Emergence of an engineering embryo

This winter semester here at Nipissing University has gone really fast. I didn't even realize how fast three whole months have passed. As I write this text, there is a little less than a month until I return back home. 

Today I had a final lab exam on one of my courses, Biology of Seed Plants. The aftermath of my lab exam made me so emotional that I thought it's finally time to write about my exchange studies. 

This course, Biology of Seed Plants was conducted by the amazing professors, Peter Nosco and Joe Boivin. Peter was in charge of more theoretical side and Joe conducted our lab training. 

Peter mostly had his lectures in a form of a story which I really liked. He also presented them with colorful pictures that remembered easily. Joe's labs, on the other hand, were like art class. Every lecture we had a theme and we would then draw and label certain pictures of plants according to the theme. 

Figure 1. Cross section of the Chamaedaphne calycata leaf, showing the present cells around the midvein. 

Both of our professors did an amazing job at introducing the world of seed plant biology to me. From up close, I got to see how the passion for biology holds on and makes you want to question more about life. 

During this course, we went through seed plant structures. First, we were introduced to plant cells and tissues. After that, understanding stems, leaves, and roots was much easier. In the end, we took a little closer look at the differences between gymnosperms and angiosperms. 

I strongly believe that for a person with forestry major, this course would be perfect. So, if any of you forestry majors from Karelia are reading this - please consider taking this course if you're planning on staying at North Bay for a while! I was also told that they have an fascinating tree course that would fit perfectly to your agenda. 

For an energy and environmental engineering major, this course was a great add to the studies. But I wouldn't say that biology and engineering are far away from one another. One of the many stories of Professor Nosco was about Finnish district heating. He endorsed the agenda and told us the biological side of it. 

You would never know how thrilled I was when he told us this story. I immediately messaged my previous employer, from a Finnish district heating company, that our work is internationally known! Although, I have to inform you: I later learned that Peter had actually visited Finland a few years ago. And part of that trip was a visit to Savon Voima, a local district heating company in Joensuu.   

But, after all this work with seed plant biology - I just have one remaining question: 

Dear biology, why would you label so many things with so many different names? You should know that it is really hard, especially for an exchange student, to learn and keep track of all of those names! Just decide whether you call it a spiral or a helical leaf arrangement! (Other examples already forgotten, unfortunately...)

Figure 2. View from an exhausted Discipulus, showing how the studies are going great. 

Thank you for coming along for the ride! 

Please follow my journey also on Instagram: @liisariihi

(Text written March 31, 2023. Published April 19, 2023)