Interview Essay

One of the most unique things about the Ohio State University is its people. Everyone here has their own story, all coming together in one place with similar dreams of success within their academia. To get a closer look at their personal experiences and research, I met with an upperclassman, a teacher’s assistant and a professor to ask them various questions. The purpose of these interviews was to have a first-hand taste of the flavors that they bring to Ohio State while simultaneously learning tips for success within my own career as a STEM scholar.

The process for the interviews varied between each interviewee. For my TA interview, I decided to talk with Austin Antoniou, my TA in calculus 2. I chose him because I recognized how math-based my major is, and I planned on asking him about his experiences with mathematics at OSU. Finally, I chose to interview Lei Bao, the accomplished professor of my physics 1250 class. I chose him because I read his articles about technology improving the learning experiences in classrooms and was very interested in it. The article was also relatable to my major and goals of creating technology to help with everyday tasks. For my upperclassman, I decided that one of my best choices would be my STEM mentor, Ryan Springer. Being only a year older than me as well as being in the same major as I am, computer science and engineering. Choosing to interview him ended up being a no-brainer.

For my upperclassman interview, I wanted to focus mainly on experiences in school as well as advice for getting through the long, tough years of college. I learned that my interviewee Ryan Springer had no plans for grad school after his four years at OSU. He plans instead to have a job lined up for him by the time he leaves. If not, he wants to job hunt within his field of CSE. Ultimately, he wants to score a job at a big name company like Google or Microsoft. Interestingly, his plans are almost identical to mine. I plan to have a small job in a place like Best Buy while I look for a job more fitting with my major. Ultimately, I would like to work for a big name software or video game company, like Google or Blizzard. When I asked him for a tip for freshmen, he responded, “Do all of your homework.” He shared his experience with skipping homework and how it negatively affected his grades. He even said that doing homework is one of the best ways to learn material and study for exams. While he may not have been very experienced in the fields of working like my TA, he offered a great view from someone in my field of study who I can consider as my peer.

Interviewing my calculus TA Austin Antoniou gave me a lot of insights into the world of graduate schooling and teaching. Although he truly enjoys being a TA, I learned that becoming a TA was a requirement for him in his graduate program. After his experience in grad school, he plans on following the academic track and becoming a professor or working in the industry under some sort of mathematical field. From his answers, it becomes obvious that he is a man very passionate and confident in his major. I learned that confidence in one’s major can lead him/her to follow the academic path of his/her dreams. Personally, I cannot imagine a life of only math, but as long as there are people out there as passionate about it as Austin, there will always be availabilities within the field. I also asked Austin about what research is like within his major. He replied with, “There are questions that are unanswered. In my research, I try to answer them.” While this answer may have been a little vague, it perfectly describes all forms of research, as well as their goals. We may never be able to fully understand the world, but through research, we can hope to answer some of the questions that we do not have the conclusions for.

When it comes to research, no other person comes to mind other than my physics professor, Lei Bao. When deciding to interview him, I looked up his scholarly articles and read through a few in order to prepare questions for him. To find his articles, I went to the OSU Universities Libraries page which contained a link to Scopus. From there, I set the search engine’s affiliation to “The Ohio State University,” and I set the document type to “article.” When I looked for articles regarding technology in the classroom, I stumbled across an article by Bao regarding the use of clickers to interact with students during lectures. I clicked on the “download” button to download and read it.

When interviewing Professor Bao, I made sure to focus my interests on the article about clickers. During class, Bao puts up a question in front of the class and prompts us for answers on our smart phones. I asked him about what he thinks about what he thought about clickers in all different types of subjects, to which he responded that they should “enhance learning, no matter what subject.” He even directed me to one of the points in his articles, where he used data from an experiment with students using clickers versus those without and showed the effectiveness in comparison. I also asked him about what he felt about the technological direction that classrooms were moving in as we approach the future. I wanted to know if he preferred the older, more traditional style of learning or the newer styles using computers and phones. Expectedly, he preferred the newer ways. He said that advancing classrooms with newer technologies was one of the goals he was working for. We have common ideals when it comes to the topic, as we both agree that the direction modern classrooms are taking will benefit the students at the expense of changing up the normal formula that has been accustomed to us. As a computer science major, I plan on using my skills to help the advancement of today with my own technology and software.

My interview with Professor Bao allowed me to see his experiences with research and his passion for his teaching.

Overall, my interviews gave me insight on the lives of people holding different roles in the school. My experiences with the interviewees were positive, as I learned what their own stories were, as well as tips for me to reach goals within my own field. Gaining knowledge from my peer, a grad student, and a professor gave me a better understanding on how to succeed as a STEM scholar.