Summer Quarter 2020
Sun's Out, Zoom's Out
Courses
Total Number of Credits: 10
BIOL 200
Metabolism and energetics, structure and function of biomolecules, cell structure and function, animal development. (5 credits)
CHEM 152
Gas phase and aqueous equilibria, thermochemistry, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. (5 credits)
About My Schedule
Summer quarter is a few weeks shorter than autumn, winter, and spring quarters, so students typically take a lighter course load. I took 10 credits of my major pre-requisites. This allows me to apply for my major after autumn quarter 2020, and if everything proceeds on-schedule, I should be able to graduate with a double major in 5 years.
Artifacts
Biology Take-Home Final
For our BIOL 200 final, we had an exam portion and a take-home portion. For our take-home final, we were asked to identify a problem in our community and develop a proposal for a using either CRISPR or ELISA. For my project, I chose to use CRISPR to help mediate Tay-Sachs disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that disproportionately affects Ashkenazi Jews, among other groups. In Ashkenazi Jews with Tay-Sachs, there is an identified and well-studied insertion mutation, which I propose to use CRISPR-Cas9 to remove, diagraming the rough molecular process. I discuss my recommendation for the proposal and the ethical concerns associated with it.
PLQ (Post-Lecture Questions)
In CHEM 152, after every lecture we were given PLQs, or Post-Lecture Questions. These optional assignments which could be turned in for extra credit (contingent upon our participation in a weekly discussion section) gave us daily practice on the material we were learning in lecture. By doing these every day, I was able to check my understanding of the content we were learning, as well as studying all through through the quarter. By doing 22-some-odd PLQs, I was able to apply what I learned and prepare myself for the exams and the final.