As of writing this I am currently in the middle of the second week of December and nearing the end of my third semester. Wait, did I read that right? Why is it already the end of the semester? Where did the rest of the semester go? Why did this entire semester feel so short?
Ignoring my sense of time being skewed, One thing I can say and am certain about is being a Science and Global Change (SGC) scholar for the past 3 semesters. Much like at the end of the first 2 semesters it's time for me to write my third (and unfortunately final) end of semester review.
Let's start at the beginning. Back when I was a freshman that just got accepted into UMD. I’ll be honest, I was surprised to find I was invited to become a College Park Scholar and even more so that I was placed in SGC. When the form to sign up to become a College Park Scholar got sent to me I more or less filled it out on a whim because I thought why not. I don’t remember which program I signed up for or the precedence of each program but one thing I do know was that SGC was one of those programs. I mean I wouldn’t be writing this otherwise. My prior knowledge of climate change in general chalked up to knowing it was the changes in weather patterns and temperature across the world. Now after 3 semesters of attending SGC colloquiums and field trips I know climate change is a lot more than just global temperature change and weather patterns. It involves the various carbon fluxes and sinks, the anthropogenic or human activities that caused climate change, the history behind Earth’s ever changing climate, and much more which made me realize just how little I truly know about climate change.
As a computer science major at UMD (very original major I know) I didn’t really give much thought to climate and global change in general since I thought that there wouldn’t be much correlation between the two. As the semester progressed however I soon realized that I could utilize computer science in various aspects of combating climate change. An example comes from one of the supporting classes I took for SGC which would be one of the various CMSC classes that I have already taken. To be specific I am talking about threading and how a computer processor can run multiple things at once to make things more efficient. After learning about solutions on how we can reduce our future carbon emissions one such solution stuck out to me and that would be the smart grid. In order to use all of the energy that we produce without wasting a good percent of it we would need to employ smart grids that will send energy to places where it is needed while reducing the amount towards places that don't need as much energy. This would most definitely require a machine of sorts that will have to manage multiple different energy outlets at once. In order to do multiple things at once without ruining the efficiency of the machine you would need proper threads in order to be able to get things up and running smoothly without much trouble or lag. Without a doubt, as we progress into the future we will find better and better ways to distribute energy to where it's needed but for now we have to stick to methods like threading as a sort of base if we want to implement something as big as a smart grid for a city.
While still on the topic of supporting classes for SGC, as of writing this I have only taken 2 supporting courses and they are any one of the CMSC classes I took that I just mentioned as well as either MATH140/141. Aside from threading in the CMSC classes, I can’t exactly think of anything specific in those subjects that I can connect with the things that we have talked about in SGC. I will be taking another supporting course this upcoming spring semester to fulfill my scholar's requirements so hopefully I can apply what I have learned here in SGC and maybe even find better solutions to combating climate change.
Speaking of solutions, it did surprise me in the amount of ways in which I can see myself applying my skills as a computer science major. One thing was the smart grid that I just mentioned but there are a variety of other solutions as well that may require machine assistance like making buildings more efficient or electric vehicles and maybe even the implementation of high speed rail. Without a doubt there may be some degree of coding that will be needed in some of these solutions. It's safe for me to say that I have come a long way from thinking that I would not be able to use my computer science skills for anything climate change related. Going through scholars made me realize all that I could potentially use my major for.
SGC has not only affected how I view my major but it also changed how I view certain occurrences in the world. About two months ago as of writing this in October the temperature was unusually warm despite the fact last October was very cold to the point where I was freezing even with a heavy coat. I was discussing this to some friends of mine who were also wondering why it was so warm despite being so late into the year. Then I remembered about the El Nino and La Nina events we discussed during my second semester here and thought it may be the result of that and, lo and behold, when I searched up if there was a La Nina event occurring there indeed news/media coverage about a La Nina event that will occur in the next few months. The news coverage would have likely covered more about the La Nina event and what will result from it but most of the information about what a La Nina event does to our global temperature is stuff that I already knew about. It was still interesting to see that a La Nina event is going to unfold right in these next few months and I doubt that I would have ever seen media coverage on the La Nina that will occur. I might not have even known why it was so unusually warm to begin with and just brushed the warm weather off as “climate change”.
One thing I will say about this program is the number of people taking this class that comes from all pursuing different majors. From the people I have talked to there were computer science majors like myself but also people pursuing a physics major, biochem major, information science major, and likely a variety of other majors as well and they know all sorts of stuff as well. Some of these people have actually broadened my view and are one of the main factors on how I started connecting my own computer science major with climate change and sometimes it's interesting to listen and bounce ideas off other people when discussing an assignment or something specific in colloquium.
Also interesting was how like minded that everyone is when discussing certain topics. We all have varying opinions but one thing that we all agree on is trying to create a better future in terms of our global climate. I may have disagreed with a classmate on certain ideas or solutions or they might have different ideas and opinions on what we discuss, but there has never really been a moment during my time in SGC where something has challenged and changed my beliefs prior to joining SGC.
Moving on to scholars as a whole, I didn’t really feel like I contributed much to the scholars program. I did say at the beginning of this review that I more or less signed up for this program on a whim but I will say that I tried my best to contribute to what I can. Whether it was helping out at an aquatic garden on service day or contributing whatever knowledge I could during excursions, even if I did commit to something “on a whim” I intend to do my very best regardless of what it is. You reap what you sow after all.
In the end I believe that SGC was a valuable part of my personal thinking. Not academic thinking but personal. It may have contributed very little to my actual major and it may have been a complete headache in terms of registering for classes while trying to keep up with my major and SGC requirements but I still think it will be important for what I will do in the future. I might even land a job that requires some degree of knowing our current climate and its trends. One thing is certain though, being in SGC will likely change some of the decisions I may make in the future like adopting carbon neutral technology or finding ways to create energy that isn't at the expense of the entire planet. The only way for me to determine this at all is to keep trudging along in life and doing my very best to do my part and keep the planet and all its inhabitants in a place that we can call home.