Find your Passion: Insights gleaned from InSciTE

The University of Alberta's Faculty of Science offers a unique first-year experience called InSciTE, the Interdisciplinary Science Threshold Experience which consists of nine credits-worth of first year courses covering statistics, chemistry, and a three-credit science option. We go to Jasper, we do group projects, we do capstones, we do research, and we rock at building cohorts. We have fancy tech, super collaborative workspaces, and generally friendly human beings supporting your growth and learning. But what makes InSciTE so unique and amazing? Well, it's the diversity of our members, of course.

Science feels right

Take Janice Ngu, for example, who chose UAlberta over UToronto because it "felt right."Janice spent her formative years in Taiwan, where she went to international school with a bunch of rich kids, much like a show from the 90s called Breaker High, which you won't remember because you're too young. Some of her classmates were the children of celebrities who had the paparazzi waiting to pop pictures after class, some were children of high level folks working for major international brands like a certain significant sportswear company which I am not inclined to mention. But don't get it twisted: Janice is all fun all the time. When I asked her what the most important thing in the whole wide world was she said, "Have fun, just be happy."

Janice (aka: bubbles), armed with a smile like a rainbow-flavoured concussion grenade, personifies her namesake better than anyone I know. For her very fitting capstone experiment with InSciTE, she determined the lifespan of bubbles using different ingredients. To do this, she camped out in CCIS all day the Saturday after Reading Week to spew bubbles from a bubble machine on the first-floor mezzanine and counted how long it took for them to burst on the basement level. Little did she know, however, that there were midterms being written in the basement all day, and as the fates would have it, Janice delivered a playful payload onto the shell-shocked post-exam students below. The girl makes science fun, and can she draw. The kind of hilarious cartoons you would see in a YouTube video with adorable little illustrations designed to educate you and entertain you at the same time. Very edutaining stuff.

Janice has been dabbling in the sciences for the past year but seems to be crushing math in particular and has recently taken an interest in economics. In her spare time, she volunteers at the Edmonton Humane Society where she gets to walk the dogs. I know, right? Who even knew that was a thing?

The supersoldier of science

Let's talk about Daniel Herbert for a second while we're on the subject of awesome. Daniel is the consummate professional, When I first started working with him, I thought he was already a grad student. Turns out, he has just been training for excellence his whole life. I learned a lot from Daniel. I learned that apparently you can apply to the golf academy in high school, which allows you to take a couple afternoons off every week to go… play golf. Why didn't I know about this sooner? I also learned at the end of the term that Daniel knows how to speak Mandarin. Somebody in class was giving me guff, to which Daniel cooly and kindly translated: "She says you smell." "Oh." I said. "Wait, you speak Mandarin?"

One day, Daniel asked me if I could find him some ½" x ½" neodymium magnets. "Sure," I replied. "Why?" Daniel then told me he wanted to 3D-print a Gauss cannon for his InSciTE Rube Goldberg machine (yes, we made a Rube Goldberg machine, and yes, we 3D print things for science). For those of you not familiar with a Gauss cannon, it's basically a series of heavy duty magnets or electromagnets that, when charged, can fire a projectile at deafening speed, and I use that term colloquially because it doesn't actually make a sound, just the thunk of a slab of metal exiting a barrel going god-knows-where, followed I'm sure by a sonic boom. (By the by, this device is also known in top secret military circles as a "rail gun.")

"Oh," I said. I was not surprised. The theme of Daniel's group project for the InSciTE Rube Goldberg machine was, "Don't take anyone's eye out." It wasn't, that was a lie. It was actually wave particle duality, which is way cooler, trust me on that. But this lofty sort of vision is the hallmark of everything this guy does. He had half-a-dozen science fairs under his belt before he hit grade 10, and he did research overseas in his uncle's lab at the prestigious Academia Sinica in Taipei, so when he got to InSciTe's first-year capstone project, he crushed it. He told me that his fourth grade science teacher hammered the concepts of the scientific method into his mind, which helped him in his academic career thus far, but the capstone helped him further still by focusing even more on the scientific method, troubleshooting, and the analysis and interpretation of statistical data.

So what does Daniel do when he's not building Gauss cannons and doing science? Well, he's a lifeguard, so he has to periodically train to save people's lives as well as don a hazmat suit to fight the evils of pool effluent with various noxious chemicals. He is also an archer, an enjoyer of anime, a world traveller, and a gamer.

Whenever Daniel asks us a question about one of his projects, he always looks incredibly focused on the answer, drinking it all in, as if the very suggestion is rewriting his code, his DNA. He is trying to better himself with every opportunity and experience. He is the supersoldier of science. And he is not the only student in InSciTE with this sort of background and drive. There are many more…

The heart of science

Take the effervescent Zain Patel for instance, son of a semi-professional gamer who kills at Rainbow 6. Born in Jolly Old London Towne, Zain is an enjoyer of donair poutine, fried chicken, and foods that are so spicy they would kill an ordinary human being. Easily. Perhaps that's why Zain wants to do an honours in pharmacology, because of his interest in how different substances affect the body. He is fascinated by the physiological and psychological response to drugs, and he has every intention of becoming a researcher in this field.

Zain's favourite read is To Kill A Mockingbird, and, as a Star Wars fanatic, his favourite films are (in order): Rogue 1, 8, 6, 4, 3, 5, 7, 1, 2. This in and of itself shows that the people in InSciTE just have plain old good taste.

All kidding aside, Zain is one of the kindest people you'll ever have the privilege of meeting. He is generous, noble, outgoing and supportive. When Zain joined InSciTE, one of the first things he did was set up a group chat so that everyone could communicate. That's the kind of person he is, always friendly, always willing to lend a helping hand, and always happy to oblige. When we asked Zain if he wanted to volunteer for a couple weekends to speak to prospective students about InSciTE he said: Sure! When we asked him if he wanted to be a mentor for future students he said: Sure! And can you guess what he said when we asked him to volunteer for special projects over the summer? Zain is the kind of guy who approaches life like an experience, not just a series of objectives. So when Zain asked me if he could come back next year and help us out with the new batch of students I said, Sure! Zain always stands out as the kind of person who has a can-do attitude and is always ready to help. His eagerness is only rivaled by his interest in science. Zain told me once that he loved organic chemistry, and I chuckled to myself. "What's so funny?" He asked. "Oh, I thought you were joking," I said. Organic chemistry casualties will understand the humour in this exchange, whereas organic chemistry zealots will demand my head on a pike. The dude loves what he loves, and his eagerness and earnestness sparks interest and inspires those around him. He's the one who the class nominates to give speeches, and he's the one who speaks from his heart. If InSciTE had a class president, it would be Zain. He is currently scouring U of A's hefty course calendar for high-level courses that interest him and fit the bill for his degree.

Now do you see what you're missing out on? Do you see what kind of folks the U of A, the Faculty of Science, and InSciTE are harboring? There are thousands of great people here on campus every day, across faculties, across departments, and across disciplines, all you have to do is reach out and find them. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Meet Matt

Hi there! My name is Matt Kingston and I'm the lab coordinator for InSciTE. I'm also a U of A alum (BSc '06) with a background in biology, chemistry and earth science, and I'm currently doing a part-time MBA here with a focus on sustainability. I like long walks along the beach, Halo 3, and old-school hip hop. I also like my students, because they have smart brains and hungry hearts. Our primary goal is to give our students a solid foundation on which to build their careers upon, so that they can become the enormous success stories we know they want to be. Our students are our future.