About Me
Grand Challenge Scholars Program
at UMBC ​
Samuel Castro's E-portfolio
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Major: Mechanical engineering
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Academic Interests: Automatic Controls, Materials, Fluids/Heat Transfer, optics.
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Hobbies: Piano, Soccer, Hiking
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Clubs: AIAA, Tau Beta Pi
Chosen Grand Challenge
Engineer Better Medicine
Reasons for selection
Reason 1: It would be rewarding to positively impact the living conditions of people, especially the most vulnerable, through better healthcare. All of this, by applying engineering principles to improve and innovate new technologies.
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Reason 2: I believe that enhancing healthcare in the population will lead to a better quality of living. Good health is a core necessity that needs to be fulfilled to further progress in solving the other grand challenges.
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Reason 3: There are numerous technological tools that have or are currently being developed to improve healthcare delivery. These tools have also opened various opportunities to innovate towards better ideas.
Motivation for participating in the program
I chose to pursue engineering to create a positive impact in our world through technological advancement and innovation. I believe that the Grand Challenge Scholars Program is a good starting point to better understand the solutions needed for real-world significant problems in the 21st century. Also, I like this program because it pushes students to gain exposure to different experiences that would ideally develop and improve one’s own personal attributes. As a result, this personal growth could lead to solving one of these grand challenges. In any case, all 14 grand challenges are presented well in terms of how each challenge describes the known necessity and what could be a solution. It opens your mind to what could be a life-long objective or passion, where one could contribute with the different skill-sets learned. Lastly, I believe that as humans, we are here to give rather than to take from our society, in this way we would certainly feel satisfied to have paved the way for a better future.