GradCast

In this special #GradLife episode hosts Amalie Hutchinson, Brittany Melton, Facundo Lodol, and producer Jordan VanderBurgt talk about getting involved in extracurriculars and how that impacts our grad experience. We chat about colour-coded calendars, if Jordan ever gets any nights off, and why saying "no" to some activities is just as important as saying "yes". Recorded on March 21, 2023. Produced...

Continuing our new series called #PostDocsTalk, hosts Scott Walters and Carly Charron speak with Dr. Catie Ivy, a post-doctoral fellow in the biology department. Catie shares advice on seeking out postdoc positions, what she looked for in potential supervisors, how funding works, and how different the postdoc experience is from her PhD.   To learn more about Catie be sure to check out her Twitter...

On this episode hosts Carly Charron and Charan Mandur are joined by microbiology PhD Candidate Gerrit Stuivenberg. Gerrit tells us about his research into what creates kidney stones, the deal with probiotics, and why one of our hosts should eat more green vegetables. To learn more about Gerrit, find him on twitter as @garybiotics .  Recorded on March 9, 2023. Produced by Laura Muñoz Baena. Theme s...

This week, hosts Meghan Voll and Amalie Hutchinson interview Farheen Meraj, an MA in Western’s Research for Policy and Evaluation program. Learn about Farheen’s newcomer integration research, where she pursues integration issues, attempts to close gaps, and provide a softer landing for new immigrants entering Canada. To learn more about Farheen's work, visit this link: Research Gate LinkedIn Recor...

On this new special series called #PostDocsTalk, your hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Meghan Voll interview Dr. Roberto Budzinski, a post-doctoral fellow from the department of mathematics. Roberto shares what it was like finding a position, what he was looking for when choosing a supervisor, and shares tips and advice for creating a winning CV.  To find out more about Roberto's research, check out th...

In this special #GradLife episode hosts Amalie, Charan, Meghan, and producer Jordan talk about their Reading Weeks and what it's like for grads over the break. Get to know the hosts as we explore our favourite novels, Amalie and Meghan's over-productivity, Charan's Waterloo adventures, and how much we all enjoy (or not) teaching!  Recorded on February 28, 2023. Produced by Jordan VanderBurgt. Them...

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder how old you are.... This week, hosts Carly Charron and Ariel Frame chat with almost-Dr. Hadi Papei, a PhD candidate from the department of astronomy. Hadi tells us about the code he wrote for determining the age of the stars in a galaxy, how he persevered through setbacks and was able to change track during his degree.  Recorded on February 21, 2023 Prod...

This week, hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Charan Mandur interview History PhD Candidate Thomas Stroyan. We chat about Thomas's work looking at the relationship between Chile and Argentina during the time of Pierre Trudeau's administration. Listen in to hear about what archives actually look like, how we almost sold a second nuclear reactor to a country with a dictatorship government, and more. Record...

This week, hosts Meghan Voll and Carly Charron interview PhD student in Theory and Criticism,  Shubhayan Chakrabarti. In this episode, we talk to Shubhayan about his research on anti-work politics and the relationship between work and guilt, as well as how philosophical ideas of Descartes can be applied to examine this relationship on multiple societal levels.    To find out more about Shubhayan's...

This week, hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Meghan Voll interview PhD candidate Caroline Diezyn about their dissertational research on three plays depicting the Salem Witch Trials. In this episode, Caroline talks about the myths and facts about the Salem Witch Trials, and the ways real historical character Giles Corey is represented. Caroline also talks about why these representations matter today, and...

In this episode, Mitch Mumby, PhD student in Microbiology and Immunology, talks to hosts Brittany and Laura about HIV, the virus that came to be one of the most successful pathogens known by humans. Tune in to learn about how Nef, a small and disorganized protein, conferred new abilities to HIV, and the impacts that studying such a delicate and controversial topic could have on someones relationsh...

This week, hosts Meghan Voll and Carly Charron interview Master’s student Karmen Mohindru about her research examining harm and maltreatment in Canadian Para Sport. Karmen talks about potential harms these athletes face, and a concerning lack of policies and education about these in Canada to adequately protect them. To find out more about Karmen and her work, email her at kmohindr@uwo.ca or visit...

