Mentor Interviews
Get to know the heads and helpers of COSMOS!
Photo by Allison Cheng
This week, Allison Cheng (Cluster 8), representing UCSC’s Macrocosm, interviewed Dr. Shawn R. Noren, who discussed her work in marine mammal research, and gave advice for COSMOS students.
[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
Macrocosm: Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Dr. Shawn Noren: My name is Dr. Shawn Noren, I am a research scientist here at UC Santa Cruz under the Institute of Marine Science Department. I have been doing research on marine mammals including my graduate time for 30 years, and I’ve been with COSMOS for 22 years. |
SN: I started reading Ranger Rick magazine when I was 8, and I felt bad for all the stuff that was happening in the oceans. I remember reading about dolphins dying in tuna fishing nets. And I remember Olivia Newton-John had this song on the back of “Let’s Get Physical 45” called “The Dolphin Song,” and that also talked about all the dolphins dying in the nets. So I thought someone has to do something.
SN: If you had asked my 8-year-old self when I started reading about this, I would say bottlenose dolphins. As a scientist, I can’t have a favorite—I’d be unemployed. I’m kind of like the ambulance chaser; if there’s something happening, I have to follow that marine mammal and do something. But now that I’ve worked with several in-person, I think walruses are fascinating. They’re smarter than you’d think, even though they look like Jabba the Hutt. I was not expecting them to have such unique personalities.
SN: My favorite part about studying marine mammals is when my research has been directly used for policy change to help protect them. My favorite studies were probably analyzing the mom-calf swimming positions in dolphins because they have this unique swimming thing called echelon position, but no one’s ever quantified it. I love doing studies where it's like the first, where people’ve had this observation for like 50, 60, 100 years, and no one’s ever tested it. I like that study because that information is being used to determine if this tuna fishery is impacting dolphins. So I think that’s my favorite, because it has an interesting science story, and awesome, I hope, conservation if we apply it.
SN: My hope is by using marine mammals as an example I can inspire the next generation of conservationists—not just marine biologists. Not every person is going to be a scientist. I like teaching because I like sharing my information that these animals are super cool and we’re protecting our planet, and there’s also super cool animals in the rainforest and other regions in the world that we should protect.
SN: I don’t know how I got where I got, because no one was guiding me. Use your time here to ask people in the positions that you want, like how did they get there, what internships, what do you recommend as far as classes or college. What I’ve noticed, having done this for 22 years, is we used to talk to each other, and sing songs in the van. Then all of a sudden, MP3 players came out and people started not talking. And now, even during breaks, people are on their phones. My recommendation: use this time now for connection, unplug, and take advantage of talking to these professors that you have an opportunity to learn from. Or talk to your peers, they might know something cool. If everyone's looking at their phone, how are you gonna see the nature you want to save? Get your head out of your screen!
SN: I discovered painting by doing paint nights, and I find that really relaxing. I used to do theater, and some stuff in Hollywood, and I used to play the flute for like 12 years. And I was a Division 1 athlete in college. I’m a scientist now, but I used to be a well-rounded individual. It’s ‘cause I don’t spend time on my screen!
Tamara Duplantis: Hello, my name is Tamara Duplantis. I am the faculty advisor for Cluster 5–Video Game Design — along with my co-instructor, Dani Wright. I am an instructor in game design here at UC Santa Cruz here at the Games and Playable Media department. This is my first year at COSMOS, and I’m very excited about it.
TD: The thing that really brought me to GD as a field and an artistic medium is the capacity for allowing players expression. I come to game design from a musical background, where I was creating digital musical instruments. So my interest in games came from seeing the ways it taught players how to interact and perform these complex movements, and wanting to use that to aid in teaching music and musical instruments.
TD: I would say the most interesting thing for me is just seeing all the wide range of methods of interaction that people make, because as long as there’s interaction, anything can be a game. Obviously people think of video games, but board games, tabletop games, instruction art, immersive theater — all of these things can be games, and can be analyzed through that lens. So I just find it really interesting the breadth of interactive work you get to engage with in this field.
