Conclusion

The previously mentioned research conducted at various universities gives confidence that this created Carmen module will assist in raising final grades of those enrolled in general chemistry courses. This research will hopefully also help gear mentors to helping students see the importance in understanding lab courses, as well as having a strong base in chemistry beforehand. Using the major trends found in the student self-evaluations, this module will leave mentors feeling more informed and better prepared to give their mentees explicit steps based on their background to succeed in general chemistry. Lastly, the way this module is structured will leave it open to modification with the times, allowing the information to remain relevant to students and mentors alike in years to come.

Update 2

I will be conducting this research project in two major steps, correlating to the two major parts of the project. The first step will be the data processing step. This step involves sorting through all of the data, organizing it by question. Then, each question is studied answer by answer. The major common trends in each of the answers are initially highlighted. After becoming familiar with the data, the same set of answers for the one question will be read multiple times and commented on to spot and minor trends that may appear throughout the data set. This process was done for each of the six questions that were given to the students in the self-evaluation. The last question was a general open-ended section for students to leave comments about what they may have done specifically to receive the grade that they did. Those comments were compiled into a list that will be presented at the end of the Carmen module, so the mentors may give more suggestions to their students for ways to succeed. The next step of this process is to compile the Carmen module. The Carmen module is organized into three sections: the first section gives all of the information on major trends in motivation found for success, mindsets/trains of thought for success, daily study habits for success, amount of time put in per week for success, and exam preparation for success. The second section goes in depth on the best ways to use this information to benefit the mentees. It discusses that some mentees may do best having this information presented to them as a checklist of what they must do, where others may need the mentors to slightly adjust their current habits by knowing the above information in order to create a personalized path for that specific mentee. This section will go into the pros and cons of presenting the information as well as the best communication skills for doing so, and some beneficial questions to ask the mentees about their current studying plans. The last section will be that which was previously mentioned, a section that provides general advice, overall trends in the data, and an overview/ summary of the previous two sections in the form of flow charts and graphs. The participants of this project will be those involved in the mentorship program for Dr. Stoltzfus’s general chemistry courses. This is typically around 200 mentees and 100 mentors per semester. Participants of the mentorship are volunteers but using the Carmen module created will be part of their required training during the summer.

Update 1

As the capstone project is progressing, we have found two articles that discuss the importance of general chemistry success rates in college. Partially because it is a significant course that many classes build upon, but also because most of the students taking this course are enrolled as first-year students, and their study habits formed during this time are crucial and will remain the rest of their time in school.

 

The first article is linked below and is about improving the success rate of general chemistry by shaping curriculum and focusing on retention rather than simply a pass or fail scale:

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/8/1/5/pdf

 

The second article is linked below and is from a study at the University of Georgia about how to gauge success in general chemistry based on the quality of the education received:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00120

 

 

Planning

As Dr. Stoltzfus and I have started to work on this project, we have tweaked the final goal we are aiming to accomplish, thus altering what will be done for the project. The first part will remain the same, processing the data of the students of interest, those who failed the entrance exam but finished the class with at least an A-. This will be done to gauge a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in general chemistry at Ohio State, and create a checklist to give to incoming students as a general guide on how to achieve whatever goals they have set for themselves for their general chemistry grade.

We did, however, alter the second portion of the project to be different. We decided that although more data processing would be helpful, to learn more about how past experiences with the subject shape a student’s success in general chemistry, we wanted to create a more applicable product for students to utilize. Thus, we decided to instead change the second portion of the project to be more focused on the mentorship program that Dr Stoltzfus has created. We thus will be creating a Carmen Module as the second, and main portion of this project. It will be given to the mentors to prepare them to be a mentor and will be titled “Mentoring Incoming Freshman.” This will focus on specific trends that were successful for students in the past, gathered from the data analysis portion in part 1. Through this, we hope to create a guide for mentors to successfully lead their mentees to success in general chemistry.

2nd Year In Review

Throughout my first two years at Ohio State University, I have grown in many aspects of my life. I have connected more with my faith, a priceless tool I have utilized to create a balance in my life as keep myself on track. I have created countless new friendships, give us all the necessary support group we need through college. I have discovered new passions through both student organizations and hobbies that allow me to create a schedule balancing my academics with some fun. Although, there are many more positive experiences from which I have learned, I believe the ones that seem negative in the moment are the more important lessons from which to learn. I have experienced failure, instilling a level of resilience and openness to mistakes. I have experienced the strain of trying to balance being there for others, academics, and personal life, reminding me where my priorities lie and what truly matters most. I have experienced the feeling of giving something your all and it still not being enough. Through all of these experiences though, I have learned the most important lesson, that college is a time for self-growth. To go into more detail about every single experience I have had in college that has shaped me would be a never-ending process. Everything from a single conversation in class, to lunch with an old friend, has shaped my life in some way. However, there are some specific experiences that stand out as pivotal moments of my first two years.

