Scientific Thinkers Volunteering

scientific_thinkers_volunteers

I joined the STEM Exploration and Engagement Scholars program at Ohio State so I could continue to build on my volunteering in the community during my time in college. Through the STEM EE Scholars program, I was able to be placed in the Scientific Thinkers volunteering program and I have loved the experience with the program. The Ohio State Scientific Thinkers program conducts simple science experiments with 1st-5th grade students at Innis Elementary school in order to spark the students’ interest in science. This has been a wonderful experience to work with the kids and see their faces light up whenever the volunteers perform an experiment. I have enjoyed teaching the students and working with the Scientific Thinkers organizers, as they are very easy to work with and are dedicated to helping spark scientific interest in an underprivileged  elementary school.

The Scientific Thinkers program has been a great way to continue giving back to the community during my time in college. So far my favorite experience with the program was when we extracted DNA from strawberries with the 5th grade students. The students really enjoyed smashing up the strawberries to break down the cells of the strawberries, but were a little upset that they did not get to eat them. Once the strawberries were thoroughly smashed, the students added dish soap, salt and water to the bags with their smashed strawberries. After this mixture was allowed to sit for a few minutes, the students filtered the mixture into a test tube using a funnel. Rubbing alcohol was then carefully poured into the test tube and the DNA separated from the strawberry mixture, through the alcohol and rose to the top of the test tube.

Following this experiment the students were asked questions about their experience with the experiment. The majority of the students really enjoyed learning about the DNA extraction process and were curious to learn more about DNA and how it works. The volunteers then led a discussion with the students to see what the students already knew about DNA. The students knew the basics of how DNA makes each human being unique and how it affects traits like hair color, eye color and height. However, the students were intrigued by how DNA analysis can be used to help solve crimes and how researching DNA can help lead to cures for cancer. The students were incredibly engaged in this conversation and I was glad to have been able to teach the students something new about science. I am thankful that I was able to join a great organization like the Scientific thinkers program and I am looking forward to continue working with the program in an effort to teach the next generation of scientists.

Helpful Advice on How to Succeed in College

 

The task the Scholar 1100 class was assigned to complete was designed to aid the students in their college experience by interviewing an upperclassman, graduate student, and professor at The Ohio State University about their individual college experience. Additionally, the students were assigned to read two scholarly articles, published either by the professor they interviewed or in the student’s field of study. For the assignment I interviewed upperclassman biochemistry major Austin Cool, Chemistry 1220 graduate teaching assistant Allyson Langley, and engineering Professor Dr. Chris Ratcliff. Each of these knowledgeable people took time out of their busy schedules to provide me with advice for college as well as sharing some stories from their collegiate careers.

Each of these unique individuals crossed my path at some point in time during my first semester here at Ohio State, and thankfully all of them were willing to spend a few minutes of their time to answer some questions about their undergraduate experience in college. I met Austin Cool after the upperclassmen interview panel and discussed his collegiate experience with him for an hour following the panel. I met Allyson Langley (who prefers to be called Ally) and Professor Ratcliff in similar manners as Ally is my lab TA in my Chemistry 1220 class and Professor Ratcliff is my Engineering 1181 instructor.

In my interview with Austin Cool, I learned more about the biochemistry major, chemistry at Ohio State, and the organization Ohio Staters, Inc. Austin is a very driven individual with big goals for himself and for the Staters organization. From my time with Austin I learned that biochemistry is a very difficult field that deals with the chemical processes that take place inside living organisms. The biochemistry major requires an abundance of chemical and biological knowledge and students that wish to graduate with this major must be willing to work diligently in order to balance the difficult coursework in addition to living their lives. As a chemical engineering student, I was interested in the various chemistry classes that Austin had taken. He said that classes like organic chemistry and physical chemistry had difficult content, but if you pay attention in class and study hard that the classes are manageable. Lastly, I discussed Ohio Staters, Inc. with Austin and it was very easy to see that Austin has a tremendous passion for the organization. The joint student-faculty organization undertakes large-scale projects that benefit the Ohio State community. Austin is currently working on a massive statue for the Ohio State marching band, but could not share too many details about the secret project. I was thankful for Austin’s time as his advice will help me in future classes.

Following my conversion with Austin, I emailed my chemistry GTA, Ally, and set up a time to interview her about her undergraduate and graduate experience in college. During my interview with Ally she provided me with many pieces of advice about how to succeed in college. My biggest takeaway from my interview with her was that she suggested to find a major that a student “likes to do, is good at, and places little to no stress on the student.” Ally also advocated strongly for building relationships with professors and advisors. In her experience, the relationships she made with professors and advisors helped her to do better in classes and those people were also able to write her meaningful letters of recommendation which allowed her to get her current research opportunity at Ohio State. The final point Ally made during the interview is to find something you love to do and go for it wholeheartedly, because if you like something and put all your efforts towards it, then you should have no regrets. Interviewing Ally was a great experience because she had so much to say and I will be sure to follow her advice in the future.

