4/30/2021

Hey everyone! I want to start off this journal by looking back and seeing how far I’ve come not only as a writer, but as an engineering writer. I’ve never had assignments that really emphasized the science and research portion, they all stressed the actual essay. This class has really helped me hone my skills and be able to write with an engineering purpose in mind, not for a grade. With that being said, there’s still a lot to work on. I’ve started thinking about my Engineering Proposal, which is the last and heaviest assignment of the semester. I want to make this one count, to represent that I really have improved and learned a lot over the past few months. I decided to write about developing and advancing current CRISPR technology in order to help treat and potentially cure cancer patients. In its current state, CRISPR can go into a cell, change and edit its DNA, and get out. However, if we’re going to use this to combat cancer, we can’t edit the DNA of cells one at a time, which is what my main focus is going to be. If I can come up with a way for CRISPR to target multiple cells at the same time, that would be a huge step towards the cure for cancer. This honestly means a lot more to me than just an assignment for this class, because it’s something I really believe could work and would do it myself if I had the experience and resources. I’ve lost multiple people to cancer and I wish I could take the matters into my own hands but unfortunately I can’t just yet. However, being here and writing this proposal is all pushing me towards that goal, and I’m very excited to start drafting. I want to make a good final impression in this class, and this is how I do that. That’s it for today, I’ll be back next week.