From A to HBV

When I entered SUU I had a very narrow understanding of what science was in general. In high school I had taken and liked classes such as chemistry biology but I got my first taste for real science when I took AP biology. Up to this point in my life I had breezed through every class that was set in my path. This biology class was about to change that. I remember my first assignment, a three-page paper on the properties of water. What a pointless point paper I thought, how was I supposed to come up with more than a paragraph? I when to my bio book for support and soon found myself that three pages was going to hard to write not because it was too long but too short. After this assignment I learned that the world was not as clear a picture as I had thought that it was. This helped me to understand that I needed to reduce the assumptions that I held. This mentality pushed me to have a more exploring personality that served me well when I started my college experience some years later. Because of these experiences I had a pretty big investment in science and I entered with a chemistry major declaration. My views helped to shape my desire to pursue a future career in medicine.

From this semester I have gained an understanding of what science really is. It is messy. There is hardly ever a this is this and that is that scenario but rather a this is this when in this situation and that when It is in this situation with the exception of when that is this and only when this this is that that. This exposes a real side of science that attracts a certain type of person. This person is drawn to seek understanding. This is something that I have been developing in myself and striving to become. This is similar to how my understanding of the world has changed as a result to this class. I think the biggest change has to do with depth. I have often looked into the depth of the science behind a particular situation but never really considered the social, economical, or other far reaching topics. For example, this semester we talked about a topic that I had previously known just about every nook and cranny of the science. Diabetes is a topic I have covered in pathophysiology, advanced nutrition, diet therapy, and vertebrate physiology. Needless to say I have peeled back the layers of this onion for quite some time. However when we talked about It in class one we were assigned to read on a topic I had never studied, economics. I learned of the economic cost of people with diabetes and the impact that this has on the current medical landscape.

When I graduate I will be going on to an other schooling adventure called medical school. In this I will once again start to learn science in a new level of understanding. I will need this knowledge to complete my goals be being able to diagnose problems and diseases that affect my patients. The world that I will be joining will incorporate all of the knowledge I have obtained and all that I will gain. I will be able to make this world a better place when I have gained the proper training. It will not be a huge change in the worldview but it will be a large change in the individuals I will be able to serve.

Undergrad Reflections

Blair Ballard

As my Southern Utah University journey comes to an end, it is truly a pleasure to look back on the experience that I have had here. I’ve come a long way from where I was when I started. I came into Cedar City with a passive interest in just about everything. I’m still envious of the people who knew exactly what they wanted to do before college and I wish I could have been one of them. The only thing I truly knew about what I wanted to study when I started college was that I didn’t want to do a lot of math. In hindsight that is pretty comical considering the amount of applied math there is in all life science topics. Thankfully, a couple good teachers in high school inspired me and peaked my interest in the life sciences. This led me to take General Biology 1. While I can’t say that class was my favorite, it kept my interest enough for me to take the second half of the class from Paul Spruell. That was the class that I can really attribute to the rapid growth of my interest in biology. Paul was a fantastic teacher who loved to help students succeed (almost as much as he loved fish). After that, it seems like I can credit at least one class or teacher in each of the subsequent semesters that helped me refine my educational interests.

As my interests have evolved, it’s fun to think about my ideas of what science is and how it works before I got here. To say that my understanding was shallow might be an understatement—I never understood the amount of work that goes into all scientific research. Not just work, but also the amount of precision that is required to get research accepted. The amount of skepticism in science isn’t well understood by people who don’t study hard sciences. Coming into college, I was no stranger to competition, but I certainly didn’t understand the amount of competition that occurs between scientists. My idea that everyone in the scientific community was on the same side was quickly changed when I came to college. There is always someone who is a creative thinker and comes up with some brilliant research. However, I’ve learned that for every one of those, there are 10 people who want to disprove that person’s work. Therefore, when some research comes out and is accepted, it’s nothing short of a miracle. Thankfully, as I’ve continued through college, I’ve come to understand that the skepticism in this field is necessary. Ultimately, everyone is working for the common good, but one has to truly know what they are doing before they claim to change the world. It’s a daunting task and it might seem like it is impossible to make an impact in the field, but it is made that way for a purpose. Otherwise, just about anyone could make claims to who knows what and have it become accepted. Having a skeptical scientific community is vital to leading an educated society around us.

