Grad News Forum

Award-winning playwright Katori Hall will deliver the keynote address on January 21 at Dartmouth’s 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. The celebration at Dartmouth dates back to the 1970s.

“I am not a politician. I am a playwright,” says Hall in a recent episode of American Voices on PBS. “I do not feign thinking that I can create policy that will change the world. But I can create stories that can move people, hopefully move people to action, but mostly move people to just having a more open heart, which I think is the first step towards action.”

This year’s theme is “The Art of Non-Conformity: Making the World Better.” The celebration features a slate of events from January 17 to February 1.

For full article see the Dartmouth Now.

Photo by Xanthe Elbrick

This collection is the latest addition to Ottawa’s store of short animated works. Highlights include Carlo Vogele’s tragicomic Una Furtiva Lagrima, a fish’s musical journey from net to frying pan; the hilarious crowd-favorite I Am Tom Moody, which takes the audience into the subconscious mind of a stifled musician trying to sing; and Hisko Hulsing’s stunning grand-prize winner Junkyard, in which a man recalls a childhood friendship after he is robbed by a junkie.

About The Ottawa International Animation Festival: The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is a division of the Canadian Film Institute, which was incorporated in 1935 and is the second oldest film institute in the world. The aim of OIAF is to foster the development and growth of animation talent found in Canada. Our animators and animation companies are among the most creative and successful in the world. OIAF exists to help them achieve both artistic excellence and commercial success.

For more information see the Hop website.

Graduate Students and Community:

As the term winds to a close, and winter begins to set in, I wanted to take a minute to address the graduate community. I’ve been settling in to my new position here at Graduate Studies, and I’m enjoying all of the opportunities to interact with and on behalf of our students and programs. To see the work that our students are doing, across the wide spectrum that is Graduate Arts and Sciences, is nothing but inspiring.

Here in the Graduate Office, we are working hard to develop new ways to support and strengthen our community. As the Dartmouth faculty expands, and the Geisel School follows suit, we know that there will be more opportunities for graduate students on campus. More faculty will create opportunities for new graduate research, and we will find ways to leverage those opportunities to improve our support networks for research and funding. We are also working to create a graduate student space on campus, to help attach the wonderful sense of community we have built to a physical location we can call our own. I am excited about the future of Graduate Studies, and our students should be as well.

On a personal note, I encourage everyone to get outside and enjoy the winter here in Hanover. As an undergraduate, I was a member of the Dartmouth Outing Club. We used to snowshoe up Gile Mountain, downhill and cross-country ski at the college facilities, and ice skate out on Occom Pond. Dartmouth provides lots of opportunities to take advantage of the endless recreational activities in the Hanover area. And though it might be cold, Hanover tends to be pretty sunny all winter long. So grab a good jacket and enjoy the sun and the snow!

We hope you can join us next week for Cupcake Wars – I’m looking forward to judging the event. For more information, and to stay up to date on all the goings-on at Graduate Studies, please visit the Graduate Studies website and connect with us through our Facebook page.

I hope you all enjoy the remainder of fall term, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,

F. Jon Kull, Dean of Graduate Studies

On November 2^nd members of the Graduate Student Council Executive Board are heading down to the University of Pennsylvania for the tenth annual Ivy Summit. There they will be interacting with student leaders from the Ivy League, hoping to learn and teach: to expand the skill sets of student governance at Dartmouth for the benefit of all.

The Ivy Summit is an annual event that brings together graduate and professional programs from the Ivy schools and MIT to discuss the issues of graduate life. This year the focus is on building mental health resources. During the summit, each Ivy school is required to lead a workshop to educate other schools on what they have learned from student government. We will therefore be able to share skill sets.

The workshops for the event are split into two groups, five will focus on the Pan-Ivy advocacy issue-Building Mental Health Resources- and five will focus on student government best practices. Dartmouth, under the leadership of GSC President Julia Bradley-Cook, is focusing on “Enhancing Graduate Student Participation and Cultivating Agency around Student Initiative and Activities”. With this we are presenting a workshop on graduate student participation and engagement around student initiatives contributing to the dialogue on best practice for governance. 

