More than 700 Ohio State environmental science students presented posters on their final course projects — on such timely topics as climate change, water quality and renewable energy — at the university’s third annual Environmental Science Student Symposium. The event took place in November.
All the students were enrolled in Introduction to Environmental Science, an introductory course for both science and nonscience majors, said Brian Lower, associate professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources.
He teaches the course together with his twin brother, Steven Lower, professor in the school and in Ohio State’s School of Earth Sciences.
“The students get to experience what it’s like to be a scientist,” Brian Lower said. “The event and the poster design, construction, presentation and peer-review process show students firsthand what a scientist is and how the scientific process works.”
Brian Lower and students talk about the Environmental Science Student Symposium: (Video: Office of Distance Education and eLearning, Ohio State.)
“The event shows students firsthand what a scientist is and how the scientific process works.”—Brian Lower
Gain ‘skills needed in their future professions’
- Lower said that in preparing for the symposium, each student evaluates three other students’ posters. The step parallels how scientists review other scientists’ work in the essential peer-review process.
- Forests, fisheries, fossil fuels, food production, nuclear power, urbanization, biodiversity and sustainability also were some of the topics.
- “Presenting on their topic helps the students develop critical presentation skills needed in their future professions,” Lower said.
- To contact the source: Brian Lower at lower.30@osu.edu.