Now that I’m graduating and moving into the real world, I realize that it now partially becomes my responsibility to become one of those skeptical people who review other people’s work. I consider myself more educated in this field than the average citizen and I should do my part to make sure that facts are truly facts. Conversely, I now relish the opportunity to go forward in my career and find new things. In fact, I even look forward to being analyzed and having some work torn apart in whatever field I choose to go into. I’ve chosen to become a skeptical person so that means that I must learn to accept being around a lot of skeptical people throughout my life and I’m okay with that now. I’m going to be okay with not always being right. That definitely wasn’t the case coming into college.

My appreciation for science has increased each semester I’ve been at school here at SUU. That’s one thing I don’t think is going to change going forward into the real world. I plan on diving even deeper into science for grad school and continuing to learn after I’m completely done with school. I’ve always loved to learn and I hope that never changes. There are so many intriguing things being found every day, not just in life sciences, but in every scientific subject. Thanks to the 4 years of great classes and teachers here at SUU, I feel like I can comprehend a lot of the work that is being done and appreciate it. Additionally, I can truly appreciate some of the geniuses that have come before me. I can appreciate Darwin, Pasteur, Watson and Crick, and whoever else made significant steps in the field of biology. I’m sure that a sizeable chunk of the world knows who those guys were, but I know what they did and will forever be able to appreciate it.

            Since I plan on pursuing a career within the health sciences, everything I learned here at SUU is going to help me going forward. In order to become proficient at what I want to do, I’m going to have to keep up with the latest work that is being done out there. I’m going to have to keep that desire to learn in order to be very good at what I do. The professional world of health sciences changes so rapidly that it will probably be just as much work keeping up with current research as it is to physically do the job. That is something that I hope to embrace in the future. I want to see great things happen in my lifetime and I want to be a part of it as well. Science is only going to get more important as we learn more about genetics, medicine, world climate, and whatever else is being studied extensively right now. Knowing that cancer might be cured in my lifetime is such a cool thing to think about, but what is even more exciting is knowing that I might have an opportunity to be the one doing the research. Maybe I won’t be doing the research, but I feel like I may have a part in understanding and applying the research in order to accomplish it. It’s an exciting time to be a scientist.

I will look back on these years at SUU with extreme gratitude and satisfaction. This is a great school run by amazing people and I hope it only gets better. Any recognition SUU receives is well deserved and makes me feel proud to call it my alma mater.  I will miss this place. The relationships I’ve created with teachers and fellow students have been highlights in my life and I hope they continue going forward. I hope that the knowledge I gained here will act as a springboard into the professional world for me. This college experience has changed how I view the world around me in many different ways. For that, I cannot thank the staff and people around me enough! 

E.J. Leavitt | Using the Tools

Using the Tools

E.J. Leavitt 

As my time began here at Southern Utah University, I believe that I had a basic grasp of the life sciences – mostly thanks to the great science teachers that taught me in middle and high school. For instance, I knew relatively well what organelles were in a cell, and that a single leaf carries an array of pigments that are each responsible for the changing colors that we see during the autumn season. Although these series of facts were useful to me, however, they were more like the tools that a growing child might see in the family garage – potentially useful, but without first acquiring the confidence and skill necessary to operate them, the child would likely either misuse those tools, or not use them at all. Similar to that child and the tools, I was aware of many facts and concepts, but the need to learn how to apply knowledge remained.

            Curiosity is not a characteristic that I have lacked. Long before studying at SUU, I enjoyed learning how things work. Particularly interesting to me are the many ways that living organisms operate. The structure and physiology of the living things around us are incredibly complex, and I wished to know more about how they work. My interests coming to college settled mostly on pursuing a career in medicine, and the pursuit of which has given me more than enough opportunities to satiate my curiosity. Majoring in Biology and studying the life sciences has been a wonderful way to train me to use the metaphorical tools in the garage.