 

One of the first assignments I had as a STEM Exploration and Engagement scholar was to interview a faculty member on campus. It was quite an open-ended project, not limiting us to who we interview or what exactly we discuss. Through the course of this project, I gained a deeper interest in learning more about what the research field has to offer. I started asking around and meeting upperclassmen in BME and related fields. I would ask them about their experience with research and became more and more interested with each person with which I talked. One day I specifically remember sitting down with a senior in biomedical engineering, a very dear friend of my close friend, and discussing where I should be “success-wise” at this stage in my academic career. She very reassuringly said to me that I was right where I should be, lost and unsure. She followed that up with priceless advice on how to find and gain experience. She told me not to let any limitations or expectations define me, and anything I could ever want is attainable, as long as the drive is there. After this seemingly life-altering coffee meeting, I immediately went home and started looking up research labs and professors to email and ask to meet to discuss potentially gaining experience in their labs. To this day, I truly believe it was divine intervention that I met and am currently an undergraduate research summer intern in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory (NBML) under Professor Robert Siston. He has gone out of his way to give me the experience I was seeking. Each day I go into the lab to work and am more and more excited about a career in this field, and have been inspired to pursue graduate school because of this experience.

 

Indirectly, this has led to my next two accomplishments that have truly shaped my college career. First, Sigma Epsilon Phi is the Greek Orthodox student organization on campus. We have over 100 members and are an extremely active organization, requiring meetings, service and cultural events our members must attend. Because I had experienced through the NMBL lab where passion and drive can take me, I decided to apply for one of the 6 Vice President positions on the executive board of Sigma. I am excited to have been given the opportunity to serve as the Vice President of Outreach for this upcoming school year. This position will require very strict time management but will be an amazing opportunity. Lastly, I WAS approached by the president of STEM Outreach from this past year. She informed me that she would be nominating me as the president of the organization for this upcoming year. My immediate reaction was to decline it, but I was convinced to try it out. I never thought I would be the president, let alone of a student organization that’s fairly new and still in the growth process, however I am thrilled to have the opportunity to see where I can take this group.

 

Overall, one can see that each experience I have had builds on the past ones, like a tower, allowing me to reach new heights I never thought would be possible. It is tough to pinpoint exactly one experience that is the base of this tower, but I truly believe that the STEM EE Scholars and their events are a significant portion of this base. I hope to take this tower I have built over the past two years with me and see what new heights I can reach in the next two years.

Resume

Christina Keares Resume

 

Many of the skills and accomplishments I have so far would not have been possible without the Honors & Scholars program. I have gained countless skills to improve myself in both a professional and academic setting. Through the opportunities I have been given by the scholars program, I have improved my networking and interpersonal communication skills, as well as gained a better idea on how to search for job opportunities. I also have had many instances of academic growth thanks to the seminars and workshops presented by both Ohio State’s Honors and Scholars program, as well as my specific STEM Exploration and Engagement scholars program.

Capstone Introduction

During our second year as scholars in the STEM Exploration and Engagement scholars program, we are tasked with completing a capstone project to wrap up our time as an active scholars member. This project is designed to further expand and create interest on any given topic of our choice either relating to our major or a side interest.

I chose to do my second year capstone project as a joint research project with Dr. Matthew Stoltzfus. My research project will be divided into two parts: the first is to analyze the student self-evaluations Dr. Stoltzfus collected from students who have completed his General Chemistry classes. Each student is assigned a pre-assessment to gauge their knowledge on topics that will be taught in the class at the start of the semester. He then compares their pre-assessment scores to their final grades earned in the class; and asks those who scored below a 12/25 on their pre-assessment and earned a final grade of at least an A- to share their experiences and what they did in order to succeed. From this, I hope to be able to gather a basic guideline for future students in his classes to reduce the stress that comes along with wanting to succeed. The second half of this project’s depth will be time dependent, based on how long the first part takes. This part will be taking a deeper look into the student self-evaluations and finding other factors, such as prior AP Chemistry experience, that changed the way they studied while taking the class, and ultimately their final grade; and using the trends uncovered from this data to create ways to help inspire and motivate students to follow these steps listed in order to receive their desired grades.

