Join hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Yimin Chen as they chat with PhD grad and MLIS candidate, Brooke Brassard. Our conversation follows Brooke's slightly unorthodox (pun intended) journey from a PhD in religious studies to life after graduation, to her return to grad school. She shares about her experience and life advice about doing field work, navigating the post-grad experience, and what life is like beyond the degree.

To find out more from Brooke, follow her on Twitter @BrookeBrassard or listen to her on the So What? podcast

Recorded on Oct 12, 2021

Produced by Ariel Frame

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

Ariel Frame and Elizabeth Mohler speak with Brendan Charles about his research on Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) investigating how these animals behave and how they can be used to study the biology of the brain. In particular, Brendan discusses work from his recently completed MSc and ongoing PhD work that touches on 9 neurons in the fly brain which govern female aggressive behaviour and characterization of tRNA mistranslation in flies. 

To learn more about this kind of fly research, check out Dr. Amanda Moehring's Twitter @FlyBehaviour and website.

Recorded on Oct 6, 2021

Produced by Ariel Frame

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

In this episode, Francesco Colosimo and Rhys Paterson sit down with Alexis Pascual, PhD student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, as he updates us on his research with machine learning and AI in space applications. Alexis explains how he uses linear algebra and statistics on images to teach extraterrestrial vehicles to pick out interesting features on a martian surface. This episode is full of questions to be answered such as: the probability of the MARS rover becoming a self-sufficient machine, what the Mars yard is like and who is better: Canadian Space Agency or NASA?

To hear more from Alexis, head over to his website https://alexispascual.github.io 

You can listen to his previous episode here.  

Recorded on September 28th, 2021.

Produced by Hira Nadeem.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

Ever see a link on your phone that you just HAVE to click? As it turns out, so do mice! Join hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Laura Muñoz Baena as they chat with aspiring neuroscientist Esmin Unaran and learn about how learning itself can change the structure of your brain. Esmin explains how she uses myelin concentration of mouse brains to study how much they learn using touch-screen operant chambers. Might want to grab yourself a strawberry milkshake before you click "play" on this episode!

To learn more about Erin's research, find her on her Twitter as @esminunaran

Recorded on September 21st, 2021.

Produced by Laura Munoz Baena.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

In this episode, hosts Laura Muñoz-Baena and Ana Moyer chat with Anahí González, a PhD student in Art and Visual Culture. As a Mexican photographer based in Canada, Anahí is interested in how migrant labour is portrayed in Canadian media and explores alternative visual narratives that might contribute to a different view of migration in North America. 

To learn more about Anahí, visit her photography website or follow her in Instagram

Recorded on September 14th, 2021.

Produced by Laura Munoz Baena.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

In this episode, Katrina Zmavc (PhD Philosophy Student) discusses her research on depression and how it really is an umbrella term for many related disorders. She also chats with hosts (Yousuf Hasan and Ana Moyer) about her involvement with the Society of Graduate Students as a member of the Graduate Peer Support Committee. Her aim is to find strategies to de-stigmatize mental illness and spread awareness about mental health in our community. You can view more about Katrina's research at Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the TCN Lab websites

Recorded on Sept 9, 2021

Produced by Yousuf Hasan, Edited by Ariel Frame

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

This episode contains discussions of mental health, grad school, the COVID-19 pandemic, and discusses suicide and suicide prevention. If you or someone you know needs help, there are resources available to help you. If you are a graduate student, SOGS.ca/support-resources provides a list of mental health services located on and off campus. Alternatively, the description box contains resources discussed in the episode. Listener discretion is advised. 

Empower Me

If you are in crisis:

If you are looking for a therapist, treatment centres or support groups:

Recorded on August 16, 2021

Produced by Rhys Paterson

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

As fervent calls for racial equity have justifiably proliferated within the United States in recent years, it raises the issue of familiarizing oneself with the historical and systemic nature of American racism. One such way to do this is analyzing the literature of the era for greater context, which is the approach English PhD student David Mitterauer is taking. And as hosts Liam Clifford and Elizabeth Mohler learn, David's juxtaposition of 18th and 19th century. Black thought and white supremacist texts demonstrates the abhorrence of racial discrimination within the then-fledging nation. The ensuing conversation highlights the need to understand the deep roots of racism in the U.S. in the hopes that this understanding can promote a better future for all.

To find out more from David, follow him on Twitter @DMitterauer

Recorded on Aug 31, 2021

Produced by Ariel Frame

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.

In the second episode of our newest series, There Is No Planet B - Rose Giles and Brendon Samuels talk with Courtney Neidig, a second year Masters student in Education and Curriculum studies. She tells us the story of starting out as an ECE in British Columbia, the dissatisfaction in teaching practices when it comes to the environment, and ultimately how she found herself at Western as the head of the Society of Graduate Students’s Sustainability Committee. 

If you would like to get in touch with Courtney, you can email her at [email protected] and check out @sogs.sustainability on Instagram 

If you have question about sustainability on campus or would like to reach out, email [email protected] 

Recorded on July 12, 2021

Produced by Rhys Paterson 

Theme song provided by https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/bathtime-funk

License code: B7LBQYKLY9EDAFQ3

Dristy Zaman is a PhD student in Biology studying soybeans, a type of legume. In conversation with Yimin Chen and Ariel Frame, Dristy explains how she is investigating asparagine metabolism. Dristy is on the hunt to discover a particular enzyme in this pathway that is currently unknown. What is asparagine? How will she find this enzyme? What will she name it? Find out the answer to these questions, and more, in this episode.

Recorded Aug 24, 2021

Full video available on YouTube

Produced by Ariel Frame

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot.