Professional Documents
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Ded-Beat March 2010
Ded-Beat March 2010
H
by Anna Kiappes
In This Issue: ow To Get Your do is brains,” Taylor said. the clock and you know what?
Brain To Do What It also has led to a deeper It’s always behind, which
You Want It To knowledge about her body, causes urgency,” Taylor ex-
Brains at the Tate Series Do” was the theme of neu- brain and its inner workings, plained.
p1 roanatomist, Jill Bolte Taylor’s like our cells - all 50 trillion of Taylor discussed the issue
speech at the Jones Day Lec- them. of the 1970’s and its focus-
DCA Update ture in McFarlin Auditorium. “What a difference it makes ing on the need to improve
p1 Speaking to over 1,000 in my life. I am a life force the side of the brain that you
people Tuesday night, Taylor power of 50 trillion geniuses,” preferred. Based on today’s
discussed her love of brains, Taylor said. findings, this is a thing of the
Advice on Picking A Major which began with her try- Her ability to connect and past.
p2 ing to understand her older interact with the audience and “It’s one thing to have a
brother’s schizophrenia. receive a response would show healthy half brain, but it’s a
Archaeology Class “I became fascinated how when she would ask questions good thing to have a healthy
we could be in the same room to provoke the audience. whole brain,” Taylor said.
p2
with the same stuff and have “Did you ever stop and say Taylor then dove into her
the same experience but have thank you? It’s the little things story about her stroke and
Professor Bios different explanations for that count!” Taylor said. how she overcame it. It all
p3 what happened,” Taylor said. Taylor took this audience started when she was a late
This fascination led to participation and used it to teen and was diagnosed with
Does Your Major Influence postdoctoral fellowships at widen their horizons about what her doctor thought were
Harvard and a position on the brain. For example, Taylor migraines.
Your Career Choices? the Board of Directors of the “For 20 years, I was having
begain discussing the different
p4 National Alliance on Mental features of the hemispheres small hemorrhages and it was
Illness. and lobes of the brain. leading up to the big one,”
“Brains, brains, brains. All I “The left brain is always on Taylor said.
Continued on page 4
DCA Update: On Track for a Successful Spring Semester
by Nicholas Burns
T
Upcoming DCA Events
he Dedman College more notoriety and invite stu- students and alumni who have Here’s what’s happening with the DCA in
Ambassadors (DCA) is dents, faculty, and staff into a Dedman Center member- the next few months. Questions? Contact
off to a fantastic spring its special mission of creating ship. us at DCA@smu.edu!
semester, and will have a host a unified community for Ded- For further informa-
of events and opportunities man College. tion, students should contact -General Member Meetings: 5-6PM on 3/16,
for students to get involved To close out the spring, the DCA@smu.edu, or look at the 3/30, 4/13 in HT Atriums C&D; 4/27 in HT
Atriums A&B.
after Spring Break. DCA will host a “Pick Your DCA website, www.smu.edu/
Already this semester, the Major” event on March 31 in Dedman/Students/Dedman- -Pick Your Major Event: 11AM to 1PM on
DCA has been active in phil- the Hughes-Trigg ballroom, CollegeAmbassadors.aspx. 3/31, Hughes-Trigg Ballroom, to showcase
anthropic gestures, participat- an Indiana Jones themed movie Dedman’s majors and minors.
ing in biweekly tutoring and night on April 9 in the Varsity, Nicholas is a sophomore Bio- -Indiana Jones Movie Night, 730PM-1230AM
mentoring at Buckner Inter- a “Network DC” alumni/stu- logical Sciences in the Varsity.
national orphanage and in a dent social on April 21 in the and French
Habitat for Humanity build Hughes-Trigg pre-function major. He can -Network DC Alumni/Student Social and
neetworking opportunity, 4/21 in the HT Pre-
event. The DCA also has area, and a Study Break event be reached for Function area.
hosted a slew of meetings that on May 3. comment at
will continue for the rest of The DCA also has created rburns@smu. -Study Break Night, 9-11PM 5/3, Location
the semester in order to create a softball team for interested edu. TBA.
W hat’s your major?” It’s among gram was not where I wanted to be.
the first few questions asked
finally felt comfortable declaring a B.S. in
I did, however, find my freshman Chemistry.
when you meet someone new chemistry course with Dr. Patty engag- I discovered my major by diving into
at college, whether you’re at AARO, Cor- ing and very challenging. Though I had things headfirst. Environmental Science
ral, or any other situation. In that one not yet learned how to study in college, was not for me, though I love hiking. Bi-
word answer, you know a little bit about I found the content fascinating. Because ology, I felt, was almost too broad of a
that person. Your major defines you, I’m pre-med, I also took BIOL 1402 dur- subject. I want to know the Chemistry
right? ing the second semester of my freshman behind how things work. I found some-
It’s pretty obvious that if you’re major- year. It focused more on the organ sys- thing that interests me, and I have de-
ing in something it interests and engages tems and whole organisms. When we got clared that I want to focus on that.
