Gradcast

Indra Bishnoi (PhD Student in Neuroscience) chats about her research on Anticipatory Nausea in the context of chemotherapy. Despite chemotherapy saving millions of lives every year, Indra explains to hosts Yousuf Hasan and Liam Clifford why people sometimes discontinue the treatment and stay away from hospitals. This has to do with the nausea that is induced by chemotherapy. Patients sometimes avoid treatments since they are conditioned to feel nauseous by hospital environment due to their co-pairing of hospitals and side-effects of chemotherapy. Besides her research, Indra also talks about her role as the SOGS Sustainability Chair and what she thinks about London’s Climate Action Plan. To learn more about Indra and her work, you can visit her website.  Full Video available on YouTube Recorded on August 18, 2020 Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io (Produced by White Hot) Episode produced by Yousuf Hasan

After having shoulder surgery, is seeing your surgeon an absolute necessity? And if it is, how can we make this process easier? Hosts Monica Molinaro and Ariel Frame are joined by Rochelle Furtado, an MPT/PhD student seeking to develop an app that makes the shoulder surgery process so much easier. Rochelle tells us what inspired the app, how the app can reduce travelling, waiting times and access to your surgeon, and how in a post-COVID world, an app like this will still be needed. Rochelle also explains how her previous expertise informed her decision to do a combined degree, and what she hopes to do with her two new degrees when she finishes. To find out more from Rochelle and learn more about her research, follow her and her lab on social media. Twitter: @ellefurtado13 Instagram: @hulc.crl | @hrsgss_uwo Website: https://www.lawsonresearch.ca/hulc/clinical-research-HULC Full episode available on YouTube Recorded on August 17th, 2020 Produced by Gavin Tolometti Theme song provided by https://freeb

In this episode Tyler Dexter, PhD student in Neuroscience, speaks with Ariel Frame and Laura Baena about his research on goal directed cognition in mice. Tyler discusses how he uses touch screens and optogenetics to investigate the role of particular neurons in the brain. To find out more from Tyler follow him on Twitter @TylerDexter13 or learn about rodent touch screens at touchscreencognition.org Full Video Available on YouTube Recorded on Aug 11, 2020 Produced by Laura Baena and edited by Gavin Tolometti Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

Besides its obvious destructive properties, lava can tell us a lot about Earth and other planetary bodies in our solar system. Changing our relationship with molten rock could have implications far beyond the confines of our solitary planet. As hosts Yousuf Hassan and Liam Clifford learn from Earth Sciences PhD Gavin Tolometti, analyzing volcanic and impact melt flows increases our understanding of surface processes on the Moon and Mars by studying lava flows in Idaho and Iceland. In addition, as Gavin concludes his PhD, he speaks to his future aspirations and why this research is important for the wider public.  To find out more from Gavin, follow him on Twitter @GavinOnTheMoon, on Instagram @gavin4science_94 , on his website https://gavintolometti.wixsite.com/gavinonthemoon, or his lab's website https://www.spacerocks.ca/teams/ Full video on YouTube Recorded on Aug 4, 2020 Produced by Ariel Frame Theme Song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot

In April 1994, the small Central African country of Rwanda would begin to spiral uncontrollably into the darkest period of its short history. What ensued over the course of the next three months was a genocide supported by the incumbent regime that slaughtered an estimated 500,000-1,000,000 people. With so many murdered, how could this have happened? In a fascinating conversation with PhD candidate John Trafford from UWO’s Political Science department, it is revealed how artificial constructions of identity left to ferment can have dire consequences. Hosts Ariel Frame and Liam Clifford engage with John's discussion of the historical differences between the Hutu and Tutsi, the contextual pre-Genocide Civil War, and how colonialism’s legacy lasts long after its demise. Full video available on YouTube Recorded on July 28th, 2020 Produced by Gavin Tolometti “Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot”

Dr. James Steinhoff is a recent graduate from the Media Studies PhD program in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, currently a Post-Doctoral researcher at University of Washington. James enlightens Yimin Chen and Ariel Frame about his work investigating how artificial intelligence, or simply automation in general, impacts work and workers. For a deeper dive into James' insights check out his co-authored book published last year, Inhuman Power, his Academia.edu page and his recent DigiLabour talk about his upcoming book Automation and Autonomy Recorded on July 23, 2020 Produced by Ariel Frame Them song provided by freebeats.io Produced by White Hot