Speaking on the benefits of the conference Bradley-Cook said “In recent years, the GSC has learned a lot from this meeting, for instance it gave us ideas about how to diversify events in order to appeal to broader student group, and lead to the creation of the Academic Chair, which is responsible for awarding the conference travel grants.” Going to U-Penn will allow the Dartmouth graduate community to share information and learn from others, maximizing what we can all get out of our experiences here.

Reflecting on past experiences former GSC President Wesley Whitaker said: “I have been to two summits and returned from each with new perspectives on graduate education as well as new ideas for Dartmouth’s GSC… I think some of the ideas that the GSC implemented last year—for instance, small-scale social events focused on community building—came out of the Princeton Meeting.” Whitaker found that this experience really helped him with his position as President, giving him the knowledge necessary to carry out his duties effectively.

During our time at U-Penn we will also have the opportunity to spend a good amount of time with other graduate students, and will have the chance to talk at length about what they do to make their campuses more inviting for their communities. From past experiences of exec members we feel that we can learn a lot here.

This year the Graduate Studies Office will be giving you up-to-the-minute coverage of the event, letting you know what the GSC is doing and how we are helping improve grad studies at Dartmouth. Follow our twitter and facebook feeds for up to see how we’re doing. For more information about the Ivy Summit, please visit the official site. We hope you keep tuned in!

The Baker Bell Tower will be green next weekend for Homecoming 2012, October 26 through 28.

Some of Dartmouth’s most cherished traditions—the parade, bonfire, and football game—as well as a slate of intellectual and cultural activities, will take place in Hanover.

Dartmouth Night festivities will include the lighting of the bonfire on October 26. (photo by Joseph Mehling ’69)

“Homecoming weekend is an important touchstone for many alumni,” says Vice President for Alumni Relations Martha Beattie ’76. “We hope to have a huge turnout for the wide range of programming offered.”

On October 26, Dartmouth Night festivities will begin with the annual parade, which travels along Lebanon and Main streets before circling the Green. Following the parade, President Carol L. Folt, Beattie, and Director of Athletics Harry Sheehywill be among the speakers addressing Dartmouth students and alumni from the steps of Dartmouth Hall. Football captain Patrick Lahey ’12 and field hockey captain Maya Herm ’13 will also speak.

Article courtesy of Dartmouth Now. Continue reading here. And be sure to join in the graduate events this weekend! For more information, head over the the Graduate Student Council’s website. 

Graduate Veterans Rob Sedgley (L) and Michael Rodriquez (R) with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, from New Hampshire.

In the middle of July, three members of the Dartmouth Graduate Veterans Association traveled to Washington D.C., to attend the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s (USGLC) “Impact 2012 Symposium.” As the only student representatives from the Ivy League, this small contingent of graduate veterans had the chance to interact with powerful players from government and politics, the national news media, and national non-profit groups.

The USGLC advocates for a consistent expansion of the U.S. diplomacy toolbox. At the core of its mission are the three D’s; diplomacy, development, and defense.  Preaching the importance of “Smart Power,” the group recognizes that America’s best tools to build a safe world are strengthening its humanitarian commitment and building economic prosperity in developing nations.

Veterans have an important position in the USGLC’s mission. As former soldiers, they have a intricate understanding of the ramifications of state instability, as well as a first-hand knowledge of the power of diplomacy and “smart power.” Veterans Ron Bucca, Mike Rodriguez, and Rob Sedgely traveled to the conference in hopes of learning more about the state of international affairs – they came away realizing they had a lot to give to the effort.

 “Veterans are credible messengers,” said Brendan Flynn a Coast Guard Academy Graduate and Military Outreach Coordinator for the USGLC , during the Vets for Smart Power evening dinner. The USGLC values veterans, who know first-hand about the importance of maintaining a strong military, and are also aware that the military cannot face alone the problems abroad. 