Once I had completed my interview with Ally I began reading scholarly articles on the database, Scopus, in order to find a professor that I would have an interest in interviewing. I navigated to the Scopus database using the following process: Initially, I went to library.osu.edu, navigated to the STEM EE Scholars page and opened the Scopus database. Once on the Scopus page I utilized the database’s various search features to narrow my search to my desired topic with affiliations at Ohio State. I then sifted through the various articles and selected a few that I found interesting and had been cited by other articles. I read the abstracts of the articles and clicked the download button on each article’s page to download the articles. Ultimately, I decided to interview Dr. Ratcliff, so I read his research and some related articles in the OhioLink library catalog. The scholarly articles I read were rather difficult to read due to the complex jargon utilized by the authors. The advantage of the complex language used in these articles is that experts and professionals in the same field of study can communicate their research very precisely. However, the utilization of complex language makes it exceedingly difficult for people who are not experts in that particular field to make sense of the content in the article.

Once I had read a few scholarly article abstracts, I contacted Dr. Ratcliff to see if he would be interested in discussing his research. He responded quickly and was more than willing to spend his time to discuss his research and provide advice on how to succeed in college. During my interview with Dr. Ratcliff I learned that he received all his higher-level education from The Ohio State University and enjoyed it so much that he decided to become a professor at the University. Dr. Ratcliff graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics engineering, his master’s in electrical and computer engineering and performed his post-graduate research on solar cells to receive his PhD. I found his research into growing new materials for solar cells to be very complex, but it was fascinating nonetheless. I share Dr. Ratcliff’s passion for clean and renewable sources of energy, so it was great to speak with someone who has conducted research in this field. In addition to discussing his research Dr. Ratcliff also said that the most important trait of a successful college student is that he or she never stops asking questions. I found this to be a very worthwhile piece of advice and have tried to implement this strategy in my classes.

Overall, I found this assignment to be beneficial to the STEM EE students. The Scholars 1100 students are just entering our first semester of college and having the opportunity to interview fellow Buckeyes who have been through many of the same experiences that we will experience in college was great to have. I learned a great deal from Austin, Ally and Dr. Ratcliff, and was glad that I was able to interview them about their time in college. I am thankful to have had this experience and will do my best to implement the advice gained in this assignment to my collegiate career.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Kent, Thomas. “III-Nitride Nanostructures for Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functionalities: Growth, Characterization and Engineering.” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. Ohio State University, 2014. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 24 Oct 2016.

Ratcliff, Christopher. “Growth and Characterization of III-Phosphide Materials and Solar Cells for III-V/Si Photovoltaic Applications.” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. Ohio State University, 2014. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 24 Oct 2016.

Artifacts

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

Senior

My name is Connor Lambert. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, where I have lived my entire life. I grew and developed with my friends and family in Anderson Township with an amazing support system. First and foremost I have to thank my parents for all the amazing things they have done for me in my time on Earth. They moved to Anderson Township due to the outstanding academic reputation of the Forest Hills School District and I can safely say that my education from Forest Hills prepared me extremely well for college. Through my parents, my friends and my education I feel like I have gained a good understanding of myself and my interests.

When I was growing up I was always the problem-solver of my group of friends. I also was always interested in new technology and in my math and science classes. In addition, I was also a very good student and from my natural interests I found that throughout my time in high school that I really liked the fields of STEM. I was always a very good math and science student and I had great teachers in my high school STEM classes. It was this combination of academic competence and interest in the field that led me to decide to major in a STEM field and join the STEM Exploration and Engagement Scholars program.

One teacher in particular, Mr. Hoying, who was our Honors Chemistry and Engineering Foundations teacher, truly inspired me to major in the field of Chemical Engineering. Mr. Hoying (who graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering himself) was my favorite teacher in high school and it was at his suggestion that I explored the field of Chemically Engineering. Through taking his classes I found that I had a passion for the science of chemistry along with the problem-solving of Engineering. So after some online exploration into the field I decided to enroll as a Pre-Chemical Engineering student at The Ohio State University. To this point I only have the skills that I learned in my high school STEM classes, and so in order to gain new skills I plan on interning and performing undergraduate research during my undergraduate years at Ohio State.

Now that I am a Pre-Chemical Engineering student at The Ohio State University it is my goal to learn all I can in my time here and prepare myself for future internships and jobs. Learning about the STEM EE program and enrolling in it was a great step on my path to be a successful Chemical Engineer. Through this program and my classes at Ohio state I hope to gain the academic, people, and service skills that will be required in order to achieve my goals. I am extremely optimistic about my future in the field of STEM. I am looking forward to the opportunities that await me at Ohio State and in all my future endeavors.

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]