Science as Worship

Created for my final project, my Question for Research and Exploration, at Trinity Forum Academy. This project drew on my teaching times on cosmology and neuroscience and my mentorship with Francis Collins.

As Christians approaching the natural world, our first instinct should be to worship—to worship God for His grandeur, and also for how He has given us the ability and mandate to understand His world and have dominion over it. This attitude of worship is less an end in itself as it is a posture to assume. And as we approach science through this posture of worship, we find that it reciprocates—the truths we uncover inspire wonder that compel praise of the Creator. In pursuit of this end, I have created a website that explores these ideas. I first look at how the drive to worship permeates the Scriptures that deal with the natural world. Then I see how this attitude of worship instills wonder in our hearts as we seek the Person behind the scientific truths. Having our minds infused with this wonder, I give crash courses in cosmology and neuroscience in hope that these can be approached in the posture of worship. And finally, I examine an issue that challenges attempts to bring harmony to faith and science: the question of origins. There I follow the arguments of two Christian scientists, Francis Collins and Darrel Falk, who seek a vibrant synthesis of the worlds of science and faith.

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Physiological differences between coral tips and bases during bleaching

Written for my Targeted Research Project while studying with Stanford's Overseas Studies Program in Australia through the Center for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland

We investigated the physiological differences between coral tips and bases during bleaching. Our research focused on three questions: (1) How do the tips and bases of coral branches physiologically differ during a bleaching event? (2) How do the tips and bases respond differentially to further heat stress? (3) How will the light pressure on photosynthesis differ between tips and bases, and before and after further heat stress? We found that initially the tips have less chlorophyll per zooxanthellae and less zooxanthellae than the bases. With further heat stress, both tips and bases lost zooxanthellae at equivalent rates. This suggests that tips and bases may have different starting points, either due to acclimation to light conditions or issues relating to coral growth. Our fluorescence measurements did not reveal a significant difference in light pressure either between tips and bases or before and after heat stress. We also found evidence of one colony (Colony 4) which responded to further heat stress by losing chlorophyll per zooxanthellae instead of the actual zooxanthellae cells. This suggests a different mechanism of bleaching, possibly brought about by genetic variation in the host and/or symbiont.

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Abduction of Children and Violence in Northern Uganda

This was my final paper for Psych 72Q: Traumatic Stress with Dr. Cheryl Koopman. I had been originally inspired to take the class by the Invisible Children film, which documented the crowds of children in Northern Uganda fleeing the Lord's Resistance Army. This paper allowed me to more fully study the situation and assess possible psychological consequences.

“That night, the LRA came abducting people in our village, and some neighbors led them to our house. They abducted all five of us boys at the same time. I was the fifth one. . . . We were told by the LRA not to think about home, about our mother or father. If we did, then they would kill us. Better to think now that I am a soldier fighting to liberate the country. There were twenty-eight abducted from our village that night. . . . We were all tied up and attached to one another in a row. After we were tied up, they started to beat us randomly; they beat us up with sticks.” (HRW Uganda, 2003)

This is a quote from a twelve year old child in Uganda who was kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Beginning in the 1980’s and intensifying significantly since 2002, the LRA, a rebel group in Northern Uganda, has been abducting children to use as laborers, sex slaves, and soldiers. These children are brutally treated and are also forced to participate in heinous acts of violence. This paper will examine the situation in Uganda and its psychological implications. It will first review Uganda’s background of civil war and then expose the details of the abductions and the violence occurring in the LRA. The paper will then look at how there are similar situations in other locations around the world. Finally, this paper will describe the psychological problems facing the abducted children, and it will look at the possible long-term effects of recurring guilt and continuing violence.

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Vespasian's Power

"The empire, which for a long time had been unsettled and, as it were, drifting, through the usurpation and violent death of three emperors, was at last taken in hand and given stability by the Flavian family." Thus Suetonius opens his biography of Vespasian, a general with a modest background who gained the rule of Rome and stabilized it in a time of intense crisis. After Nero’s death, Rome was thrown into chaos and in one year saw four emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. Vespasian survived and succeeded where the others failed, holding control of the state and peacefully passing control to his son Titus at his death. The ancient sources and modern commentaries provide clues to why Vespasian was so successful. Tacitus’ war-focused Histories provide the clearest, most detailed account of Vespasian’s rise to power, while Josephus’ history of the Jewish revolt and Suetonius’ colorful biography provide other useful details. Coins and inscriptions, especially the "Lex de imperio Vespasiani," offer valuable insight into Vespasian’s time as emperor. The sources undeniably show that Vespasian was brought to power by the military might of his own legions and the legions which came to support him. However, Vespasian was ultimately successful because he went further and also employed political, ideological, and economic power, using each to solidify different aspects of his rule.

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