On the main day of the conference, the veterans attended a breakfast presentation on microfinance institutions and the crucial role they play in the movement and accessing of capital in developing regions. After breakfast, the group went to the State Department and listened to Tom Nides, Deputy Secretary of State speak on the importance of the foreign aid budget. Nides explained the importance of reaching out for positive change, saying, “This [foreign aid] is the best money that can spent for our national security.” Afterwards, they split up to attend different luncheons, on issues ranging from enhancing public-private partnerships to global commerce and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. When the luncheons were over, the vets took the floor of the exposition, where NGOs and government organizations displayed their newest diplomatic technology; from medical devices to microfinance projects, the exposition highlighted the ever-expanding toolbox of American diplomacy.

After the exposition, the veterans attended a series of talks by diplomatic leaders – speakers like NPR’s Cokie Roberts, Senator John Kerry, and Ed Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe, the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic National Committees, respectively. These speakers, among others, emphasized the need for the expansion of the foreign affairs budget, and cited the huge misconceptions among the American public about how much we spend on development missions (the actual foreign affairs budget typically hovers around 1% of all federal spending). Diplomacy and development, they argued, leads to a defensible America, and an American that is fulfilling its role as a world leader.

Bucca, Rodriguez and Sedgley also had the opportunity to meet with Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, as well as Congressman Charlie Bass, who represents New Hampshire’s second district (which includes Hanover). The conversation focused on the importance of the foreign aid budget and the role of defense, development, and diplomacy in national security. All of the congressman and senators were receptive to the message, and appreciative of the service and achievement of Dartmouth’s Veterans. 

On the day after the conference, two of the veterans traveled to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to visit with injured soldiers and to spread the word about Dartmouth’s unique relationship with veterans. “It’s a good place to go to get some perspective on life,” said Bucca, who himself served for ten years with the Army. “It’s inspiring to see how positive they’re and forward looking. ”

The GVA attended the Impact 2012 Symposium on their own initiative – they are an apolitical group, but support activism and involvement in national affairs. The GVA aims to unite, mobilize, advocate, and help network for Veterans in the graduate studies programs at Dartmouth. This November, they will be hosting a dinner to raise awareness about veteran issues. For more information on the GVA and for more pictures from the conference, check out their website here.

by Zach Williams 

The Graduate Forum will be running a series of articles profiling the new Graduate Student Council. The GSC elections were held back on May 1^st. As the new board members get underway in their positions, we’d like to take an opportunity to congratulate them on their elections and to highlight their hopes for the year ahead. We’re delighted to introduce Gilbert Rahme as the new joint Social Chair of the Graduate Student Council alongside Lisa Jackson.

Gilbert is a third year PhD student studying genetics. Originally from Lebanon (he asked me to clarify – the country, not the town in the Upper Valley!), Gilbert was born in the town of Besharri, which was also the birthplace of famed poet and artist Khalil Gibran (perhaps most famous for his collection of prose published as “The Prophet”). Gilbert moved from there to Beirut, a city, he explained, that was ranked the party capital of the world. It appears that he has been adequately prepared for being the social chair of the GSC.

Gilbert came to the US after completing a master’s degree in Lebanon. He was attracted to Dartmouth because it presented more opportunities. When he looked into the college, he realized that he would have more research opportunities available to him than he would have had in Lebanon. This has enabled him to contribute the most to his field of study: Cancer research.

Cancer has personally affected Gilberts family, which enticed him to study the subject more. Now he’s focusing his research on brain tumours and their characteristics, such as how they spread across the organ. The data collection process is going well, he tells me, thoroughly enjoys working with his thesis advisor- Dr. Mark Israel.

Outside of his studies and organizing social events, Gilbert enjoys playing classic and electric guitar and tries to make the most of the outdoor opportunities that the New Hampshire and New England region has to offer. He’s heavily involved the Dartmouth Graduate Outing Club in which he is a hike leader and the secretary of the group. He is excited about further contributing to the experience of students at Dartmouth with his position as social chair. Good luck Gilbert!

