Grad News Forum

Every term, the Graduate Studies Office organizes an event for all graduate student leaders that helps develop team and leadership skills. On March 6, graduate student leaders from various groups, including the Graduate Student Council (GSC), the Dartmouth Graduate Outing Club (DGOC), the Dartmouth Argentine Tango Society (DATS), the International Graduate Mentoring Program (IGMP), and the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE), participated in a rock-climbing event at the Green Mountain Rock Climbing Center (GMRCC) at Quechee, Vermont. The GMRCC is the tallest and largest indoor climbing gym in the area with 24 top ropes.

In the past, the Graduate Studies Office has organized several ropes courses for graduate student leaders, as well as Strengths Quest team-building activities. Both of these types of activities have helped graduate students in identifying strengths and developing group work and management skills. This is the first time that rock climbing has been offered.

During the climb, each climber was supported by a belayer, who holds the end of a rope attached to the climber and uses a belay device designed to apply friction as needed to prevent falls. The climber must trust the belayer to provide the necessary friction. However, in addition to providing support, it is the belayer’s job to allow enough slack for the climber to continue climbing. Climbing pairs learn to work together to coordinate climbing course and pace and trust each other.

Most of the graduate participants had never climbed before, so there was a lot to learn. After around two hours of climbing, most of the students were sore, but they learned a key aspect of being a leader: gaining and giving trust. Aarathi Prasad, a graduate student in computer science, commented on the event: “I was pretty terrified since I had never done rock climbing before and almost wanted to back out at the last moment. However, I am glad I went, because the event was simply so much fun, very safe, and I think I returned a little more confident about myself than earlier.”

Overall the event was fantastic, free of injury and simply awesome. Thanks again to Graduate Studies for organizing such wonderful, skill-developing events.

by Gilbert Rahme

On Thursday, February 28^th, the academic chair of the Graduate Student Council (GSC), Rich Lopez, hosted Nerd Nite, an event that provides an opportunity for graduate students to present their work to a general audience. The event was held at One Wheelock in Collis, and there were six presenters, a record for this year’s Nerd Nite events!

Rahme explaining his work on stem cells and their relationship to cancer to a very interested audience.

The presenters were:

-Kirsten Dalrymple (Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences)
-Rebecca Shapiro (Department of Computer Science)
-Kelli Hvorecny‎ (Department of Biochemistry)
-Everett Sullivan (Mathematics Department)
-Justin Foy (Department of Chemistry)
-Gilbert Rahme (Department of Genetics)

This Nerd Nite was divided into two sessions fueled with snacks, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages. Every presenter had ten minutes to present their work followed by a three-minute question and answer session.

The topics were extremely broad. Hvorecny explained a technique called X-ray crystallography used to visualize molecules like proteins and DNA. Dalrymple talked about her research on prosopometamorphopsia, a disorder of face perception in which faces appear grotesquely distorted to the perceiver. Other topics included wireless communication security, presented by Shapiro, and the study of mathematical knots and their complexities, discussed by Sullivan. Foy presented on proteins contained within each cell that function as motors. Rahme talked about stem cells that are the source of all functional cells in our bodies. He explained the relationship between stem cells and cancer development and maintenance.

Dalrymple presenting her work on prosopometamorphopsia.

All six presenters did a great job and got people very interested in their work. The audience continued to ask questions even after the event ended.

When asked about the frequency of Nerd Nite, Lopez said, “I am trying to make this event happen twice every semester. So far it has been a success, and I have had a good number of speakers.”

Follow the Dartmouth GSC on Facebook and check out the events calendar on the new GSC website to know when the GSC is hosting other similar events!

by Gilbert Rahme

photographs by Lisa Jackson

In the latest movie produced by the Graduate Studies Office, international graduate student reflect upon their studies at Dartmouth. Featuring interviews from students in five of Dartmouth’s Arts & Sciences graduate programs, the newly-released movie explores the international community in Hanover.

Directed by Tennile Sunday
Filmed & Edited by Wesley Whitaker

Computer Science graduate students Shahrzad Haddadan, Jason Reeves, Milka Doktorova, Mohammad Rastegari and Weifu Wang

The Computer Science Department held its annual research symposium  on Saturday, September 24th. The event started with a welcome speech by Brian Pogue, Dean of Graduate Studies. After the welcome speech, the department chair, Tom Cormen, presented the best TA award to graduate student, Milka Doktorova. Milka won the award for excelling as the Teaching Assistant for CS 30 (formerly CS 19), Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science, taught by her advisor, Afra Zomorodian. The keynote address was delivered by Bernard Chazelle of Princeton University, on the topic of natural algorithms.

Talks and posters by faculty and graduate students followed, on topics like security and privacy, image processing, human genome codes, smartphone applications, auctions, graphics, internet search engines, and music. The event ended with a few remarks from Prasad Jayanti, the James Frank Family Professor of Computer Science.

During the reception, the prizes for the best talk and poster were awarded to graduate students Milka Doktorova and Weifu Wang, respectively. The runner up position for best talk was awarded to graduate student Jason Reeves and, for best poster, it was shared between graduate students Mohammad Rastegari and Shahrzad Haddadan. The award ceremony was followed by an exhibition of research objects, presented by all the different research groups in the Computer Science department.

The event was organized by computer science graduate students Ashok Chandrashekhar, Milka Doktorova and Andrew Lyons.

More photos of the event can be found here.

by Aarathi Prasad

The Department of Computer Science will present its annual symposium to showcase faculty and student research this Saturday, September 24^th, starting at 8:30 a.m. in Steele and Fairchild halls.

The event is being organized by computer science graduate students Ashok Chandrashekar, Milka Doktorova, and Andrew Lyons, and Bernard Chazelle of Princeton University will deliver the keynote address at 9:10 a.m. on the topic of natural algorithms.

Read the full article on Dartmouth Now.