In tough times, we all need a little help from our friends. Sometimes, those tough times are when we are caring for someone with dementia, or had a stroke. Jovana Sibalija joins hosts Monica Molinaro and Sarah Klapman to discuss the necessity of social networks (not the Facebook kind) for caregiver wellness. They discuss who may be in a social network, what social support may look like, and why caregivers may not necessarily want social support. They also discuss why caregivers are an integral backbone to the health care system in Canada, and how caregivers can be better supported. To find out more from Jovana follow her on Twitter @JoSibalija, LinkedIn, or email her at jsibalij@uwo.ca   Full video on YouTube Recorded on July 21, 2020 Produced by Ariel Frame Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot

Olivia Ghosh-Swaby is a PhD student in the neuroscience program conducting research with mice elucidating how poor diet reduces and exercising benefits the brain. Olivia excitedly informs hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Ariel Frame about her growing expertise in the field of brain plasticity and her newest research findings including treatment of mice with the drug metformin. To find out more from Olivia, follow her on Twitter @ogoshhsw Full video on YouTube This episode was recorded on Tuesday, July 14th and was edited by Laura Muñoz Baena

How do you turn capitalism into a force for environmental protection? Join hosts Yousuf Hasan and Sarah Klapman as they talk to Economics Ph.D. candidate Emmanuel Murray Leclair about economics, international relations, pollution havens, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and everything in between.    If you would like to contact Emmanuel and learn more about his research you can find him on Facebook and Twitter @EmmanuelMurrayL       Full video available on YouTube   Recorded on July 7th, 2020.   This episode was produced by Gavin Tolometti

Hosts Monica and Greg interview P.T./Ph.D. student Morgan Jennings about her work on virtual visits for individuals post-knee surgery. Started before the COVID-19 pandemic (and before virtual visits became more popular), Morgan’s research has been focused on developing an app to identify knee wounds post-surgery and identify if someone would need to visit a physician for a follow-up appointment in order to reduce unnecessary appointments for patients. Morgan also talks about her work at the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, how that work inspired her Master’s and current Ph.D. research, and what she hopes for her future in evidence-based practice. Full video can be found on YouTube This episode was recorded on Tuesday June 30th and produced by Gregory Ian Robinson.

Mohammad Sharifi (SOGS Racial Equity and Inclusivity Commissioner) spoke about issues concerning marginalized graduate students at Western with hosts Sarah Klapman and Yousuf Hasan. Mo explained his involvement in Western’s Anti-racism Working Group. The main purpose was to gather feedback regarding racism and to develop an action plan for a more equitable environment for our community. Mo also chatted with us about the experiences that led him to become SOGS Racial Equity and Inclusivity Commissioner and why it was especially important to fight for racialized students. For more information, check out SOGS on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Discord   Watch the full episode on YouTube This video was recorded on June 22nd and produced by Gregory Ian Robinson

Elizabeth Mohler is an incoming PhD student in Occupational Science and a disability advocate. She is joined by co-hosts Rhys Paterson and Yousuf Hasan. Elizabeth chatted about the unique difficulties that people with disabilities have been experiencing amid the pandemic. As someone who has vision loss, she shared with us how challenging it can be to follow basic safety protocols. We also chatted about her co-authored book on Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences (2016) and her research on making STEM more accessible. To find out more from Elizabeth check out her Twitter @mohlerc Full video available on YouTube Recorded on June 24, 2020 Produced by Ariel Frame

Heather Stewart is currently doing her PhD in Philosophy. She chats about her research on harmful speech phenomena with cohosts Yousuf Hasan and Gregory Robinson. Heather argues that the more microaggressions are inhibited and discouraged, the more equitable and free our speech becomes. To find out more about Heather, visit her website.  Full video on YouTube.  Produced by Yousuf Hasan. Recorded on June 23, 2020.

In this episode Rhys Paterson and Ariel Frame interview four students who had been selected to present at the Society of Graduate Students annual Western Research Forum for 2020 had it not been cancelled due to COVID-19: Brendon Samuels, a PhD student in biology, discusses his research and advocacy for methods of preventing birds being killed by glass buildings. For more info about saving birds check out https://birdsafe.ca/ or follow Brendon on Twitter @eyeonthefly Abby Al-Takriti, a Masters student in professional education and continuous improvement coordinator with Western Engineering, speaks about her plans to conduct research on how to increase faculty engagement with learning management systems in higher education institutions. To find out more from Abby follow her on Instagram @abrar_alta or Twitter @abraralta Alex Mayhew, a PhD student in library science, tells us about his work developing a brand new cataloging system for libraries and potentially all of human knowledge. To find out more from Ale

