My experience as a Science and Global Change Scholar has helped me in my understanding of the foundations of scientific practices, especially as it pertains to global climate change. First, the curriculum of SCG Scholars is tailored to both the discovery of science and understanding it as a method of uncovering truths about our world, as well as global climate change in both the past, present, and future. Secondly, SCG Scholars has pushed me to think about my own education outside of the classroom, putting me in contact with people and concepts that have further shaped my understanding of science as not just a calculation of facts and numbers, but a deep network of experimentation, working with others, and discovery of the universe around us. Finally, it has led me to do my own research about global climate change, questioning how my future work as a Mechanical Engineer will impact our climate, and how I can shape that into a positive impact. In these ways and many more, SCG Scholars has helped me further my understanding of science and climate change.
One example of me interacting with SCG-related material outside of class was seeing all of the news surrounding cryptocurrency. “Crypto” has blown up in the past couple of years, with some even arguing that it should be the ‘new’ currency of the future. With its rise in popularity however, the negative side-effects also became prevalent. It turns out that Bitcoin, the most popular of the cryptocurrencies, is extremely harmful to the environment. Both the process in “mining” crypto and transactions between Bitcoin holders generate carbon dioxide emissions, which as we have all learned by now is harmful to the environment. Cryptocurrency mining is extremely energy intensive, as computers are run all day every day to generate Bitcoin into individuals’ wallets, and even transactions between individuals have built up to an estimated “57 million tons of carbon dioxide annually” according to earth.org. My education as a SGC scholar piqued my interest in this problem of cryptocurrency carbon emissions, and from the subject material in class, I now understand that we must see these crypto carbon emissions as a threat to our environmental safety, and that they must be stopped for the safety of our future.
Additionally, I also experienced SCG-related material with the misapplication of scientific information as it pertains to Eugenics. An important topic in my class about the stigma surrounding disability, Eugenics was the globally popular idea that you could curate the human race into a ‘perfect’ race by choosing who can and cannot have children. For disabled individuals of the time, both mentally and physically, this was an imposed restriction on their freedoms. It was thought that by sterilizing disabled individuals, you would rid the world of their “imperfections.” And so in around the 1930s to the 1950s, when Americans with disabilities were sent to institutions, or released from prisons, it was customary to involuntarily sterilize these individuals, even though there was very little to no scientific evidence that their traits were passed down genetically. My education background in Scholars helped me realize early on that this was not only a social crime, but also a scientific crime.
I have also used knowledge from my Scholars class in other supporting courses around campus. For example, I have used the scientific method in both my Physics 1 and Physics 2 lab classes for the past year. In conducting experiments, it is always important to follow instructions perfectly, and record data correctly as we observe it. However, it can be very difficult to get the ‘correct’ numbers, and it can be very tempting to fake data in order to finish class early. I thank my Scholars education for teaching me the importance of legitimacy in data, and that you can’t just change your hypothesis when your data looks different than what you expect, or that you should fabricate data to match your hypothesis.
Additionally, PHYS270 itself has been easier to understand thanks to my education in the Scholars program. In SCG Scholars, we have learned that light energy from the sun gets transferred into heat energy when it hits our earth. And so, I found it interesting when we got introduced to the electromagnetic spectrum in my Physics 3 class, in which we learned that when light reflects off an object, the photon particles ‘kick off’ electrons from metal surfaces, which ended up supporting our understanding of Electromagnetic Radiation in the past. It is examples like these and more that make Scholars feel like an all-encompassing course about science, where we can learn about all kinds of interesting subjects that show up in other parts of our education!
The living learning aspect of SGC Scholars has made a gigantic impact on my life as a whole. It is through Scholars that I met my roommate turned best friend Akshay. I remember looking at our res-life profiles before arriving in Maryland, and thinking “wow, we don’t share ANYTHING in common:” He likes hip-hop, I like folk; He plays basketball, I play tennis! And yet, almost two years later, we have found that we’ve got more in common than we thought. An interest in science and problem solving, a love of social gatherings and hanging around with friends! Thanks to Scholars, I have met one of my bestest friends for life, and I look forward to rooming with Akshay for another two years!
