Wish me luck

So, if you know me, you know that I'm a little disenchanted with my career choice. Therefore, I'm trying to change it. Below is a copy of the statement of purpose letter that I'm submitting to the geography department at the University of Washington tomorrow, 1/15. Who knows what will come of this? Not me. I'm excited to find out though.

Statement of Purpose
A step in this direction is somewhat daunting but I am embracing it nonetheless. I was trained as a Structural Engineer at Texas A&M University where I took two courses in geography to fulfill my undergraduate social science requirements. I originally chose geography over the more popular economics pairing because, at eighteen years old, I thought maps were more interesting than money.

I cannot say that we talked extensively about maps in either my Human Geography class or in the Political Geography class that I took two years later. I do, however, remember the professor telling the few engineers in the latter class, “you are not here to be educated; you are here to be trained.” Upon hearing this, I reflected on the narrowness, or maybe more of a specialization, of my curriculum and realized that I was enjoying this particular class so much because it covered so many different areas: history, economics, political science, and physical geography.

Thus the foundations of my career plans were formally shaken; here was a subject that interested me more than the path I had chosen. I had previously considered changing the focus of my studies but I hadn’t had a clear idea of what would better suit me. Being the pragmatic Texan I was, I chose to continue down the road that I had nearly completed traversing. A semester later I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and continued on to a graduate program. I continued to spend my days learning the intricacies of Structural Engineering and my nights searching for meaning in novels.

Upon graduating, I accepted a structural engineering job in Denver, Colorado where I decided that philosophy was the path of study for me and audited a course at the University of Colorado at Boulder for part of a semester. Less than two years later, I accepted a similar position in Seattle, where I took an English literature class as a non-matriculated student at the University of Washington. Alas, both of these areas were at the opposite end of the spectrum from engineering: too abstract, not technical, not always logical, etc. I enjoyed the subject matter, the discussions, and the opportunity to use the right side of my brain, but I realized that I would be unable to apply any of these newfound skills to the physical world.

As these conclusions were gestating, my interests in the physical world had begun to develop in areas that I never would have imagined possible as a youth in Texas; mass transit, urbanization, and sustainability are words that have gone from the periphery of my vocabulary to the core of what I believe is important. I find myself spending evenings at Town Hall listening to researchers discuss the merits of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with surface streets and increased transit; I initiate conversations about the merits of urban density; I make it a point to read articles such as a recent one by Elizabeth Kolbert in The New Yorker about the oceans becoming a massive sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide; I send emails to my friends in Texas urging them to watch An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car?; I help my fiancée pay for a Toyota Prius so that our one-car household can be as green as possible. Rather than focusing on the Professional Engineer’s exam, I am studying for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation exam, which is a program implemented by the United States Green Building Council to encourage and reward environmentally friendly development.

All of this attempted activism satiates my immediate desire to improve the quality of the environment but it is immediately reversed, in my mind, every morning when arrive at work. As I sit down at my desk to design shopping malls and parking structures to be built in Anaheim, California or Honolulu, Hawaii, I feel like I am directly contributing to part of the problem rather than the solution. I would prefer that my creative and intellectual energies be directed toward a progressive end that I can support as a citizen, rather than a rebuilding of the status quo.

Geography interests me because I feel it spans the gap between the technical aspects of my current career path and the people that are ultimately affected by these developments. The path of study that I feel suits me the best would be an area that straddles geography and a branch of civil engineering. Relationships between LEED accredited buildings and traditional buildings would be an area that piques my interest; transportation issues and resulting effects on public health, mobility, and psychological phenomena is another.

The University of Washington’s department of geography would suit me for myriad reasons. Upon browsing the website and speaking with several professors, namely Dr. Tim Nyerges in the geography department and Dr. Scott Rutherford in the civil engineering department, I feel like research is being conducted in the areas that interest me and that the mindsets of these two faculty members parallel my own. I also feel that the community at large has the same concerns as I do and that living here has nourished this part of my identity. Furthermore, and more personally, my grandfather earned his doctorate from the University of Washington about forty years ago.

Keeping in mind my interests in the quality of life in the urban environment and the effects of the constructed environment on nature, I came across other faculty members whose current research and research interests lead me to believe that I would be a good fit. Dr. Sarah Elwood’s current project using GIS as a tool for urban planning and revitalization certainly piques my interest. Dr. Suzanne Davies Withers’ interests in quantitative methods and urban housing are also areas that I find very interesting. A few months ago I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Tim Nyerges in person about his work with the civil engineering department and the medical school and found this interdisciplinary research effort especially captivating.

Although I am currently applying for acceptance into the Master of Arts program, I hope to continue on at the Doctoral level. I realize that in coming from a different background there are many basic literatures pertaining to geography that I am not yet familiar with and, thus, there are certainly fascinating areas that are still unknown to me. The opportunity to take a few classes as a nomatriculated student, at the undergraduate or graduate level, in order to help construct the foundation I need as well as giving me a chance to meet some faculty members and prove my worthiness, would be greatly appreciated. I am very excited by the potential opportunity to work and research in an area as compelling as geography and feel that I have a deep-seeded interest and desire to further advance the discipline.

Premier Post-Holiday Posting

Christmas has passed and so has the New Year. My Birthday is coming up shortly (January 11th) and I plan on spending it as follows:

First, a celebratory Italian dinner and Machiavelli, on Capitol Hill...

Followed by an evening at Town Hall to see Matthew Stadler and his presentation entitled, "What Has Become of Cities?" I have never read one of this gentleman's books though I have read his pieces in The Stranger. For more info, check out: http://www.townhallseattle.com/calendar.cfm



And while we're on this subject, let's talk about the viaduct debacle.

As many of you know, Seattle has a butt-ugly, multi-level, relic of the 40's (or so) jammed between our downtown and Elliott Bay called The Alaskan Way Viaduct. It was severely damaged in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake and is in danger of collapsing during another seismic event, so they say. Our mayor wants an overly expensive tunnel. Some people lacking in intelligence or creativity want to rebuild the behemoth that is already there. The smart, progressive crew over at the People's Waterfront Coalition want to tear that sucker down and improve mass transit in Seattle. Check 'em out at http://www.peopleswaterfront.org

Governor Gregoire decided that we were going to vote on this so now is a good time to read up and tell your friends.

I'll close with a quote that is somewhat related:

"The monuments of learning are more durable than the monuments of power. Have not the verses of Homer continued 2,500 years or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter, during which time inifinite palaces, temples, castles, cities, have been decayed and demolished." -Francis Bacon