缅北强奸

Xaeza Olt 鈥�20 almost wasn鈥檛 a physics major at 缅北强奸. He鈥檇 been wait-listed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and told that if he reapplied the following year, he鈥檇 get in. But after his first year at 缅北强奸, he chose to stay.

 

鈥淧retty quickly in freshman year, 缅北强奸 became my home,鈥� says Xaeza, who also minored in mathematics. 鈥淒r. Kehm and Dr. Thuecks are great teachers, and I was able to connect with them on an academic level and on a personal level. The physics department is very close-knit. We have seminar together for five semesters, unlike most other departments, which really provides an opportunity for upper classmen to mingle with underclassmen and for the professors to get to know all the students.鈥�

The first 15 minutes of seminar, he says, is deliberately unstructured to encourage conversation and idea exchange among faculty and students. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of community in the physics department, which is one of the things I like about being here. You get to learn from the upper classmen what is expected of you as a student and in applying for grad school, and sometimes what鈥檚 expected of you in grad school, because we have alumni come back and talk about it. And we have students who have gotten their PhDs and come back and talk about what it鈥檚 like doing the research they do.鈥�

Xaeza came to WC for the Division III men鈥檚 rowing program, too, but after he hurt his back during sophomore year, he decided to refocus his attention on his other growing interests, including founding the 缅北强奸 Automobile Club, being an RA, helping organize the monthly 鈥淐ars on High鈥� event in downtown Chestertown, becoming a driver and fleet director for Safe Ride, and most recently joining Model UN. 

During the summer before his senior year, he was chosen to be a McLain Fellow, doing one-on-one research in the College鈥檚 mass spectrometry lab with Kehm, the department chair.

His favorite class his freshman year was Physics 111: 鈥淭he physics community gets very close-knit even from the beginning. Everyone who intends to become a physics major, you meet in Physics 111. We always stick together, do homework together, and we鈥檒l even hang out outside of physics and do things socially. Physics 111 put me in my friend group that I have today. And, also I like physics and it鈥檚 just a fun class for me. 

During sophomore year he declared his major, which enabled him to be part of the physics seminar and learn about classes he was looking forward to like electronics lab and the classical mechanics theory course.

鈥淓lectronics lab in particular is a lot of fun because we get to build these electronic components into a working device of some sort.鈥� Xaeza built the electronic components for a kinetic energy recovery system similar to those used in Formula 1 race cars. Learning how to induct electrical current using magnets in electronics lab, he was able to build the components that would power a system that could store the kinetic energy in a battery, which could then be used later to accelerate a car.

For his Senior Capstone Experience, Xaeza plans to draw on a class he took in acoustics鈥攔elated to cars, of course. 鈥淚鈥檓 a huge car nerd apparently 鈥� When you hear a car, what you hear is the explosion in the engine resonating through the exhaust tube, and there鈥檚 lots of different shapes and lengths that will create different sounds. That鈥檚 what I want to do my project on: a simplified version of an exhaust system and how different shapes effect its pitch and tone and loudness. There鈥檚 less research in what different bends do to sound, so I think I鈥檓 going to go in that direction.鈥�

Xaeza ultimately plans to specialize in mechanical engineering. He鈥檚 considering joining the U.S. Coast Guard and becoming a mechanics officer, overseeing the maintenance of the agency鈥檚 vehicles and helicopters. He鈥檚 also still considering applying to graduate school for engineering, or to a trade school for mechanics that could lead him into a mechanical engineering specialty in the automotive industry.