This week your hosts Ariel Frame and Scott Walters speak with master's student Julia Hammer about how climate change may impact basic life function of trees. Julia discusses her research on how rising temperature and carbon dioxide levels affect boreal trees' capacity to photosynthesize and what this might mean for these species with projected climate trends. We learn about rooftop greenhouses, fo...

Hosts Carly and Laura talk with master's student Erin Brintnell about her research on SARS-CoV2. Erin explains how bioinformaticians use biological data to create models that predict the number of infected individuals in a population, and use those numbers to inform public health responses.  If your want to learn more about Erin and her journey between computers and viruses, find her on instagram...

Anusha Ravikumar speaks with Ariel Frame and Laura Muñoz Baena about her research on stars she is doing as part of her PhD in physics and astronomy. Anusha answers multiple questions about how we currently think stars are born and explains how her work will shed light on the development of star disks.    To find out more from Anusha, follow her on Twitter  @hustling_stars Recorded on November 22,...

This week, hosts Carly Charon and Meghan Voll interview PhD student Hossein Asgari about his research using 3-D marker-less tracking to investigate locomotion on black widow spiders. Hossein talks about the effect particular vibrations have on spider’s behaviour and ability to detect prey, and whether they actually use differing postures to better make sense of these vibrations.  To find out more...

This week, hosts Carly Charron and Laura Muñoz Baena interview Facundo Lodol, one of the newest members of the Editorial Board, about his MSc research in the Neuroscience department. Facundo talks about his project on misophonia, a disorder characterized by heightened sensitivity to trigger sounds such as chewing. He is interested in the relationship between misophonia and the brain’s ability to f...

This week, hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Brittany Melton sit down with PhD candidate Audra Quinn. Audra is studying entrepreneurship at Ivey Business School. We talk about one branch of her work: the interactions between co-founders. So, before you choose your business parter, give this episode a listen! To find out more about Audra and her work, go check out her Twitter ( @AudraQuinn ) and website...

This week, our newest member of the Editorial Board, Scott Walters, joins host Ana Moyer and Charan Mandur to talk about his PhD research in the biology department. Scott talks about his work looking at how nutrition on mudflats and rivers affects the water-associated birds living there and their migrations. We learn about mist nets, biofilm, and more.  To get into contact with Scott for more ques...

Today, host and past editor, Ariel Frame (PhD candidate in Neuroscience) joins hosts Laura and Brittany to discuss the final stages of his PhD research. Join us to learn more about lactate metabolism in the brains of mice and flies! For more of Ariel, check out  Episode 267, The Super Secret Sex Life of Fruit Flies . To keep up with Ariel, check out his Twitter  @ArielFrame  and on  Google Scholar...

This week, hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Ariel Frame speak with FIMS PhD candidate Meghan Voll about her research on the economics of dating apps. Meghan is interested in how these companies use value conflation to influence their business platforms and is aiming to map out the data flows of how these companies use, exchange, and monetize user data.  To find out more about Meghan's research, go chec...

This week, hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Charan Mandur interview our very own SOGS VP Academic, Kevin Moore. In addition to his role on the Society of Graduate Students advocating for and making grad student's voices heard, Kevin is a PhD Candidate in the department of Medical Biophysics where he studies blood flow. We chat about what his lab days look like, learn a bit more about how blood flows th...

Charan Mandur and Ariel Frame speak with Zsofia Agoston about her ongoing institutional ethnography research with Ontario teachers. Zsofia explains how she plans to use an anthropological lens to investigate the methods being used to teach difficult knowledge at the K-8 level. To find out more from Zsofia check out her Twitter @zsofimedovarski Recorded on September 28, 2022. Produced by Laura Muño...

In today’s episode, Benjamin Souriol speaks with Laura Muñoz and Claire Bottini about his Master studies on nitrogen cycling and soil ecology. Benjamin explains how nitrogen molecules go in and out of the environment and how nitrogen spreads in a system according to different treatments. He aims to better understand how agricultural intensification and global warming can affect this molecule in ou...

This episode welcomes Javier Alvarez, a PhD student in anthropology, studying Mapudungun — the language of the Mapuches. Mapuches are an indigenous community that inhabited South America way before colonization, and is currently established in central Chile and southwest Argentina. Javier shares with hosts Charan and Laura his intentions to cooperate with the Mapuches in order to develop and promo...