#STRONG2015

[oberlinundergraduateresearch]

STRONG Scholar Profile: Daniel Mukasa ‘19

Interview with 2015 STRONG Scholar Daniel Mukasa on March 1, 2017. Interview by Brian Smith, OUR Student Assistant. Photo by Kyle Youngblood, Assistant Director for Athletics Communications at Oberlin College.

Brian: Can you tell me your name, your year, your major, and who is your faculty mentor?

Daniel: My name is Daniel Mukasa, second year, math/physics double major, prior STRONG scholar, and I worked with Stephen Fitzgerald in the physics Department for two summers.

Brian: What did your research consist of?

Daniel: We were primarily researching materials for the purpose of storing hydrogen, and the central concept here is that if we could find a material that could store hydrogen then we could utilize hydrogen as a fuel source as opposed to energy sources that would release greenhouse gases, and in doing so we can kind of help the energy crisis that’s going on right now.

Brian: What do you find to be most meaningful about your research?

Daniel: I find the most meaningful part about this is the fact that it is research that is immediately trying to help the world. A lot of research in academia seems to kind of be just focused on increasing what we know, which isn’t a bad thing, but there a lot of problems in the world right now. For instance, the energy crisis alone - if a lot of third world countries are able to actually get to the level where America is right now then the energy source they will need is something we can’t supply and it’s essentially setting themselves up for failure, and just to improve the quality of people’s lives then we could do research that is pertaining to this issue rather than - I guess not meaningless, but more purely academic research.

Brian: What do you hope to gain from conducting your research?

Daniel: I’m hoping to gain an understanding of how to approach big problems. One of the biggest things I hope to get out of my education from Oberlin is understanding how to actually help the world with the things that I have learned. So, I hope to tackle these big problems like energy storage and try to see what are strategies we can take to actually achieve an answer to how we can supply the world with a viable means of energy or clean sources of energy, and then try to implement these in the real world to try and make a difference.

Brian: Will continue this research beyond undergraduate education?

Daniel: I’m not completely certain if I will continue this research. I’m continuing it this summer at Cal Tech for similar research of studying materials for the purpose of storing hydrogen, but as of right now my total career trajectory could be either studying materials physics for the purpose of storing hydrogen or anything that could help the energy crisis or researching biophysics for the purpose of creating new medicines to treat certain diseases that aren’t treatable right now or even looking into machine learning seeing the potential that can happen just helping people’s lives and increasing the quality of life for most people.

Brian: What is it like to do research at Oberlin over the summer?

Daniel: It’s a very nurturing environment in that most research professions and a lot of other schools who will have you essentially be a lab helper. At Oberlin the professors train you to run the lab yourself. They train you so then whatever research project they’re running  becomes a very individualized research project for you. Professors here are very willing to have you take away as much as you can from the research so you can go on and if you really want to pursue this career, and they’re very supportive in helping you get to conferences or other events like that. I was able to, last fall actually, fly out to Florida with a couple other Oberlin students to go to ABRCMS this annual biomedical convention for minorities in science. It was an amazing experience and I think without the help of Oberlin faculty to really push me to find these opportunities I wouldn’t have that chance to do things like that.

Brian: What are your future goals at this point?

Daniel: As of right now I want to spend the rest of my undergraduate career looking into what exactly I want to do to help the world whether that’s going to be from a science perspective or a scientific outreach perspective or generally helping underserved students with the sciences. I feel as though I can make a significant difference in all of those, but necessarily finding out which one and how I should divide up my attention to each one is still kind of shaky.

Brian: What are some interests, hobbies, or activities you pursue?

Daniel: Aside from science and academia, I really only have time for track and field. I’m a pole vaulter at the college. So I get to do that - which is really fun. It’s a really good stress reliever to get you away from the scientific world because there’s a whole other part of life we need to focus on and it’s nice to have that release.

Brian: What was your favorite moment in STRONG?

Daniel: I think my favorite moment was the entire summer before coming here and having the opportunity to be with other students who had also struggled in their careers of becoming, or getting to the point of being scientists or undergraduate scientists. It was really comforting to know that everything I was struggling with wasn’t something that I individually struggled with. There were other students who had struggled with feeling very alone in your classes or being the only Black student in their classes. Knowing that you are not completely isolated really helped out. Just having that really strong support group was amazing. Besides research, over the summer STRONG goes out to Cedar Point and it’s just a break from our research and we all get to hang out and just enjoy the entire day. That was really great because over the summer I had become best friends with the other ten STRONG scholars and having just a day and then going back to the house and then still hanging out and just having fun was just an amazing day.

Brian: What advice would you give to an incoming Oberlin student applying to STRONG?

Daniel: I would say if you are interested in the sciences definitely apply for STRONG because STRONG will give you a number opportunities that are harder to find if you are not in the program. You’ll have a number of connections from faculty to students that will teach you how to excel in the sciences, how to handle heavy course loads, and how to get whatever you want out of your academic career. Honestly, whether or not you’re really interested in research primarily STRONG still serves as a very great place to get these connections.

Brian: Thank you Daniel.