Sanchez Circuit sat down with David for a special one-one interview.

What is your first name?

David.

What is your major?

Course 2. Mechanical Engineering.

Where did you go to school?

MIT.

What year are you?

Second year.

What is the one piece of technology you can’t live without?

Probably, my computer.

PC or Mac?

PC, but I respect the Mac because it is good for work but not good for video games.

Favorite equation?

Pythagorean theorem. It describes so much.

What is the last thing that you built, or took apart in lab?

Microsoft handed out a kit of magnetic balls and linking pieces from which I built a mobile that would stay spinning because of the low friction between the two pieces (motions with his hands). I put all the weight below so when they spun it was pretty close to falling but it didn’t.

What is your least favorite class?

Probably, my anthropology class (holds up his book).

What is your favorite class?

8.012. There are two sections of the mechanics and in the more advanced section I learned how different intricate things work. One of the things that fascinated me for a long time was when you spun a quarter and to see what it would do. Even today when I play with a quarter, I watch how it spins and rotates and think about all the torques acting on it. It’s just so cool. You can figure out all the mathematics of how fast it is going this way and how fast it is rotating. Euler’s disc, pretty cool.

If you could own a company, what would it be?

Not anything necessarily philanthropic or anything like that, but a company where I got to do what I wanted to do and be in charge of people. Naturally, it would have to be lucrative.

What is your dream job?

Designing, not research, but designing to do something. I like the idea of trying to solve a problem and figuring out how to make something do a certain function. (SC: You mean being an engineer.) Yeah, I guess so.

What did you want to be as a kid?

A lot of different things. For a good year and half I wanted to be a professional snow boarder. I told my brother he had to get rich out of college so he could fund my tour. I wanted to be an astronaut also.

Righty or lefty?
Righty.

What is the coolest thing you have every done?
Being afforded the opportunity to appreciate nature and understand how we interact with it and how you don’t need all the frills, technology, and all things people think they need to have.

Why did you choose science and engineering?
I’ve always been fascinated with how things work and understanding anything basically. I’ve always been questioning. I never understood how a tree gets older – is it the outer part that is the oldest or the inner part the oldest? Exploring and working out different reasonings for why things work a certain way. It’s all about the pursuit of knowledge.

If you weren't an engineer/scientist what would you be?

Despite this being my least favorite class since I’ve been here, I’m really interested in what motivates people to do certain things like religion. It would be cool to study all major religions of the world and examine how it affects group interactions and government and draw correlations.

Who is your favorite superhero?
The guy who makes fire. (Sanchez Circuit: You mean the Human Torch?) Yeah, The Human Torch. He’s cool.

What is your favorite kind of music?

I like pretty much everything except for country. Sublime, Pink Floyd, classic rock.

What is your favorite car?

1963 Corvette

What is your favorite video game?

Golden Eye.

What is your favorite toy?

My computer because of it’s processing power. As for a physical toy, I would say a gyroscope.

How would you explain the color red to someone who never had sight?

I like this question. I’ve thought about this before. This summer my girlfriend and I were watching the sunset. You could see the full spectrum of the rainbow in it. I was thinking how you would explain it to someone who couldn’t see. First you would explain how different wavelengths work and how it varies across the spectrum and how you get different things when you excite electrons etc., etc., etc. After you explain the scientific side try to imagine that each wavelength represents a different color.

If you could invite anyone to the last supper, who would it be?

My mom, dad, and brother.

What is your favorite item of clothing?

My shoes (points to brown DVS shoes).

What is your favorite and last book read?

The last book I read was “Angels and Demons” (Dan Brown). My favorite book is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “House of Seven Gables”. I learned so much on how I like to structure sentences and how I would be inspired to write if I cared more for writing.

What is your favorite software?

iTunes.

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