Article and photo by Dan Durcan

Brian Pogue (left) and Wesley Whitaker (right)

On Wednesday August 15, 2012, a new faculty member will begin serving as Dartmouth’s Dean of Graduate Studies. The editors of The Graduate Forum would like to take a moment to welcome the new Dean, and also to thank outgoing Dean Brian Pogue  for his four years of service.

“The Deanship at Dartmouth has been an incredibly high honor,” says Brian Pogue. “Now, looking back on the past four years, I know that we have made the right decisions on a number of key issues and have achieved a few important initiatives for the campus. I’ve taken an opportunistic approach to affecting change at Dartmouth in areas that would be receptive to it, and in the end I am happy with that.”

Originally from Ontario, Brian Pogue received his Honors Bachelors and Masters degrees in Physics from York University in Toronto, and was then accepted as a PhD candidate in Medical/Nuclear Physics at McMaster University in Hamilton. While at McMaster, Brian researched the use of optical spectroscopy—a method for examining the properties of a physical object by measuring how it emits and interacts with light—to image breast cancer under the guidance of his doctoral advisor, Michael Patterson, Head of Medical Physics at the regional Cancer Center. To test the optical machines developed in the Patterson lab, Brian examined both the tissue of mice and the properties of “tissue phantoms”— mimicking the physical properties of living tissue and cancerous tumors. In his doctoral dissertation, Frequency-Domain Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging of Tissue and Tissue-Simulating Media, Brian developed a system for imaging living tissue using high-speed optical measurements, to quantify the molecular features of tissues and cancer tumors.

“In a lot of ways, I still feel like a graduate student. I don’t think that I ever really grew up,” says Brian. “As a Director of Dartmouth’s Optics in Medicine Lab, I work with graduate students on a daily basis, and am conducting research on medical optics with professionals at Dartmouth and a number of other research institutions. I agreed to serve as Dean of Graduate Education because I genuinely care about graduate students and believe that graduate research is an integral part of our academic community. I think that the research being conducted by Dartmouth’s graduate students allows the school to advance the creation of new knowledge and leads to innovations in techniques and technologies.  This is the key part of what makes Dartmouth a world-class educational institution.”

Inspired to teach by his parents—Brian’s father was a professor and his mother a teacher—Brian Pogue led an active lifestyle and focused on his research throughout his doctoral career. In fact, it was during his graduate studies that Brian first played team sports.

“At McMaster, I was captain of the department baseball team for a year. I played outfield as a graduate student and had a great time serving as the team’s captain. I think in a lot of ways the exercise and socialization that playing baseball provided helped keep me sane while I did my laboratory studies,” says Brian. “Our team wasn’t particularly good—as long as you could catch a ball, you were in—but it was a great group of people, and we all had a lot of fun. I was responsible for things like collecting equipment and organizing social events.  As a graduate student, you need to have a plan to keep yourself socially involved, and for me, baseball was one of the ways that I stayed active and met new people.”

During his tenure as Dean, he led a number of projects which strengthened the cohesion of Dartmouth’s graduate student body, improved graduate student life, and increased the academic profile of Dartmouth Arts & Science Graduate Programs. A chair of the Graduate Education for the Future Working Group, Dean Pogue compared Dartmouth against a number of its peer institutions—like Yale, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Chicago, and Princeton—reviewed each of Dartmouth’s doctoral and masters programs, and authored a vision statement for Graduate Education at Dartmouth with the 27 members of the working group. As part of the review effort, Dean Pogue invited a consortium of Dean’s and former Dean’s from peer institutions to review the school’s graduate programs. The work done by the Working Group was compiled into a document, and submitted as part of the Dartmouth-wide Strategic Planning process, led by interim president Carol Folt, and the Provosts Office, for review. To ensure that the voices of students from all of Dartmouth’s graduate programs were included in the final version of this document, Dean Pogue hosted 2011’s Strategic Planning Open Forum with the Graduate Student Council (GSC).

