Interview with Dr. Andy Kulikowski
Intro: This week, Leo Zhang (Cluster 3), representing UCSC’s Macrocosm, interviewed Dr. Andy Kulikowski, who discussed the origins of his insatiable fascination with bugs, exciting excursions, and advice for COSMOS students.
[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
Macrocosm: Give a brief introduction of yourself:
Dr. Andy Kulikowski: “So my name is Dr. Andy Kulikowski. I’m teaching Cluster 3, the bugs and bones cluster, and specifically I’m focusing on the bugs or the insects.”
M: What do you think is most fun about learning about insects?:
AK: “I think that the most fun part about learning about insects is that it evokes the feeling that you have when you’re a kid. The feeling of boundless discovery, [when] you go out with a net and all of a sudden you’re transported back to when you were six years old in your yard or something, and catching things, and catching sort of foreign things. You see things you’ve never seen before and so it really evokes a sense of discovery and sort of a wonder of this world that kind of remains hidden- we can make that world come into view and see how we interact with it. But yeah, just this sort of child-like beginner’s mind is what I love about entomology.”
M: What is your craziest or most interesting story from your many adventures working with bugs?
AK: “My most interesting moment was probably [when] I was doing research in Ecuador on the behavior of a little wasp and I decided, ‘oh maybe that’s the plant the wasp lives on or displays for mating on,’ so I went off trail a little bit in the cloud forest of Ecuador, got totally turned around, [and] got lost in the forest for about two hours. During that time I ran into gigantic banana spider webs, ran into a wasp nest that was big, black, and about two times the size of a yellow jacket, so I got all stung up. So I thought that was kind of my hazing moment with all these different arthropods and I was out of my element — off the trail and in the middle of the tropical forest. [It was a] real cool learning experience too about field safety and stuff.”
M: Generally, for all the students at COSMOS, what is your best advice for them to get the most out of their few weeks here?
AK: “I think [it’s] just asking as many questions as you can of your professors, both about the topics, [as] of course we are learning a lot of new things, but also just about career trajectories.. Ask your Classroom Assistants [CAs] ‘hey, what was your undergrad experience like. How did you get into the college you wanted?’ So all of those questions are going to be super important, especially your CAs can answer that. We can talk about academia more broadly and how you might fit into it or how you find your path through academia. So, on top of all the super important fun scientific questions, those more technical questions can really guide you toward where you need to be as far as thinking forward to college and thinking about academia in general.”
[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
Macrocosm: Give a brief introduction of yourself:
Dr. Andy Kulikowski: “So my name is Dr. Andy Kulikowski. I’m teaching Cluster 3, the bugs and bones cluster, and specifically I’m focusing on the bugs or the insects.”
M: What do you think is most fun about learning about insects?:
AK: “I think that the most fun part about learning about insects is that it evokes the feeling that you have when you’re a kid. The feeling of boundless discovery, [when] you go out with a net and all of a sudden you’re transported back to when you were six years old in your yard or something, and catching things, and catching sort of foreign things. You see things you’ve never seen before and so it really evokes a sense of discovery and sort of a wonder of this world that kind of remains hidden- we can make that world come into view and see how we interact with it. But yeah, just this sort of child-like beginner’s mind is what I love about entomology.”
M: What is your craziest or most interesting story from your many adventures working with bugs?
AK: “My most interesting moment was probably [when] I was doing research in Ecuador on the behavior of a little wasp and I decided, ‘oh maybe that’s the plant the wasp lives on or displays for mating on,’ so I went off trail a little bit in the cloud forest of Ecuador, got totally turned around, [and] got lost in the forest for about two hours. During that time I ran into gigantic banana spider webs, ran into a wasp nest that was big, black, and about two times the size of a yellow jacket, so I got all stung up. So I thought that was kind of my hazing moment with all these different arthropods and I was out of my element — off the trail and in the middle of the tropical forest. [It was a] real cool learning experience too about field safety and stuff.”
M: Generally, for all the students at COSMOS, what is your best advice for them to get the most out of their few weeks here?
AK: “I think [it’s] just asking as many questions as you can of your professors, both about the topics, [as] of course we are learning a lot of new things, but also just about career trajectories.. Ask your Classroom Assistants [CAs] ‘hey, what was your undergrad experience like. How did you get into the college you wanted?’ So all of those questions are going to be super important, especially your CAs can answer that. We can talk about academia more broadly and how you might fit into it or how you find your path through academia. So, on top of all the super important fun scientific questions, those more technical questions can really guide you toward where you need to be as far as thinking forward to college and thinking about academia in general.”
Interview with Dr. Roger Terrill
Intro: This week, Macrocosm’s Maya Sriram (Cluster 2) virtually requested responses from Dr. Roger Terrill, Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Electrochemistry at San Jose State University (SJSU), about his interests and career highlights.
Macrocosm: Could you briefly introduce yourself — what do you do, what are your qualifications, how long have you been with COSMOS?
Roger Terrill: My name is Roger Terrill — I am a chemistry professor at SJSU. My qualification is about 45 years of curiosity in science that led to a PhD, a post-doc, about 30 papers and a teaching/research position at SJSU, where I currently am an associate professor. I have been teaching COSMOS for about 10 years!
M: What got you interested in this field?
RT: I had a chemistry set as a little kid, and I learned that it was my passion early on (along with the opposite gender, and motorcycles — later bicycles and international relations).
M: Can you think of any special highlights from your teaching career?
RT: Honestly, you guys are the best. I love the way that you are curious enough to ask questions!
M: What advice would you give to current and future COSMOS students?
RT: Just keep on doin' what you love and lovin' what you do!
M: Would you like to share any fun miscellaneous facts about yourself?
RT: My childhood best friend is my roommate, I am learning Farsi so that I can understand what my dear wife is saying behind my back, and I love my son tremendously!
Macrocosm: Could you briefly introduce yourself — what do you do, what are your qualifications, how long have you been with COSMOS?
Roger Terrill: My name is Roger Terrill — I am a chemistry professor at SJSU. My qualification is about 45 years of curiosity in science that led to a PhD, a post-doc, about 30 papers and a teaching/research position at SJSU, where I currently am an associate professor. I have been teaching COSMOS for about 10 years!
M: What got you interested in this field?
RT: I had a chemistry set as a little kid, and I learned that it was my passion early on (along with the opposite gender, and motorcycles — later bicycles and international relations).
M: Can you think of any special highlights from your teaching career?
RT: Honestly, you guys are the best. I love the way that you are curious enough to ask questions!
M: What advice would you give to current and future COSMOS students?
RT: Just keep on doin' what you love and lovin' what you do!
M: Would you like to share any fun miscellaneous facts about yourself?
RT: My childhood best friend is my roommate, I am learning Farsi so that I can understand what my dear wife is saying behind my back, and I love my son tremendously!