Science and religion are often pitted against each other as mutually exclusive ways of thinking, but for Marika Harada, they’re of a piece.
When she arrived at Rochester as a freshman, Harada was certain she’d be majoring in the sciences, but she didn’t expect to add a religion major. Then she started taking courses on Hinduism “out of curiosity.”
The philosophy behind the religion intrigued her, Harada says, adding that the appeal took her by surprise because she hadn’t grown up with religion. But she followed a trail that she set for herself and “took courses according to what interested me.”
And while the classes she chose tended to examine Eastern religions, she stepped into fresh territory again this year when she wrote her senior thesis for her religion major on Mayan ritual.
At the same time, Harada has also been absorbed by the study of chemistry, serving as a teaching assistant in organic chemistry and spending two summers working in research laboratories, first at the University of Pennsylvania, and then at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
“I really like working in the labs,” she says. “It’s cool to experiment with what you’ve learned.”
Harada sees herself as simultaneously a scientist and a humanist. “I appreciate both sides,” she says. “It’s challenging, but interesting, to bring these fields together.”
Science and religion may share a commitment to seeking truth, she says, but they conceive of truth differently.
“Finding truth from a religious perspective is more about finding what’s true for you. There can be different kinds of truth. And the circumstances of science and religion are so different.”
Now that she has graduated from Rochester, Harada is headed back to the Berkeley lab for a year. She plans to apply to medical schools.
“My curiosity about religion’s not going to stop,” she says. “Studying medicine, it’s important to understand each patient’s background, and religion could be an important part of that.”