Creative problem solving with both arts and science
“I remember a professor saying that studying physics is studying problem-solving, and that stuck with me. My studying hasn’t been just to memorize material but instead to teach me to ask, ‘How do I approach complex problems and come up with out-of-the-box solutions?’”
The performance stage is at the epicenter of Sasha Toole’s Mount Holyoke journey, with its bright lights, choreographed movement and the science behind it all.
Coming from a small township in Central Pennsylvania just west of Harrisburg, Toole looked forward to experiencing something different from what she knew when deciding on a college. A lifetime dancer, Toole wanted to find a place where she could integrate her interest in dance and science.
She eventually landed on Mount Holyoke and settled into a new life, thanks to an early immersion into the dance program. It became the home away from home that she desperately wanted in a new environment.
“There is just something special about dance and the people you do it with,” said Toole.
Dance opened many doors for getting socially acclimated to the College and meeting people beyond the campus gates. Mount Holyoke’s shared dance program among the Five College Consortium gave Toole and her peers chances to perform in each other’s spaces and shows, enriching her overall experience.
In high school, Toole had begun to waver on her commitment to pursuing dance in college because of the rigidity of her ballet program. Mount Holyoke gave Toole a chance to view dance through a different lens.
Ultimately, she decided not to double major in dance and chemistry, instead opting for physics with a minor in math. However, she still spends a lot of time thinking and observing how dance intersects with her academic interests in physics.
“College has given me a better understanding of the academic side of dance,” said Toole. “It isn’t someone telling us what to do and then us replicating it exactly. Now it’s a creative process that is more collaborative and full of moments that allow dancers to decide what a movement means or how it is portrayed to an audience.”
A significant shift in her thinking about dance stemmed from a modern dance class during the fall semester of her sophomore year. Professor Barbie Diewald often paused class or a movement to ask students, “What are you researching?” Toole had never thought about the theories of “why” and “what” instead of just “how.”
“Dance is not just doing a movement for the purpose of doing a movement. There is more to it than that.”
While dance has been at the forefront of what she categorizes as “me time,” Toole’s academic pursuits extend well beyond it.
She quickly abandoned chemistry as a path toward medical school and landed on physics, which also allowed her to pursue that journey. However, once she started conducting research in physics, the endless future possibilities started to open up in Toole’s mind.
As she had learned during the initiation into dance, Toole was becoming increasingly comfortable with an emerging love for creative problem-solving.
“I remember a professor saying that studying physics is studying problem-solving, and that stuck with me,” said Toole. “My studying within my concentration hasn’t been just to memorize material but instead to teach me to ask, ‘How do I approach complex problems and come up with out-of-the-box solutions?’”
The challenging but thought-inducing physics curriculum has led Toole to experiences she never knew she wanted. Two summers of research at the University of California, Santa Barbara and at the University of Bonn Institute for Microbiology and Biotechnology in Germany shifted her entire perspective on graduate school and gave her an idea of what she wants her next academic research environment to be.
That research experience prompted Toole to get more involved in research with Kerstin Nordstrom, assistant professor of physics and department chair, and ultimately in the thesis on which she is currently working. Her thesis focuses on understanding the progression of neurodegenerative disease using a model of cerebral spinal fluid flow in the brain.
Toole is still weighing her options for graduate school, but acceptances are already rolling in. Her experiences at Mount Holyoke have given her the confidence she needs to figure it all out — complex problem-solving once again.
