This article excerpts from an email I wrote to my mentor, a professor from the Faculty of Physics, marking my first anniversary at NUS. I dedicate this piece to thank my friends who have helped and supported me over these years.
Dear Professor,
Greetings from Guoyi at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Firstly, please allow me to extend my congratulations on the successful conclusion of the 2023 NUS Physics Challenge Camp. As I prepared the pre-departure briefing for this year’s participants, scenes from my own initial arrival at NUS four years ago remained vivid. In this email, which can be thought of as “Cycles: Guoyi’s First Intellectual Property, an Outgrowth of the Golf Ball Problem,” I am honored to share with you how my experience of studying at NUS in 2019 continues to influence me to this day and to describe my current aspirations.
I’m excited to share with you the news of my first patent application, based on the outcome of research inspired by in last three years.
My First Patent Application
This year, I successfully applied for my first patent [Patent Number: CN202322002770.7]. It is designed to be used for mixing precision biochemical solutions—a stirring mechanism powered by the fluid viscosity of the solution. The device can efficiently stir solutions within a wide range of pH, temperature, and viscosity variables without affecting the biological activity of the contents.
My idea to design this mixer came from a discussion with an NUS biomedical engineering lab researcher who was grappling with a complex problem concerning stirring molecule solutions. Since the living cells in that lab were susceptible to factors such as pressure, vibration, change in temperature or magnetic field, traditional methods of magnetic stirring, peristaltic pumping, thermal convection, centrifugation, or high-frequency vibration stirring would all negatively affect the biological activity of the contents in the solution. The researcher’s lab currently mixes reagents manually, which often leads to cell adhesion death or contamination of the reagent.
With this as background, I was interested in designing a stirring mechanism that might significantly increase the entropy of the solution by adding a very low rate of mechanical energy; therefore, I thought of using turbulence to disperse the solution. I’d like to emphasize that I could not have come up with this methodology without my earlier research on the golf ball problem.
My First Academic Essay in 2021: Experiment Report of Research on Resistance Reduction Mechanism of Dimples on a Golf Ball’s Surface
This earlier experiment report eventually became a feasibility analysis report for the mixer. This summer, with advice from the NUS Control and Simulation Laboratory, I finished designing the structure of this mixer, consisting of a base and a tank. The exterior tank is a perfectly circular steel sphere, with an inner surface filled with dimples and protrusions, like the surface of a golf ball. When the base rotates the tank at three degrees of freedom, due to its viscosity, the internal solution generates vortices and turbulence as it flows over the dimples and protrusions, thereby creating a stirring effect. In summary, this mixer is the application of the “Resistance Reduction Mechanism of Dimples on a Golf Ball’s Surface.”
As I reflect on my research and the process of developing my first patented device, the word “cycle” comes to mind to describe this journey.
Cycle
A cycle is a closed loop, implying that we can return to the starting point after a long journey. With the awarding of my first patent application, I’m reminded of how life often involves the initiation and completion of cycles.
My current research idea started with an earlier attempt to explain the golf ball problem–specifically, “Why can the dimples on the surface of a golf ball make it fly farther?”
In 2020, because I wasn’t able to experiment with golf balls in a real-world environment, I turned my attention to computer modeling. In 2021, I gained additional knowledge of mathematics and physics and so was able to use mathematical modeling, computer modeling, and Multiphysics simulation to finalize my thoughts and describe my research process as an academic essay with the support of you and other professors from Zhejiang University.
By applying what I learned while exploring the golf ball problem to solve real-world problems, I believe I can finally, and look forward to, conclude my research on this topic. After a long journey, the cycle of my research on the golf ball problem has finally been completed.
I would like to thank you for the inspiration and guidance you offered me from 2019 till now. Even though I’m no longer studying physics, I’m grateful for how the 2019 NUS Physics Challenge Camp served as a catalyst, initiating multiple productive cycles.
The golf ball problem was just one of the cycles that was started in 2019. I’m profoundly aware of the strong positive influence that the summer camp has exerted on me: it has kindled my love for a dream university and fueled my sustained efforts toward attending such a university. The idea of my studying in California this summer also took root that summer in Singapore. Currently, I have the aspiration that my experiences in America this summer will help me define specific goals for the next stage of my journey since my earlier summer experience at NUS produced such positive results.
New Cycles
I’m excited to share with you that I now set up a new academic goal–as well as a personal goal–with a good friend. She is a sophomore in economics at CHS, with a 2nd major in data analytics and a minor in philosophy. She is the co-author of my first research report I shared with you at the beginning of my 2nd semester at NUS.
Influenced by her, I’ve also declared a second major in Data Analytics. Currently, my friend is at Stanford for an exchange program, immersing herself in statistics and philosophy. As we strolled through Stanford two weeks ago, having attended wonderful lectures together, I was reminded of the awe I had felt after first arriving at NUS four years ago. Now we’re both at the starting point of yet another cycle of our individual, and hopefully shared, lives. My friend and I are jointly working towards making Stanford, our dream university, a reality for both of us.
Best regards,
Guoyi
at the starting point of a new cycle
