J Bujarski

Ms. Stark
ENC 2135-003
26 September 2016
Investigative Field Essay: Biology
I.

Introduction
A quote Ive come to love over time is If the human brain were so simple that we could

understand it, we would be so simple that we couldnt. When Emerson M. Pugh said this, he set
a train of thought in motion that no matter how far humans come, and how advanced technology
goes, there will be a point where our humanity is our only hinderance to advancing. This strips
all humans of the idea of our own divinity, that our phones make us lesser gods, that our
machines make us masters of the Earth, or that our genetics distinguish us from other forms of
life. Essentially, Pughs words show how advanced the field of biology truly is and how little
humans have come to discover. This is what I find to be immensely fascinating about biology,
how every action and reaction of all life boils down to processes that are measurable, calculable,
and even manipulable. The field of biology covers a vast array of career paths and opportunities
that the hardest part of the process is finding out how to begin, which is more often than not a
choice made in post-secondary education. My aim is to uncover the important details of this first
step, in regard to what makes up a biology major college student, between the early choices
made during childhood to the overall expectations of the major following graduation. I had to
first start off by investigating the testimonies of people who are either actively pursuing the
major in University or have already set out in the field.

As it so happens, students have mixed emotions in how they would summarize their
experience thus far, as students report on how they would have changed the classes theyve
taken. Life within the major is strenuous, causing many students to reconsider the path they take
in their education. While the schooling itself may prove too difficult, the community itself is
vastly different from the preconceived notion, as the testimonies from students described it as far
less welcoming and more stressful than the open nature of a broad discourse community; being a
member of the biology field requires a strict discipline in following the rules set down by the
members of the community, and failing to follow the rules can result in exclusion from the
community. Hence, it is not uncommon for students to be hesitant to contribute to or read from
publications in this field, as there is such a high barrier to entry. In total, the expectations I held
for the major were shattered with the secondary information as I slowly came to realize the
dynamic nature of the biology field.

II.

Methods (Copy and paste from notes)

In order to solve what life in the major is mostly like, I utilized three primary sources of

information in the form of interviews and ten secondary sources. The primary methods of going
about collecting research information was done through a process of personal interviews with
individuals involved in the major. The interviews give information from individuals who are
situated within the major with a similar mindset of myself, however with a great deal of
experience to back their claims. The questions of the interviews were relatively personal: why
the individual is interested in biology, how their perspective of the field has changed over time,

what classes or experiences are most worth the time and money while in college, how they
contribute to their field, and how they see their field operating and expanding in the future.
The first interview was conducted with Fernando Ritzinger, a junior in the biology major
at Florida State University, with the intent of getting the feedback of an undergraduate student,
who could still have potential time to change their major if they so chose. Moving up the chain,
the second interview was conducted with PJ Goetz, an anatomy and physiology teacher for
Wharton High School who is pursuing her Masters degree, was conducted over the phone. Her
being a student with an already established career made her a perfect choice for an interview. My
third interview was conducted with Ms. Bonnie Gloeckner, an academic advisor with Florida
State University with a Masters degree in Biological Science and an extensive researching
history in the growth patterns of reptiles and dinosaurs, which made her by far one of the most
fascinating candidates for an interview among all who were considered. The reason these three
candidates were the best for the information provided was due to their involvement in schooling
in some way, shape or form. Had I considered an individual who had graduated and was now
working diligently on their career only, I would consider them not credible for information on
the present. The interviews were either conducted face-to-face or over the phone, which truly
showed the emotion and passion that each interviewee felt in their field of study. The answers
shared by each of the interviewees shed much light into what I have gotten myself into.

III. Results
Fernando Ritzinger, the first of the three interviewees, is a junior in the biology major at
FSU, and having been the first person to greet me in my coming to the historic school, was very

open in his answers with me. I first asked what was his inspiration in choosing the major, for
which he relayed how his parents had always pushed him to embrace S.T.E.M. classes and to
work as hard as he could in his secondary schooling. He was born and initially raised in Brasil,
however not in an area with the luxury expense in technology as seen in the United States.
Therefore, his coming to the US to then be accepted into FSU gave him the opportunity to see
what was truly available within the field, and he was infatuated. So much so, in fact, that he
changed his major from Mathematics to Biology within the first week of his being enrolled in the
school. His answer to my third question, what was best to take at FSU, was simply to ease into
the more difficult classes and to take as many field-related classes as possible (his example was
to not take two semesters of Biology alongside two of Organic Chemistry, as so many students
are quick to fail either class). Being an undergraduate, there are research opportunities, however
none that he had been a part of, so his response to my fourth question was null. How the field is
to grow in his eyes, however was the first response that was very telling; he suggests that the
field of computer technology and programming will be hugely related to Biology in a few years
time. I found this answer fascinating, however not unexpected for a student of the millennial
generation. In all, his answers revealed a young man who was very excited and enthusiastic to be
a student in his major.
The second interview was conducted over the phone with a teacher and student in nursing
and human medicine, Ms. PJ Goetz. For her, she had come from a family of hospital workers,
with her father as a General Practitioner and her mother a nurse alongside him. She was always
encouraged to study the human body and what makes us a well-oiled machine that she could
learn to understand and fix. She started as a nurse after getting her Bachelors degree, however

