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2024年7月5日
Matthew Wholey was nearing his graduation at 澳门网上博彩官方网站 in 2019 with not one but two bachelor’s degrees 和 had a revelation. He was enjoying his coursework 和 experience so much that he wanted to pursue a third bachelor’s degree.
A native of Parkville, 密苏里州, Wholey completed degrees in 计算机科学 和 强调数据科学的数学 in 2019. After working in cybersecurity at Expedia for about three years – just enough so he could budget another two years of coursework at Northwest – he returned to the University 和 graduated in April with a bachelor’s degree in 物理.
“If money wasn’t an object, I’d probably stay in school forever,他说.
和很多澳门网上博彩官方网站的学生一样, Wholey’s experience began with touring other colleges 和 universities in 密苏里州. 最终, he was attracted to Northwest by the personal attention he received 和 its friendly campus environment.
“ 计算机科学系 给了澳门网上博彩官方网站一次很好的参观，”沃利说. “It was the only place I went where a professor sat down with me individually 和 asked me questions 和 had a one-on-one conversation. The campus is great, 和 it was also the best financial decision for me.”
Wholey formed friendships outside of his classes as a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity 和 dedicated himself to his learning. 仍然, 主修计算机科学和数学, he wondered if he was missing out on learning about something else he really enjoyed – 物理.
“ initial plan had always been to do the degree 和 then basically get a job,Wholey说, who completed Physics I 和 II as summer courses during his first turn at Northwest. “我真的没有想太多, but as I went through college 和 experienced more things … I kind of felt like I had just gotten to see how cool 物理 would be if I had been able to really go for it.”
As he neared the completion of his degrees in 计算机科学 和 mathematics, Wholey本可以在三年半内毕业. Instead, he opted to stay at Northwest for another semester to try a 物理 course with Dr. Himadri Chakraborty.
“我真的很喜欢这门课，”沃利说. “I took that class 和 I was like, ‘Wow, this is different than the things I’d seen before.”
Matthew Wholey earned bachelor's degrees at Northwest in 计算机科学 和 强调数据科学的数学 before returning three years later to complete a third degree in 物理. (Photo by Lauren Adams/澳门网上博彩官方网站)
Wholey enjoyed the course so much that he began thinking then about returning to Northwest to pursue a 物理 degree. 当他开始他在计算机科学领域的职业生涯时, Wholey maintained contact with Chakraborty 和 the two discussed potential research projects during a series of Zoom meetings. Then, Wholey returned to Northwest in the fall of 2022 to fulfill that academic goal.
“I feel like I timed it pretty well because I don’t look much older, 所以大家都以为我是高年级学生, 我可以接受,Wholey说, 她现在27岁了. “我真的很担心.”
作为一个物理专业的学生, Wholey maintained the same commitment to his coursework – in addition to trying research 和 some student organizations in which he didn’t participate during his previous undergraduate experience.
“It had been three years, so everyone I would’ve known is gone; I knew I had to restart,他说. “我参加了组织博览会，加入了几个俱乐部. 我参加了艺术俱乐部、园艺俱乐部和数学俱乐部. 这比我上次参与的要多.”
事实上, Wholey was elected president of the Math Club 和 helped organize Pi Day activities in March. Being a part of the Art Club presented opportunities to work on some creative projects, 和 the Horticulture Club took Wholey to tour Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, 内布拉斯加州, 以及堪萨斯城的鲍威尔花园, 密苏里州.
Matthew Wholey presented this summer at an American Physical Society conference with Northwest classmate Joan Jimenez (center) 和 faculty member Dr. Ruma德. (提交的图)
As a researcher, Wholey presented this summer 和 last at American Physical Society conferences. 在与西北学院Chakraborty和Dr. Ruma德, Wholey employed his 计算机科学 skills to write 和 edit code for Northwest’s Bartik Cluster, a high-performance computing system used to analyze large datasets. He also is working with them as the co-author of a research manuscript.
沃利的学术追求还没有结束. In the fall he will begin work as a teaching 和 research assistant at Rice University in Houston while pursuing a Ph.D.
“我和Dr. Chakraborty和Dr. De has been – they’re very generous with their time,沃利说。. “Putting my name on papers 和 things is something that they don’t have to do. So the fact that there will be those things going forward is going to massively help me getting through a Ph.D. 带着几篇论文进来会有很大的不同.”
Wholey believes the research 和 profession-based learning experiences at Northwest played a key part in his acceptance to Rice University 和 will continue to support his success.
“有很多实习机会, 招聘会, 模拟面试——这些我都做过,沃利说。. “所以当我不得不去参加一个真正的工作面试的时候, 我做了8个面试，顺利通过了.”
在完成博士学位之后, 沃利希望成为一所学院或大学的教员, 或者他可能会回到计算机科学领域.
“要是我去了别的大学, there’s no way I would be coming out with anywhere near the on-paper credentials I have been able to achieve through Northwest,他说.