TD: I usually would say something like BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS, which is a strange and playful interactive drawing tool. Maybe second runner-up is Mother 3 — I really like the Earthbound games.
TD: My favorite experience was showing my game, Atchafalaya Arcade, at IndieCade Festival 2017. That project, Atchafalaya Arcade, is very important to me, because it marries all of my interests. It’s a series of musical instruments that as you play it, it talks about the coastal erosion in Southern Louisiana — where my family is from — and my nostalgia for this landscape that is disappearing. And being able to have that work recognized and being able to show it at an international festival, that was really important to me.
TD: I think the most important things I would like people to take away from this class are how to learn a new piece of software or programming language from scratch, how to work with a team on a creative endeavor, and how to scope a project so that you can make it in a reasonable amount of time.
TD: I think you’re all already at a real good start of starting to make games early. And it’s very heartening to see y’all at such an early age doing that, because I didn’t start making games until I was basically in grad school. So as far as advice, I’d say just keep learning new things, keep trying out new tools and techniques, and always be looking for new ways to express yourself.
TD: Honestly, work hard and play hard. I think play especially, and having time to relax, is so important. And I think one of the best things about COSMOS is being here at UC Santa Cruz campus up in the redwoods and all of that. So yeah, just working hard, and when you have the time off, play hard as well.
TD: So, as I mentioned, I’m from Southern Louisiana. My family is Cajun; I have all of my grandma’s recipes. I’m also a vegetarian, so I make a lot of vegetarian and vegan Jambalaya and gumbo, and I always like making these for friends and family. So yeah, I’m a mean vegetarian Cajun cook.
This week, Ava Seto, Cluster 6, representing UCSC’s Macrocosm, interviewed Fargol Nematkhah, a CA who teaches Python at COSMOS. She discussed her current and previous academic journey, her inspiration for studying electrical engineering and power systems, as well as her advice for COSMOS students.
Macrocosm: Could you please describe your background with electrical engineering?
Fargol Nematkhah: So I got my bachelor and masters degree in electrical engineering with my concentration being power systems. The different concentrations for electrical engineering offered at UCSC are electronics, communications, controls, and power systems. Right now, I’m a 3rd year PhD student working with Yihsu Chen from the ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) department. We’re researching the integration and impact of renewable energy sources regarding energy markets. |
FN: I’ve been at UCSC for two years. I like that the campus is very unique and beautiful. I would describe it as a forest by the ocean with colleges tucked within it.
FN: I enjoy going to the gym, playing tennis, going to the beach, and cooking.
FN: I know how to speak English and Farsi. I also can understand Azari. In terms of programming languages, I know Python, C, and MATLAB. I use Python to import libraries and packages for data analysis and machine learning.
FN: I was in my third year of high school in Iran. (I moved to the United States two years ago for my PhD.) I was learning about the basics of analyzing electric circuits and thought it was really cool. I strongly believe that people should pursue something that is intriguing to them. That way, their interest in that subject can fuel them through the challenging times [of researching and learning]. Moreover, they should consider the job market in addition to their passions.
FN: I chose power systems because I really liked the economic nature of this major which you don’t have with other majors. I took a course about analyzing power systems and when I was first introduced to economic dispatch, I thought it was really cool and fun so I decided to keep on pursuing [this concentration]. With my master's, I studied smart grids and retail electricity markets, and I enjoyed all of the different disciplines it tied to which includes policy, equity, and the environment.
FN: The main courses are electric circuit analysis, calculus, partial differential equations, power system analysis [for my concentration], and electric machinery.
FN: You need to enjoy math. You can’t separate math from electrical engineering, so you need a solid background in math in order to be comfortable taking and passing your electrical engineering classes.
FN: The most challenging part is that my research is studying renewable integration which is at the forefront of innovation currently. We need to find new approaches to accommodate new [companies] for renewable energy sources. Since this subject is really novel, there is not much [history and research] to reference.
