Global

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                            Global Engineering Professional Profile
                                                Zhe Wang



Background

        The first three years at Worthington
Kilbourne High School, I was clueless about what I
wanted to do, until the school introduced an
engineering curriculum called Project Lead the Way.
Throughout high school, I took computer aided
design and draft classes, and liked being able to
design things on the computer. I moved around a lot
in my childhood, so making friends was hard, which
made my legos set something I cherished. My father
would work from university to university, all around
the world, moving every year. I’ve lived in Japan,
England, and 3 different states in the United States,
from California to Virginia. In this time, I had a
tough time making friends, because I was very shy.
There was a few good friends I made, but none which
I could keep contact with. I became fascinated with
legos and the endless possibilities with it. It allowed
you to design and build whatever your imagination
allowed. During the start of my senior year, my
school started this program called Project Lead the
Way, which is a set of classes designed to teach the basics of engineering. From there, I built puzzles to
miniature cars and learned how to use different types of CAD software, I was hooked. I applied to
several engineering schools, and wasn’t sure which one was best for me until I went on a tour of Purdue
University. There, my tour guide was helpful and I made the realization that Purdue was for me. The
part that attracted me to Purdue the most was the diversity this campus offered, as I am very diverse
myself.

       Today I am a sophomore working on my Mechanical Engineering degree at Purdue. I am also
heavily involved with EPICS; Engineering Projects in Community Service. In EPICS, my project team
and I work with Imagination Station, a children’s museum in Lafayette, to design and build exhibits for
children of all ages, which as an aspiring mechanical engineer, is very rewarding.

Credentials and Experience

       I’m currently a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Graphics
Technology. This allows me to be in a field with endless possibilities, while having a minor in a topic
I’m very passionate about. I have been designing and building random things on and off the computer,
since before I can remember. CGT163, a computer graphics course for mechanical/aerospace engineers,

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                                                                                                1 April 2009


has been my favorite class so far at Purdue, as it allows me to mess around in a program I love (CATIA),
and design things for practical uses. Off the computer, I’ve designed and built my own aquarium setup,
including the stand it sits on and many different components to help keep it running smoothly and
healthy. I learned how to sew from my mother when I was an early age, and have made backpacks, hats,
and many different things with this skill. On my spare time, I also like to design and make wallets out of
different recycled materials from vinyl banners to paint chips. I’ve also started selling wallets on
websites such as Etsy, a site to sell homemade products, and Ebay.

        In high school, I used to be an instructor in Tae Kwon Do for elementary school students. I would
teach them self defense, self confidence, self respect, respect for others, and discipline, all which is very
crucial at a young age. It is a great feeling when you see the student that you have taught, break his first
board. You can just tell how proud he is by the big smile on his face along with the confidence they just
gained. This opportunity taught me to be patient while being kind. It taught me to demonstrate different
concepts in simple forms for students to understand, and allowed me to learn different techniques to
teaching such skills. It also taught me to be strong and dominate when a student is doing something
wrong. We get a lot of kids who have bullied or gotten expelled from school, and they’re parents made
them come to hopefully learn some discipline. They come on the dojo, or training ground, and they feel
like they can continue to act like how they do in school, and just after just a week, the change is
unbelievable. This whole experience also allowed me to increase my confidence, as I said before; I was a
very shy boy when I was young.

       After my freshmen year of college, I had a decision to make. I needed to find what I can do over
the summer. I decided try out sales to further my communication skills and leadership abilities. I started
working for Vector Marketing, where I performed one to one presentations with potential customers
gained on a recommendation basis. It was hard at first as I was good at talking to people my age or
younger, but not older, especially parents. I later excelled at my work and became a field training leader,
and would take other newer sales representatives along with me on my appointments for them to take
pointers on my presentation. I also became a key staff, which is the selected few of the office which
would give presentations on more advanced skills and also help with the troubles the newer
representatives are facing. This job also taught me important lessons in time management. I would have
up to 8 appointments a day, which are an hour and a half to two hours between each other, and keeping
organized wasn’t an easy task. And between appointments, I would try to get more appointments for the
days later in the week. At the end of the summer, I have gained another level of confidence, especially in
talking with parents. I’ve had people I know come up to me and tell me how much more confidence I
show now or ask me if I took a confidence boosting class. Working with Vector Marketing was a very
rewarding time and taught me life lessons I will be able to use to thrive in the future.

       Currently I’m in a class called EPICS, also known as Engineering Projects in Community Service.
In our lab, called Imagination Station, we work with a project partner from Imagination Station, which is
a children’s museum in Lafayette, to build new exhibits for children from as little as two years old to
parents. With the confidence and leadership abilities I gained from Vector and being an Instructor in Tae
Kwon Do, I took the initiative to become the Project Leader. In the project, we are designing an
information kiosk for Imagination Station. We are choosing first what program to display this
information, then we are developing a way to wire push buttons to any keyboard, to make just the arrow
keys show, which is all you need in a presentation type kiosk. We have been working on this project for

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three months now and are actually delivering the project in the upcoming week. With this, our project
partner can make information kiosks for each exhibit he has, as cheap and simple as possible.

Professional Interests, Global Vision, and Career Goals

       As I am still only in my second year at Purdue, I have a lot more knowledge and experiences to
discover. As I progress here at Purdue, I hope I can expand my goals or further obtain new ones.
Currently, the topic I’m most interested and drawn towards, is sustainable technology. I’m very happy
the world is finally becoming serious about all the choices everyone makes, in order to keep our Earth as
healthy as it can be. My passion is more for sustainable product design and how simple things can have
such an impact. I plan to continue my interests and want to impact globally.

       After I graduate, I hope to be in the field of sustainable product design. I would like to have a
hands on and in the workspace type job, where I can design things inside, while I do my research outside.
My dream is to have a job I love, no matter what salary or position in the company. Forbes states 87% of
the United States are not satisfied with their job, and I won’t be one of them.



Zhe Wang wang143@purdue.edu




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