Science Honors
Don’t just learn about science…DO Science!
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In the past year, we’ve seen record-breaking
weather extremes, from tornadoes to floods and wildfires. Is our
environment changing? How will we adapt?
As a member of the Science Honors team you will answer these questions by…
- Building a working weather balloon
complete with digital atmospheric sensors, a Wi-Fi connection and a camera! Record real time data from the upper reaches of the troposphere to the very edge of the stratosphere.
- Designing your own experiments
to look for genetic and behavioral changes in one of
four aquatic invertebrate habitats: marine reef,
freshwater river, brackish swamp and coldwater “deep
ocean.” Use modern genetic tools to discover
whether gene expression leads to protein changes in
response to environmental changes.
- Running statistical tests and
computer analyses on real historical climate data.
- Hearing from regional climate
experts.
- Debating proposals to improve Houghton’s environmental stewardship.
This innovative, interdisciplinary program requires students to collaborate with expert faculty to tackle complex, real-world issues. The curriculum combines the disciplines of mathematics and statistics, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, computer science and physics to examine and address the particular scientific questions from a variety of vantage points.
Science Honors exchanges:
- ‘cookbook’ lab experiments → creative investigation
- passive lectures → active exploration
- ordinary freshmen courses → becoming the next generation of doctors, engineers, scientists, researchers and educators.
The problem-driven approach of our program, along with extensive opportunities for research and discovery, serves as exceptional preparation for the next generation of scientists, engineers, physicians and educators.
For more information:
Christopher M. Wells, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Physics
Phone: 585-567-9373
Email:
christopher.wells@houghton.edu
