GradLIFE Podcast

Whether you're curious about practical applications, what a "black box" means, or ethical considerations, tune in to this episode of AI Conversations where your questions lead the way! Michael Curtin (Innovation Coordinator, Campus Research IT) and Eric Kurt (Media Commons Coordinator, University Library; Interim Manager, Scholarly Commons)  share their perspectives on emerging gene...

Kyle Timmer is on a mission to help your body heal faster after an injury.  A PhD student in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois, Kyle took home the grand prize at Research Live! , a fun, fast-paced competition where graduate students showcase their research. Research Live! challenges participants to give a three-minute research talk that explains their project to a general audienc...

This episode is part of our special GradLIFE series AI at Illinois , where we delve into the impacts of artificial intelligence technologies on our graduate students' research, teaching, and thinking. On this episode, Bri Lafond (Writing Studies doctoral candidate and Graduate College Career Exploration Fellow) sits down with Kyrie Zhou (Information Sciences) to chat about generative AI, educ...

This episode is part of our special GradLIFE series AI at Illinois , where we delve into the impacts of artificial intelligence technologies on our graduate students' research, teaching, and thinking. On this episode, Bri Lafond (Writing Studies doctoral candidate and Graduate College Career Exploration Fellow) sits down with Kainen Bell (School of Information Sciences) and Antonio Hamilton (...

This episode is part of our special GradLIFE series AI at Illinois , where we delve into the impacts of artificial intelligence technologies on our graduate students' research, teaching, and thinking. On this episode, Bri Lafond (Writing Studies doctoral candidate and Graduate College Career Exploration Fellow) sits down with Clara Belitz (School of Information Sciences) and Ali Zaidi (Comput...

Joe Mirabelli (PhD, '23, Educational Psychology) has spent years studying how graduate students experience and cope with stress . In this conversation, Joe sits down with John Moist to discuss what he's learned about how graduate students excel in grad school. ______ Show Notes: Joe Mirabelli in Research Live! 2023 Educational Psychology at Illinois Jennifer Cromley, Professor, Education...

When you're in graduate school and doing awesome work, it's not uncommon to experience imposter syndrome: doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud in your work.  In this episode of the GradLIFE podcast, John Moist sits down with Lisa Abston (Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion here in the Graduate College) and Darrien Watson (fourth-year PhD student in Recreation...

If you can, cast your mind back to high school. For some of us, it's been a little longer than others. You might think of the sound of chattering classmates in the hallway, or maybe of studying late for an important test. Adolescence is a particularly challenging time that comes with many difficult emotions, and it's never been easy to be a teenager.  But here at the University of Illino...

It has been a year of COVID. Our graduate student podcasters share their funniest Zoom stories and how they have been navigating this new landscape. Burning Man expert Caitlin Brooks (Recreation, Sport, and Tourism) speaks about mourning canceled ethnographic dissertation fieldwork and the power of community in times of isolation.

Landscape Designer Saloni Chawla (MLA '18) sits down to talk with us about how she landed her dream job at STIMSON an urban and rural landscape architecture studio with a working farm and a plant nursery, and why she considers it a perfect match with her interests in cultural landscapes and people.

SAGE graduate student podcasters Cat (Physics) and Shelby (Kinesiology) interview each other about choosing their research fields and Illinois for graduate education. How “virtual everything” affects their grad school highs and lows and teaches them a few tricks. 

SAGE graduate student podcasters Abby (Social Work) and Sebastian (Labor and Employment Relations) interview each other about choosing their research fields and Illinois for graduate education. How “virtual everything” affects their grad school ups and downs and teaches them a few tricks. 

SAGE grad student podcasters interview the Counseling Center’s Kamau Grantham, who gives everyone permission to take care of themselves and encourages the practice of self-care, an intentional skill that takes time to figure out. Things get salty as they contemplate the balance of ingredients in chocolate chip cookies. The podcasters continue the discussion with their favorite “mesources.”

Theatre doctoral student Vincent Carlson performs "You and Your Work," a poem he wrote inspired by boundary setting and conflicting ideas about work ethic. Training for an actual half marathon, he contemplates how grad school is a marathon and that you have to pace yourself. There is also a tasty discussion about the importance of treats!

SAGE grad student podcasters get to know more about fellow podcaster Abby Valtierra, who is pursuing a master’s in Social Work. Abby shares some techniques to lower stress in elementary school students, such as a 5-4-3-2-1 mapping exercise, that might also work for grad students. And our podcasters share powerful “mesources” including the importance of positive self-talk.