Hana Tekle
E-Portfolio
About me
My name is Hana Tekle and I am currently a forth year student majoring in Biology with a minor in Mathematics. When I first entered my freshman year of UMBC I had no idea what I was working towards or what my career aspirations were. So, I pursued the disciplines I knew I was interested in at that time. During my journey I also became involved both inside and outside of my community. Slowly I saw my involvement shaping the person I was becoming. One example comes from my volunteer work as a Learning Assistant. This experience taught me how to be a leader. This role spilled over to other areas of my life as I started to speak up more in class, take the initiative during projects, and became more open to sharing my ideas with others
Motivation for participating in the program
When I first heard about the Grand Challenge program and the 5 experiences we are expected to complete as a scholars, it called my attention to how I fulfilled the requirements in some but not in others. Reflecting on my growth from my past involvements, I became excited about the growth I would experience as I complete the challenges I have remaining.
My Grand challenge
My Grand Challenge
My chosen grand challenge will be individualized personal learning. One of the reasons that brought me to this grand challenge are my experiences as a student. As a student I have been in both ends of the spectrum where I’ve struggled in my courses as well as done well in them. During my experiences I’ve also been witness to the teachers that have had influence on me and the student I am today. One specific example comes from my high school calculus teacher. Like my classmates this was a course I found challenging in the beginning. But starting of the semester I remember how my teacher came into the classroom prepared. Each class she relied on a different method of learning from making us work in groups to relating the concepts that we learned in class to the real world. Prior to taking the class I saw calculus as something daunting but I still remember her words of encouragements as she told us we all had what it takes to be successful in the course. These past two semesters I was granted the opportunity to serve as Teaching assistant in a Pre-Calc course offered in UMBC. During this opportunity I came to realize that I was not in the position to help students in a course I once struggled with myself. This experience has gave me the understanding of what it's like to be a teacher Its also helped me to realize that not all students are the same. I believe my experiences both as a student and teacher will help me in gathering the wisdom needed for creating a better individualized learning.
Research
REU
Over the past summer I had the opportunity in doing Undergraduate research in Kettering University, Michigan. I spent 9 weeks at my REU working under the discipline of Applied Biology. While there I got to meet a group of students of who I would work alongside (and explore Michigan with) during my stay.
A Brief Explanation of My Research
The objective of the project was to determine if watermelon peel in anaerobic co-digestion with municipal waste would be an effective feedstock for methane production. A slow increase in the percent feed of watermelon peel was used to analyze conditions that would optimize methane yield. A biochemical potential (BMP) assay was conducted as a short-term method of exploring the potential of a substrate for methane production. Watermelon peel was chosen as a substrate because of its large yield and high residue contribution. Watermelon peel was co-digested with municipal waste. CSTRs provided an appealing method of disposing of this residue. Watermelon peel contains cellulose and hemicellulose polymers of sugars making watermelon peel an affective feedstock.
My proposed research experience comes from an REU that I completed over the summer of 2019. The REU was hosted by Kettering University located in Flint, Michigan. The program lasted from June 23, 2019 to August 16, 2019. This was an 9-week experience where each week we were expected to complete 40hours of research which included both lab work and individual article research. Over the course of the two months I did my research I completed approximately 320 hours of work.
Research Based Learning Objectives
Effective Communication:
Creativity
Over the past summer I had the opportunity in doing Undergraduate research in Kettering University, Michigan. I spent 9 weeks at my REU working under the discipline of Applied Biology. While there I got to meet a group of students of who I would work alongside (and explore Michigan with) during my stay.
A Brief Explanation of My Research
The objective of the project was to determine if watermelon peel in anaerobic co-digestion with municipal waste would be an effective feedstock for methane production. A slow increase in the percent feed of watermelon peel was used to analyze conditions that would optimize methane yield. A biochemical potential (BMP) assay was conducted as a short-term method of exploring the potential of a substrate for methane production. Watermelon peel was chosen as a substrate because of its large yield and high residue contribution. Watermelon peel was co-digested with municipal waste. CSTRs provided an appealing method of disposing of this residue. Watermelon peel contains cellulose and hemicellulose polymers of sugars making watermelon peel an affective feedstock.
