Michael Rosenthal

(2/2019) My experiences visiting Mother Seton School to view their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Fair, has led me to review my experience with science education. My personal experience in science education included 8 years of undergraduate and graduate study with a major in Chemistry, followed by a career of some fifty years of teaching chemistry and service in academic administration in colleges. There are a variety of pathways one can take to become a scientist, and we will discuss them here. Mother Seton provides a wonderful introduction to science for its students in grades three through eight, and I have written about that experience in past issues. Science is easy for some people and very difficult for others. A good teacher of science recognizes this fact, and works hard to give individual students the attention and support required to grow toward the possibility of becoming a scientist.

I was always a "good" science student, but never imagined I would become a scientist during my elementary school or junior high school experiences. If I was asked in this period what I planned to do for a career, I most often said "probably become a lawyer". My parents, neither of whom attended college, were always supportive of me, but they were little help in developing my career interest. In high school, the institution viewed as the best at the time in Youngstown, Ohio, I started to study science more intensely, but it was not until my senior year, when I enrolled in Mr. Gillespie’s chemistry class, that the magic occurred. I just loved chemistry, and Mr. Gillespie was a truly fantastic teacher, always giving me encouragement, never being overly judgmental, and having a great sense of humor.

There are a number of paths one can take to study science in college. One can choose a liberal arts and sciences college or a research university (and there are some institutions at the interface between the two) and major in a science field: biology, chemistry, and physics being the most historically conventional, but also in crossover fields such as biochemistry and environmental studies. One can choose engineering, which is generally science in a more applied manner with more specific goals, such as nuclear engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, and architectural engineering. Students planning to enter medical, dental, or veterinary school often major in a science field, since these programs require a strong and successful education in the sciences for acceptance to these professional schools. The same laws of nature apply in all these fields. There are colleges that are labeled as "engineering schools." Some universities offer majors in both science and engineering. One graduate program specialty is theoretical chemistry, where all the research can be done by computer calculation, and one never enters the conventional chemistry laboratory. A bridge program is the 3-2 engineering program, where one studies basic science in a liberal arts and sciences program for three years, then transfers to another institution for two years of more specialized engineering education, graduating in five years with two degrees. In my opinion this is an excellent way to become an engineer and also obtain a broad background in the liberal arts. I began my career in an engineering school but I transferred into a liberal arts college, majoring in chemistry. One has to choose which program fits your needs and ambitions.

The other important choice for undergraduate education is whether to choose a large university or a small college of liberal arts and sciences. Does one give a better science education than the other?

The best of the liberal arts colleges have intense small enrollment science courses, with extensive laboratory experiences, and teachers who are committed to teaching undergraduates as their primary concern, combined with scientific research that they often share with upper division students. My own experience was at a liberal arts and sciences program in a moderately sized university that purposely kept its undergraduate classes small, with all classes taught by regular full-time faculty members, and which gave strong personal attention to the students. Questions were always welcomed in class, and professors’ offices were often open for assistance and conversation. The best of these colleges offer research opportunities in the senior year that helps the student cross the bridge to becoming an active scientist, and even may result in journal publication as a junior partner with the professor. Though my college did not at the time have senior research opportunities, I was fortunate in having dedicated teachers in small classes that prepared me well for graduate school.

I applied to five first-rate graduate schools in chemistry, and I was accepted with offers of teaching assistantships (TA) in all five schools.

The undergraduate world of my graduate school in a major university was very different indeed. First year chemistry students were "lectured" in large groups, often of 100 students or more, by a senior professor. There were virtually no opportunities for asking questions in class! A lot of sleeping occurred! After the lecture, students were taught by the TAs in smaller groups. I was a typical TA – 22 years old with only a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, and no training whatsoever as a teacher. My research director, a wonderful mentor in many ways to us, his graduate students, told us to never let a beginning chemistry student get to his office. After the lecture ended, he said, they belonged to us, the TAs. He said his career success depended on his doing research, writing grants and bringing in research funds, publishing research results, and adding to the department’s laboratory resources, and that he did not have the time to meet individually with undergraduate students from his lecture. This is the way the university system usually works.

There is an excellent alternative at some large universities. It is The Honors Program. An Honors Program is "a college within the university." Classes are small, and special dedicated professors who are attentive to undergraduates, teach them. Competition is high to be accepted into these programs, and they do vary somewhat in format from university to university. The Honors Program gives the student the attention given in a small liberal arts and science college with the resources of the major university.

So the student who aspires to be a scientist must choose the path that fits her or him best. Some students prosper in a larger, less personal environment; others need smaller class situations like the liberal arts college.

Our twin granddaughters entered college this fall. They chose two different small colleges of liberal arts and sciences not far from their home that seemed to fit their desires and needs. Happily, both had a good first semester and are happy. It is their experience that made me think again about the choices one has to make in college selection, and of my own experience in beginning my career to become a scientist. P.S. As a career I chose to become a chemistry professor and later in my career, an academic administrator, in small liberal arts and sciences colleges. After my official retirement from full-time work, I spent six and one-half years as a part-time chemistry instructor at Mt. St. Mary’s University here in Emmitsburg.

Read other articles by Michael Rosenthal