For those of you curious, I am taking:
Biochemistry 91R – Introduction to Research
Physics 11B – E&M
Literature and Arts C-40 – The Chinese Literati
Applied Math 105B – Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations
- MCB 192 – Principles of Drug Discovery
- Taught by Greg Verdine (who taught Chem 285 from my last semester), Vicki Sato (former Vertex Pharmaceuticals President and excellent lecturer – although this past lecture she gave was not at her best), and Mark Fishman (head of Novartis’s research group and one of the world’s foremost cardiologists). To be frank, I was somewhat disappointed in Verdine’s class last semester insofar as it didn’t test our ability to apply concepts of chemistry to biology, only our ability to memorize chemical activities in biological systems. Of course, I found the class to be very interesting, and the guest lecturers for the most part were superb (ie Vicki Sato) so I have very high hopes for this class.
- Research for Credit… ’nuff said
- Taught by Professor Masahiro Morii — picture Pikachu and your Asian physics-genius dad all rolled in one — and throw in some interesting American speech mannerisms (ie use of the word “gazillion”). If I hadn’t been born to Asian parents, I’d probably be unable to understand his bad accent, but seeing how I was, I can. I’m just hoping this class is more pre-med (and hence easier to deal with) than Physics 15/16 drop-out (and hence not easier to deal with).
- Taught by Professor Peter Bol — I started taking advantage of the abundance of Chinese cultural classes this year, but the main reason I’m taking this class is because of the excellent lecturer. Bol does not use humor (not that much), nor is he particularly dynamic, nor does he possess a peculiar voice — he just COMMUNICATES. I can’t even describe how he does it. (This class counts as a Historical Studies B Core which is what I’m using it for)
- Taught by Professor Michael Brenner and Daniel Larson – My newfound interest in nonlinear dynamics especially with regards to modeling biological systems has led me down a much more mathematical track than I ever thought I’d be taking. Brenner is an awesome lecturer, and at some point in time I needed to learn differential equations — so here I am.