Charles Keppler ’18 | @OurSyracuseU

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Charles Keppler ’18 is majoring in aerospace engineering, physics and applied mathematics in the College of Engineering & Computer Science. He is from Bennington, Vermont.

Charles is the College Marshal for the Engineering class of 2018 and was a finalist in the James Dyson Award Competition and Impact Prize. He is involved with Ottotunes A Cappella, U100, the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Physics Students, and Sigma Gamma Tau National Honor Society for Aerospace Engineers.

What is your favorite thing about Syracuse?

The sense of community and family you get here on campus. Everyone here bleeds orange and it’s through that commonality that people find a home.

If you could tell a new or incoming student just one thing about Syracuse, what would it be?

Be unapologetically yourself, and you will find a place and a family here at Syracuse.

Hello everyone! My name is Charles Frederick Keppler, but you can call me Cheeks, and for the next week I'll be showing you a little bit about my life here at Syracuse University. I am a senior in @engineeringsu triple majoring in Aerospace Engineering, Physics, and Applied Mathematics. I grew up in Bennington, Vermont, then moved to New York City for intermediate and high school. During the school year I keep myself busy with a number of extracurricular activities; I am in an all-male a cappella group called Otto Tunes and serve as co-recruitment for the University 100 (the tour guides). I am also president of Sigma Gamma Tau (an Aerospace Engineering honor society) and get involved in musical theatre with What? Theatre. I also have the honors of being selected as one of the College of Engineering and Computer Science's 2018 College Marshals and being on the Class of 2018's Homecoming Court. I hope you're all as excited about this week as I am! Also, I will be concluding each post this week with a favorite quote and a challenge. Today, I challenge you to tell someone that you're thankful for them. Let me know how it goes! – C.F.K. * * "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." – George Bernard Shaw * * #Syracuse #syracuseuniversity #syracuseu #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #EngineeringSU

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Today we're having a training session for a new class of SU tour guides. Being a tour guide often times means being one of the only students that prospective students get to meet and interact with. By sharing my love for Syracuse University with them, I can spread the joy and spirit that this university has given me these past four years. I also have the opportunity, starting today, to help train and grow the next generation of tour guides and share my experience with prospective students through them as well. It's a truly humbling and gratifying experience, and I'm thankful for all the time I have spent sharing my love for SU with others. Your next challenge is to think about the place you are right now. Really try to appreciate it and write a list of three things you love about this place. Feel free to share the place and/or what you love about it! – C.F.K. * * "'Kindly let me help you or you'll drown,' said the monkey, putting the fish up a tree." – Alan Watts * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #Tourguide #Tourguides #U100 #University100

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Studying is an unfortunately unavoidable aspect of every college experience. When I first came to SU I didn't have very good study habits-I had to learn the hard way how necessary studying is, and how important it is to set aside time to do work and review. One of my favorite places to study is in Panasci Lounge in Schine. It's a big open room that lets in a lot of light, has a great view of the Hall of Languages, and also is a great place to people watch during study breaks. I often find a study buddy already working here too, and working with someone else allows you to motivate and encourage each other! It's important to find the places you work best for those #grind days. Your next challenge is to reach out to a friend you haven't spoken to in a while. Ask them how they've been and encourage them to keep working towards their dreams! – C.F.K. * * "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." – Nelson Mandela * * #SyracuseU #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #Panasci #Study #Studying

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I've found myself reflecting on my time at SU quite a bit as graduation approaches. I am not the same person today that I was in this picture, which was taken the day I moved into Shaw Hall freshman year. I have learned so much about the worlds with which I live, both the internal and the external. I have developed interests and passions beyond anything I had considered three and a half years ago, and feel like I am prepared to pursue them. I have grown so much in such a short amount of time and being a student here at Syracuse is what helped me along that path. I've made some good decisions and some bad ones but, looking back, I am thankful for them all. And I'm thankful for SU for being both the air that lifts me up (Ha aerospace puns) and the earth that supports me below. How often do you practice gratitude? Your challenge is to write a list of at least five things you're grateful for today, and if you're feeling ambitious go for ten! I'd love to hear what some of them are! – C.F.K. * * "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." – Albert Einstein * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studentlife #Studenttakeover #Thankful #Gratitude #WaybackWednesday

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Syracuse University is a top-tier research institution, and I have had the pleasure of assisting with a number of projects. Notably, I got to work in the High Energy Physics lab last summer. My job was helping to construct mechanical supports for sensors designed to detect beauty quarks (really really tiny and unique particles) in a new round of Large Hadron Collider (Big loop that smashes tiny things together)experiments. More recently, I've had the opportunity to get involved, minimal as it may be, with aircraft propulsion research being conducted by Professor Dang and PhD candidate Andrew Welles. They are exploring the enormous potential of distributed electric propulsion. The idea is that instead of having an engine mounted away from the wing, your propulsion system is PART of the wing. This helps to generate more lift (what makes a plane go up) and thrust (what makes a plane go forward), and makes for a significantly more efficient plane. It could also be implemented in the design electric vertical liftoff and landing (eVTOL) systems for futuristic vehicles like #airtaxis. At Syracuse, it's research like this that's pushing the boundaries of conventional science. Your challenge this evening is to think of the worst joke you can, and send it to your friends! Laughter is a great way to relieve stress and feel good, and it's contagious! I'd love to hear what you think up! – C.F.K. * * "Do not let your classes get in the way of your education." – Anonymous * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Studenttakeover #Orange #Studentlife #Research #STEM #Engineering

