A Little Bit About Myself

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.

Lee, Jason