Over the past three semesters in Science and Global Change the information presented has served as a strong addition to my major in Environmental Science and Policy and given me different perspectives on the scientific world, its processes, and current and past scientific findings in multiple realms of study. The lectures presented in class have been interesting and enlightening and i have enjoyed both the subject matter and enthusiasm of the professors.
Given my major of Environmental Science and Policy with a concentration in Global Environmental Change my scholars program served as a perfect addition and segway into information in my field. The classes I take outside of scholars directly support the information that the colloquium presented providing a solid background in global warming, its scientific findings and its causes, as well as the possible solutions to solve this crisis of climate change we are now facing such as with photovoltaic’s and other sources of renewable energy and sustainable ventures.
Because of my major the supporting courses of science and global change perfectly match my requirements. Three standouts from the past three semesters include ENSP 101 Introduction to Environmental Science, GEOG 201/211 Geography of Environmental Systems, and GEOG 415 Land use Climate Change and Sustainability. All three of these classes I thoroughly enjoyed and felt supported my knowledge that was covered in the scholars colloquium. ENSP 101 went through the broad span of learning that makes up environmental science and served as a challenging yet educationally rewarding course. The information covered in this class was the perfect accompaniment to science and global change giving a background on the basic Earth systems as well as more in-depth and higher levels of learning on El Nino and the processes that shape our environment. Taking this class made my understanding of the colloquium much more thorough whereas without I feel that some of the concepts presented I would not have been able to make the connections to their application. GEOG 201/211 also served as a wealth of background information to support the scholars program. So far in my academic career my favorite class has been GEOG 415 Landuse Climate Change and Sustainability. This course was insightful and rigorous pushing me to work hard and encouraged students to keep up to date with the most recent publishing's in the fields of climate change and climate science. I appreciated the fact that we were learning up to date science and encourages to think independently about the data collection and validity of the findings. Despite the fact that i was in an extreme minority as a freshman i was able to live up to the challenge and came out better for it growing more confident in my knowledge and leaving with an increased interest in the field.
One aspect of the colloquium that i found beneficial was learning to make a website. Learning to make a website was extremely demonstrative and applicable to real life. I had no idea that it was easy to make a website and keep it updated and I could see myself using this knowledge later in life. Also I feel that having a basic knowledge on the inner working o a website is helpful and good to understand what goes into the making of a website and its upkeep.
My favorite academic fieldtrip during the course of science and global change was that of the Marian Koshland Museum of Science. This museum was directed toward studies and problems that the National Academy of Sciences and interested me given that a large exhibit of the museum was on Climate Change and Global Warming. The exhibit went through all of the currently accepted information and ongoing studies on the problem of Climate Change as well as the social effects it is having and will have if we continue to follow this exponential trajectory of increasing Co2 emissions coupled with rising temperatures.
The living and learning segment of scholars was also a good addition to my freshman year. The people I met through this program were from a diverse background and I became very close friends with the people in my colloquium and being able to room close to the people that I took classes with as well as being surrounded by academically inclined persons made my transition into college life easier in balancing both the work and social aspects much easier.
Based on my interests and background this course was insightful and opened up pathways through the college that peaked my interest such as the office of sustainability and our guest speaker as well as visits from the library staff and other groups on campus and past scholars that gave a broader view and access to college life and different veins of participation that could be taken advantage of. Another of my favorite parts of the scholars program was the internship that we had to complete for the final project that we will undertake during the 4th semester. The internship that I decided to choose was with the AERONET program at NASA Goddard. Within this program I worked on the DRAGON campaign setting up a system of sunphotometers across the Washington metropolitan area and monitoring their data collection. This internship solidified my interest in the atmospheric sciences and opened me up to different opportunities in the field of science.
The ideas presented in this class also broadened my knowledge on a broad range of topics and bringing up issues that I had never thought about such as the issue of pseudoscience and how this affects the popular view of science as well as science in the media. Another thing emphasized in the class that I wish had been highlighted more was the professors specialties. Both Dr. Holtz and Dr. Merck have interesting educational and professional backgrounds on topics they are extremely passionate about and I would be interested in learning more about them.
The scholars program has set me up for a thorough background in the sciences and its history, methods, and its procedures. From this class I feel like I am taking away a strengthened knowledge of the ins and outs of modern day scientific processes that I had no idea existed to date and the steps necessary for the uptake of science in society. The segment on climate change was the most interesting to me and applicable to my future studies given that knowledge on sustainability and academia that comes with that is an intrinsic part of the direction of what I plan to delve into later in my academic career.
The course gave a thorough overview of many different scientific themes and subjects that were all linked together throughout the colloquium culminating in learning about the current changes our Planet is going through. I think the colloquium was extremely beneficial especially to those students who did not have a formal background in science and were able to come away with a heightened understanding of not only climate change but the effect they can make on reducing the problems currently at hand by becoming an involved and educated citizen and not allowing themselves to be fooled with scientific propaganda or other means of beguilement.