BY: MORGAN KILGER, NEWS EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University offers several different science courses within the School of Arts and Sciences. With the upcoming academic year, two departments are expanding what they offer students. The Chemistry Department is adding a new course, the Computer Science Department is adding a new concentration and a data studies major is being added.
The Chemistry Department is adding a new course titled the Science of Fermentation and Beer. The course is designed to help students understand the science behind fermentation and teach a valuable life skill, said Dr. Scott Simpson, chair of the chemistry department.
The science of fermentation and beer is going to count as a gen ed course for chemistry and non-chemistry majors.
“[Science professors] noticed that a lot of gen ed courses tend to be really academic in nature,” said Simpson. “We wanted to make something that everybody could use for the remainder of their life, a valuable skill.”
Simpson noticed students tend to be interested in how things are made. He said the department wanted to provide a scientific basis for how common products are made with the fermentation process and have a laboratory to explore.
Simpson believes the reason for adding the course is due to the lack of general science courses offered at Bonaventure. Most majors require at least one general science course, with a lab, in order to graduate.
“So right now, there is a need for more general science courses,” said Simpson. “There are not enough general science courses on campus being offered to fulfill the needs of students to be quite honest.”
Another reason for adding the course is based on Simpson’s observation of students hesitating to take science. One observation is that students are more inclined to a hands-on learning experience
Simpson compared the goals of the course to the astronomy science course — Stars and Stellars.
“I want to make other courses like [Stars and Stellars], that students want to take,” said Simpson. “Not being forced to be like ‘Alright, well, I couldn’t get into Stars and Stellars, so I’m going to go with this other class.’”
The science of fermentation and beer will be taught by Dr. Katsu Ogawa, assistant professor in chemistry. Ogawa is excited to be able to share a hobby he enjoys with students.
“I thought it would be cool if I could share the joy of fermentation and also introduce the science behind the process,” said Ogawa.
The science of fermentation and beer is currently awaiting its final legal permits to be an eligible course at Bonaventure. In order to run the course, a permit has to be issued from the New York State Liquor Authority. The permit also needs to be renewed annually.
Alongside the permit, students must be 21 or older to take the course.
According to Simpson, the age requirement and the permits are necessary because students will be able to taste the beer, wine and cider they make.
The course is set to start in the fall 2024 semester. According to Simpson, there will be one section of lecture to hold 40 students and two lab sections to hold 16 students each.
Simpson and Ogawa are excited about the prospects of the course.
“I’m [just] really excited about the prospects of the course,” said Simpson. “I think it will hopefully get more people interested in chemistry.”
In addition to the science of fermentation and beer, the computer science department is adding to its course options. The department is adding a concentration in A.I and a Data Science major.
Currently, the Computer Science Department offers two concentrations: network and systems administration and software design and development. The addition of the A.I concentration will be based on courses that the department offers already, said Dr. Chris Bopp, assistant professor in computer science.
“Courses [for A.I] are courses that we were already offering as electives in the computer science major,” said Bopp.
For the concentration, students will have to take three courses. The courses being taught are machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics and data science case studies. According to Bopp, the courses are being taught by a professor who’s returning to Bonaventure — except for data science case studies.
Bopp is teaching data science case studies alongside starting up the data science major. The data science major is a joint major between the Computer Science and Math Departments.
The goal of the data science major is to help students analyze data and make decisions based upon data, said Bopp.
Likewise to the science of fermentation and beer and the A.I concentration, students will be able to start the data science major starting in the next academic year.
kilgermi22@bonaventure.edu
