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By Sam O, on March 5th, 2010
I just read an interesting article on Globe campus about the lackluster performance of Canada in educating and graduating PhDs:
“Canada’s graduation rate of doctoral students is strikingly low compared with its performance on other measures of education completion (high school, college, and university) and compared with its peers,” the report states.
And if that wasn’t enough to drive you to deep depression, here’s more from the article:
“There’s also less pay and employment incentive for Canadian students to pursue doctoral education … Compared to firms in the U.S., Canadian firms across most industries hire fewer Ph.D. graduates and pay them less.”
Do not despair PhD candidates across the country, we shall overcome!
You can read the rest of the article here.
By MBPGSU, on January 27th, 2010
Jorge Cham, the author of Piled higher and Deeper (PhD) comics, is coming to speak!
His comics are hilarious and continually reflect grad school life – if you haven’t read them, then you’ve been missing out: phdcomics.com.
And I’ve heard he gives a great talk as well, so get your ticket to check it out!
He’ll be here on Monday March 8 at 3pm (at MacLeod auditorium, Med Science Building)
Tickets are limited so get them in advance – bring your $10 to either Megan in mars (4-601H) or Vanessa in PMH (10-126), or bring it to seminar and get your ticket there.
He’s also going to be available during the day, so if you’re interested in showing him around the lab/hospital, and maybe getting to be IN one of his comics, then email the organizers: phdcomics.toronto@gmail.com.
Thanks all!
Megan
By Sam O, on January 23rd, 2010
 … that was a title of recent article on the Toronto Star.
Although, the article mainly addressed the growing fraud trends in standardized entry tests to professional schools (GMAT, MCAT, LSAT, GRE and so on…), I would love to see a spouse (boyfriend or girlfriend) attempt to give a public lecture or undertake a Master or PhD defense wearing a wig, mustache or lipstick (read the third paragraph of the article and you’ll know understand what I’m talking about).
By the way, I do not agree with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ruling people complaining that requiring digital thumbprints is an invasion of privacy; yes, obtaining fingerprints it’s synonymous of criminal activity, but the goal here is to maintain the integrity of these standardized and deter cheaters.
Palm Scanning for Grad Students Raises Fear [The Toronto Star]
By FirasM, on January 10th, 2010
I’ll be honest: I hate the term BLOG.
The word BLOG arose from a mashup of the words WEB and LOG ?
It’s ancient, unelegant, sounds cacophonous, and looks just downright ugly.
With that being said…
——————————————————-
My name is Firas Moosvi and I’m an MBP Blogger for 2010 ! (P.S. Happy New Year)…
What will I be writing about? Well, I’m a big technology geek and love to talk about ways of enhancing your productivity using technology. One could argue that people like me – those that look too hard at ways of becoming productive – will likely never achieve that goal. And to those I say: “You’re probably right.”
My first feature post will be entitled: ‘Paper Lab Notebooks: The end of an era.’
Sound boring? Don’t worry, I’ll be doing something cool after my posts that should keep you coming back for more, month after month. This feature will be called: “Fails of the Month”…. Here’s a sneak peek:
Fail of the month:
This is the apparatus that a collaborator and I designed and built a few weeks ago. It is the central component to my project and my timely graduation (what does that even mean around here?) hinges upon its’ success:
Well this is what my supervisor had to say about it:
Wow.
See you in a couple of weeks!!
F.
By Sam O, on January 9th, 2010
Although I am not sure what the attendance expectations were, Saturday’s Medical Biophysics Open House must be considered an all around success. Hundreds of undergraduate students descended onto Princess Margaret Hospital, on a cold winter morning (-15C, FYI!), to attend the annual Medical Biophysics Open House and learn more about our program.
Students from all the major universities in Ontario attended the event, all eager to meet faculty, talk to students and tour the laboratory facilities. In attendance, there were students with a variety of backgrounds: from molecular and cell biology, physiology, biochemistry, chemistry to physics, engineering, mathematics and beyond. The morning started with the majority of the undergrads sifting through the different posters and talking to the many graduate students and supervisors available at hand.
While 80% of the posters were located in the main hall, there were a few posters relegated in a moderately conspicuous room representing the physics stream, specifically Sunnybrook hospital projects . And that’s where I was. Honestly, I would have preferred to be in the middle of the action and high student traffic area, but I made the most of it. But despite the less than perfect strategic position, I was able to talk with many students that courageously ventured in the dungeon room.
There you would have seen me gesturing and waving my hands, while explaining the wonders of cardiac MRI, the amazing things we are doing in the Wright group and in the MBP program in general. I was able to interact with undergrad students looking for summer positions, recent grads looking for Masters or PhD positions, and everyone seemed extremely receptive and impressed (by the way it’s extremely easy to wow a second year student!)