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This semester I am working on my senior design project with my teammates and good friends Jake and Dalya. We’re designing and building a small plane to carry a 2L bottle rocket payload. The challenge in senior design is to take everything you have learned from your classes and coursework from the past 3.5 years and apply it to a single design project. It’s both difficult and rewarding. Today, we were learning manufacturing methods and how to work with materials. We have a lot of unique ideas that will likely become manufacturing nightmares, but we’re still optimistic! The challenge this morning is to take a moment and ponder the following question: If everything you have learned and experienced were to be shown in some final project, some culminating work that shows you and your life, what would that project be and what would it show others? – C.F.K. * * “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”- Socrates * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #Seniordesign #Senior #EngineeringSU

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Two years ago, I was just finishing up a trip through Scandinavia that I took during spring break while studying abroad—trust me when I say I learned a lot of hard lessons about the value of planning. I spent a semester studying at @UniversityCollegeDublin and it was a truly life-changing experience.  I met so many kind and welcoming people and learned just how much I do not know about the world. Traveling increases your awareness of and appreciation for the vast variety of cultures and peoples who share this little blue marble we call home. Syracuse University has a great study abroad program, but regardless of where you go I encourage all those who still can study abroad to do just that. For those who can’t I highly encourage traveling. Not to the popular tourist destinations, but to the small towns and cities that surround the big destinations. Challenge yourself to explore and to learn. My challenge is an easy one: share two places you would love to visit. One place must be somewhere on earth, and the other can be anywhere in any universe (Books, Movies, Video games, etc.). I’ll start! I want to visit Iceland and The Citadel (from Mass Effect). Where do YOU want to go? – C.F.K. * * “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”- Carl Sagan * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #TBT #StudyAbroad #traveling #travel #wanderlust

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I have the honor of being one of the @engineeringsu’s Class of 2018 College Marshals. I am truly thankful for having been selected from among the many talented and qualified peers of mine within the college and look forward to walking with everyone who has worked so hard these past years to complete a degree in engineering. Though receiving recognition is nice, it should not be the goal. Follow your passions and the recognition with come. What are you passionate about? What work brings you fulfillment? My challenge is to write down 5 crazy dreams that you would love to see yourself doing, then figure out something you can do every day to move towards at least one of them! I’d love to hear what it is! – C.F.K. * * “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”- Lao Tzu * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #CollegeMarshal #Marshal #Passions #EngineeringSU

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Today, my partner Serena Omo-Lamai and I had the pleasure of competing in 2018 Raymond von Dran iPrize competition. We had the honor of winning prize money to support our endeavor and have been chosen to represent SU at the New York State Business Plane Competition next month! We are the inventors of FibreFree, which is a laundry ball that helps to mitigate that catastrophic effects of microfiber pollution by collecting them before they leave the washing machine. For those who are unfamiliar, microfibers are the tiny plastic fibers that break off of synthetic textiles (polyester, nylon, etc.). They are very small and difficult to notice but have already contaminated over 90% of tested US tap water sources. Serena and I developed FibreFree last summer during the Invent@SU program, and now we’re working to put a stop to that such that we may #livefibrefree. Furthermore, resources on campus like @launchpadsyr are critical in helping us to develop our product and make it a reality. With a huge entrepreneurial and innovative spirit here at SU, I am happy to know that my dreams are being supported. Your challenge this evening is to tune into your TV’s or streams and watch the SU vs. Duke game at 9:30 pm and get ready to #BeatDuke! – C.F.K. * * “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #Entrepreneurship #Inventor #Microfiberpollution #Blackstone #launchpad #WeAreEntrepreneurs

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Its only fitting I end my takeover with this group of gentlemen that has defined my experience here at SU. I have the honor and pleasure of being in the all-male a cappella group @ottotunes. Otto Tunes (OT) is my definition of brotherhood. These boys have often been my favorite part of every week and have been necessary for keeping me sane during the high stress times. Everyone is supportive and caring and we push each other to do our best both in the group and outside. We're in Belfer Studio today recording a couple of songs and starting our week off strong. If you want to hear us live, Otto Tunes is having their spring invitational on Saturday, April 7th! It will be in Shemin Auditorium at 7 pm, and it’s free for all to attend! Your final challenge is a big one. I challenge you to follow your heart. What excites you? What are you passionate about? Do that and always be unapologetically you. Thank you for an amazing week! Signing off, Cheeks. – C.F.K. * * “Do all things with love.” –Og Mandino * * #Syracuse #SyracuseUniversity #SyracuseU #SU #Cuse #Orange #Studenttakeover #Studentlife #OttoTunes #OT #SelfieSunday

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