From the school blog:

I arrived at Penn somewhat undecided between Materials Science (MSE) and Computer Science (CS), but then in the first couple of weeks, I suddenly had the urge to study CS (I’ve always been interested in computers, and have done a lot of work with website development and design before). But now, after a couple weeks in CIS-110, I’m seriously reconsidering my future. One of the reasons I decided to take CS was that I believed that it would set a good academic foundation for me–writing code, like mathematics, refines one’s way of thinking and helps improve one’s problem solving abilities. While I still believe that this is true, I have also come to realize that MSE is the technology of the future. In the next 50 years, the real innovation is going to come in nanotechnology and how to make existing technologies cheaper and more effective. While there are still going to be advancements in the field of CS, I want to be working with cutting-edge technology that is going to have a real impact on people’s lives (e.g. a couple of years ago, a team from Penn designed a cheap and effective way to line the inside of piping with a safe antimicrobial material. They brought this technology to third world countries and poor communities in Africa, where it was made a significant impact on the citizens there!)

In other news, I’ve been relatively busy with school work and clubs and such. I am currently a member of the PennVention Committee at Weiss Tech House (WTH), an organization that supports student innovation and helps turn people’s ideas into actual consumer products. PennVention itself is an annual contest dedicated to this cause, with prizes awarded to the top entries. It’s no surprise why WTH is so appealing to people like me who are interested in both engineering and technology, and it’s also no surprise that there are a lot of M&T students on WTH committees.

Yesterday, I found out that my application was accepted by the M&T Club Board! I am now officially chair of the Corporate Outreach Committee, as well as joint chair of the Technology Committee, sounds pretty cool, haha. Anyway, I am really excited about the upcoming year, especially about implementing one of the ideas I brought up: an M&T Big Brother/Big Sister Program that’s geared towards helping freshmen M&Ts with the transition process into college, as well as with course planning and social life, etc. Overall, I think the program will be a real benefit for new M&Ts, and it’s my hope to get it going starting this year.

As far as non-academic stuff is concerned, David and I are currently in the process of rushing Lambda Phi Epsilon, an Asian-American interest fraternity on campus. While we haven’t received our bids yet, we’re remaining hopeful, as we were one of the few people who attended a lot of their events during rush week.