            One of the most valuable insights and skills that I have learned at SUU are the methodology and communication routes used by the scientific community. Before college, I had learned about the scientific method (i.e. observing, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, making predictions, testing the hypothesis, etc.) was not very familiar with scientific journals. Originally, I had it in my mind that scientific discoveries mostly originated from an ingenious scientist slugging it out in a laboratory for months or years in the attempt to find a breakthrough. However, I was ignorant of the massive utility of collaborative work. There are scores of peer-reviewed journals and a seemingly endless supply of research articles that form the foundation of knowledge upon which scientists can chase after new findings. Although some articles have faults that have slipped through the peer-review process, scientists can critically analyze articles and results related to their research to explore and build upon the work of others.

            On that note, studying at SUU has helped me to gain an important awareness of the importance of critical thinking. There are many others like myself who enjoy learning about science-related factoids. However, also similar to myself before college, these people often fail to watch, read, and learn facts, opinions, and events with a grain of salt. Claims are often made on TV, the internet, and other places that fail to provide any legitimate sources (which relates to a new pet peeve of mine: the proliferation of fake news and conspiracy theories on social media feeds). 

When false claims are not analyzed critically, tragedies and otherwise negative consequences may occur. For example, Andrew Wakefield’s retracted 1998 study that linked vaccines and autism had been accepted by many groups of parents and other individuals. This led to increases in the unvaccinated population (due in part to “anti-vaxxers”) and of otherwise preventable measles outbreaks, which have cost lives and millions of dollars in health care and research costs (AOL 2011). If Wakefield’s results and methodology were more closely examined by the public, many of the aforementioned consequences could have been avoided. Thus, my biggest insight on how scientists work and think about the world is the dire need to think and work critically.

            Next year, I will begin my studies in medical school. Over the next several years, I will learn many new concepts and practice a plethora of medical techniques – many of them involving high stakes if performed incorrectly. Science will play a part in my world in that I will need to read and learn from other professionals regarding what works and what does not. While reading medical journals and discussing procedures and medications with my colleagues, I will need to utilize critical thinking, applying my knowledge of biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, and other applicable topics to sort out good solutions from the bad ones. Although I may not be actively involved in research during my career, it will be essential to keep up with research and results regarding procedures and medications that I may or may not prescribe for my patients. The skills that I have acquired here at SUU – the capacity to apply knowledge and think critically – will be crucial for the success of my career, the safety of my future patients, and for the benefit of the communities around me.

AOL Editors. 2011. The autism vaccine fraud: Dr. Wakefield’s costly lie to society. AOL. Retrieved October 28, 2016 from http://www.aol.com/article/2011/01/12/autism-vaccine-fraud-wakefield-cost-money-deaths/19793484/?gen=1

Kallin Raymond

Capstone: Biology of Disease

Dec. 9, 2016

                When I first started life as a fresh college student, I had no idea how my college experience would pan out. I remember taking several general classes that first semester; biology 1610 was one of them. I don’t remember exactly what I learned that semester, but I remember how much I enjoyed the things that I was learning and would try to convey that knowledge to others. I realized that I had to tone down my excitement about the things that I learned about animals and plants when friends stopped taking me on hikes. I would come home excited about the way that organisms were put together. It was because of that enjoyment that I decided to be a biology major.

After that first semester, I thought that there was little else that could be taught to me. That’s how narrowminded I was at the time. As I progressed on through my major, I was amazed at how little I actually knew. Even now I realize that the more I learn, the less I think I actually know. On the contrary, however, I have found that the more I learn, the more I enjoy the sciences. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to come to college and find out about the world around me. It has been humbling to find out how amazing detailed and intricate the world is. I stand in awe at the vast variety of life found in all different parts of life. Life, to me, seems rather miraculous. The human body is a marvel.

