Michael Patton
Patton.444
Jorge Eduardo Mendoza
23 October 2016

Michael Patton’s STEM Interview Project

In order to give myself a better understanding of scholarly articles, life on campus at The Ohio State University, and the fields I am interested in, I have interviewed an upperclassman in the STEM program, a professor here at OSU, and a Teaching Assistant. I found upperclassman Megan Broughton, who is majoring in biology, to give me advice on how to study, Teaching Assistant Ashweta Sahni, my Teaching Assistant for Chemistry 1210, and Dr. Rosemary Bartoszek-Loza, my Chemistry 1210 professor.
In order to find Megan, I attended a panel in which several upperclassmen talked about their experience at OSU thus far; what fields they like and dislike, and what they wish they would have known as freshmen. After the panel was over, we had time to discuss with the upperclassmen, which is when I made sure to talk to Megan. When needing to find a Teaching Assistant to interview, I contacted Ashweta, and we met at one of the Chemistry buildings. Afterwards, I attended a meeting of the Chemistry Club with Dr. Loza, who was willing to tell me a little about herself.
When I approached Megan, I decided to be a bit more simple in my questions. I asked her what she did to get where she is now; more specifically what study strategies worked for her. She told me about how when she studies, she prefers to have classical music playing. I found this quite funny, because I happened to start doing the same thing recently at the time of the interview. She told me about how there is not a one-size-fits-all method for how to succeed in your class; that one will have to adapt to whatever works best. For example, in her biology class, she does not feel that the book helps her very much, but in her chemistry class, she highlights the book very often so she remembers the information. In addition, she also takes heavy notes during her classes to help her remember the information later. The advice that intrigued me the most was her tendency to look up YouTube videos on the subject if she doesn’t feel she has a clear understanding of it.
Since Ashweta is the Teaching Assistant for my own recitation, I was able to ask her how she felt I could succeed in the Chemistry course. She advised that I spend the weekends doing homework from the textbook and check the answers online. I told her that my textbook was the wrong edition and that the questions differed between editions. She informed me of where I could find the questions we were given the answers to online, for which I was very grateful. I also asked Ashweta how I could build a better relationship with my professor, Dr. Loza. She informed me of her office hours, although she is frequently busy in that time. What she recommended was for me to email her personally in the event I had any problems with the class. Before she had to go, I asked her about undergraduate research. She knew that research labs take undergraduates, but not freshmen. She recommended I go out to find them in my second or third year at OSU by going to a website she gave me and finding the research professors, so I may ask them to talk personally and perhaps join a lab.
When finding scholarly articles, I knew I wanted to find one from Dr. Loza. In order to do this, I went to the OSU website Scopus, and searched for articles by author “Loza, Rosemary.” After I had found the scholarly articles she has written, one disadvantage I noticed was that it was a little difficult to find the actual report she had written on the browsers I currently had, and instead was presented with the abstract. On the other hand, the abstract was simple to read and got the point across of what the point of the essay was. I could see how these resources would give an advantage to someone in the field, because if a scientist comes across a breakthrough in their work, they will be able to use resources like Scopus to communicate their results and see if anyone else had found contradictory or similar data.
Upon meeting with Dr. Loza, I asked about how she got a C in General Chemistry because she “didn’t know how to study because [she] did not have a good background.” This reassured me a bit, because I feel I’ve struggled a little in class for having minimal background knowledge in chemistry. She said she used to work with British Petroleum with a photochemistry group. She had so much fun there “it didn’t even feel like work.” She talked about how it was a very different world when she became a chemist, particularly how there were not as many woman scientists. In spite of this, she was a valuable asset to the company. She unfortunately had to leave when she wanted to start a family with her husband. When she handed in the letter of resignation, her boss actually told her she could not have a baby because she was too valuable. Her daughter now has a PhD from Caltech in Chemical Engineering, and her son now is getting an MD-PhD. When I asked her about undergraduate research, she told me to go to the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum in the spring and talk to the undergraduate presenters
Upon completing this assignment, I feel I know how to better take advantage of my resources here at OSU. I now know where and when to go to find undergraduate research opportunities thanks to chatting with my TA and my professor, and I also know how to best study one day at a time after talking with Megan. It now feels easier to talk to everyone involved in this project when I can, which will help me when I need to take advantage of the resources around me. In conclusion, this project has helped my future at OSU because I now have better relationships with those who can help me succeed.

Works Cited

Bartoszek-Loza, R., and R. J. Butler. “ELECTROCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHOTOCURED COATINGS.”. ACS Symposium Series. SCOPUS. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
Bartoszek-Loza, R., & Butler, R. J. (1986). IN-SITU HIGH TEMPERATURE X-RAY DIFFRACTION OF PHOTOCURED HIGH NITRILE COATINGS. Paper presented at the Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering, Proceedings of the ACS Division of Polymeric Material, , 55 557-561. Retrieved from www.scopus.com