Unlike most students in Northwestern’s Integrated Science Program, Weinberg junior Justin Dynes was unaware that the advanced natural science and mathematics curriculum existed.
“I applied to Northwestern, got in (and) was going to be just a regular biology major,” Dynes said. “Over the summer, I was reached out by the then-director of the program.”
Dynes said he thinks he was contacted due to the many AP science exams he took in high school, a common theme across students enrolled in ISP.
The program offers a curriculum of advanced STEM classes, known as ISP courses, taken exclusively with other ISP students.
Students in the major also enjoy unique assets including access to the ISP House, priority registration and the ability to substitute certain courses for independent research starting during the second year of the program.
The framework of ISP courses mirrors the core curriculum of other prestigious universities, including the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Weinberg Prof. Todd Gingrich, who taught an ISP course for three years.
“I often think that the ISP curriculum is like a little piece of Caltech embedded inside of Northwestern — that natural community of other people who are pushing themselves in the same way,” Gingrich said.
What makes the program special is the “uniformity of the curriculum,” Gingrich said.
Classes like physical chemistry, which require an extensive background in math, can be taught to a cohort of students who share the same course experience.
“There are absolutely chemistry students who have very sophisticated mathematical training, but there are also chemistry students who have not, and that makes it very hard to teach,” Gingrich said. “A lot of the concepts in that area are clearer if you can utilize the tools used for that area. If you can’t utilize those tools, you’re kind of doing it handcuffed and blindfolded.”
Gingrich said the flexibility of ISP’s program distinguishes itself from STEM-heavy core curriculums at other institutions.
Students at other institutions who realize they’re unhappy with STEM-heavy programs face limited options due to the mandatory core curricula, and transferring out can be difficult since students’ GPAs are often lowered by the time they decide to leave, Gingrich said.
At NU, ISP students can easily drop the major and switch to another concentration.
Many ISP students leave the program not due to the difficulty of the coursework but to pursue a more narrowed focus.
“I think most people drop because they know what they want to do, and they choose something else,” said Weinberg sophomore Mingyuan Wang. “They decide, ‘I don’t really want to learn about all of these fields. I really want to do biology after all.’”
ISP started in 1976 with a grant from the National Science Foundation, said program director Nyree Zerega.
The program began with a cohort of about 30 students and 25 ISP-specific courses.
“It wasn’t as common for people in science and math to collaborate the way we do today,” Zerega said. “Things were very siloed, and I think the idea was to really bring people together so that they’re not just an expert in math or in physics, but they have a broad understanding where they can talk to people and work with people across those disciplines.”
There are about 85 students total in the program today.
Gingrich said the ISP program provides a community for students who are interested in immersing themselves in multiple STEM disciplines.
“At some universities, they will be very alone in doing so,” Gingrich said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing that we have a program that helps them find each other.”
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