Joshua Steiner's Three Semester Review

The Science and Global Change (SGC) Scholar's Program has talked a lot about the global change going on, what we should expect, and finally what can be done about this change. During my first three semesters of college (and SGC) I have seen many things that make me think about SGC and relate to the information that we had learned throughout our three semesters. One example is related to weather in the past year. There are always big dangerous storms across the world, but this past year has seen a significant increase in deadly, dangerous weather events. Especially in terms of their intensity, but also the frequency of them. One of these storms was Hurricane Idalia, which caused a decent amount of damage and flooding when it hit land. In fact, the hurricane season in 2023 in the US has been one of the worst hurricane seasons on record, in terms of number of hurricanes and their intensity. Because of SGC I know that this is to be expected due to climate change that is occurring across the world, and storms elsewhere will also see these patterns. The material in SGC that has been most effective in helping me enhance my attitude towards my major has been renewable energy and different types of energy/electricity management and generation. My major is Electrical Engineering and is very broad, so I have not been very sure of what I want to do with it, or what field I want to go into. But SGC has helped me realize that I want to go into the energy/power sector of electrical engineering. This has helped me plan out courses that I will take for my major and make plans for post-graduation. One supporting course for SGC that I have taken is PHYS270. This Physics course deals with many abstract concepts such as magnetism, light, and relativity. Focusing specifically on magnetism and light , both of these have many applications in helping reduce carbon emissions. Magnetism can be used in MAGLEV trains, which would decrease the use of cars and in turn, car emissions. While light can be concentrated using prisms and reflected tow ards many solar panels, increasing solar panel efficiency. Another supporting course that I have taken for SGC is CHEM135. This is a general chemistry course for engineering majors, and in this course, we went over the carbon cycle and the chemical process behind it all. This helped me to better understand and connect the dots of what and how CO2 is getting into the atmosphere, and really understand how big of an issue this is. Last year I met someone in SGC who has become a good friend of mine. He also lived in Centreville Hall, and his roommate was an Electrical Engineer and in my classes, so I was able to become friends with both of them because of my connection through SGC. My friend from SGC has been in a couple of other classes of mine, and that has allowed us to study together and collaborate on things. From him I have been able to make connections with others and have a memorable first three semesters at UMD and as a Science and Global Change scholar. Being in his living-learning community has helped me make friends and succeed in my classes , which I am very grateful for. I feel I have contributed to SGC well in terms of the projects that we have done. Whenever there was a group project or presentation, I would like to try hard and get a good product about something I am personally passionate about. For example, the presentation for fall 2023 is where I had my group pick to talk about high-speed railways across the U.S. That is a topic that I am personally interested in and believe would be beneficial not only climate wise (more train use means less car use, i.e. less emissions), but also socially because it would allow people to not have to buy cars and gas and encourage walking and biking (healthier and more social lifestyles). Also, the group presentation from the first year of SGC where my group talked about permafrost in Siberia. It is a serious issue that is significantly increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but since not many people live in Siberia, no one is talking about it. Since that project was a YouTube video, I tried hard to make it informative and persuasive so that when others watch it, they learn something and maybe will want to help fight climate change. In all honesty, scholars did not really bring me into contact with any people or concepts that challenged previous beliefs or opinions that I had. I feel as though I have had a fortunate education and have learned many things that were already related to Science and Global Change, so the things that I did learn here have only reinforced my knowledge and beliefs. And in terms of people, I have really only met people and befriended those who have similar beliefs and thoughts as mine. I've definitely come across others that do not share my beliefs, but I have not known it since I haven't had conversations about those topics that would tell me that they think differently than me. So throughout these three first semesters of college, I have really only had my ideas on climate change and life reinforced by SGC and college in general. I feel that the SGC Scholars program will be very beneficial in my future. It will make me think about the little things in life, such as turning off light switches when I leave a room, but it will also make me think about the bigger things in life such as how much energy I am regularly using, that I could probably cut down on. I'll want to go outside more to enjoy nature and the people around me. In terms of college, as I continue my journey in Electrical Engineering, I will find energy topics that I can relate to SGC and what I have learned in the course. I feel SGC was a beneficial part of not only my college experience, but my life as well.