Science Leader First-Year Seminars

All Science Leaders are enrolled in the same First Year Seminar, a great way for first-year students to meet and interact closely with people who are also new to the College and who share an interest in science. Small, intensive and highly personalized, the freshman seminar expands the opportunities for Science Leaders to engage intellectually with their peers and their professor.

In 2008, 2010, Professor of Chemistry Marc Zimmer taught "Glow," a First Year Seminar about bioluminescent organisms and the use of bioluminescence proteins in biotechnology. The seminar included a 5-day field trip to Vieques, Puerto Rico, where students worked with bioluminescent marine organisms and looked for fluorescent corals. Professor Zimmer will teach this course again for Science Leaders entering the College in fall 2012.

The First Year Seminar for Science Leaders entering the College in fall 2009 was "Microbes, Molecules and More." Students taught by professors Anne Bernhard (biology) and Colleen Kaczmarek (chemistry) examined the antibacterial properties of plants found in the Connecticut College Arboretum.

In the fall 2011, Associate Professor of Computer Science Gary Parker taught Science Leaders in the First Year Seminar "Robotics and Problem Solving," an introduction to robotics and problem solving through robot construction and programming.

Below, Science Leaders in Vieques, Puerto Rico, 2008, studied bioluminescence with Professor Zimmer.