Tim is a fan of biology, computer science and math. He enjoys exploring technology and sees the potential of technology research and development used for any subject. He also enjoys applying mathematics to help solve scientific problems. He wants to raise global awareness towards neglected earth sciences, such as marine biology and environmental engineering. He is a state-ranked competitive swimmer and involved in youth orchestra and choir. According to a teacher, Tim likes solving out-of-the-ordinary challenging problems. He is a deep thinker with the ability to get to the crux of an issue, and his questions are always poignant and relative. He says his 7th grade science teacher inspired him because his teacher chose to spend his time and effort to motivate the minds of young scientists, much like the Argonaut Teachers. Tim was impressed by his teacher's ability to make even the worst lessons fun using humor. Tim is easy-going and always handles stress and difficulty with a positive attitude. He finds life full of opportunities to grow and learn, especially in the area of science.
In His Own Words
On Why Teamwork in Education is Important
On the first day of Bootcamp in Washington D.C., the Argonauts truly became a team at the evening's debrief meeting. We finally became more than just like-minded tourists but a team of students and teachers who are willing to motivate each other in order to accomplish the task ahead. This integrated mindset allows a team to reach insanely high goals. A great example of this kind of teamwork is my local swim team. We may be a small team, but we continuously rank as one of the best swim teams in the United States. Cooperation plays an important part of education, and I have realized that students and teachers in every classroom should be working together to learn and discover. When the students and teachers can explore a problem or idea together, learning becomes much more fun and interesting.
On Old-School Wooden Coasters vs New Metal Giant Coasters
The differences between the wooden roller coasters and the modern steel coasters demonstrated the most obvious change in energy technology. I noticed that the wooden rides were designed to efficiently manipulate the potential energy from the first hill to provide kinetic energy for the whole duration of the ride. This takes advantage of the Law of Conservation of Energy to transfer energy from potential to kinetic, and vice versa, in order to keep the ride exciting. Unfortunately, these oldies don't provide great force factors that modern propulsion rides provide. Feeling extreme speed, heaviness and weightlessness is exciting for the riders, so parks have added "boosters" to add more energy to the ride. These additions might make the roller coaster more exciting, but the park will drop drastically in energy efficiency. Also, many of the incandescent lights of the park were poorly positioned and wasted light. This could easily be improved with LED lights and better layout development.
On Meeting Host Research Dr. Larry Shadle
I quickly realized that this group of highly trained and educated scientists teemed with as much apprehension and excitement for the work ahead as the Argonauts. Relating to these renowned scientists on a basic, enjoyable level is a very fascinating and rare experience. They don't mind returning to the basics to work with us; in fact, the researchers still love working with the ideas that first attracted them to the subject. This will make it much easier to work with the Host Researcher now that I can relate my interest with Dr. Shadle's interest.
On Building the Tsunami Detector
Today the Argonauts prepared to get greasy down in the construction room to build the "Tsunameter." Dr. Titov dropped us off with Chris the engineer, and we began pulling together the delicate equipment that scientists have started to deploy worldwide. Starting with the most accurate and important equipment, we tested the accuracy of the Deep Pressure Recorder with a system of brass weights that compresses oil to create pressure. As the computer flashed numbers across the screen, we saw that the pressure recorder could measure depth changes as small as one millimeter!
What JASON Means to Me
A National Argonaut is more than just an actor. An Argonaut is also creative, positive and adventurous. Working with professional researchers sometimes seemed very confusing and hard to understand at first, but we always came up with the right questions to straighten things out. The definition of dventurous isn't limited to just a long trip; it also means confident and eager for the mission. I had many firsts on my missions, including my first crab dinner and my first exposure to a professional film crew. In fact, most students aren't fortunate enough to experience this kind of adventure. It's a lot of work and responsibility, but our society needs motivated leaders.
How JASON Applies to My Life
While I don't travel and work with a team of film producers very often, many aspects of my JASON adventure can be related to my everyday education. During the JASON missions, the information presented by the Host Researcher always intimidated the Argonauts at first, but we managed to understand the concept and rise to the challenge through our questions. At school, many advanced, honors, or even college-credit courses may seem too ambitious, but JASON has taught me that anything can be learned as long as you spend some time going through the information and asking questions about anything and everything you don't understand. Also, JASON taught me why "the basics" are as important as my math teacher insists. In Mission 3, the Argonauts used simple mathematical calculations to determine what sort of particle was circulating in the Fluidized Bed Model. The math wasn't complicated even though the application was very advanced and technological.