Business & Enterprise Management | Chemistry

CONNOR MCNEELY Editor-in-Chief

Renate Ma is a chemistry major from Rocky Mount, NC, who epitomizes Wake Forest’s undergraduate pre-medical program. Although from a young age, Ma wanted to be everything but a scientist, now she hopes to use her skills in the medical career field as she transitions into the Wake Forest Medical School in July.

Ma’s journey began in high school when she took an AP class in organic chemistry with a teacher who worked at DuPont.

“He helped me understand that chemistry is enjoyable and that it can be interesting,” Ma said. “It clicked in a way for me that I don’t think it did for other people.”

It wasn’t all at once that Ma fell in love with chemistry. It was a continuous process that took root in her years as an underclassman in organic chemistry classes.

“[Chemistry] is a lot of work to go on. It’s very spatial. There were a lot of aspects that involved visual imagination and modeling that I wasn’t expecting to be good at,” Ma said. “It exercised my mind in a way that I wasn’t used to and was something that I really enjoyed my freshman year.”

In the second semester of her freshman year, Ma declared her major in chemistry. She has benefited from many helpful advisors and faculty members, including Drs. Angela King and Ulrich Bierbach.

Ma found enjoyment in chemistry courses such as medicinal chemistry and fibers and dyes.

“CHM 351, Special Topics in Chemistry, allowed Renate to showcase both her skills at synthesis and mechanisms as well as her artistic nature and creativity,” King said. “She dyed embroidery floss throughout the class and beautifully embroidered the chemical structure of dyes that produced each color of thread.”

CHEMISTRY RENATE MA

Ma’s accomplishments extend further beyond the chemistry department. She has worked as a student adviser throughout her college experience and has volunteered for Campus Kitchen, a non profit organization that repurposes food. Ma also has worked for the Wake Forest Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for most of her college career and has served in the county EMS unit.

One of Ma’s favorite activities is dancing, which she pursues through her involvement in the Wake Forest Dance Company, and the Ballroom Dancing Club, of which she was formerly president.

Ma’s undergraduate experience has also included academic interests other than chemistry. She is passionate about classical literature and philosophy, which she has spent much time studying.

“I like the atmosphere, it’s more collaborative with a focus on narrative,” Ma said. “It’s nice to have a different type of intellectual involvement. Having both of them keeps me interested and sane.”

Ma’s favorite classes include those that consider ancient comedy and notable ancient Greek philosophers.

“Renate has what I call a ‘live mind,’ as if you can see her brain whirring and tell that she’s already three steps ahead,” said Dr. Emily Austin of the Philosophy department. “She does not merely read the text—she explores its nooks and crannies, looks under it, sees beyond it.”

When asked about advice that she could give to younger students in the pre-medical program, Ma reflected on a common misconception that many students have at the beginning of their careers.

“One of the misconceptions that I had coming in was that PIs or professors would want older, more experienced students for research,” said Ma. “But that’s not the case. Don’t be shy to email people and say ‘I’m interested in your research’. Get involved early so that you can work for a longer period of time.”

Katie Fox/Old Gold & Black

Page 12 | Thursday, April 28, 2022 CHINESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE BRAE TROUTMAN

Katie Fox/ Old Gold & Black

SELINNA TRAN Print Managing Editor

Brae Troutman always knew that he wanted to pursue a Chinese language when coming to Wake Forest, but did not expect to also develop a deep passion for another discipline — computer science.

“Coming to Wake [Forest] initially, I only wanted to major in Chinese,” Troutman said. “I came in and I thought that I would really like to teach English overseas. I came in and took an intro to computer science course for quantitative reasoning and I realized that I was really passionate about and interested in computer science for the same reason that I was interested in Chinese — this aspect of communication.”

Because he was able to draw upon the different characteristics of his Chinese studies, Troutman noted the importance of connecting to people and communication and how learning another language has helped him to grow as a person.

Troutman notes that having “a cultural understanding and the ability to engage with another culture and speak another language allowed the ability to be more empathetic to connect with people in ways that I would not be able to if I was monolingual.”

When reflecting on his time at Wake Forest, Troutman recalls fondly two particular experiences — a course and a teaching opportunity.

“One of the best experiences I’ve had with my major was in Business Chinese – I really got an opportunity to have intersectionality between my two majors where I gave a ten-minute presentation in Chinese on the future of cloud computing in China,” Troutman said.

Troutman continues: “In a fourth year Chinese course, I got to engage with students at Durham academy — who were taking Chinese [classes] — and we got to go beyond being learners of Chinese to being able to help and tutor students who were learning the language at a level below what we had just achieved.”

Outside of his many academic pursuits, Troutman enjoys occupying his time with the different art spaces on campus — whether that be music or visual art. “I’m also involved with an acapella group on campus. I’m in Innuendo, a co-ed acapella group,” Troutman said. “I’ve been involved with various art space activities — which is always something that I really enjoy engaging with.”

