Professor Schmidt’s Talk | Rose Scholars Fall 2017

I attended the Rose Cafe with Professor Schmidt in which he talked about civil development and planning. He began to talk about his field of study by describing what it was. He also explained how even though time has passed, we still are looking for answers to the big questions such as poverty.

The talk was really fun because we got to learn about Professor Schmidt as well as our fellow Rose Scholars. He went around in a circle asking us what kind of area we grew up in and what type of resources we had there. A lot of kids were from suburban areas, and only a couple were from urban and rural. We talked about our access to things such as recreation centers and schools. We also talked about how we got around town: lots of us used cars daily regardless of there being public transportation.

One of the things we also focused on was climate change and how civil engineers are trying to find ways to save the environment while maintaining the ways we live. One of the big ways to do this is to move towards communal communities because spaces are shared rather than individualistic. For example, living at Cornell makes a lot of things communal. We share laundry spaces and dinning halls. This saves our carbon footprint while also allowing us to connect with other people around us, something we do not always do now.

I was kind of sad when the talk ended. Professor Schmidt was probably my favorite person to come to Rose Cafe this semester. He was really chill and was interested in who we were as students. Although he seemed a bit shy, he took the time to learn our names and where we were from. And it was interesting to know how he connected our origins with his study field. I hope he comes back soon because he was really cool to learn from.

One thought on “Professor Schmidt’s Talk”

I really wish I could’ve gone to this Rose Cafe – as a Midwest transplant, the area in which I grew up differs greatly from the areas in which my East Coast friends grew up, and I can tell just based on personal anecdotes how much your environment shapes your perception of the world and the development of your own beliefs/ideologies. Also, I would’ve liked to hear more about how much he believes communal living at Cornell actually saves, in terms of resources, because I remember last year, when the drought was at its worst, my RA said that Cornell students actually still use the most water for showering/cleaning out of all Ithacans, just because it’s so easy to forget about environmental impact in a dorm. I would’ve liked to hear if this statistic had any truth, and what Professor Schmidt personally thinks.

zx53 on December 14, 2017 at 1:08 am said:

I really wish I could’ve gone to this Rose Cafe – as a Midwest transplant, the area in which I grew up differs greatly from the areas in which my East Coast friends grew up, and I can tell just based on personal anecdotes how much your environment shapes your perception of the world and the development of your own beliefs/ideologies. Also, I would’ve liked to hear more about how much he believes communal living at Cornell actually saves, in terms of resources, because I remember last year, when the drought was at its worst, my RA said that Cornell students actually still use the most water for showering/cleaning out of all Ithacans, just because it’s so easy to forget about environmental impact in a dorm. I would’ve liked to hear if this statistic had any truth, and what Professor Schmidt personally thinks.