One of the things that I have appreciated about learning about the sciences, is the way that I think. The internet contains a vast amount of knowledge, and it can be really easy to get deceived by the information found on there. Learning in the sciences has improved my critical thinking and has allowed me to truly consider what might be true, rather than trusting the first thing that I hear. This has also come about because of my progress in inquiring. I find joy in finding the truth. The internet is now much easier to navigate.

I realize that scientists have the greatest job in the world, to find answers to their questions. For science, there will never be an end to learning. It reminds of a quote, “There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”[1] Before I became a college student, I might have disagreed with that statement. I was forced to come to school, but now I choose to come to school, I choose what I get to learn about, and that has made all the difference. Learning in the sciences has influenced my life in every way. It even was part of the reason why I chose the career path that I did. The world I will be joining when I graduate is medical school and eventually, pediatrics.

Science will be in every single aspect of being a doctor. Biochemistry has emphasized that quite heavily. Although I don’t particularly enjoy the amount of work that I am given, I do enjoy being able to have a different perspective on how things work. As I said before, the human body is amazing, but also sensitive. Humans get sick and diseased quite frequently because of how their body reacts to the world around them. Doctors have a special job in that they get to use science to help individuals heal. I know that I am not a doctor yet, but I feel that I have many tools in my hands that have already allowed me to connect with others as well as help them heal. As soon as friends find out that I want to be a doctor, they come to me with their all their ailments, thinking that I am an alternative to a real doctor. While at first I couldn’t help them, or fix their problems, now I have a good general idea of what they need to do to get feeling better, even if that includes recognizing that they need to see a real doctor. Science has helped me know these things. I know that science will continually help me find out how to best help people heal in the future. I will be able to understand how to treat their ailments because I will know even better how chemistry and the human body work together toward an end.

Nearly everything that we see around us can be explained with science, we just haven’t discovered all those answers yet. The more people like me desire to answer the questions they have, the more that will be revealed.

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[1] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_learning.html

Developing a Scientific Worldview: College, Medicine, and Beyond

Developing a Scientific Worldview: College, Medicine, and Beyond

Joeseph Manring

Southern Utah University

Capstone: Biology of Disease

December 9, 2016

I spent several years after graduating high school doing work related to music. I wrote, performed, and, most importantly, provided lessons. One of the most important parts of playing an instrument, especially when it comes to percussion, is the ergonomics involved. When you’re surrounded by musicians you start to realize how frequently injuries happen because they’ve developed bad habits, so that was always one of the biggest things that I stressed to my students. I had friends who didn’t make technique improvements until after they had to go through surgeries, and that really played a part in encouraging me to study more about how the body works. On the other side of that coin, there are plenty of people who lose a portion of their normal physical functionality due to trauma and they have to find a new way to keep playing or give it up altogether. Once I saw it through my narrow scope, I really appreciated how difficult life can be after an injury, and the cost associated with surgery afterwards. Working with people who were travelling that road played some part in realizing that I could make a much bigger impact in helping them if I went into medicine. That’s obviously only part of my motivations, but we all started somewhere.

Before coming back to college, I was as ignorant as it gets as to how a scientist thinks, and how their methods work. I’ve always been pretty logic driven and mechanically inclined, but the culture shock is pretty unreal. Innate ability does very little for you, and much more value is placed on the amount of time and dedication you can place into your field. A scientist works incredibly hard to develop understanding and no matter what ability you started with, if you’re still here and getting  ready to graduate, you learned that fact somewhere along the way. I think that this is the biggest part about our development into scientists. We work, study, and discover to keep advancing our knowledge because we cannot rely on our “base” comprehension or ability. Work hard. Learn as much as you can. Keep moving forward, and don’t assume that what you knew when you started with was the only logical (or even, correct) way to look at the world.