But the most endearing aspect of this whole experience, was looking into those inquiring eyes and seeing myself from a few years ago. I remember being at a crossroad of my life trying to decide whether to stick with my ‘right-out-of-school’ engineering job or apply to grad school. Not really knowing which school to select or what lab to apply to. Just like that younger Samuel, many students today were driven by an inner passion for more learning and consciously steered towards grad school. But like an explorer faced with the decision of taking the right or the left trail, personal passion sometimes leads you to the unknown, which is filled with anxiety. Hopefully, today I was able to decrease some of that anxiety and paint a brighter picture of graduate school, a little less daunting and present to those students the great aspects of our interdisciplinary program.
Overall, it was an extremely great experience. I could go on and talk about the socially-awkward-feet-staring-probably-disconnected-from-the-real-life students, or about the food, or the keynote address by Peter Burns, but I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the yapping….(and no, the above-mentioned students are not included in these pictures….)
(By the way I took the pictures with iPhone using the pretty cool panoramic app “Pano”, some of the stitching is not perfect but whatever… enjoy)
[caption id="attachment_776" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="main hall"]  [/caption]
[caption id="attachment_777" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption=""the Sunnybrook room""]  [/caption]
[caption id="attachment_778" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Dr. Burns"]  [/caption]
more pictures below…..
Continue reading …
By MBPGSU, on January 9th, 2010
Title: MBP New Year Pub Night
Location: Molly Bloom’s @ 191 College Street
Description: Title: MBP New Year Pub Night
Where: Molly Bloom’s @ 191 College Street
When: Wednesday January 13, 2010, 5:30 to 9:30pm
Tickets: $5 – includes drink and appetizers.
Purchase from Vanessa DiPalma (PMH) – vdipalma@gmail.com
Start Time: 17:30
Date: 2010-01-13
End Time: 21:30
By Sam O, on January 2nd, 2010
… and indeed it will be!
MBP website has in store lots of new cool things and surprises for our readers this year. Although, the website official launch is not until January 15 2010, we couldn’t wait to share with you guys our excitement. For starters we have redesigned the website to support our increasingly dynamic content. We’ve also recruited a squad of young and talented bloggers that will entertain us throughout the year, you can find more about them here: http://mbpgsu.ca/blogger-index/.
Don’t forget to follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/mbpgsu_uoft and leave comments to let us know what you think about the website or whatever crosses your mind.
So stay tuned for more…
2010 is going to be off the charts!!
By Sam O, on December 17th, 2009
With the Winter Olympics a few weeks away there is an escalating anticipation and excitement in the air (Oh yes the holidays are approaching too).
This year, more than ever, Medical Biophysics is a full participant in the olympic festivities: our very own Melissa Hill will be a torch carrier.
Melissa is a PhD candidate in Yaffe’s group at Sunnybrook Hospital in the physics stream and she will honor the department by carrying the torch this Sunday for a whole 300 meters.
Wikipedia tells us that the torch is “Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics”. Although, we do not promote theft, we definitely like flames and what they represent and we wish Melissa a successful torch relay. Melissa has also agreed to write a post on MBPGSU.ca to talk about her experience.
You can follow her here: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/follow-torch/index.html Sunday December 20th at 9:30am
Make us proud!
By MBPGSU, on December 3rd, 2009
Title: THE ANNUAL MEDICAL BIOPHYSICS HOLIDAY WINE & CHEESE
Location: PMH 7th floor atrium
Description: Ring in the holiday season at the annual MBP Holiday Wine and Cheese!
Time: Wednesday, December 16, 5 – 10 PM
Place: PMH 7th floor atrium
Students, postdocs, and faculty are welcome to partake of free food, drinks, and raffle prizes.
Start Time: 17:00
Date: 2009-12-16
End Time: 22:00
SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFO
Continue reading …
By Sam O, on December 3rd, 2009
Do you have to present at an upcoming scientific conference? Are you just shaking at the thought of it? Do not worry, our colleagues at the graduate school of Arizona State University share their tips for giving killer presentations as a grad student in their series “Strategies for Success“.
Although, these tips are meant for graduate students, I believe that some of these tips could be beneficial for everyone, including supervisors (except the ones in our department of course!)
To Listen to the full audio click here or:
[audio:Nuts-and-Bolts-of-Presentations-Dr.-Linda-Vaughan-Nutrition.mp3]
These are in summary some of the Do’s when undertaking this endeavor:
1. Dress professionally
2. Practice, practice, practice
3. Introduce yourself to the moderator or panel members
4. Be professional
5. Don’t read your slides
6. Show enthusiasm in your work
7. Give an honest answer to critical comments
8. Do not engage in an argument during Q&A
[via iTunes "Nuts and Bolts of Presentations - Dr. Linda Vaughan, Nutrition"]
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