Bridge the gap between math and biology with Nickolas Goncharenko. This week hosts Nick Handfield-Jones and Connor Chato interview Nickolas about his intriguing research on modelling the interaction between the mosquito's immune system, malaria (Plasmodium sp.), and genetically modified bacterium (Serratio sp. AS1) that could decrease the spread of disease. We also learn about differential equations, and the behaviour of spaghetti sticking out of a tomato. Plus, Nickolas shares his personal tips to become a better scientific communicator. To learn more, email Nickolas here: ngonchar@uwo.ca.
Produced by Gregory Robinson.
On this episode, hosts Taniya Nagpal and Gavin Tolometti talk with Connor Chato about his MSc research locating AIDS using a computer code algorithm, which can help provide treatment and understand the origin of the AIDS virus in patients.
Produced by Viki Tellios
Taniya Nagpal and Joyla Furlano interview Greg Robinson, one of the GradCast Editorial Boards' newest members, and masters' student in Phys-Pharm about his current research, his and future research, and his experience so far in graduate studies at Western.
Produced by Chantal Lemire
On this week’s show, Joyla Furlano and Gregory Robinson interview Anisa Morava, a 2nd year Master’s student in the psychological stream of Kinesiology. Anisa is exploring how acute aerobic exercise and caffeine intake may improve memory in caffeine and non-caffeine consumers. Look out all… this may be the place to find your graduate survival kit! To learn more about Anisa’s research, e-mail her at amorava@uwo.ca.
Produced by Nicholas Handfield-Jones
*Abstract call-out*: If you are a graduate student at Western and are interested in submitting an abstract for this coming year’s Annual Western Research Forum, please visit https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrf/2019/
Is the damage you inflict to your head by playing a sport like football as severe as the media makes it out to be? Tune in this week to hear Justin Smith, and your hosts Ariel Frame and Gregory Robinson, dive head first into his research his work looking at executive function changes in kids before and after a season of playing football. Justin enlightens us with some new results from his Masters in Kinesiology research showing some evidence that kids can play Canadian football without risking cognitive impairment. If you'd like to know more about work like Justin's, check out the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
Produced by Ariel Frame
Roger Hudson and Gregory Robinson speak with Marie Gueguen about how to discern between conflicting ideas in science and arrive at informed conclusions in terms of describing the observable universe.
Produced by Gavin Tolometti
Chantal Lemire and Yimin Chen interview Elena Hillman from the Masters' in Public Administration program about her research on Ontario’s Social Assistance Program, Ontario Works, and discuss how different funding models for social services might impact not only the kinds of programs available to those in need, but also the employment success rate of those who utilize said services.
Produced by: Gavin Tolometti
How should one approach moral questions? Is Hume the best method? How do philosophers differ? These questions and more are the work of Chris Shirreff, a PhD student in the philosophy department. Chris enlightens Roger Hudson and Ariel Frame about his research on various methodologies in the study of ethics.
Produced by Gregory Robinson
Let's go behind the scenes of the Society or Graduate Students (SOGS) as Madison Bettle tells us about her time as former VPSS. On this week's episode, hosts Chantal Lemire and Nick Handfield-Jones explore Madison's tenure as Vice President - Student Services of SOGS. Madison tells us about the strides she made in representing Western graduate students. Specifically, she explains that including grad students in mental health programs was a great accomplishment, but that more work needs to be done. Finally, hear her tips on how grad students can take care of their mental health and what kind of discussions can be had to improve the grad school experience as a whole. If you would to get ahold of her, contact her by email. For more about SOGS, check out sogs.ca
Producers: Yimin Chen and Gavin Tolometti
Let's enter the Matrix with Ethan Jackson as he explains his work on machine learning algorithms. This week hosts Yimin Chen and Nick Handfield-Jones dive into Ethan's fascinating research on artificial intelligence and how machine learning algorithms can solve complex problems in the information age. Self-driving cars, big data, and the iPhone face recognition app; all this will be discussed, and more. Plus, listen as Ethan tells us about his new project, where he trains a computer to play Ms. Pac-Man against itself! To learn more, find Ethan here.
Produced by Gregory Robinson.
