These lectures and activities were balanced with regular small group meetings, during which students developed new friendships and received personalized instruction, said Dr. Graeme Harper, dean of the Honors College.
“This year’s colloquium has produced truly remarkable work,” said Dean Harper, “from OU’s record number of Honors College freshmen, from our undergraduate teaching assistants who have led the small groups with such skill and dedication, and from our guest speakers, whose expertise and enthusiasm have been very inspiring.”
As part of the class, students were tasked with coming up with creative solutions to a range of unique challenges. Students conducted extensive research and wrote papers on their ideas.
Some ideas that emerged from this year’s colloquium:
Nishva Patel, Biomedical Sciences with a pre-dental track
Candy that reverses tooth decay and eliminates cavities
“Cavity prevention products are easy to find, but prevention is not enough for people who already have cavities and cavity-prone teeth,” Patel said. “My idea will help those people eliminate their cavities by using one of the same things that causes them: candy.”
Amber Kobylski, Actuarial Science
Laptop computer with a projector lens
"The idea came to me when 10 of my friends and I tried to squeeze into a small dorm room to watch a movie on a laptop. It was very uncomfortable seating and hard to see what was going on in the movie since the screen was so small,” Kobylski said. “But right behind the laptop was a blank wall, which would have been perfect for projecting a movie. Right then, I decided that it would be really convenient to be able to project movies and presentations straight from a laptop."
Caitlyn Theis, Undecided
Camp program that encourages more female students to pursue careers in STEM fields
“This experience will help to encourage girls, enlighten them on what they can do in these careers, break down gender clichés, and show them female role models,” Theis said. “This will hopefully create a more equal job market and will advance human capital as a whole.”
Kristina Whitaker, Psychology
Establishing a nonprofit organization that would pay for meals of troops who are deployed overseas.
“Not many people know that soldiers are paying for their meals while they are deployed,” said Whitaker, who has a brother serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. “Our soldiers already sacrifice so much. A nonprofit like this would make sure they had more money available for themselves and their families.”
Hannah Griffin, Pre-pharmacology
A soccer ball that would bring electricity to the deserts of Peru
“My idea is based off of another idea called the Spark, which is a maraca that, when shaken, moves a magnet through a metal coil which charges a battery. Then, a lamp can be plugged into the battery,” said Griffin. “I would take the same electrical set up but place it within a soccer ball so while the children play with it all day the battery is charged and can be used at night to plug in an electric kettle to boil water to cook with and to drink.”
To learn more about the OU Honors College, visit the website at oakland.edu/hc.
This semester, a talented crop of freshmen in Oakland University's Honors College has been making discoveries through an engaging colloquium that embraces the timeless virtues of inspiration, imagination and innovation.