By Taylor McKelvey

“The view I had while at Macchu Picchu was the most beautiful and amazing place that I have ever been” Nick Romano, a senior at Thiel College, stated at the Thiel Forum, during his presentation.

This past summer, two study aboard trips were conducted; one to Peru, and the other to Spain. There was a presentation for both trips.

Nick Romano and Prof. Greg Butcher led the presentation on Peru. They showed several pictures of the places they visited, such as; Macchu Picchu, Olltaytambo, and the Scared Valley.

During the presentation Romano spoke and showed the audience one picture, that he said “summed up the entire trip.” It was a picture of Macchu Picchu. He said that this was the place where people would come and think, and this is where he realized how insignificant his problems were.

The presentation on the trip to Spain was led by many students that attended. The first topic they talked about, was the itinerary. They mentioned all of the cities that they visited in Spain; Barcelona, Toledo, Madrid, Seville, among others.

The bulk of the presentation was about the student’s cultural experience while in Spain. They showed several pictures of castles, museums, and cathedrals, that they could visit.

Jessa Covine, a senior at Thiel College, said that watching the Flamingo show was the “best experience to see culture and tradition while in Spain.”

An additional topic that was discussed during the Thiel Forum, Thursday, October 12, was led by Shannon Deets, assistant professor of psychology. Her presentation focused on the concept of leadership. Deets attended a conference that taught her about her leadership skills, and how to enhance them.

Deets said that only professionals that hold clinical and academic positions for their chosen expertise could attend this conference. It was very competitive, she added.

While at the conference she was issued a leadership style assessment, and she said that she learned a lot about herself. She loves to hear everyone’s opinion, but she learned that she relies too much on others opinions. She said that sometimes she needs to say what the right answer is, and move on.

The topic that she wanted to study more intently was the “qualitative study of underrepresented populations in the helping professions.” As a small overview, she stated that the majority of people that work in the helping fields are white, males.

To complete this research, she said she will have to study subjective science, and explore her profession more deeply. Also, by teaching a much more diverse group of students.

Russell Richins, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science presented on the Helmholtz equation.  He stated this equation has many applications in science and engineering, and the primary application is in the modeling of wave phenomena. He, also, spoke a lot about the pros and cons of using this equation to answer the question “can one hear the shape of drum?”

His pros were the resulting systems of equations are definite. Also there is a wide array of relatively simple solution methods available. The cons are the solving for the “u” in this equation requires two systems of equations. Also, each system of equation is three times as large.