Undergraduate / Thermodynamics class - Brown ESSAYS [2]

Open Curriculum at Brown

What do you hope to experience at Brown through the Open Curriculum, and what do you hope to contribute to the Brown community? (250-word limit)

While visiting Brown, I attended a thermodynamics class, not because of a burning desire to understand the Sackur-Tetrode equation, but because I wanted to experience my first STEM lecture taught by a woman. Through relatable analogies and jokes, Professor Palymore made a complex lecture completely understandable; the class felt like a literary analysis of thermochemical cells. Alicia, a Brown sophomore, commented on my Girls Who Code notebook and we discussed unintentional gender bias in STEM classes. She told me about her seemingly strange course load: thermodynamics, traditional Chinese medicine, public health, and a dance class. She didn't need to take those classes to fulfill a requirement-she took them because they interested her. The Open Curriculum meant Alicia didn't have to be an engineer, a dancer, or an aspiring poet - she could be all three. What will I become: an environmentalist punk rock drummer or a mathematical rock climber who dabbles in the theater? I've always reached beyond what was familiar, ending up with busted lips, a fear of pigeons, and an ability to tell which dollar tacos will give you food poisoning. As a member of the Brown community, I will be open about the challenges I have faced, and about the power we all have to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles and use them to our advantage. I will encourage others to look beyond themselves, their comfort zones, and even their own galaxies as they build their foundation for a life of exploration.