The Ohio State University is comprised of 64,868 people. With a campus so large, it is crucial for students to find close peers and mentors. This STEM Scholars project has been carried out for this very purpose; to expose undergraduate students to the lives of upperclassmen, graduate teaching associates, and professors. I interviewed fourth-year student Angela Lee, GTA Matthew Digman, and professor Dr. Kecskemety in order to get a grasp of their experience at OSU, as well as their own individual journeys through college and life.

It was not particularly difficult to find three people to interview since I know a number of upperclassmen and there are plenty of GTAs and professors to interview from the classes I am enrolled in. The upperclassmen I know on campus attend the same church I do back in my hometown. As for my GTA and professor, I tried to find someone most in line with my major (aerospace engineering) and my future goals. My decision to interview my physics GTA stemmed from the fact that I go to his office hours frequently. Dr. Kecskemety teaches my Engineering 1181 class, and is an aerospace alumnus from OSU so I interviewed her to learn about her experience in the engineering program.

Starting with my upperclassman interview, I met up with Angela Lee, a fourth-year neuroscience major at OSU. She is the treasurer for Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, Vice President of Internal Communications for Multicultural Greek Council, and has been involved in off campus research as well as running a REP for a cognitive neuroscience lab one semester at OSU. Angela loves to watch TV with friends, bake, find new places to eat, explore Columbus, and play with little animals. Coming to Ohio State University, Angela was not confident with what she wanted to do with her life. She took an undecided track until she attended an intro to engineering class and decided to major in biomedical engineering. Her father is a professor at University of Cincinnati, and lectures on biology and biomedical applications. This had a significant influence on Angela’s career path, but after a couple engineering courses, she decided that engineering was ultimately not for her. Her friend then introduced her to neuroscience, and after another introductory course Angela found a passion in this subject and was encouraged to be surrounded by extremely motivated people who wanted to learn.

Having spent four years at OSU, Angela has had a breadth of good and bad experiences. Although she has not failed any classes, she has come close to it and is not satisfied with the grades she received. In order to do well in difficult classes, she told me to go to all of the free tutoring sessions as well as forming study groups to talk through difficult topics. The writing center can help with essays, and the Younkin Success Center is beneficial for resumes and cover letters. She advised me to work just as hard in the classes that are not as interesting as my favorite classes in order to maintain my GPA. Her hard work in her undergraduate studies has culminated in a worthy portfolio for her application into graduate school.

With regards to graduate school, I interviewed physics GTA Matthew Digman about applying to graduate school and the difficulties that came with it. Matt grew up in Iowa, and completed his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. At Dartmouth, Matt was heavily involved with research with Professor Caldwell, which fueled his love for physics and space. Matt started his undergraduate career as a mechanical engineer, but took an intro to physics class and loved it. Physics and cosmology were particularly interesting to him, and he decided to major in physics after his freshman year. He states that the more undergraduate research experience, the better the chance you have when applying to graduate school. Matt is currently a graduate student at OSU. He is a graduate teaching assistant for physics 1250, acting as a recitation and lab instructor. Being a GTA helps pay for graduate school, and he intends on applying to be a resident adviser this upcoming year as well. Study skills are also very important during the undergraduate years, and Matt advises students to go to professor and teaching assistant hours to clarify any misconceptions from the lecture. Developing these skills helped him significantly at Dartmouth, and continues to help him here at Ohio State University. Matt is in graduate school now because he wants to pursue a research career in the future.

Like Matt, Dr. Kecskemety also went to graduate school at The Ohio State University. She has written a couple professional articles about wake dynamics on the performance and aeroelasticity of wind turbines and the development of teaching assistants. These articles were found through SCOPUS, a large database of peer-reviewed articles written by professors and students. Utilizing advanced search drop down menus, it was very straightforward to find a few articles from Dr. Kecskemety. However, downloading the articles were another issue. Many of the articles were not available online, and required requesting a separate database / library for physical copies. There were only two articles that were available online— “Teaching Assistant Professional Development through Design: Why They Participate and How They Benefit” and “Influence of wake dynamics on the performance and aeroelasticity of wind turbines.” The first article above was an easier read, it had streamlined syntax and was written in common language. The second article was difficult and filled with technical jargon and mathematical equations. Reading this article required extensive knowledge of the material and extreme attention to each tiny symbol association. SCOPUS is a great resource for downloading scholarly articles online, and this media is specifically advantageous in convenience and speed. Online PDFs are extremely easy to download and are quick. There is no hassle in physically going to a library and checking things out. However, the disadvantage is when those articles are not online and you do have to go through a time costly and tenuous process to check out the article you require.

Dr. Kecskemety wrote those two articles during her time at Ohio State—both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in aerospace engineering were attained through OSU. Although she majored in aerospace engineering, I found it ironic that she had no interest in airplanes. She focused more on renewable energy and wind turbine aerodynamics. She started her journey in aerospace in high school, researching wind turbines at Case Western University. Her interest in aerospace eventually led to her Ph. D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. Dr. Kecskemety highly values group study and support systems because ideas have the opportunity to bounce, and different students get to teach and to learn. Being a professor of ENGR 1181, she advises students to always read the material before class, and to come to office hours for any questions or clarifications.

The culmination of these interviews has taught me that peer to peer and student to professor relationships are extremely important during undergraduate years and it is beneficial to begin them early. Professors at OSU are very kind and willing to offer help during office hours, so take advantage of these opportunities to clarify material and build relationships concurrently. Even though Ohio State University is enormous school, every student definitely has the chance to find fellow peers and mentors.