2022- Kristen Steudel

Kristen Steudel

Majors: Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics and Economics

Personal Statement

My college application essay described how swings were the place I went to think and would come back with a new perspective. Entering college, I knew I wanted to gain both technical and social perspectives for climate change and other social problems so I pursued a dual degree in mathematics/economics and mechanical engineering.

Driven by impact, I work on and off campus to improve community and equity. I worked on the West Ward Technology Clinic to design an asset map of an underserved section of Easton, brought together runners by leading the Running Club, volunteered at LaFarm, researched policy to improve groundwater irrigation in Ethiopia and initiated a swing project for Earth Day.

This year I prototyped a compressed air energy storage system with a team of mechanical and chemical engineers that will help integrate renewable energy into the electric grid and fight climate change and worked on a linear program to determine a location-based diet that minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. To adapt this project locally, I am tracking the added nutritional content from the Easton Urban Farm to help earn grants for further support of the food pantry.

Off campus, I began a reading program for children whose parents are learning English, mentored girls in STEM, coached girls volleyball, worked on designing the next generation system of radars, and researched signal processing for sensors to help prevent catastrophes in countries like the United States with aging infrastructure.

The community is what makes Lafayette so special. Successful projects are an outcome of the Lafayette community that enthusiastically bandwagons ideas to make dreams become reality. Because of community power, I am able to leave Lafayette with its own set of swings as I jump off. I hope these swings provide students and faculty an opportunity for fun and reflection.

Academic Activity |years involved|

Marshall Scholarship Reservist |1| UK-US relation scholarship for graduate school

Fulbright Finalist |1| Scholarship for one year of graduate school

Pi Mu Epsilon |2| Mathematics Honor Society

Tau Beta Pi |2| Engineering Honor Society, serve as reporting secretary of Lafayette’s chapter, received merit scholarship

Omicron Delta Epsilon |1| Economics Honor Society

Old Crow Association Scholarship |1| merit scholarship for academic excellence in engineering or engineering technology area of study.

National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2020 |1| accepted to present my research on “Pass the Pigs. Probability Analysis of Static and Dynamic Strategies and Player Order”

International Modal Analysis Conference 2022 |1| presented my research at international engineering conference called “Multi-Sensor Collaborative Sampling Schemes to Reconstruct Undersampled Mechanical System Signals for Machinery Fault Detection”

STEM Student of the year |1| 2021 was awarded Lafayette College’s STEM student of the year

Eugene P. Chase Phi Beta Kappa Prize |1| 2019, Awarded to a sophomore who has demonstrated scholarship as a first-year student.

Campus Service |years involved|

Literature House |3| Lead events for students on campus to engage with Literature such as a French Comedy analysis event with the French Club and a poetry coffee house. Also, we study literature on our own and discuss various types of literature. We also installed a free little library in front of our house for the community to enjoy.

Dyer Center |4| Attended conferences for starting businesses such as a 3-day startup conference and Seedspot conference as well as other workshops. Won second place in the Real Estate Competition in 2021 and won the fan’s choice award.

Kovalesky Society |2| Participate in mentorship program for women and non-binary mathematics majors.

Outdoors Society |4| Join outdoor enthusiasts in hikes, camping, rock climbing, and biking. Create a community of people who enjoy spending time in nature.

Society of Women Engineers |4| Run engineering events for local Girl Scouts and attend talks with professors and alumni as well as attended the national conference for SWE in 2019.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers |1| Served as Vice president of ASME. Led projects for underclassmen to get engaged in engineering projects before their senior year.

Marquis Scholars and Fellows |4| Served as a mentor to younger students and helped them navigate campus and getting internships.

French Club |4| Attended French Club meals and events to continue to practice French and learn about cultures of my classmates.

Community Service |years involved|

Canvassing for Town Selectman running for state representative |2| Served as Chief Youth Outreach Officer for Syed Hashmi. Led canvassing efforts and communicated information to the younger population in town.

LaFarm |1| Volunteered in the summer to plant, maintain, and harvest at Lafayette’s student run farm.

Founder of Reading Program |1| Created a reading program for children whose parents are English Language learners. My project resulted in earning my Girl Scout Gold Award.

Library Advocacy and Garden Reconstruction |2| Gave speech to state representatives to advocate for continued library funding when state was threatening cutbacks in library funds. Reconstructed unmaintained library garden so that community members could read there and library could hold educational events in an outdoor space.

Textile, Can and Bottle Recycling Drive |3| Organized and ran textile, can and bottle recycling drives in town to reduce thrown out waste.

Youth Volleyball Coach |6| Volunteered at local recreational volleyball camp and coached girls 4th-8th grade how to play volleyball.

Senior Center Trivia |2| Founded annual senior center trivia to unite youth and senior citizens in a fun, friendly competition.

Athletic Activity |years involved|

Track and Field |1| Ran for the Lafayette College Track and Field Division 1 team. Earned Patriot League Honor Roll status in 2019.

Club Running |3.5| Serving as Vice President of Club Running. Organize races and lead practices for runners on campus. Help coach runners to race their first half marathon and show runners how to lift in the weight room who have never lifted before. Organize club social events to create a strong running community at Lafayette College.

Women’s Club Volleyball |3| Played on the women’s club volleyball team.

Dance Company |1| Took and currently taking ballet, tap, and technique classes taught by other Lafayette students.

Weight lifting, yoga, cycling, zumba classes |4| Both at home and at school I enjoy attending group fitness classes to exercise in a community setting.

Special Interest Activity |years involved|

West Ward Technology Clinic |1| Created an asset map of the most underserved ward of Easton, PA for nonprofits such as the Greater Easton Development Partnership to apply for grants and help bring in businesses to the ward.

Swing Project |1| Created swings to hang on campus for Earth Day, organized clubs to decorate swings and help the community feel united.

Economics Research |1| Analyzed survey data from 200 households in Ethiopia to determine policy for increasing groundwater irrigation.

Los Alamos National Lab Research Fellow |1| Summer 2021: Researched compressive sensing using non-uniform sampling to improve structural health monitoring systems. Explored the deliberate design of a data acquisition system to target signals above the Nyquist sampling frequency that would be used to monitor equipment health. Designed and conducted an experiment and wrote a conference paper to be presented at the IMAC Conference in February 2022.

Raytheon |1| Summer 2020: Design Junior Intern: Prepared design for release to production. Created designs, drawings, and models in Creo, performed tolerance analyses, updated PDM parts list and Creo model to match. Improved design to make lower weight and lower cost. Contacted suppliers to ensure design was manufacturable.

Raytheon Technologies |1| Summer 2019: Achieved Raytheon Six Sigma specialist qualification by creating process guidelines for starting a new product line in microwave product area, identified key reason for microwave employee’s distress, trained engineers to use programmable screwdrivers and operators to assemble new build, created manual to train new users of transducerized screwdrivers.

Senior Design Project |1| working on a team of mechanical and chemical engineers to design an energy storage system so that energy can be completely reliant off of renewable energy rather than needing supplemental energy from fossil fuels.

Plant Based Cooking Blog |2| maintain a blog of plant-based cooking recipes to help people transition to plant-based eating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

LVAIC Global Student Conference 2019 |1| presented research from my first year seminar Nonviolence Theory and Practice with Professor Fabian. My presentation was called“Reasons for Success: Estonian Singing Revolution (1988-1991) and Ukraine Orange Revolution”

Lululemon |1 |Helped sales team become the top selling store in the entirety of North America. Worked at the register, unloaded boxes of new merchandise, completed online orders, continuously kept store clean for covid precautions, and assisted customers in finding the best product for their needs.