physics and mathematics
Though I do love computer science, the fields I find most interesting are physics and mathematics. These are what I'm pursuing in school, and what I'd like pursue career-wise.
All of my physics and mathematics courses expect homework to be written-up. Although not necessarily required, I used LaTeX to achieve this, and have become quite experienced in it. In Spring 2023 alone I wrote nearly 200 pages of renderered LaTeX.
physics
In September 2023, I was hired as a Data Processing Assistant on the NASA AWE mission, working for the USU Physics department. Shortly after being hired, I was invited to do some public outreach at the Kennedy Space Center the week of the launch, and was offered a seat at Banana Creek to watch. This was singlehandedly the best experience of my life, and made me realize I may want to pursue teaching as a career. A photo of me (in the green hat) talking to the public at the KSC can be seen above.
As of May 2023, I've completed the introductory courses (including their labs), as well as Computer Methods in Physics, both Intro. to Modern Physics and Intermediate Modern Physics, and Intermediate Classical Mechanics. Next semester, I'm registered for Electromagnetism I, Foundations of Wave Phenomena, and Intermediate Physics Laboratory.
The most interesting class I've taken so far is Intermediate Classical Mechanics. We started by forgetting everything we knew about physics, then rederived the Newtonian framework from first principles. By going about teaching this way, it helped cement the ideas in reality. After this, we defined energy (again from first principles), and used this definition to reform the Lagrangian framework. After this, we studied in-depth oscillations, both damped and undamped. We then finished the semester by forming the Hamiltonian framework by examining certain properties of the Lagrangian.
This area of physics is where I'm currently the most experienced, and also where my interests lie. I'm sure that this will be the case for each physics course I take from this point forward (e.g. electromagnetism), but there's just something so beautiful about classical mechanics and the way the solutions work out.
Update, Fall 2023: I was right. Electromagnetism is awesome.
mathematics
As of May 2023, I've completed both Calculus I and Calculus II, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Ordinary Differential Equations, and Partial Differential Equations. I'm planning on taking Complex Variables in Spring 2024 to complete the mathematics minor, as well as Theory of Linear Algebra at some point to prepare myself for quantum mechanics.
By far the most interesting math class I've taken is Partial Differential Equations. The class used Applied Partial Differential Equations by Logan for the text, and the first month or so was devoted to deriving the advection, diffusion, and wave equations from a physical basis. The course covered the method of characteristics, method of reflection, and Laplace and Fourier transforms for problems on unbounded domains, and also covered Fourier expansions and Sturm-Lioville Theory for problems on bounded domains. I gained exceptional progress in understanding and solving Fourier series.