Biomedical Engineering Career Interview

As one of the newest fields of engineering, biomedical engineering has gained attention from many people wondering exactly what this career entails, as it is involved in a multitude of cutting-edge research breakthroughs. As I was recently accepted to this major over the summer and began coursework this semester, I also was formulating many questions regarding what exactly biomedical engineers do, what their educational experience is like, and how to find success in a career of biomedical engineering. This being said, I sought to interview someone also pursuing a career involving biomedical engineering that is also in grad school, something I have been considering and may be in my future.

 

I reached out to a former Ohio State biomedical engineering undergraduate student, Kosta. He is currently enrolled in a program at Northwestern University where he is working to earn both his MD and PhD. The first question I asked him was what led him to the current path he is on for his career. He told me that his freshman year of college was what shaped his career path. During this time, he joined a research lab focusing on sports medicine and decided he would rather pursue a medical career focusing in sports biomechanics research through biomedical engineering than the standard path for pre-med. He also told me that this same lab where he learned the most invaluable skills of his undergraduate career such as how to properly conduct research and the ability to communicate your findings successfully. He emphasized to me that he believes his training in this lab was what really helped and set him apart from others when arriving at Northwestern.

 

We then switched topics and started focusing more on tips for success in the engineering field. His main piece of advice he had he wished someone had told him before starting school was to take advantage of all the specialized undergraduate Biomedical engineering classes Ohio State has to offer. These classes are the ones that are available to biomedical engineering students through the other departments such as mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering. Classes like this will allow me to separate myself from others and polish my unique skill set while tailoring my education to reach my specific goals. He left this topic with the advice “become an expert at something before you graduate.” He emphasized that due to the breadth of that which is a degree in biomedical engineering, which allows students to combine and experience the majority of other engineering majors in a way that can be applied to human health, this idea of a specialization or focus is oftentimes lost, but is a key skill set to have in order to set oneself apart from others. I asked Kosta what he has found to be the necessary characteristics a person should have in order to excel in this field and he said that it boils down to three things: creativity in order to be able to develop and design ideas, diligence in order to have the drive to complete difficult tasks that involve failing numerous times before one can reach success, and lastly communication because it is crucial to be able to communicate ideas and findings to others in the scientific field in order to build upon others’ findings.

 

We lastly talked about what he enjoys and his overall outlook on his career this far. He said his favorite thing about this field is the fast pace in which one can turn ideas into reality very quickly. In ten years, Kosta hopes to find himself at the point in his career where he will be applying for research positions in sports medicine at a university.

Artifact 2

As a part of the STEM EE Scholars program here at Ohio State, we are required to complete a given amount of community service each semester. We were given a few options of ways to complete this requirement, allowing us to choose what spoke to us the most. While looking through the list of options, LEAD stood out to me. LEAD is a group which helps prepare todays children for a career in STEM when they grow up. It is a way to inspire kids that they can work in these fields, no matter where they come from, and helps them become the top contenders for success in these fields.

 

Joining LEAD as a volunteer seemed to be more of an in interest to me than a way to simply get volunteer hours. I was very excited to work with kids in a field I am very passionate about- in hopes to spread that excitement to them as well. When we arrived to volunteer, the kids were finishing up a previous project dealing with chemical engineering. They were making perfume using certain chemicals in combination with one another. The head of LEAD apologized to us, saying that the kids “were so interested in the chemical engineering project that they went over the allotted time for the project since they didn’t want to stop.” When I heard this, I became very excited, seeing as the kids were able to get very into these subjects and potentially discover their passions lie in a STEM field. My co-volunteers and I were in charge of running a math review game of Jeopardy. We split the kids into teams and started playing the game. The kids were encouraged to work together in their teams to solve questions worth $100-500 in subjects ranging from algebra to geometry to statistics. Whenever they had trouble answering a question, we would step in and help them work through it in order to be successful the next time they attempted a similar problem.

 

The few hours we spent helping them flew by quickly, as noon quickly approached and it was time to leave. Watching the kids grow more and more enthusiastic while learning about STEM subjects and seeing their confidence in themselves grow as they answered more questions correctly was an amazing experience. I was able to help kids discover where their interests lie in such a fun and interactive way. Being able to personally interact with the kids and watch them become joyful once they work through difficult problems successfully was truly a rewarding experience. I look forward to helping students like these more in the future through LEAD and similar programs.