Seth Daniels reports on his experience attending the Research Development Institute at the Washington University College of Arts & Sciences Pre-College Program. During his first week, Seth has met and socialized with wide variety of students, plus learned how to navigate the St. Louis metro and shuttle services.
“My time here has been incredible so far. I have probably met one hundred people now and I go out to have fun with a group of fifteen on a regular basis. I get along with my roommates very well. We play basketball together every night and often talk and play card games. The people here are generally very welcoming and aware of others to a degree that I am not used to. Coming here has certainly exposed me to a wider variety of people than I am normally interacting with in Carbondale,” Seth says.
“The rigor of the class is what I would expect from a WashU program. I have four hours of total class time Monday through Friday, and at least an hour of homework per day. One thing that surprised me is that this program does not involve the use of a laboratory for STEM experiments. The class focuses on contributing to what is known through original interpretation of information and data that already exist. I am conducting my research on the possible role of molten salt reactor technology in alleviating our reliance on fossil fueled electricity,” Seth explains.
“Overall, this week has been fantastic! I have met so many great and unique people, I am getting connected with undergraduate students, professors, and librarians, and I am being academically challenged in a unique way,” Seth adds.
Week 2 — Action Packed!
Seth says that his second week at Washington University was “more action-packed,” with an increased workload and less time to connect with friends as he prepared for his final presentation.
“My second week here has certainly been more action packed than the last! Both my workload for the class increased by a substantial factor, while pressure to hang out with my friends also increased since I would not be seeing them after the program. These two things led me to stay up later than I would have liked for a few nights. I do not regret this however, my performance in the program was to my and my instructor’s satisfaction, I also was able to make good friends who I still text with. In the last few days, as I was frantically preparing for the upcoming presentation of my research, I was looking for a group of people to study with. I found a much smaller group of people whose company I actually enjoyed more,” Seth explains.
“On my last full day, I went with this smaller group out to get dinner, late night snacks, and ice cream. I had lots of fun on this trip, and I got to know people better who I am still talking to. One of my friends was from California and he was showing me all of the different types of ramen and other common east asian items to get from the international store,” Seth adds.
“On the academic side of things, I have turned in all of my assignments to the satisfaction of my instructor and my presentation went over very well with my audience. I presented my research to my class and one other class taking the same curriculum. I looked into the viability of molten salt reactors as a possible alternative to renewable sources of energy as the primary solution to dependence on fossil fuels. There is a five- minute time slot for questions after each presentation, which I exceeded from the people who wanted to know more. Only one other presentation had this happen. I think I wrote as much in these two weeks as in a semester of English class. It certainly stretched my ability to find information, organize that information, and give a meaningful and unique interpretation of that information. This program helped prepare me to think in a way that will certainly help my future endeavors as a researcher,” Seth says.
“This week has been as successful, if not more so, than the last week. It is a shame I am not staying for longer! I would certainly recommend this program to a future Garwin Family Foundation student! I have to emphasize that this program is not lab-based but that does not mean STEM-focused students like me cannot tremendously benefit, both personally and academically, from it,” Seth adds.
Good job, Seth! We are happy to hear that your research project was well received, and your experience at Washington University will help your future plans in research work.
>> Read Seth Daniels’ Final Report (PDF File, 68 KB).
>> Learn about the other students’ experiences in the GFF Scholarship Program.
