Hi, I'm Wylie. I'm a Senior studying Chemical
Engineering in the Interdisciplinary Honors
Program at the University of Washington
Welcome to my Honors Portfolio. This is a repository of experiences, reflections, artifacts, and images that catalogue my time at
the University of Washington. Follow the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to trace my path over the last four years.
the University of Washington. Follow the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to trace my path over the last four years.
Learning Statement
I have been fortunate enough to experience all the Pacific Northwest has to offer – growing up in a small island community, leaving the island to study at one of world’s top institutions, and all the while rejoicing in the natural environment around me. Yet despite the natural wonder and opportunity surrounding me, I speak as a member of a generation whose way of life is threatened by a looming future. I have seen climate change. I have felt smoke from incessant forest fires, hanging in the air, deep in my lungs. Along with my peers I have worried that enduring dependencies on natural resources will persist over sustainability. But I now know that is not the case.
During my time in college I have been exposed to ways of understanding that allow me to see how atoms, phases of matter, and the governing natural laws of the universe offer solutions to the myriad of problems we face today. Light generates electricity within unique materials and engineering the environment around those materials allows us to extract that energy for us to use. That fundamental principle governing photovoltaics (producing electricity from light) has guided my choice of study and career - the implications and possibilities enthralling physicists, engineers, and now myself.
I am driven to accelerate and develop solar technologies because of the tangible possibility that they can eliminate fossil fuel dependencies. However, in order to protect the natural world, we must share the ways of understanding available to the peers in my generation – why clean energy is essential. In this way, we can pave the way for sustainable technologies, thought, and culture. I have found purpose in creating energy from sunlight and providing attainable solutions that change the trajectory of our relationship with the environment.
During my time in college I have been exposed to ways of understanding that allow me to see how atoms, phases of matter, and the governing natural laws of the universe offer solutions to the myriad of problems we face today. Light generates electricity within unique materials and engineering the environment around those materials allows us to extract that energy for us to use. That fundamental principle governing photovoltaics (producing electricity from light) has guided my choice of study and career - the implications and possibilities enthralling physicists, engineers, and now myself.
I am driven to accelerate and develop solar technologies because of the tangible possibility that they can eliminate fossil fuel dependencies. However, in order to protect the natural world, we must share the ways of understanding available to the peers in my generation – why clean energy is essential. In this way, we can pave the way for sustainable technologies, thought, and culture. I have found purpose in creating energy from sunlight and providing attainable solutions that change the trajectory of our relationship with the environment.