GradCast

453 | Synchronize and Groove: a Three Part Story

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Carly Charron speak with Riya Sidhu, a PhD candidate in psychology specializing in music cognition. Riya explains the three different projects she's working on to evaluate the factors that influence synchronizing in various contexts, such as during walking or in response to music. These factors include empathy, music training, and dance training and she focuses on talking about groove behaviour. Riya also describes her experience setting up a synchronization study using motion capture technology at the University of Oslo. 

Recorded on March 19, 2024

Produced by Jordan VanderBurgt

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

452 | Infinity Error 404: Density Not Found

This week, GradCast hosts Meghan Voll and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Farshid Soltani, a PhD candidate in physics studying all about the nature of black holes. If you were ever curious about the science of black holes, the value of both classical and quantum physics, or wanted to know about the mysterious "white hole", tune in to this week's episode!

Recorded on March 12, 2024

Produced by Suzy Lee

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

451 | Hear ye, hear ye!

This week, Scott Walters and Meghan Voll interview one of our own producers, Maria Khan. Maria shares about her master's program in clinical science and audiology. She tells GradCast what a degree in audiology looks like and what an audiologist actually does. Maria is involved with other research activities at Sick Kids, and discusses her research with infant screening tests for hearing, and more. 

Check out Maria's other producing efforts, the Hear Here podcast at Sick Kids at this link.

Recorded on March 5, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

 

450 | Not Boron at All: Fundamental Chemistry and Sustainability

This week, hosts Anum Anjum and Anthony Cruz join Gabriel Jobin, a PhD student with the Drover Research Group working with fundamental chemical reactions to design new and efficient catalysts. We dive into how Gabriel’s research relates to sustainability, life outside of the lab and future directions of addressing global challenges with chemistry. Tune in for Al-uminating chemistry puns!

Recorded on February 27, 2024

Produced by Maria Khan

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

449 | A Hunter's Guide to Occupational Therapy

This week, hosts Carly Charron and Ryan Baxter speak with Hunter Pharazyn, an occupational therapy student. They discuss the goals of occupational therapy and the unique program offered here at Western. Hunter also describes what led him to this area of work, and what he hopes to pursue in the future. 

Recorded on February 20, 2024

Produced by Jordan VanderBurgt

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

448 | Bouncing Back with Mindfulness in Mind

This week, GradCast hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Apurva Desai are joined by two guests: Varsha Vasudevan and Mani Ahluwalia, both studying topics in Health Promotion. We chat about holistic health, how graduate students experience resilience, and what mindfulness can do for many aspects of success in university. 

Recorded on February 13, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

#GraduatedLife 5 | Can I print this? with MA in Library and Information Sciences Matt Skidmore

For this special #GraduatedLife episode, Meghan Voll and Garth Casbourn are joined by MLIS alumnus Matt Skidmore. Matt tells how his grad degree at Western helped him get his current job as a librarian in Mississauga, and how the things he learned during the degree and on-the-job experience prepared him for what he does now. 

Recorded on February 8, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

#JarringGradLife: Cats vs Dogs, Time Travel, and Extracurricular Extraordinaire

Today's episode is a merger of two of our beloved mini-series #JarringQuestions and #GradLife. Join co-hosts Meghan Voll, Mark Ambrogio, and Suzy Lee in this mashup as they talk all about extracurriculars, places (and time periods) they'd love to travel to, and the eternal debate: cats or dogs?

Recorded on February 6, 2024

Produced by Suzy Lee

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

#JarringQuestions4: Make Today Great, Drunken Cucumbers, and Morning Moods

Another installment of #JarringQuestions, where you get to learn more about three of our GradCast members as we answer an interesting range of questions pulled from a jar (paper ruffling noises included). This week, Carly Charron, Anthony Cruz, and Jordan VanderBurgt have some hot takes on morning vs. night people, appetizers vs. desserts, people who talk on speaker phone in public, and so much more. 

Recorded on January 23, 2024

Produced by Jordan VanderBurgt

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

447 | Heritage of Hesed: The Hebrew Book of Ruth in Art, Plays, and Poetry

This week, join hosts Mark Ambrogio and Meghan Voll as they interview Luigi De Angelis Soriano about his recent dissertation exploring the Hebrew book of Ruth and the concept of Hesed, "a Hebrew term that is often translated as loving kindness and connotes loyalty, love, and extraordinary commitment", in the context of Spanish plays, European art, and Latin American poetry. We hear about the interesting story of Ruth, its importance to both Hebrew and Christian traditions, and how it has influenced artistic expression in various forms. 

Recorded on January 23, 2024

Produced by Scott Walters

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

This episode features the first Sonnet of Ruth by Gabriela Mistral:
Poetry recitation in the original Spanish is read by Luigi De Angelis Soriano
The recitation of the English translation is read by Scott Walters