My proposed research experience comes from an REU that I completed over the summer of 2019. The REU was hosted by Kettering University located in Flint, Michigan. The program lasted from June 23, 2019 to August 16, 2019. This was an 9-week experience where each week we were expected to complete 40hours of research which included both lab work and individual article research. Over the course of the two months I did my research I completed approximately 320 hours of work.
Research Based Learning Objectives
Effective Communication:
- The challenges I’ve overcome through this experience include:communicating my ideas to others, presenting my poster to various audiences, and conducting a research experience independently. This experience required that recognize my own strengths and weaknesses in order to accommodate them. This meant I had to learn how to take constructive criticism and consider the perspective of others in order to preserver through my challenges.
Creativity
- This was an independent based project where I was expected to come up with novel methods of approaching a research problem (creativity). This required that I look through different research articles to understand the work that had already been done in order to approach problems from a novel perspective.
interdisciplinary
My proposed interdisciplinary approach is a minor in Mathematics. The highest level math required for a Biology major is Calculus, but my minor required that I take seven classes outside of my major. Since my grand challenge is advanced personal learning, my goal would be to improve and innovate personal learning to fit the need of a variety of audiences. This experience has not only changed my ideas about creating a learning experience for a diversified audience, but also an approach to targeting different disciplines. Having Biology as a major and Math as a minor has helped me understand learning through the perspective of two disciplines.
Service
Over the past two years, I have served as a Sunday School Teacher at Holy Family Church, Randallstown. This experience was outside my normal area of discipline and required that I prepare lesson plans, convey ideas to others, and create a learning environment that would cater to different students. Last school year I worked with age groups of students that were about 13 and 14 years old. This year I’m working with students in the age groups ranges of 8-10. The lesson plan’s I would create came from a curriculum guideline (for catholic Sunday school) that I received in the beginning of the school year. As I prepared the material I would present I would research the background and create activities that would facilitate better ways for the students to engage and recall the information better.These activities range from jeopardy games to physical activities where students are encouraged to work together to complete a task.
Connection To Learning Objectives
Community Engagement
As a Sunday school teacher, my community is my church. As I engage with my students this also requires that I am actively communicating with their parents as well as the educators at my church.To create individualized learning also means being actively aware of the influences the individual has outside the learning environment.
Civic Agency
While teaching Sunday school I immersed in a community of parents, children, parishioners, program coordinators, and priests.My main role in this community is not already to be in direct contact with the students, but also to report their progress to their parents. When it comes to a child’s personal learning, this make me consider not only the role of the educator but also the potential the parent has to make a change.
Capacity for Reflection
I think my religion is the most influential and scared aspects that has had an impact on my outlook on life. This experience has thought me to see myself as a social actor and see my actions having an impact on my community. I keep this intention with me as I teach my students the fundamentals of our religion that they will then carry with them for a long time to come.
Connection To Learning Objectives
Community Engagement
As a Sunday school teacher, my community is my church. As I engage with my students this also requires that I am actively communicating with their parents as well as the educators at my church.To create individualized learning also means being actively aware of the influences the individual has outside the learning environment.
Civic Agency
While teaching Sunday school I immersed in a community of parents, children, parishioners, program coordinators, and priests.My main role in this community is not already to be in direct contact with the students, but also to report their progress to their parents. When it comes to a child’s personal learning, this make me consider not only the role of the educator but also the potential the parent has to make a change.
Capacity for Reflection
I think my religion is the most influential and scared aspects that has had an impact on my outlook on life. This experience has thought me to see myself as a social actor and see my actions having an impact on my community. I keep this intention with me as I teach my students the fundamentals of our religion that they will then carry with them for a long time to come.
Future Experience
Contact
- Baltimore, MD