“For me, Dartmouth Strategic Planning has been an exciting challenge. It’s has been a long time since Dartmouth has compared itself to its peer institutions, I think that Carol Folt has done an outstanding job managing the institution-wide project,” said Dean Pogue. “The nature of academia makes strategic planning difficult for virtually every educational institution, and I really admire the manner in which the Provost’s Office has choreographed the effort. From the feedback solicited through the campus-wide committee work that Carol has orchestrated, Dartmouth’s administration has decided to place a greater emphasis on academics at the school. In the coming years, this will manifest itself in new faculty hires and a modest growth in graduate research.”

In addition to his commitment to Dartmouth Strategic Planning, Dean Pogue has improved the graduate student experience at Dartmouth through increasing stipends, advocating for a permanent graduate student social space, creating the PhD/MBA program with Tuck, and by leading a campaign to improve the web visibility of the school’s graduate programs. With the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the members of the Graduate Studies Office, Brian has strengthened the connections between current graduate students and alumni from each of its Arts & Sciences Graduate Programs.

“Graduate student life has always been an important issue for me. I think this is because I place so much value on the role of personnel commitment and education in people,” says Brian. “At McMaster, I remember really growing as an individual even outside of my research. One year, I read Kurt Vonnegut’s entire catalogue—from his first book, Player Piano, and ending with his final work, Hocus Pocus. Later, I also read the catalogs of my favorite Canadian authors, Robertson Davies and Margaret Laurence. This had nothing to do with my research, but I was enamored with understanding people who are driven in long term creative work, and to see how their work evolves over time.”

Over the past four years, Brian has also “re branded” Dartmouth’s research-based Graduate Programs. Two years ago, Dean Pogue approved a new Dartmouth Graduate Studies shield, which was created through an online design contest, coordinated by members of the GSC’s Executive Board. Since the launch of the new shield, Brian commissioned the design of a mobile application for Dartmouth’s graduate programs available for use on iPhone or Google Android phones.  He oversaw the creation of The Graduate Forum, and increased the use of social media streams including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest by the Graduate Studies Office. The use of these media channels has not only improved communication between current graduate students, but has also facilitated electronic conversations between the school’s graduate community and other pan-Dartmouth entities. “I think these changes will have the most important long-term impact of anything that I have been involved with, on our Graduate Studies programs at Dartmouth,” said Pogue.

“While a number of important changes are currently happening here at Dartmouth, the elements that define the school’s identity will never change. These elements are Dartmouth’s rural Upper Valley location, and its relatively small size in the world of research institutions. These factors dictate the types of people that are drawn to the school, and always will.  I believe that it is the research conducted by these people that make Dartmouth a world-class educational institution,” explains Pogue. “Though I think Dartmouth will be substantially similar in 20 years, a higher metric for academic success will be in place.  Moderate increases in the size and strength of the school’s graduate programs will likely mirror the ongoing growth in research-active faculty on this campus.  This is the pathway needed to reinforce the world class status of this institution. I hope that I will live to see the day that the institution is named a University, which would simply recognize the institution for what it already is.  This is easily done, and can be done while retaining all its lovable characteristics which make it unique in the world of higher education.”

by Wesley Whitaker

The Graduate Forum will be running a series of articles profiling the new Graduate Student Council. The GSC elections were held back on May 1^st. As the new board members get underway in their positions, we’d like to take an opportunity to congratulate them on their elections and to highlight their hopes for the year ahead. Next up – new Academic Chair Rich Lopez.

Graduates students are used to pursuing their academics with a high level of specificity. This hyper-focus, which tends to foster an undeniable enthusiasm and excitement, can be captured by one famous, endearing moniker – the nerd.

“I’m a complete nerd at heart,” claims Rich Lopez, “and I think my enthusiasm stems from not being willing to draw a hard line between academic and social spheres of life.” It’s the perfect attitude for the new Academic Chair of the Graduate Student Council.