could not bear to continue working in a hospital and the stress associated with it once she had
two sons, and so she took up a teaching job until she could go back to school. Her advice for my
schooling was to take advantage of the professors that offer research for undergraduates, as the
experience is invaluable for whatever I may choose to do after my Bachelors. Her research
was her time in her clinic, racking up her required hours before she could get her BS degree.
When asked how she feels biology will shift in the future, she mentioned how companies like
Google and FaceBook are initiating goals to eradicate disease and create mass cures, and how it
stems from technology companies.
The third and final interview was with Ms. Bonnie Gloeckner, advisor for the biology
department at FSU and a former researcher of paleontology and dinosaurian growth patterns. Her
passion stemmed from when she was very little, and her fascination with dinosaurs made her
want to study them. Over time, however, she recalled how she realized the field was dominated
by old, white men (although she was clear she did not want to put a feminist slant on her
statement, this is just how the field was then) that hardly considered her worth her salt at first. To
make her voice heard, it was essential that she work harder and more diligently than she had first
thought necessary, however her research led to amazing discoveries. She highly recommends
that the class on paleontology be taken as there isnt a person alive who is blas about
dinosaurs and that there is so much to be learned from the past that that class is important for
students in the major. In tandem with that, she also suggested that scripting be taken as a course,
as so many new programs and technologies are coming out that integrate with biological science
that to not know the new technology is old-fashioned and outdated. She felt that had she taken

that route, she would have been able to contribute more to the field than she already has, which
leaves interesting paths for students who would take those classes.
IV. Conclusion
The results of my findings showed a very clear and interesting trend, as well as a bit of a
juxtaposition to what outside sources came to suggest. For all of my interviewees, the passion
they feel for the field stems from their upbringing as a child and the environment they
experienced, while how they felt about the field as they entered it seemed to differ. Ritzinger was
enamored with the gadgetry and technologies open to him, as was Gloeckner, however Goetz
was more perturbed that the system of medicine was being run as high-strung as it was. The
piece of advice that reigned supreme among all three was to focus on biology as a major, for
certain, while also learning as much as possible in regards to computer technologies and
scripting, as that was the way of the future. Nearly all contributions made to the field or that I
should make to the field are in research, which is a fair answer for a student in biology without a
focus on medicine.
How these interviewees responded clashed tremendously with the resources of secondary
research. Much of what was published held an attitude about how difficult and demanding the
field was that was often unforgiving and dominating, however each interviewee recognized how
difficult the field was with the outlook that they were made tremendously strong in following the
education. Research suggests that students are weeded out from High School, and that personal
beliefs often lead to students clashing with studies to their failure, however the interviews show
that you can either change your major on the spot, be raised to do well, or simply have a passion
for all that you want to do and still make it in the field. The optimism shared by the interviewees

in their lives is a refreshing look into what was often told to me as the most daunting and
strenuous majors to be taken in the school. Any headstrong student that finds the subject
fascinating can put their mind to the work set out for them and come out on top of the field.

Works Cited
Carter, J., Heppner, F., Saigo, R., Twitty, G., & Walker, D. (1990). The State of the Biology
Major. BioScience, 40(9), 678-683. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1311436
This paper shows how the biology major has changed in the university system over time,
with particular emphasis on the methods and processes used by the system to make the
major more impactful. It has data from multiple surveys, data from institutions, and persoal
testimonial works.
Jensen, Philip A., and Randy Moore. "Students' Behaviors, Grades & Perceptions in an
Introductory Biology Course." American Biology Teacher (National Association of Biology
Teachers) 70.8 (2008): 483-7. Print.
This paper focuses on how the initial impressions of various biology students compare to
the actual outcomes of the classes they take. It touches on how different behaviors in
the course indicate different outcomes in the end.
Moore, Randy, Christopher Brooks, and Sehoya Cotner. "The Relation of High School Biology
Courses & Students' Religiou Beliefs to College Students' Knowledge of Evolution."
American Biology Teacher (National Association of Biology Teachers) 73.4 (2011): 222-6.
Print.
This paper focuses more on outside influences, then to how these influences impacted a
particular test students took in order to evaluate their knowledge on evolution. It
reveals how some spiritual beliefs can impact the overall understanding of basic
concepts.

Orsmond, Paul, Stephen Merry, and Arthur Callaghan. "Communities of Practice and Ways to
Learning: Charting the Progress of Biology Undergraduates." Studies in Higher Education
38.6 (2013): 890-906. Print.
This paper discusses discourse communities as students develop in their major, which in
turn lead to some interesting groups that appeared outside of classroom.
Tamir, Pinchas, Amir Ruth, and Nussinovitz Rachel. "High School Preparation for College
Biology in Israel." Higher Education 9.4 (1980): 399-408. Web.
This paper discusses, in multiple student surveys, how students embrace the transition
from high school to college in regard to biology classes. It explores different career paths
that students have taken and how they used what they knew in the classes they took,
giving light on how their expectations coming in either were or were not what they
thought.