In this episode Yimin Chen and Yousuf Hasan interview four students who had been selected to present at the Society of Graduate Students annual Western Research Forum for 2020 had it not been cancelled due to COVID-19: Navjot Gill (MSc Physical Therapy) tells us about her investigation into how wellness of older-adults relates with health-seeking behaviours. Her findings may help better guide them to age-in-place. To find out more about Navjot find her on LinkedIn Jaclyn Siegel (PhD Social Psychology) explains the detrimental effects of body shaming and the need for having a reliable self-report instrument to measure shame. Her findings support a model, which is good news for researchers. For more about Jaclyn, follow her on Twitter @JaclynASiegel or check out her website https://jaclynasiegel.com Kimberly Adamek (PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering) explains how high-rise buildings contribute to global warming and why her design mitigates the issues. She does this by studying wind-interaction with bu

In this episode Sarah Klapman and Gregory Robinson interview four students who had been selected to present at the Society of Graduate Students annual Western Research Forum for 2020 had it not been cancelled due to COVID-19: Dwaipayan "DP" Sarkar (PhD Mechanical and Materials Engineering) explains the intricacies and utility of heat pipes. They're not just a metal pipe. Connect with DP on LinkedIn to learn more. Alternatively, connect with DP's research group on LinkedIn as well. John Palmer (MSc Pathology) shares with us how HIV is extremely effective in evading the human immune system by constantly mutating it's own DNA.Connect with John on LinkedIn to learn more Rebecca Meaney (PhD Biochemistry) spends her time in the lab designing nitrogen-fixing organelles and inducing endosymbiosis of nitrogen-fixing microbes within a host cell. Learn more @karaslab and @FantasticLives on Twitter Aimee Josephine (PhD Health Promotion) is a LWHI NGO representative/Rwanda and her multisiciplinary research includes te

Attila Ataner, who is doing his PhD in Philosophy, chats about his research on the philosophical movement known as German Idealism. He discusses his ideas with hosts Ariel Frame and Yousuf Hasan and explains in what ways the 18th and 19thcentury philosophical works are relevant and helpful in legal matters today. Attila suggests that Kant’s works on duties, for example, can help provide a basis for having legally enforceable protectionist duties when it comes to the environment. It is fascinating to see how he extrapolates environmental conservation from German Idealism. More information about Attila's work can be found at Western Academia Full video available on YouTube Recorded on June 16th, 2020.  Produced by Laura Muñoz

In this episode, hosts Monica and Nikol talk with PhD/PT candidate Nicole Guitar about her experience in a combined program. They discuss the reason Nicole pursued PT based on her research, how her work can inform her practice, and what a future as a PhD/PT can look like. We also discuss her previous work with Chickadees, how exercise affects executive function, and how we should all be parking at the end of the parking lot to get groceries. What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's Let's make our day harder YouTube video To contact Nicole, you can reach her at nguitar@uwo.ca or @nicoleandann on twitter  Full video available on YouTube Recorded on June 11th, 2020. This episode was produced by Gregory Robinson  

Xiaochen Zhang is a Masters student in geology and planetary science. Xiaochen tells Nick Handfield-Jones and Ariel Frame about her research on artificial lunar regolith and why it is important to ensure it is as similar to true material from the Moon if we want to conduct experiments on Earth, which will facilitate humans inhabiting the Moon in the future. For more about Xiaochen, check out her personal YouTube channel Xiaochen to the Moon or follow her on Twitter @xchanggg and Instagram @xiaochentothemoon.  Full video available on YouTube Recorded on June 9, 2020. This episode was produced by Ariel Frame and edited by Gavin Tolometti

What's new in space this month?  What's the deal with SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour spacecraft I've been hearing so much about? Is there a way for rover spacecraft on Mars to detect rocks of interest without the help of a human? Should I be worried about artificial intelligence taking over the Earth? If any of these questions have crossed your mind lately (or not), join hosts Gavin Tolometti and Nikol Posnov as they interview Alexis Pascual about his novel Space-Engineering PhD research and his opinions on popular space news.  If you want to learn more about Alexis's research and the projects he has been and currently involved in, check out these sites: - https://cpsx.uwo.ca/canmoon/index.html - https://space.uwo.ca/research/projects/index.html Recorded on June 2, 2020.  This episode was produced by Gavin Tolometti