Rich grew up in New Jersey, and stayed in his home state for college. He attended Princeton University, graduating in 2009 with a degree in Psychology. After completing his bachelor’s, Rich took the long trip from Jersey to New York City, to work as a research assistant at Columbia University. The lab he worked in explored the regulation of human emotions in both healthy and clinical populations.

Rich started in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth in the fall of 2011. He notes a well-understood truth about Dartmouth’s PhD programs, saying, “I decided to come to Dartmouth because it offers the resources and opportunities of a world-class university while still maintaining a small, intimate feel.”

Rich is a rising second year PhD candidate, and he’s working with Dr. Todd Heatherton. He’s specializing in cognitive neuroscience, focusing on human appetitive behavior, like cue reactivity and self-regulation. Over the past year, Rich ran a study that, in his words, “sought to establish relationships between brain activity and eating behaviors in everyday life.”

At the GSC elections back in May, Rich was elected to the position of Academic Chair in a tight and passionate runoff. I was in attendance for those elections – it was easy to see the enthusiasm and excitement Rich would bring to the position as he walked back and forth on stage.  In his campaign speech, Rich emphasized the importance of increasing the visibility of Dartmouth’s graduate programs and students and the research they’re doing. He sees his election as a means to work towards the continuation and expansion of graduate academic events on campus.

“This coming year, I see both Nerd Nite and GradTalks continuing, since I’d like to establish an expectation that these events are “staple” events that provide opportunities for grad students to share exciting research with each other (in the case of Nerd Nite), and with the wider public (via GradTalks). In addition to the expectation, I hope to foster a sense of ownership among grad students so that in the future the grad student coordinators of the events can change their form and function to best serve the graduate community and beyond.”

By facilitating events that blur the line between the social and the academic, Rich is catering to those who understand that, as graduate students, the two are truly inseparable. At this point in an academic career, our studies are influencing so much of what we do outside of the classroom, and it makes sense to find unique and fun ways to explore those connections. The Graduate Forum congratulates Rich on his election, and wishes the best for all of the incoming GSC executive board members.

The Graduate Forum will be running a series of articles profiling the new Graduate Student Council. The GSC elections were held back on May 1^st. As the new board members get underway in their positions, we’d like to take an opportunity to congratulate them on their elections and to highlight their hopes for the year ahead. The second article in the series features the new Vice President of the GSC, Justin Richardson.

Justin is a first year Earth Sciences PhD student with an interest in interdisciplinary studies. Justin’s research focuses on soils—specifically, the transport of toxic metals (primarily mercury and lead) upland in forest soils. This research topic has followed Justin since his undergraduate degree in Soil Science at the University of California, Riverside.

Justin explained the importance of monitoring soils, saying, “soil tells a story of landscape history, and the interactions between living and non-living things.” Studying soil is a way of understanding levels of toxicity in the environment and learning to maintain ecosystems that are crucial to the sustainability of life. One might, for instance, study how logging affects the nutrient and mineral levels in the soil, or the concentration of mercury and lead in human water sources.

Prior to being elected Vice President, he served as a department representative for Earth Sciences in the GSC. Now that he’s working with the GSC in a higher capacity, Justin has a number of new aims. First, he’d like to promote interdisciplinary gatherings of the different programs in Graduate Studies. He believes this will bring students together and avoid the social bubbles that tend to form at research institutions. Second, he’d like to bring more sustainable events to the graduate community, such as films with talks or sustainable dinners, and he hopes to highlight the many green options on and off campus. Finally, he intends to make Dartmouth a place for unrestrained graduate studies, making sure that students have every opportunity to present their research and access the resources that can help them make the very most of their time here.

Outside of his studies, Justin enjoys outdoor pursuits, including fishing and hiking. His favorite trails are in the White Mountain National Forest and Franconia Notch. Ever the scientist, he uses these trips to learn about indigenous plant and fish species and, of course, the soils of the region. He even carries a shovel, dubbed “Rusty,” so he can dig soil pits whenever curiosity strikes.

Article by Dan Durcan

Photo curtsey of Justin Richardson