melissamDESMA9


TWO  CULTURES



I am a 4th year Materials Science and Engineering major and will be graduating this coming June. The two cultures have affected my life by making me choose between the two at a fairly early age. My experience throughout my education was that science and art were topics that were never combined. There was also an insinuation that if you excelled at one, you could not excel at the other. I chose to pursue the sciences and was mainly influenced by my family which have chosen careers in science. They told me that there was more job security if I had a career in the sciences which now that I’ve had experience looking for jobs; I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. 

(Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science)







However, when I reflect on my choice of major, I do see ways in which art has influenced it. I always enjoyed making pottery and ceramics and now my research in Materials engineering specializes in ceramics. Although it is not for artistic purposes, my interest in ceramics research may have first stemmed from my curiosity about the ceramics and pottery I had made.











Here at UCLA the art and sciences are kept separate. My classes nearly all take place in Boelter Hall, in south campus. I have been able to take a few classes on the north side of campus and appreciated the difference in perspective. It also feels like there is very little communication and collaboration between the two. This is a shame because UCLA is such a large campus and the students have so many new ideas to offer.



(Image: http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m71b0urD9u1rajlj2o1_1280.jpg)


Greene, Brian. “Science and Art Are Not Separate Disciplines- Video. “Big Think. Big Think Inc., 17 July 2015. Web.

Maeda, John. “Artists and Scientists: More Alike Than Different.” Scientific American Blog Network. N.p., 06 Aug. 2013. Web.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. 
Print.

TheRSAorg. “RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms.” Youtube, 14 Oct. 2010. Web.


Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.



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