Bridging Generations in Science
It’s not exactly like going back to science class — it’s better.
Two emeriti professors reminisce with current students about teaching “in those days.” Produced entirely by a team of WQSU student staff, this podcast brings to life their shared appreciation for science, research and Susquehanna.
Recalling what the science equipment, research opportunities and grant funding were like decades ago, the professors recounted details so specific that time didn’t seem to be a factor in the equation.
“Well, we had a pH meter and a spec 20. That was our equipment,” Thomas McGrath remembers. “But I went off to work for Gulf Research one summer and brought back a gas chromatograph.”
But I went off to work for Gulf Research one summer and brought back a gas chromatograph.
– Thomas McGrath
In addition to physics, Fred Grosse also taught computer courses for 15 years. “The first thing we got was a key punch with a Hollerith code. We didn’t have a printer here at all,” he recalls. “We had five big trays, maybe four feet long of cards” to haul to another university and print the day before Commencement. “They went perfect,” he says as he leads into the joke he played on his colleagues.
The significance of undergraduate research and how it can help Susquehanna students launch their careers in science with unmatched experience was a resounding theme throughout the interview. McGrath, for whom the McGrath Scholars Program is named, was instrumental in establishing summer science research at Susquehanna. In the podcast studio, he was thanked by a recent recipient.
“I think I speak on behalf of many students like us, on behalf of the many McGrath Scholars,” Samit Barua Chowdhury says. “We’re really thankful for you for this, for what you have done for the students back then, and how that tradition has carried on all these years.”
