Keshav's Three Semester Review

A) News Item

Throughout the last few semesters, I have constantly examined articles which were claiming that 2023 or 2024 was the hottest year on record. Here is an example of one by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Before SGC, I was not very clued in as to how we knew that this was the hottest year, specifically pertaining to what tools we were using. Obviously, it is feeling hotter outside and we are seeing more frequent extreme weather events, but I was curious about what scientific tools we were actually using to identify these temperatures. In CPSG101, specifically the lecture titled Welcome to the Anthropocene by Dr. Holtz, we talked about the keeling curve, the increase in CO2 concentration in terms of parts per million, and greenhouse gas emissions. This information provided the context behind the numbers thrown around in the articles, such as 1.5 degrees celsius warmer than pre industrial levels. This lecture especially went into the science behind such an article.

B) Connecting to my major

My major is computer science. While I must admit that there was not as much material pertaining to computer science as there was to engineering and geology, there was definitely one lecture that stood out to me, which was the future shock presentation given at the beginning of the semester by Dr. Merck. In this powerpoint, he discussed the wildly changing technologies even in the CS realm, such as facial recognition software, and on the battlefield, like drones and slaughter-bots. More than anything else, this lecture made me take a closer look at the ethics behind my major. I would say this topic does give me something to think about, particularly about what my future as a software engineer/machine learning specialist should look like. Should I participate in developing technologies that keep our country safe but could be potentially dangerous to others? I don't know the answer, but SGC has done good to bring up this question, which I don't typically see in my core Computer Science classes.

Now I will talk about my AOSC200 class, as my CS, Math, and AP Physics classes did not really mention climate change. My first example from AOSC200 about material that is connected to SGC is the simple understanding of weather and climate. In order to prepare for a world with climate change and other global changes, we have to understand the difference between weather and climate in the first place. This class defined weather as what you see on a day by day basis, and climate as a given 30 year interval. Therefore, climate change is defined as change over 30 years. We talked about similar stuff at the beginning of SGC too.

The second thing we talked about in AOSC200 was the basics of paleoclimatology. In the class, we wanted to understand change in our present time in the context of the past, so we talked about dendrochronology (the study of tree rings), ice cores, isotopes, and pollen records. These indicators detailed the past climate, enhancing my understanding about the history of climate on Earth. Again, similar material was discussed at the beginning of CPSG101, but I had a bit of a head start as I took this class first.

Two students I have worked with closely are Kenny Vasquez Chicas and Christian Randolph. We collaborated on the visions of the future project together, and I would say that we learned quite a lot during our research. Kenny and Christian both helped me find technologies that we could elaborate on in our project such as hydroponics and treated wastewater, and I suggested incorporating high speed rail into our city. Kenny and I have also worked together during an interview for the QUEST Honors program, and we were able to present an idea we had come up with and work to communicate effectively, and we were both successfully accepted into the program.

I think I have made an active contribution to discussions with my SGC peers in the colloquiums, particularly in this past semester. In our breakout groups, we were able to inform each other about the various technologies that we had studied and researched in the Drawdown book. I worked to help my groups learn about wind turbines, electric bikes, and afforestation, to name a few technologies I studied. Colloquiums were a good way for me to contribute to the class and the program at large.

Since this next question pertains to Scholars as a whole and not just SGC, I would like to talk about my roommate Kyle Bacon, who is in STS. Kyle challenged my beliefs about what it means to be a successful student in college, in a positive way. Throughout the weekends of the past 3 semesters, I have had the tendency to hunker down and effectively grind on my work to prepare for exams and complete projects in my classes. Kyle is taking many of the same classes as me, but he always makes the effort to try and go camping with the Terrapin Trail Club. His grades do not suffer, and he is also a tremendously hard worker. He has challenged my belief about having to study endlessly and waste away in my room, instead providing an alternative that still produces results while maximizing fun. I have been able to join the trail club and participate on fun excursions of my own thanks to his influence. I think he has shown me that there are ways to have fun and to still succeed, which is an important lesson that I have needed to learn.

Overall, Scholars has been a great place for me to meet people who I think can help me out in my future career. It has provided me with a base network that can further my chances of landing premium jobs in this difficult job market. Scholars has definitely helped me work collaboratively with my peers, and at least in the near future, I think I can meaningfully contribute in the group projects in my junior and senior years. I also think the logical fallacy and scientific method lessons will make me a more critical thinker going forward in the future.

Last modified: 06 December 2024