/business side. By including it in my portfolio, I hope to show my journey as a college student and how I got to where I am, highlighting the experiences along the way that shaped me. Below is my initial submission, and later my reflection, for this experience in my experiential learning portal.

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Artifact - HONORS 222 Final Project

Arjun Simha
2022-2023 Artifacts

Introduction

This artifact was my final project for HONORS 222, a class taught by KC Cole, which examined the science of human values. In this class, we looked at how we interact with science, and how different fields of science shape and define us. My final project for this class was an epilogue that I wrote for a book that I read outside of class, titled The Psychology of Money. The book talks about our relationship with money, and how our personal experiences define how we look at and feel about money. The epilogue that I wrote for this book focuses on the gamification of investing - how brokerages and financial institutions use fun graphics and easy-to-use interfaces to trick users into treating money differently than they would usually. This artifact is important to me because not only did I spend a lot of time researching and writing my final project, carefully crafting it to use similar language and verbiage to the rest of the book, but it also focused on a subject that I felt had a personal impact on me. I feel that it highlights my growth as a writer through college, and I hope that I can connect it with the other artifacts in my portfolio through this.

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