Stupidist Man in the Room

Today I went to the 5^th Annual George Mason University Aspiring Scientists Poster Session and Awards Ceremony held at the Hylton Performing Arts Center.  It was amazing. I saw 38 posters outlining exciting and unique experiments.  The number of students participating totaled 48.  It was a diverse and interesting group.  Participating students attended a high school, a community college or a university. 

At each poster a student was ready to explain the experiment and answer questions.  An example, one poster was about an experiment to rid a potentially deadly disease in a 3^rd world country.  Think about that, students considering how they can save lives in a country where most people do not know where it is located.  It was at this point that I realized I was the stupidest person in the room. I walked around and looked at 4-5 posters and did not understand much of what I was looking at. I could read each one, I just did not comprehend. 

But I decided to persevere.  Now for a big helping of humble pie. I decided to ask a couple of students about the experiment highlighted on their poster.  Now I was wearing a suit, so perhaps I gave off the impression that I appear smarter than I am. Each student started off slowly and intelligently, no doubt they knew the experiment. Unfortunately, after less than 2 minutes, I had to ask the student to use English. Keep in mind this was after I carefully looked at the experiment before asking for an explanation.  The students quickly converted to “English”. A testament to their ability to adapt.  Even with all that, I could still not think of one intelligent question to ask, but I did come up with a wheel barrel full of dumb ones. 

Perhaps most importantly I walked out feeling very positive about all the aspiring scientists and what they represent. These kids are our future and we should take great pride in the fact that the U.S. embraces diversity, individual achievement, and intelligence.  I bet their parents were sure proud. I know I was, even though it was Greek to me.