The UNAH system is one of the largest in Central America, supporting over 40,000 students at their main campus in Tegucigalpa, along with satellite campuses in the other major Honduran cities. At the "Tegus" campus, over 100 of these students are within the physics department, a relatively large number compared to what I'd encountered so far. Numbers provide potential, but determination proves to be the most important factor in scientific inquiry, and this was found in abundance as well.
I began by briefly meeting with Dr. Alejandro Galo Roldan, the director of the Licenciatura (Bachelors/Pre-Grad) program in physics, and his very helpful colleague, Professor Carlos Tenorio, who arranged for me to give a little talk to his class later that afternoon.
I spent the next two hours speaking to the student-president of the physics program, a student in his final year of a double-major physics-math degree, Juan Junior Calderon. Juan and the other students he introduced me to provided a fresh perspective on various issues, especially the deficiency of secondary school education in Honduras and the ensuing unpreparedness of incoming physics students: With essentially zero useful science or math background, and classes/books commencing at a relatively high level at UNAH, many potentially capable students are forced to drop out or spend copious amounts of time catching up on basic studies on their own (another interpretation is that this leaves only the most motivated students left in the program at present...).
To continue on that theme, it was fascinating to learn how he and others came to study physics in the first place: Since science and math education is so deficient at all levels in Honduras, those with a natural curiosity find themselves watching discovery channel and other related educationally oriented programming, and when possible, do their own learning and searching on the Internet. Juan eloquently referred to his and the upcoming classes of students as "una nueva generacion."
The talk, with about 15 pre-grad physics students, was informative and focused on many of the common themes; the paucity of research opportunities, the lack and need for more scholarships, the need to exit the country to pursue higher degrees, the strong desire for having more comprehensive instruction and familiarity with modern research areas via visiting professors, and the hope that there will be reason in the future to return following post-grad degrees. These students also projected an intense aura of motivation; just for them to be there, despite all the obstacles, it couldn't really be any other way.
The afternoon concluded in a meeting with the director of the up-start masters program in "general" physics. The program is set to begin it's second stage, with the intention of graduating students who complete proper thesis work, and encouraging those graduating from the pre-grad program to matriculate. The first stage was providing professors lacking post-grad degrees to work towards them while continuing their teaching responsibilities, but this has met with some difficulties. The clearest obstacle for this program to succeed is the lack of resources available for doing proper masters-level research. Possible solutions, such as partnerships with foreign-universities that have superior resources, are being explored.
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