FYS Thoughts and Musings

“Damnit, another bad registration time,” I thought to myself after picking up my PIN number from resident Latin professor and advisor, Mary Pendergraft. I hadn’t taken the first look at the classes being offered this semester, but I knew I had to face the inevitable. It was time to pick a First Year Seminar. As soon as I reopened my Virtual Campus WIN page, I noticed the various FYS courses beginning to fill. My relaxation immediately turned to panic, and my carefree outlook on class selection suddenly became cutthroat determination. After seeing the “all we do is watch movies” FYS fill up rather quickly, I decided to settle on a course entitled “Harnessing Life’s Molecular Machines: From AIDS Tests to Hydrogen Cars.” What ensued was a semester of biology, business, presentations, and more tiny quizzes then I had in my high school Latin class.

At the beginning of the semester, I was very skeptical. I had heard the disclaimers from fellow students, but despite these warnings, I decided to continue on. The first day of class we were issued genetic code soccer ball. As I pondered why I was holding this ball I thought, “Nice and colorful. Should keep things interesting.” After learning how the ball was to be used, that simple colorful object suddenly became a complicated enigma that I still cannot quite figure out. It was also something that could be easily lost, as I also found out within the first 3 weeks of class. Losing that small soccer ball cost me roughly 1 point for every quiz we took, but this loss of points did not hold a candle to the amount of points possible we could earn in the class.

The complex breakdown of points in this class proved to be both a benefit and a burden. Reflecting back today, I still do not full understand why this particularly complicated grading system was used. I never knew how many points I had received, what constituted an “intelligent comment,” why we were forced to blog, and why we had to email the professor what we contributed in a class discussion. I felt that some things, such as intelligent comments and discussion points should be recorded by the professor, and recorded on the spot in class. To make it even easier, it could have all been lumped into the ambiguous “participation” category characteristic of college level courses. The “blogging” requirement came across as an attempt to add material to otherwise unread academic blog (let’s face it, people only want to read about sex, lies, gossip, and Brittany Spears’ crotch these days). That being said, the various components of this grading system did give students an opportunity to generate points for completing the smallest of tasks such as emailing the professor an intelligent comment. Unusual grading system aside, the class did provide with new insight into the rapidly expanding nanotechnology industry.

Being more prone towards business, I was not expecting to enjoy learning about molecular biology. We hit the ground running during the first week of class, reading a couple chapters in a dense biology book and discussing complicated molecular components in class discussions. At that point I started feeling the strain on my business oriented mind. All this talk of DNA replication, amino acids, self assembly, and Feynman made me consider assuming the fetal position with my blanket and teddy, but I kept telling myself to stick with it and persevere. Then the time came to divide up into teams. These teams would each be assigned an advisor, which turned out to be a student from the BioBotz Company, and we would have these teams until the end of the semester. The team I was assigned became known as the Power Rangers. We rocked. Our newly formed team exhibited a strong, short lived cohesion typical of newly formed groups. We were eager to learn, young, and new to the ways of bionanotechnology. After being assigned our first paper, we realized that this class was going to be far from a typical pushover FYS. The paper needed to be five pages in length (no easy task in and of itself), and it had to cover material common for biology majors. Material common for biology majors is very difficult for non biology, business majors though. Needless to say, we cranked that paper out and turned it in with an air of great accomplishment. Unfortunately, that feeling of accomplishment did not last too long. After checking the syllabus, I found out that another paper was due the next week. I believe we were supposed to meet with our student advisor more often, but I only recall meeting once or twice. There wasn’t much need for a student advisor, but regardless our advisor gave us some good insight into how the class was structured, how the grading worked, and gave a little background into the BioBotz Company. As the papers continued getting more and more difficult, our team cohesion started to change into individualism. Like a wayward group of travelers stranded on an island, it soon became everyman for himself. Because the way the class was set up, extreme team unity was not really necessary, but it could have helped with the presentations.

After hearing the BioBotz Company give their presentation during class one day, I had some mixed thoughts about the class. The nanotechnology industry is very complex, requires expensive resources, and is often difficult to enter. At first, I thought the class was promoting starting companies that really made an impact on the industry, but then I realized that some of the focus was on short term, limited vision companies such as BioBotz. While the concept of biologically inspired plush toys is appealing to small children and teachers, is there really any more potential beyond that? My skepticism towards the concept may have tainted my opinion of the company, but I still remain convinced of two things. First, there is not a high demand for such an item. Second, from the information presented by the BioBotz team, the company is limited in growth potential by the very nature of their product. Obviously, these observations may not be accurate, but the glorification of their success as being the ultimate goal of this FYS left me drowning in a pool of disillusionment. While it was a unique idea, it has about as much potential as those internet t-shirt companies that teens in a computer generation have an affinity for. Unfortunately, due to the complex and expensive nature of nanotechnology, companies like BioBotz are really the only feasible solutions for college-aged students. That being said, Professor Kuhn’s startup company involving catfish disease prevention is a company that has large profit potential and substantial demand from a decent sized industry. This type of company is the type I feel should be apotheosized in the classroom.

While the creation of a company similar to BioBotz may not have been the best goal to set for the end of the semester, the class structure in general was well put together, hands on, and effective. I can honestly state that I have never had exposure to a class taught in the same manner as this FYS. It effectively utilized the use of hands on interaction through things such as the amino acid soccer balls, enhanced strep throat detection, and community center field trip. Used in conjunction with these hands on elements, lectures, outside readings, papers, quizzes, and PowerPoint presentations were used to assist in learning new, often complicated material. Team dynamics were fostered through compulsory meetings and team presentations. The students also helped other students learn the material through their presentations on specific subjects. Through this unconventional style of teaching, I felt that difficult concepts and problems in nanotechnology were confronted, analyzed, and solved in an environment conducive to genuine learning.

Professor Macosko, I thoroughly enjoyed taking your class. Regardless of the high level of difficulty, I enjoyed every minute of it from the balloon animals to the small quizzes. It was a great experience, and I’m sure your students to come will walk away with the same appreciation and respect for life’s molecular machines that I did.