FN: My advisor, Yihsu Chen, believes that you need to come up with the right problem first [no matter the difficulty] and then figure out the tools to solve it. This way, you can work on a problem that is worthwhile and important. To conduct our research, we use a lot of optimization techniques and the technology, AMPL, which consists of mathematical modeling and optimization solvers.
FN: My favorite topic that I have been and continue to explore is how energy consumers equipped with renewable energy resources, such as solar panels, can sell their surplus energy to their neighbors.
FN: I haven’t decided yet. Engineering has a lot of career paths which can be a positive or negative thing. It’s positive because there are a lot of options, but negative if you can’t decide. I know I still want my job to be related to the energy industry and energy markets, however I’m not sure yet what specific position I would want to pursue.
FN: My advice would be to figure out what you want to do early in life. Expose yourself to the news and trends. Know your own interests as well as your environment [in terms of career outlooks]. As a result, you can find a career you enjoy that also has an abundance of job opportunities.
This week, Shrijani Buruganahalli (Cluster 2), representing UCSC’s Macrocosm, interviewed Carina Arias, the Cluster 2 fellow. She discussed the wonders of chemistry, some of her interests, and advice for COSMOS students.
Macrocosm: Could you give a brief introduction about yourself?
Carina Arias: My name is Carina. I use she/they pronouns. I am a rising fourth year at UC Santa Cruz majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry, with a legal studies minor. I am originally from the Bay Area, and I love to read. |
CA: In high school, I had a really good chemistry teacher. My high school was under-resourced, so I didn’t have a lot of exposure to a lot of APs and different dual enrollment opportunities. If I could have taken AP Chemistry, I would have, but I honestly just love chemistry. It is so magical. I really like Harry Potter, and the closest thing to magic in the real world is chemistry because you will see a fluid turn into a different color in a matter of minutes, and I thought that was very interesting how that could happen. I am a big asker of the “why,” and I felt that chemistry would help me do that. For legal studies, I want to understand not only chemistry and what's around me, but also people, because legalities is one of the ways that our society is able to work in certain ways and also the way that our society is dysfunctional.
CA: I always wanted to be a doctor when I was growing up. We want to discover the world, but I think the human body is a world in itself because it is so complex and there are so many little layers that can change everything. For example, some kind of mutation in the cell can change your body and the way you express yourself and I thought that was very interesting, especially how we can use drugs and other types of technologies to aid and prevent illnesses.
CA: My favorite part is just seeing the students interact with each other, because it is heartening to see how everyone will start building community because most people, in my cluster at least, are strangers to one another. I think especially being a high schooler, it is important to build that bond with others who like what you like and who are also passionate about what you are doing. This not only fuels your mental health and self happiness, but also your intellectual health. You are able to move forward knowing that your peers are also struggling like you are, and they are passionate about things you are interested in. I can see everyone get brighter as they bond with one another and connect with the material and I just think that is awesome.
CA: I took CHEM 110L, which is advanced organic chemistry with an emphasis on organic synthesis, and I think that class was probably my favorite class because I was able to not only be hands-on in the lab, but also kind of figure out what it was I wanted to do in the long run. As you take so many lower division classes, you only get formulas and conclusions, but I want to ask “why,” and it was easy to see how I could combine all the different materials I had learned in that class and use it to come up with a solution and see it worked out.
CA: Don’t be afraid of failure. As a student, especially in STEM, there are going to be times where you fail. Even if you do, just know that it is not the end of your career as a student or as an academic because so many famous academics have failed in the past and are still failing. Failure is one of the ways you can get better with what you do so don’t let mistakes that you think you did overshadow your capabilities.
CA: I am an animal person. Sometimes I don’t consider myself a people person but I do consider myself an animal person. I have 2 dogs and some fish and that is one of the main reasons I liked biology because I got to see how different organisms act.