How Taking Honors Classes Made Me Appreciate the Connectivity Between STEM Fields
By Tao Hong
During the Fall 2015 I took two Honors classes in least semester, General Chemistry II and Calculus II. In General Chemistry II, we were required to attend five seminars which were given by the professors from all over the nation. The topic of the seminars was about food, drugs, energy, deceases and material. They truly widened my vision and increased my passion for studying in a professional manner. At the end of the semester, every student needed to pick one topic and present it in front of the rest of the class. It was the first time for me that I presented in English and in a scientific field. Studying and preparing my presentation on my own was really meaningful, because I needed to think critically to defend and describe the concepts involved. In Calculus II Honors, unlike the normal classes, we were encouraged to discuss theorems during the class and exchange ideas with the professor. During the discussion, we found out that calculus was highly connected with the other disciplines, such as physics, chemistry and economics. It was really interesting to discuss related material with other students from different majors. I realized that mathematics was not only the concepts that appear in the textbook but also includes a large number of applications. In the fall 2015 I started conducting research under Dr. Moni Chauhan of the Chemistry Department and secured findings that I am scheduled to present at different professional conferences.
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