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New money, new opportunities
continued from pg. 1
The STEM department in general, especially when compared to other college departments, has had a reputation for being very difficult. As Professor Miller explains, these fields are vertical in nature, the courses build up upon each other, thus forming a very rigid prerequisite structure.
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Miller explains, “If a student fails a class or just misses taking it for some reason, they can really get behind. This makes the degrees especially challenging for our working students.”
Professor To also faced this challenge when he was in the same position as many of his students years ago. “From my own experience, I worked 32 hours/week during the last 2-years of undergraduate degree,” said To. “Having to work to pay for college reduced the amount of time I can spend on studying and working with classmates and impeded my ability to do research as an undergraduate.”
With the program being both experience as well as a source of income, it will hopefully alleviate some of the stress faced, and the amount of funding will be enough for students to focus on their academics and research. The program will also be flexible in terms of when students can conveniently complete their work, so it doesn’t interfere with their other courses. At the same time, the work does help improve their knowledge of physics, helping them in their academic career, plus look very strong on their resume.
Zingkhai states that “enabling people to work at a traineeship who would otherwise be forced into working an unrelated retail job allows students to focus on studying. Investment in the knowledge of the younger generations is sowing the seeds for a prosperous and bountiful future.” Failure to do so will only the inevitable void being filled up by a lack of high value talent.
In addition to the efforts of both Professor Miller and To, Professors Marteen Golterman, Kathryn Grimm, Yongsheng Gao, and Anna Nierenberg of San Francisco State, Cal State East Bay, Fresno State, and UC Merced respectively. Participants will be selected from the aforementioned schools in addition to Sonoma and Stanislaus State, however, the program plans to expand to other CSU’s in the future.
