PopSci U: Seven of the Country's Coolest SciTech Courses
So you want to explore the deepest caves? Design the cars of the future? Fire rockets? Don’t wait until you graduate. Here are 10 college programs that offer the most fun per credit—and can help you land your ideal job So You Want to...Hunt for Martian Microbes? Where: Barton Lab, Northern Kentucky University What You’ll Learn: How microbes thrive in harsh environments Job Prospects: Geologist Typical Assignment: Explore a 10-mile-long cave and capture the exotic creatures that live deep inside If you want to be one of the six lucky undergrads to get off the waiting list and into Hazel Barton’s course, you’d better like tight spaces, heights, the dark, bats and getting dirty—and that’s just to get to the bacteria. Unlike microbiology majors at other schools, the ones laboring over microscopes and petri dishes all day, Barton’s students study extremophile microbes where they thrive: caves. This fall, with NASA assistance, Barton and a...