Year in Review (Reflection on the G.O.A.L.S.)

My path to achieving the goals established by the University Honors & Scholars Center and the Arts and Sciences Honors Program has changed since I previously considered this my first year.

For Global Awareness, I still plan to take various International Studies courses (4700 – Terrorism and 4701 – Weapons of Mass Destruction) and History courses (3270 – World War I, 3570 – World War II, 3575 – The Korean War, and 3580 – The Vietnam War) to fulfill both my General Education (GE) and History minor requirements. However, rather than participating in an Education Abroad session which is what I had originally anticipated, I plan to utilize STEP to fund a research experience down at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama next summer. I am currently working project specifics out with my advisor Dr. John Horack to provide detail on my anticipated project titled The Search for Gravitational Lensing in the Time Profiles of Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts in my STEP proposal.

In order to fulfill Original Inquiry, I still plan to participate in Astrophysics research and complete an honors thesis. I have actually been accepted to and will be participating in the Ohio State Department of Astronomy’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program this summer. I will be working with Dr. Hao Yi (Heidi) Wu, a post-doctoral researcher and a Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (CCAPP) fellow in the Department of Physics. My project will involve studying weak gravitational lensing of galaxy clusters through analysis of simulations for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Specifically, we will be analyzing simulations for Data Challenge 2 (DC2), or the second data release for LSST. Plus, the research I participate in this summer will prepare me for my anticipated STEP project next summer in gravitationally lensed gamma-ray bursts. Dr. Horack’s intention is for me to participate in research in the field of gravitational lensing this summer and through my project with him.

Regarding Academic Enrichment, I still plan to challenge myself through honors courses in my majors, my minor, and my GE courses. I have already had the wonderful opportunity to take English 1110.01H with Dr. Martin Ponce, Classics 2220H with Dr. Julia Hawkins, Math 2568H with Dr. Sanjeevi Krishnan, Physics 1250H with Dr. Samir Mathur, and Physics 1251H with Dr. Amy Connolly. Since taking their courses, I have developed a relationship with the professors outside of class. I am currently taking Engineering 2367.01H with Dr. Lynn Hall, and I plan to take Physics 3201H with Dr. Harris Kagan, Physics 5400H, and Physics 5500H next fall. Other professors I have also come to know and develop a strong relationship with include Dr. John Johnson and Dr. Sjuvon Chung in the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Scott Gaudi and Dr. Richard Pogge in the Department of Astronomy, and Dr. John Horack in the College of Engineering. I value the opportunities I have had to meet these incredible professors and to get to know them better. I look forward to meeting more.

Through my involvement in various student organizations and other groups on campus, I am working to improve my Leadership experience. I am currently involved in the Astronomical Society, the Society of Physics Students, Sigma Pi Sigma: The Physics Honor Society (of which I am now officially a member), Radical Pi, and the Battelle Center. The first four listed are student organizations that enrich student experience through lectures given by faculty members in the various fields. However, the Battelle Center is an independent entity housed under the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. The group is composed of a combination of engineering, public policy, science, and students of many other fields who apply interdisciplinary collaboration in order to tackle a wide variety of problems. I specifically attend their weekly Aerospace SCOPE (Student Communities of Practice and Engagement) meetings and any other events that I can make and are of interest to me. We participate in a wide variety of events from visits with distinguished guests (for instance former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and current NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine) to discussions of relevant current and recent events (for instance the recent Ethiopian Airlines incident where a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff due to loss of control of the aircraft). I highly value the opportunities the Battelle Center has provided me and the valuable lessons it has taught me in the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork.

Finally, my plan to achieve the goal of Service Engagement has changed. I am a Scholar Ambassador for the scholarship program I am a part of, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Young Scholars Program (YSP). My primary role involves helping facilitate various workshops the YSP staff hold for high school students. These range from monthly city cohort meetings to full cohort events such as the 9th-grade visit to campus, the 10th-grade Connecting Sophomores to Scholars visit to campus, and Go Buckeye Day. However, I am still an active blood donor and I plan to continue this, even if I cannot assist in the arrangement and organization of the blood drives around campus as a member of The American Red Cross Club.