The official power supply for the First Robotics Competition (FRC)®, Sealed Lead-Acid (SLA) batteries boast high reliability, low cost, and high-discharge rates. However, as co-president of my robotics team, I always doubted whether these batteries could always provide the necessary power to the robots during matches in an efficient manner, especially when deep cycles and motor temperature increases create more resistance. Using my knowledge in batteries from my research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, I decided to research on the impact of motor temperature changes to battery voltage. The research was conducted on three different batteries that were eight months, fifteen months, and three years old. These three batteries were used to run eight NEO Brushless motors in room temperature and heightened temperature starting from 100% State of Charge (SoC). The time it took for the batteries to decrease four volts from the initial voltage was measured and compared between the two different temperature levels. While the results demonstrated that the temperature elevation in motors drastically decreased the voltage performance of all three age groups of batteries, it also demonstrated that the voltage drops were significantly higher and the time to drop 2V and 4V was shortened as the battery age increased. 

While I was doing my research in PBL, I got in touch with my Great Aunt who was working as a missionary in Guatemala. In her group of fellow Korean missionaries, she was responsible for establishing schools and churches for children and teenagers in rural communities and finding educational opportunities for prisoners. When I told her about my research in PBL and my past experience teaching math, she offered me to teach at one the schools she helped establish. Of course, I couldn't refuse the golden opportunity to test my own curriculum.

Designing a PBL curriculum was no easy task. Guatemala not only had a completely different from the one in the U.S, but the missionary-built rural school I was taught at a completely different pace compared to the public schools in the urban areas. To make my class successful, I bought and studied multiple Guatemalan math textbooks, asked advice from local math teachers as well as korean missionaries that were familiar with the children I was going to be teaching, and watched spanish math youtube videos . Despite all of my efforts, the first day was a flop; most students failed the level test that I had prepared for them, and many students left the classroom in the middle of class because they were bored. Instead of being discouraged I made changes to my lesson plans to fit the needs of the students. As a result students began to find enthusiasm in learning math and their grades rose drastically. The local missionaries were especially amazed that I was able to retain most of my original class size, which has rarely happened during outreach programs like mine. The teachers at the school even decided to continue using my PBL curriculum, hoping that it would continue to benefit the students. Although I wasn't able to collect data from these students without a consent form, I was able to make new friends and leave a positive impact at Guatemala.