Once I graduate from SUU, I want to go into medicine. Advancements in this field are strongly tied to scientific development and as a result, science will always be a big part of my life. Every medicine, procedure, and advice that I give to a patient will be scientifically and logically driven. We understand how to do the most good for our patients because scientific methodologies and analyses help us to do so. I may not use every part of what I learned here (it was an awful lot) but I know that I built a foundation for myself to stand on in medical school and beyond.

Kali Park

BIOL 4500

Dr. Karpel

December 6, 2016

How science and SUU has positively benefited me

            When I first came to SUU, I did not understand anything about the life sciences but, like most 18 year olds, I thought I knew everything. I entered college with the mentality that I wouldn’t need to change my study habits and gaining new skills didn’t even cross my mind. When it came it study habits, I tried to tackle college the same way that I had high school. I soon found out that college did not work the same way as high school. I could no longer do my homework last minute; just going over my notes before a test wasn’t enough to pass the exam and definitely not enough to pass a class. Like many entering biology students, I was planning on going to medical school because, in my opinion, that was the only thing you could really do with a life science degree. SUU introduced me to a whole new world of the life sciences that allowed me to explore, gain new skills, and study what really interested me.

When I started school, I began to learn that I needed to change my previous learning habits and gain new skills in order to succeed. Coming to SUU gave me the motivation that I needed in order to change my study habits and become a more responsible person. I learned how to manage and focus my time in order to create the necessary habits that were required to succeed in my classes and in my personal life. Not only did SUU help me in create better habits, it also helped me gain new skills. One of the skills that this university helped me acquire was critical thinking skills. I was able to get hands on experience in many of my classes that allowed me to apply things that I learned in class, analyze them, and evaluate them with hands on experiences. I consider these experiences to be the most valuable because they introduced me to the real world of science. I began learning that there were so many things you could study in the life sciences. Interestingly enough, I found that the medical side of science didn’t interest me as much as I thought it would; instead I fell in love with plants. Prior to coming to SUU I had hated plants and I never thought I would enjoy learning about them as much as I did. With the help of many SUU professors, I learned that there is a whole different world of plant and animal interactions that I had previously never thought about. These new experiences were the reason that I continued to pursue a degree in the life sciences.

As I continued to study Biology, I began to learn that scientists view the world in a different way than I had been exposed to earlier in my life. I learned that you couldn’t take everything at face value because things are more complicated than they may appear. This fact continued to surprise me as I advanced in my studies; there was always something new to learn and something new to discover. This realization led to one of the most important things that I have ever learned, the learning will never and should never stop. As I read and discussed previous and current discoveries, I soon found out that scientists tend to question everything in an attempt to fully understand the topic at hand. Sometimes evidence was found that supported various discoveries, and sometimes evidence was found that disputed these same discoveries. I would have previously believed that this rendered a certain discovery unhelpful or pointless, but I now understand that is not the case. Scientists view the world in a way that is open to debate and progress. Sometimes they may not agree with the findings of a certain discovery, which actually is extremely beneficial. These disagreements motivate other scientists to perform their own experiments, which eventually lead to more discoveries, which help us gain an understanding of the world we live in. Viewing the world the way a scientists does has taught me one of the most important things that I will always use in life. Thanks to SUU, I will always be a life-long learner.

After I graduate, I plan to go a different route with my education than would probably be expected from a biology major. I am planning to attend law school, and though it might not seem like it, science will most likely play a major role in my future career. There are some areas of law that require one to have a science degree, such as patent law. I am planning on studying this area of law, meaning that my science degree has opened a door that no other degree could have done. A major part of patent law requires reviewing discoveries made in the science fields; my degree will help me excel in this career field. Not only will science play a major part in my future career, it will also play a major part in fulfilling items on my bucket list. I have always wanted to have my own greenhouse and grow my own vegetables. Science will play a large part in this aspect of my future because it will help me understand the plants I will be working with. I will be able to use scientific knowledge to identify the diseases or insects that could harm the plants and eventually I will be able to create a successful greenhouse. After I finish my time here at SUU, my degree will continue to be a benefit to me. Combining science, all the things it has taught me, and the skills I have acquired will help me create a better future for myself.