Marc Lewis, Ph.D. : Million Dollar Class Professor Interview With a half-million dollars in outside funding a year and a deep bench of creative talent ranging from incoming freshmen to senior scientists, Marc Lewis’ Plan II Medical Problem-Solving seminar is one of the most unique science classes in the nation. I interviewed him at his office in his home department of Psychology. other advanced projects include exploration of new ways to increase kidney viability for transplant, the test of a gene that we think might be responsible for a rare, fatal gastrointestinal disease, and an x-ray fluorescence investigation of the authenticity and composition of an ancient Egyptian papyrus. THAT’S A LOT OF DIFFERENT PURSUITS FOR ONE GROUP. Yes, and that’s the beauty of the approach. Our ideas come from a network of students and researchers at all levels and from different backgrounds working together. There is no single person responsible for generating or overseeing these projects — it’s a very collaborative process. We learn as we go, for as long as it takes, and we bring in experts and consultants to advise us as needed. SO THEN, HOW DO THESE PROJECTS START, AND HOW DO THEY DEVELOP?
SO, R IG H T AWAY T H I S I S N’T A T Y P I CAL OF F ICE. FO R EX AM P L E , I S E E A GL ASS CASE FILLED W IT H AN ASSO RT M E NT OF TH ING S INCLUD I NG A GL ASS F L ASK, MO LECU L AR AND ANATO M I CAL MOD ELS, SO ME E L ECT RO NI C COMP O NEN TS, A H AL F-D OZ E N JARS OF SEEDS, A N D A L ARGE CY L I ND E R T HAT LO O KS LIKE I T ’S M AD E O F A N U NUSUA L METAL . D O T H ES E I T EMS R ELATE TO YOU R CL ASS ?
Absolutely. These are historical remembrances from some of the research projects that we’ve worked on over the years. For example, the flask was used two years ago by a student to test a potentially novel use of acoustics for medical diagnosis. That exploration grew into a major collaboration and the flask is just a reminder of how it started. We’re not short on remembrances; we always have a dozen or so projects going on in various stages of investigation. Some of our
Projects develop through three levels. At the first level are the 12-16 students in my Plan II Medical Problem Solving seminar. They come from all kinds of academic majors, and in the classroom, they split their time between learning problem-solving strategies and applying those strategies to scientific problems. Every now and then one of them has an idea that sticks and becomes really exciting — the acoustic research and gastrointestinal disease projects are examples. The class doesn’t have sit-down exams or graded assignments; it’s structured so that students can really grapple with a problem and work toward solving it. We want students to engage because they are interested in the problem, not because it’s due Friday. AND THE OTHER TWO LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT? The majority of projects die at the first level, but those that survive get passed along to the “Ghost Class.” This group is composed of advanced students from previous semesters, many of whom stay with us for the rest of their college careers. Each week the Ghost