Submission Number: 173
Submission ID: 859
Submission UUID: ba3c2afa-0005-4ebc-b09c-f793c1cd1068

Created: Sun, 04/03/2022 - 15:28
Completed: Sun, 04/03/2022 - 15:28
Changed: Thu, 05/08/2025 - 10:16

Remote IP address: 71.95.97.14
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
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Jasmine
Bieniek
She/her
Hood River
OR
USA
97031
Mechanical Engineering
English (5), Spanish (4)
I have been fortunate to have grown up in a family that highly-values exposure to different cultures through travel. Some incredible places I have visited include Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Australia, Costa Rica, Tahiti, Mexico and even Poland (which is where my mother is from). This taste for travel has also led to a variety of moves in my life. Two very influential places I have lived in are Santa Fe, New Mexico and Napier, New Zealand. I was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a town built on the multicultural blend of Native American and Spanish influences. Here, I got to see the intersection of these two cultures. An invaluable product of these influences is the Adobe-style home, which is extremely popular in the area due to its insulating capability. In the high desert everything is magnified. Freezing nights quickly transition to boiling days. As night transitions to day, the thick walls of an Adobe-style home are able to insulate residual cool air, keeping the house cool as the outside temperatures begin to rise. Living in New Mexico (in an Adobe-style home!) showed me that the best innovations come from a blend of multicultural understandings, an appreciation that prepares me well for the Global Engineering RAP.
My experience in New Zealand influenced me in a different but equally as important way. Having spent my entire life in New Mexico, my family uprooted and moved to the opposite hemisphere in 2014. New Zealand was initially a culture shock and it was uncomfortable to be in an environment in which I was a stranger. It forced me to listen and watch what was going on around me. I sponged up the nuanced differences in how people interacted with each other and their environment. Though initially polarizing, I was amazed at how quickly one can adjust to a new environment. This experience taught me how rewarding it is to put yourself in an uncomfortable position and learn through open-mindedness and understanding, something I hope will also prove to be great preparation for the Global Engineering RAP.
I hope that by joining the Global Engineering RAP, I will be surrounded by people who are also interested in engineering with global perspective and collaboration. I would like roommates to be outgoing, curious and helpful. Ideally, they would be interested in fostering a community in which we can learn with and from each other. This does not mean that we all need to be like-minded. In fact, I would hope that they have differing perspectives that can offer me a wider scope of understanding on different topics. Above everything else, an ideal prospective Global Engineering RAP roommate is open minded, friendly and excited to learn.
Being a member of the Global Engineering RAP means receiving the opportunity to work with people of differing backgrounds, viewpoints, and interests, who are passionate about finding engineering solutions to global issues. I am interested in how I can take my engineering career in a direction that approaches current dilemmas in a multidimensional way. Often engineering solutions fail to consider social and cultural implications and barriers. I know that I will feel the work I am doing is fulfilling when it is both innovative and holistic. I am also keen to continue working towards my Spanish fluency. Being able to communicate in more than one language opens the door to improved international collaboration and solution implementation. As a member of the Global Engineering community, I plan to contribute my ideas, curiosity, hard work ethic and outgoing attitude.
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