Grad Chat - Queen's School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs

Nikta’s research for my dissertation, titled “Queer Remembering: Fractured Memory and Haunted Futures in Contemporary Novels of the Black Diaspora,” focuses on the contemporary re-imagining of archiving Black pasts and futures in Afrofuturist, diasporic, fantasy novels. The authors and texts that I examine refuse the fluidity of time and truth, opting for fantastical representations of space and history. These alternative representations range from ghosts and possessions, to imagining a dystopic life in space. I call these alternative modes of memory, imagination, and geography queer re-membering in the Black diaspora.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

Danielle studies triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive breast cancer subtype associated with poor survival. Unlike other subtypes for which there are targeted therapies, treatment options for TNBC are limited. In order to better understand the biology underlying TNBC, she studies a family of proteins called calpains.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

The Arctic is host to cold, hypersaline, perennial springs that flow through 600m of permafrost.  I studied 44 samples from cores, sediments, filtrates and microbial mats from these springs. Surficial life at these springs has been studied for decades, but this is the first investigation that looks at the deep subsurface life. This is of interest as a Mars analogue site for deep subsurface life on Mars.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

Canadian provincial education systems play a vital role in developing the social and academic interests of youth who, typically, spend over thirty hours in classrooms per week. Yet, significant consistency in terms of provincial guidelines and teacher booklists restrict these classrooms’ approaches to diverse literary content. The lack of both diverse content and representative teachers can skew ongoing perceptions of identity, academic success, and later socio-economic security, especially for racialized students.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

Alyssa’s research focuses on nuances in observer perceptions and treatment of tattooed colleagues based on tattoo content.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

Lara is looking at Canadian documentary film through both a contemporary and historical lens, as well as the limits of radical pedagogy and activism. Some of the themes that interest her include environmental racism, Indigenous sovereignty and food security.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

My research focuses on looking at black holes. Some black holes are so energetic, that they tear up the bright hot matter spinning around them and funnel it into jets shooting out their top and bottom. And once in a while, we luck out and a few black holes are oriented so that the jets are pointed straight towards the earth! We call these kinds of black holes Blazars, and it’s my job to look at their most energetic and extreme cases and try to figure out if there are any neutrinos in those jets! If we can find neutrinos coming out of them, we can follow their trail back to what in the jet created them and learn more about black holes themselves!

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

This research explores the interplay of social and political imaginaries in Mexico, both secular and religious, during the twentieth century. It uses archival research and discourse analysis to examine how liberal and revolutionary political leaders and various Catholic groups have interacted, how they have handled their contradictions, how their relationships and imaginaries have evolved, and what role these imaginaries have played in building Mexico as a modern nation.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website

Machine learning is very popular nowadays for solving problems in many fields, including wireless networks such as 5G networks that we use to make calls and connect to the internet using our phones. Next-generation wireless networks (NGWNs), such as 6G networks, will include more diverse devices and applications that make them more complex to control, even using machine learning approaches. In my Ph.D. thesis, I addressed some of the practical challenges of applying machine learning approaches, specifically reinforcement learning, in real deployments of NGWNs.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website

Between 5-10% of breast and 20-25% of ovarian cancers are inherited. The majority of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer cases are caused by deleterious mutations (variants) in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which normally prevent cancer through protecting and repairing our DNA. Genetic testing is used to identify pathogenic BRCA carriers who would subsequently benefit from personalized screening, preventative and management plans. However, its widespread implementation has resulted in a significant increase in findings of variants of uncertain significance (VUS) – DNA sequence variants with uncertain effects on disease risk. VUSs pose a critical clinical challenge as they limit clinicians’ ability to effectively interpret genetic test results.

For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.