These extracurricular activities hold together Troutman’s passion and interest in his studies. The idea of communication is prevalent in almost every aspect of Troutman’s life in various forms.

“The things that I really like to engage with on campus are these aspects of communication,” Troutman said. “Music and arts are a way of connecting and communicating emotionally, language is [communicating] ideas and computer science is communicating information. I find that that connection is the way that I engage the most.”

Dr. Andrew Rodekhor speaks on Troutman’s enthusiasm towards the discipline and engagement with the content: “Brae has been a wonderful part of my classes and the department over the last several years.”

Rodekhor continued: “He is always willing to answer challenging questions about the material, responds to his classmates’ points, and generates great discussions with his questions. His video essays that he made for my courses (on the history of classical music in the PRC, and on the Japanese anime film Paprika) have become models that I show to my classes for inspiration. Brae’s thesis project explores the networks of queer activism in the PRC that are built through and sustained by documentary filmmaking. His research on the creation of community while subject to political surveillance, censorship, and erasure is vital and fascinating.”

Currently, Troutman is pursuing a joint M.S./B.S. program. “I am taking some grad level [courses] in Computer Science and next year I’ll finish up and get my master’s degree in Computer Science,” he said.

Troutman is excited to put his two disciplines of studies together in his future and is prepared for a career combining elements of all that he has learned — with hopes that he will be able to engage with Chinese culture in-person. All of his study abroad efforts were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This summer I will be working at Red Hat — a Charlotte-based, global open source company,” Troutman said. “I’ll get to engage beyond American culture and will engage with cultures and employees around the world.”

CLASSICAL LANGUAGES ASHRUT SOOD

AINE PIERRE Online Managing Editor

Ashrut Sood has spent over half of his academic career in a Latin classroom. He began taking Latin in sixth grade. However, majoring in Latin or classical languages, which combines Latin with Ancient Greek, was not on his radar coming into Wake Forest.

“It started off as a way to fulfill the language requirement,” Sood said. “But then I really came to appreciate and admire the faculty in the Classics Department. They’re really receptive, and they tailor their classes to fit what the students are looking for. It’s not just like they’re just going to be preaching at you.”

In the spring of his junior year, Sood realized he was close to completing a classical languages degree — described by faculty as the most prestigious degree the Classics Department offers — and changed his major over from Latin.

“I think it’s important to sort of like keep preserving the tradition of studying these ancient languages because not too long ago, in the middle of the 20th century, almost every kid had to learn Latin as they grew up,” Sood said.

He continued, “I think that’s been forgotten a lot. People are way more focused on like modern languages, which obviously very important too, but I think there should be every school there should be the ability to take Latin and/or Greek.”

Sood praised Dr. Amy Lather, his Greek professor, for making Ancient Greek accessible.

“Professor Lather does an amazing job of introducing people to ancient Greek, and she is also aware that it takes a lot. I would say Greek is a lot harder than Latin, but the way she shows us, it’s very digestible and it isn’t overwhelming at all.”

Lather spoke highly of Sood’s resilience.

“He’s a diligent and enthusiastic student and a delight to have in the classroom because of how he is always willing to engage in class activities and to help his peers,” Lather said. “He also has consistently proven himself to be more than willing to rise to challenges, and there are many of those in learning ancient Greek!”

Lather continued, “We will miss having Ashi around the department, but he has been a great student in all the time I’ve known him.”

Another of Sood’s favorite professors is Dr. Michael Sloan, who was Sood’s Intro to Latin Prose (LAT 212) professor and is now his thesis adviser. Unfortunately, Sood refused to provide his thesis subject to the Old Gold & Black, as it is being kept under an air of secrecy.

“Professor Sloan’s a really interesting guy,” Sood said. “I would take as many classes as I could with him.”

Sood also noted thst his belief the future of the Wake Forest Classics Department is bright, especially compared to other departments in the United States.

“When you look at a lot of other college classics departments around the country, a lot of them are sort of withering away in a sense,” Sood said. “They’re decreasing the amount of faculty, but at Wake Forest, we’re actually hiring new professors and opening new tenure tracks for classics professors.”

Outside of the classroom, Sood says he enjoys attending Wake Forest sports games with his friends. He recalled an anecdote from the 2021-2022 basketball season that was particularly memorable.

“I came back early from winter break, and I drove through a snowstorm,” Sood said. “I got stuck a couple of times, but we made it just in time so that the next morning we could go to the Wake Forest-Syracuse game. And the team came back and won in overtime, which was pretty cool.”

Whether it be cheering on the Demon Deacons on the basketball court or football field, or studying the works of ancient Greek and Roman authors, Sood reflects on his Wake Forest experience with fondness.