Graduating Seniors Donate to AUBG Science Lab
A new science lab opened doors at AUBG last year and a successful crowdfunding campaign followed where faculty, staff, alumni and students all joined forces to supply the facility with laboratory equipment. The seniors graduating this May are now taking the campaign a step further and donating to the science lab as part of their Senior Gift. The contribution will go towards the purchasing of advanced scientific equipment.
“The aim of the Science Lab project is to create an environment for true learning and understanding of science by involving students in real observations and experimenting,” said Nadezhda Boboshevska, Grants Coordinator at AUBG. Boboshevska was the first to propose a contribution to the science lab as a senior gift during an informal meeting with the students. “This academic year, I had multiple opportunities to work with AUBG students from Class of 2019,” she said. “They impressed me with their positive attitude, organizational and problem-solving skills, hard work, ability to take responsibility in times of trouble and flexibility.”
Not only is the lab going to enhance scientific research but it has also paved the way for a new major in physics that has been approved by faculty and presented for Board approval. If approved, the new program will launch in Fall 2019. “The Physics major would greatly boost AUBG’s academic offering,” said Vasilii Kulev, AUBG student and Head of the Senior Gift Committee. “The science lab would be a necessary element of it all as it will allow students to conduct more hands-on experiments.” “The classes would become more practical,” Polina Marinova, AUBG student and Head of the Commencement Committee said. “And in some cases, practice is better than theory.”
Both students agreed that the science lab and a new major in physics would help promote the university’s liberal arts values. “The main mission of the liberal arts education is to make us well-rounded individuals with a lot of knowledge in different areas,” Kulev said. The liberal arts education at AUBG allows students to choose up to two majors and two minors and requires them to take general education courses in disciplines ranging from arts to science and philosophy.
“The liberal arts tradition requires that students acquire an understanding of the methods of scientific investigation as well as an appreciation of the achievements of science,” Boboshevska said. “The main goal behind the launching of a science lab is to enhance greatly the science education of the AUBG students as part of their liberal arts curriculum. This project is an important step toward the creation of new major and minor in Physics with a serious potential to attract additional students to AUBG.”