I have had the great opportunity to contribute to SGC Scholars through my experience as a peer mentor. As a peer mentor, I have helped mentor 9 freshmen scholars students get acclimated to the college lifestyle, and in the process give back to the program. I got to meet my mentees for the first time during our service trip, where we dug out roots and rebuilt paths for the nearby national park. From then on, I have been there to help my mentees throughout the semester: getting acclimated to the on-campus lifestyle, going through the first midterm season, picking out classes for next semester, etc. I have had a great time getting to know my mentees by hosting events, whether that’s something simple like getting dinner at the Yahentamitsi diner, or through Scholars’ own Jeopardy event! I am so glad I took the opportunity to be a Scholars peer mentor, and I would invite future scholars to try it themselves! It is a wonderful program to help freshmen get used to life on campus, and a fun extracurricular where you get to learn what it means to be a successful mentor.
One belief I had before coming into CPSG100 was that nuclear energy was terrible for the environment, and extremely dangerous. However, that semester I was also enrolled in COMM107, a required class aimed at improving my presentation skills. In this class, I had the opportunity to write multiple presentations on any topics I wanted to discuss, and share to the class the research I had accomplished. For my second presentation, I was inspired by my Science and Global Change class to do research on nuclear energy production, as it had been mentioned in lecture with less malice than I had expected. After some research, I had learned that nuclear energy was far less dangerous than I had thought, and was a real contender for clean energy in the near future. The thesis of my presentation was that with the recent influx of renewable energy over the years, it seems like a no-brainer that the public would advocate for an extremely powerful, carbon neutral alternative to fossil fuels. However, the biggest problem standing in nuclear energy’s way is its public reception: anytime somebody mentions nuclear energy, people can’t help but think about Chernobyl, and the many other catastrophes caused by improper handling of nuclear energy. It was clear in my research about nuclear energy that it is a prime candidate for renewable energy, and so inspired by the SGC Scholars curriculum, I wrote my presentation about the impact nuclear energy could have on our world, and I believe it was a great success. Nuclear energy has never been safer, and with the increased awareness of carbon emissions, I explained the importance of incorporating it into our future electricity generation. If not for SGC, I would have never known about the positives of nuclear energy, and I would have never written that presentation.
Similarly to nuclear energy, before coming to college I always thought that global climate change was such a problem because we were behind on energy-efficient alternatives. However, after a year and a half of SGC Scholars, I’ve learned that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead, the problem is that many individuals and corporations either don’t believe in climate change, or don’t want to change their ways if it means spending more money in the short term. We have been shown again and again that clean alternatives exist for all kinds of situations, and that there are many, many ways we can save our planet if we would just devote more resources to it. For example, Drawdown is full of plans that are ALREADY IN PROCESS that just need more attention and importance drawn on them to gain the support they need. SGC Scholars has taught me that if we want to save the world from climate change, we need to inform the public, and convince them to follow cleaner solutions into the future.
I look forward to my future as a Mechanical Engineer, especially with an interest in global climate change, and I believe that SCG Scholars has had a major impact on my knowledge surrounding the topic. For my internship this past summer, I had the opportunity of working with CDM Smith, known for their work in water filtration plants as well as many other civil engineering feats. One inspiring aspect of their culture is that they are extremely aware of the environmental impact they have on the world, and center their approach around being environmentally cautious, and work on projects that will positively impact our world in the future. I want to do that. I want to make a difference on our environment for the better. Whatever I am doing in the future, whether that be drafting plans for new buildings, or engineering more efficient energy systems, or whatever the future holds for me, I want to make sure that my work leaves a positive impact on the world, especially for the environment’s sake.