Still Exploring

 Posted by Vanessa Trinh at 12:06 am  No Responses »
Aug 072012
 

So I’m sitting here writing this blog post for you all from the Jones Media Center, a place I was not really acquainted with until this term. Not only is it my new super secret study nook, it has unbelievable resources and technology to help you with every class. The reason I found myself in here was because the other day I was doing research for my Economics Independent Study and needed to pull up large excel sheets at the same time as Stata for data sets– Jones could do it all. Also, it is conveniently located next to the Dartmouth Map Room, another new treasure of mine. Did you know they sometimes give away FREE MAPS? I think that’s super cool. I recently acquired some for my room decorations. Today, I’m in Jones writing a paper in response to a lecture by Todd Stern ’73, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, as part of my Leading Voices Government class. Leading Voices has given me the

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern ’73

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern ’73 at the Hop. Photo Courtesy the Dartmouth Flickr Photostream.

exclusive opportunity to meet speakers from all part of foreign policy and ask them questions about their careers, and about pressing matters like Global Health, Nuclear Profliferation, Womens’ Rights and now Climate Change. It’s been a unique experience that reminds me a lot of the Dickey Center’s Global Issues Scholars program that I was a part of during my Freshman Year.

Just when I though I was really knee-deep into my Dartmouth experience, I realize I’m still finding new things like it’s Freshman Fall.

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Guest Welcome: Professor David Bucci

 Posted by DartmouthDirect at 5:14 pm  No Responses »
Apr 272012
 

David Bucci is an Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Studies at Dartmouth

Congratulations on your admission to Dartmouth! In my opinion, attending college is all about having transformational learning experiences in which you discover and nurture your true life passion.  Doing so requires ‘learning by doing.’  Dartmouth offers you tremendous and unparalleled opportunities to do just that, in part through a high level of access to faculty and their engagement both inside and (perhaps more importantly) outside the classroom.  This is because the faculty at Dartmouth are not only the ones teaching the classes, but they are the ones producing the knowledge through their research activities.  At Dartmouth you have the opportunity to work along side them in creating that new knowledge! I’d say that is a pretty good way to discover your passion.

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Guest Wecome: Professor Kathy Cottingham

 Posted by DartmouthDirect at 9:36 pm  No Responses »
Apr 172012
 

Kathy Cottingham is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth.

Dear Class of 2016:

Welcome to Dartmouth!  I hope you give us a close look!

I do research and teach ecology and biostatistics in the Department of Biological Sciences, which is housed within the wonderful new Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center.  One of the many reasons I like Dartmouth is that I am able to meld my research and teaching in new, exciting, and fun ways.  This is especially true during summer quarter, which is the busy “field” season for most ecologists – we work very hard to collect lots of data and samples during the all-too-short New Hampshire summers.

Last August, I brought the 12 students enrolled in Methods in Ecology to Lake Sunapee, one of my primary study sites.  The students learned about aquatic ecology firsthand while helping our research team to sample the sediments (the muck at the bottom of the lake) at six sites around one cove.  We had great weather and it was a win-win outing – that level of sampling would have taken our research team weeks, but instead took just two afternoons, and I think the students had a lot of fun helping out!

In addition to classroom involvement in research projects, Dartmouth offers undergraduate students numerous opportunities to conduct independent research. For example, the Honors thesis of alumna Cayelan Carey ’06 helped launch our project on nuisance cyanobacteria in Lake Sunapee and other low-nutrient lakes across northern New England.

If you’re looking for an institution where you can take classes with faculty doing cutting-edge research – and then work side-by-side on research projects with those same faculty members, Dartmouth might be the right place for you.

Hope to see you in the fall!

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Studying, Studying, Yeah!

 Posted by Erin Purcell at 9:53 pm  No Responses »
Dec 022011
 

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta study for finals, everybody’s looking forward to winter break…

Sorry for the awful song reference, guys. My caffeine-addled brain couldn’t come up with anything better. Also, sorry we’ve been a little lax in posting lately! It’s finals week here at Dartmouth, so things have been a bit busier than normal.

Actually, things feel less busy in a way. Even though it’s Friday evening, the atmosphere is
way more subdued than a typical Dartmouth weekend. We had our last classes on Wednesday, so yesterday and today were the “reading period” to catchup and study before most of the tests are held. Most people have been holed up in their favorite study spots for the past several days. People can get pretty aggressive about the prime study spots– I’m not nearly brave enough to try and snag a table on the third floor of the library, where most of the seats have had jackets and books permanently marking them as occupied for days. I miss hanging out with my friends in the evenings, but I know I’m getting more work done by going off by myself.

Besides, things haven’t been a total grind. Everyone from President Kim to the Gospel Choir have been holding “study breaks” with treats to help lighten the mood. If I went to all the study breaks offered, I’d never get anything done! And tonight was the tree-lighting on the Green– in the midst of all this schoolwork, the lights and carols finally made me realize that the holiday season is right around the corner.

I actually don’t have any finals tests this term; instead, my final grades are all papers. This is sort of nice because I have more control over my time and when I choose to work on each one. My humanities paper was due on Wednesday. It feels so nice to have that over with and to know that I only have two classes left to worry about. My religion paper is due on Monday afternoon. I took a draft to my professor during her office hours today, which was super helpful because I got to hear where my paper was weak from the person who will be grading it. Just one more plug for going to office hours– they really are worth it!

My biggest challenge is the research paper I’m writing for a sociology class on multiculturalism. I started off thinking about a topic in multicultural education, since I’m really interested in education policy, but I soon realized that “multicultural education” is way too broad of a topic. I decided to focus on “parachute kids,” wealthy Asian students who travel alone to the United States to go to school here. I want to see how their sojourn specifically for education and away from their parents affects their incorporation into American life. Even though writing my first college-level research paper is a bit daunting, I’m so interested in the topic that I’m actually having fun with the research.

Off to do more reading …and use my meal swipes to procure more caffeine! (who needs dinner when there is 5-hour Energy?)

Good luck with your own pre-break schoolwork, and happy holidays!

Live Free

Erin

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