“
you, but that doesn’t necessar- to chemical processes in the body, Dr. O So if you’re struggling to pick a major,
”
ily dictate who you are as a per- don’t stress out about it.
son. For example, math majors
While picking a major may seem It will come to you. If you
are not just antisocial nerds like a life-altering decision, it’s think you’re interested in
with massive glasses and pock- really more of a declaration that something, talk to a profes-
et protectors; English majors do sor in the department or take
things other than play Scrabble you intend to study something that interests a class. See what the program
for fun; and economics majors you. That’s why it’s called “declaring.” has to offer. If you can see
do have to work hard in their yourself devoting the next
classes. While picking a major may seem would leave the specifics for higher level years of your life to studying that topic
like a life-altering decision, it’s really more bio courses. This did not satisfy me, and and being happy with that choice, it’s
of a declaration that you intend to study I began thinking about declaring Biology probably where you need to be. Don’t
something that interests you. That’s why or Biochemistry. It was clear I wanted forget to check out the Pick-Your-Major
it’s called “declaring.” to study something that related to medi- Fair on March 31. This will be your place
When I entered SMU my freshman cine, but precisely what eluded me was to jump in and get a taste of all of Ded-
year, I was a pre-med Environmental Sci- the specifics. man College’s 88-and-counting majors
ence major. I’m still pre-med, but I went I started organic chemistry last fall, and minors, so don’t miss it!
through three majors to finally settle on and things really started to click. I looked
one. During high school, I was given forward to class, even though it was an Dan is a sophomore
the chance to go hiking a couple times, 8 am (You read that right, I looked for- Chemistry major. He
and I absolutely loved it. I felt like it was ward to chemistry class before dawn). can be reached for
something I could study and easily enjoy. After a four hour study session before comment at dfernan-
However, the introductory environmen- our first test, I wanted to jump right back dez@smu.edu.
tal science program did not turn out to in. I found reading and studying to be
be what I had hoped. While engaging enjoyable, and would gladly forgo other
and challenging, I found that the pro- homework for chemistry. That’s when I
What attracted you to Dedman College at I’d spent 18 years doing environmental testing. I My answer is more related to what attracted me to
SMU? worked in 8 labs, 6 of which went out of business. I the department of chemistry. When I was applying
got tired of my places of employment closing down. for a faculty position here, I liked the fact that despite
I always was attracted to teaching, and I trained new the relatively small departmental size, there was high
employees at my work place. So it was an opportunity quality research taking place. Furthermore, I was
to satisfy my passion for teaching in a more stable happy to see that undergraduates played a prominent
environment. When I first came to SMU in 1999, I role in departmental research.
started with a bachelor’s degree. I started working
research work to get my master of science. I’d get up
at 4:30 am to come in and also on weekends to do
more work for 6 years to earn this degree.
What do you do with your free time when I’ve got two children, Alana Rose 11, Aidan When you say “teaching”, I assume you mean
you’re not teaching? What about your Bartholomew, 5…I spend time with the boy as an teaching AND research. Research is a large
adventure guide in the YMCA. My two hobbies are component of my daily activities at SMU. I manage
summers?
pool maintenance and home up-keep, both of which a research group that varies in size from year to year.
are chemistry hobbies, really. In the past I’ve been an Writing grant proposals and journal manuscripts
avid cyclist, but right now I’m focused on raising my is a time-consuming aspect of my research
children. responsibilities. Additionally I serve on a number of
university committees. Most of my time away from
teaching and research is spent with my wife and two
young children. The summers are ideal for focusing
on research. I also usually teach CHEM 3372 during
the summer term.
If you had to do something besides teach I had my stint with environmental testing, but I’ve also This is a tough question because I’ve never really
and/or do research, what would you do looked at clinical work. The things that stick with me thought of a career outside of the sciences. I have to
in the past are the clinical work and medical testing. say I really don’t know the answer to this one.
and why? The one problem with clinical work is that most of
the employees work nights. Doctors collect samples
all day and then deliver them to the labs. Since the
results are needed in the morning, most of the work
is night work there, and I’m not a night person.
The other thing I’ve been intrigued with is forensic
chemistry.
What are some of your pet peeves that You guys [students] have got a job to do. I’m just The main thing I find annoying is chatter in
you wish your students would not engage there to help you do it. Most of the things that annoy the classroom. The continuous undertone of a
in? me don’t affect me, they more affect the students. conversation is distracting. I also don’t like it when
students bring in laptops and end up surfing the web
or doing something similar. You may wonder how
I would know that students are doing this, but it’s
pretty obvious!
Professor Bios compiled by
Howard He and Dan Fernandez.
Got a story idea for The Ded-Beat, or maybe you would like to The Ded-Beat is the official newsletter of the Dedman College
share some of your stories, prose, poetry, or work in our upcoming Ambassadors. The views represented within are not necessarily those
“Student Spotlight” section? Email rburns@smu.edu with your of Dedman College nor of Southern Methodist University. All inquiries
idea or contribution and we’ll feature it in the next issue! The next regarding The Ded-Beat or any of its content may be directed to
edition will be out in early May 2010; space fills up fast, so don’t Nicholas Burns, Vice President of Publications for the DCA and Editor-
wait to get your voice heard! in-Chief of The Ded-Beat, at rburns@smu.edu.