First, I'll explain who I am. I'm Nicholas Sugiarto, a '23 from San Diego, California. Second, a quick disclaimer. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Prior to Dartmouth, I've never hiked, skied, or seen snow. So yeah, you could say that Dartmouth is quite a bit different from what I'm used to. You'll probably find me on campus lost. I have no sense of direction. Please help.
A class studying how Christian language has permeated into how we as a society talk about economics. I have virtually no interest in either field as a major, nor am I really religious, but the class is super fun! It challenges you to think in ways that aren't outstandingly obvious, but get more and more interesting if you're willing to put the time in to thinking about them. It's by no means your traditional class. At least in the high school I came from, the idea of dedicating an entire term to a topic as niche as this is unheard of. But honestly? That just makes it so much more fulfilling. Like most Dartmouth classes, there's a ton of freedom to explore topics that interest you. For my final term paper, since I'm a huge hip hop fan, I wrote about the religious and economic underpinnings of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost." Without diving too deep into the jargon, I argued that money according to Kendrick Lamar, is defined by Western capitalism heavily intertwined with American Prosperity Gospel; its true nature, on the other hand, is a form of spiritual exchange. I loved this class so much that I was able to take my professor out to breakfast (on Dartmouth's dime, of course. Quick college lesson, never, ever pay for food. Live life Aladdin style.).
For those that don't know, Writing 5 is a class that's mandated for all Freshman. It helps you adjust to college writing, research, all that good stuff. There's a ton of topics to choose from, ranging from the criminal justice system to how food affects your mind. I personally chose "Pursuit of Happiness" because, well, who doesn't want to be happy? This class was my first intro to what the Dartmouth academic experience is really about. It was a small class of only 16 strong where classes were discussion-based and the professor's door is always open. It goes without saying that the course was immensely interesting (is there really a way to make happiness boring?), and we studied a vast majority of topics from Aristotle to Voltaire to Biochemical research studies. I tell incoming students all the time that if you want to make the most of your Dartmouth experience, take classes that interest you and make what you do with those classes interesting too. There's nothing more painful than having to write a paper on a topic you find absolutely mind-numbingly dull. Given my fascination with stand up comedy, I focused on viewing comedy as a form of happiness, starting from comedy in relation to Camus's absurd, the higher prevalence of mental illness in comedians, and what kind of comedians deserve happiness. Honestly? Even though this class was technically "mandatory," I would have taken it regardless.
This is the class I'm currently taking, and it's by far my favorite. You couldn't tell by my posts, or my favorite classes I listed earlier, but I'm actually a huge STEM guy. I'm a biomedical engineering major for a reason, and Dartmouth classes really make STEM fun. They're also so easy a child could follow them. Literally. I'm using the computer science 1 curriculum to teach my little sister coding. At a slower pace of course. She's not THAT smart (yet). I've never tried coding before, but the task-based approach of the CS department really makes things interesting. So far, we've drawn a children's book/ logo, a chalkboard drawing (I drew the Kanye bear), and a retro pong game. There's something fun about solving puzzles for a grade, and even though the course is admittedly pretty challenging at times, it's so worth it.
Growing up, I figured "supercomputer" was just one of those words that the hacker-nerd threw out during action movies to sound smart. You know? I thought "supercomputer" was just one of those fake cool-sounding words like "mainframe," "cyberspace," or "secure password." It was a word that felt more villain-esque than real. Until I found out that Dartmouth had one.
Yeah. Dartmouth has a supercomputer. Three, to be exact. Go figure.
Basically, I've started doing research for the Geisel School of Medicine (Dartmouth's resident med school), specifically the Wang lab for Professor Xiaofeng Wang. Now, I can't go into the specifics of what I'm actually researching, since I'm not sure that I can divulge that, but I will say that this is the first time I'm learning to use advanced coding languages like Bash and Unix, and the first time that I'm working with a, you know, supercomputer. And as someone who has done work his whole life on a laptop whose internal cooling fan is louder than the music I'm trying to listen to, well, let's just say that I'm equal parts woefully lost, and very, very intimidating.
You see, I'm a biomedical engineering major, but I'm by no means a computer guy. Real talk, the only academic experience I've had with computers is half of an introductory computer science sequence. Don't get me wrong, I did well in the class and I enjoy it, but the leap from "computer science 1" to "assisting with the forefront of cancer research" isn't exactly an intuitive leap. Really, it's been a terrifying one. It's a lot of trouble shooting, and a really strong feeling that I have no idea what I'm doing. If I didn't have as much help as I did, there would be no way I would have lasted even a week doing this kind of research.
But that's the thing. I have been given so much help. Both from the principal investigator (the head professor) himself, and the people in the lab. One of the first things my professor did for me when I was first onboarded in the lab was set up weekly meetings with him to discuss my progress, and introduce to me a graduate student to work with. And there's no way I can explain here how grateful I am for her. Seriously. I've texted her a question at 4 in the morning completely expecting to get an answer in the morning. Because even if she was still awake at 4 in the morning, well, it's pretty evident that she clearly is working on something much more important than whatever I have to ask. And yet, within 45 seconds, an answer.
Trust me on this, but I'm a hard-headed fool. Before asking her, I often spend hours on a single problem, trying to figure out what went wrong. But to see her solve that with two sentences and 30 seconds makes me realize not just that it's okay to ask for help, but also makes me extremely grateful to both work with her and at work at a place like Dartmouth.
Often we talk about access to opportunities. And Dartmouth, being an Ivy League institution, has no shortage of that. But to believe in me enough to give me the help I need to grow and learn lets me take full advantage of what I've been so lucky to have been given.
Dartmouth changed my life. A large part of that change comes from the support I have received from professors. Learn more here about some mentor-mentee relationships I have made!
Exploring Chicago with my fellow women engineers from Dartmouth! We explored the city outside of the SWE conference and got to see how exciting Chicago can be.
