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Joseph Stephen Jewell

Biography

Summary: Joseph Jewell, 23, and previously an undergraduate Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, chose a rare double major - history and engineering - at California Institute of Technology, reflecting the broad scope of his interests. Mr. Jewell wants to do research on hypersonic planes that may fly up to 3,700 miles an hour. He also wants to explain aeronautical engineering to students and the public. Joseph earned a 3.8 GPA at Caltech, where he held a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship. In his spare time, he was a leader in student government and principal timpanist in the Caltech/Occidental Symphony Orchestra. He will seek an M.S. degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan and return to Caltech for his doctorate.

Graduate Scholarship Biography (prepared summer 2004): Joseph sees himself as a bridge between people of different backgrounds and skills. His experience as a history major at a predominantly technical institution has allowed him to grow more comfortable in that middleman role. Combining the study of history with science and engineering, he believes, helps him understand the effect each has on the other. "It is often noted that technological change - from the invention of agriculture to the development of the atomic bomb - has driven much of history," Mr. Jewell writes. "I am also intrigued by how much historical circumstances have influenced science. Would the United States have sent humans to the moon in 1969 if not for the Cold War?"
Mr. Jewell says his first real chance at leadership came in his high school marching band, where he played drums, and he still returns to his home town in rural Michigan each summer to teach percussion instruments to teen-age musicians. He continued his musical interests at Caltech, becoming first chair percussionist and timpanist for the Occidental-Caltech Symphony Orchestra. But he has not allowed music to interfere with his academic and research assignments.

He has investigated a novel type of rocket propulsion and taken part in three microgravity research projects in cooperation with the Johnson Space Center. During the latter experiments, Joseph and other students endured 25 seconds of zero gravity at one-minute intervals, sometimes fighting off illness as they worked. Since these projects were designed by students and funded by them, Joseph says, it required him to think more creatively and use his imagination to save money on equipment.

Joseph has taken a special interest in presenting science lectures to high school and grade school students. He has focused his attention on students who are now under-represented in scientific and engineering fields - minority groups, students from low-income families, and students from rural areas. "Making research exciting for students at all levels, and from all backgrounds, is a difficult goal, but one that is well worth striving for," he writes. "I believe that it doesn't take much to get people excited about science and the world around them."

Undergraduate Scholarship Biography (prepared Oct. 2002):
Joseph Jewell, who was named both a United States Presidential Scholar and National Merit Scholar, co-authored a nationally published SAT study guide while still in high school.

At Caltech, Joseph ran for and was elected to the Caltech student government for the last two years. "Science is collaborative, and as a science-focused student my increased leadership and interpersonal experience have been invaluable in helping to make worthwhile connections with other young scientists," he says. Also an accomplished percussionist, Joseph serves as principal timpanist and percussionist in the Occidental-Caltech Symphony Orchestra, and performed a concerto with the Caltech Concert Band last year as featured soloist.

Among Joseph's achievements at Caltech is his involvement with the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, a project of NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston. Joseph and his team of undergraduates were selected from their proposal to execute a physics experiment for NASA. "The process of building the experiment and meeting NASA's standards for construction was extremely instructive and fulfilling," he says.

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