Author: Amel Sassi
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ComSciCon publishes 2020 annual report
Originally Published January 20, 2021After a tumultuous year in which our organization faced enormous challenges together with the rest of our global community — not least of which being the pandemic and an incomplete reckoning with systemic racism and injustice — ComSciCon published today its annual report for 2020. The report covers our transition, for the first…
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The American Southwest: A gold mine of biodiversity plagued by the Anthropocene
Originally Published January 7, 2021by Nargol Ghazian (ComSciCon-GTA 2020) Before my first visit to the region, most of how I imagined the American Southwest derived from classic western movies I watched with my grandfather as a child or, most recently, HBO’s dystopian-series Westworld. But upon arriving in the region, I quickly realised it is much…
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Leaving the Bat Cave
Originally Published January 5, 2021by Lucas Greville (ComSciCon-GTA 2020) As I sit in my living room, I search for the motivation to finish writing my doctoral thesis. Finishing graduate school should be an exciting time, but in the midst of a pandemic, away from my friends and colleagues, away from my research, I find it anything…
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So, what do you really do? A Grad Student’s Guide to Effective Science Communication
Originally Published December 21, 2020 by Daniela Capello (ComSciCon-GTA 2020) It’s that time of year again. You and your loved ones gather around the table for a holiday meal and you know it’s coming. You’ve prepared your answers for questions like “so, anyone special you want to tell us about?” and “how many more years…
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What You Need to Know about Graduate School – A Letter from Me to You
Originally Published December 9, 2020 by Emerita Mendoza Rengifo (ComSciCon-GTA 2020) Dear Future Graduate Student, You are traveling on the rollercoaster of life, and part of your journey is completing your graduate degree in a timely manner. I have been on this journey, and I have learned how to reach my fullest potential by applying…
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Inspiring the next generation of scientists with water droplets
Originally Published November 11, 2020 by Rebecca Dang Water droplets are beautifully shaped spheres of transparent liquid unlike any other substance on Earth. To the naked human eye, we see a colourless small sphere of water. We might not suspect that water droplets are home to millions of microscopic organisms like roundworms, rotifers, and tardigrades…
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ComSciCon partners with Natural History magazine on a special print issue
Originally Published October 1, 2020 By Stephanie (Hamilton) Deppe We are thrilled to announce that ComSciCon partnered with Natural History magazine to create a special print edition of the September 2020 magazine especially to feature voices from ComSciCon-affiliates! The magazine features articles written by six ComSciCon participants (including four from the recent 2020 Flagship). The articles span…
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Celebrating storytelling at the 4th annual ComSciCon-Houston
Originally Published July 25, 2020This is a guest post written by ComSciCon-Houston Co-Chair and Rice University Psychological Science PhD student Autumn Horne. Since 2017, ComSciCon Houston has served the graduate student community in southeast Texas by bringing together experts, graduate student leaders, and participants who are passionate about science communication. This year, our conference theme…
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Statement in support of international students in the United States
Originally Published July 13, 2020 Every year, thousands of students around the world—including many of our volunteer leaders and student participants at ComSciCon—make the difficult choice to leave their home countries in order to pursue their education. As soon as they make this choice, they are often forced to navigate labyrinthine and expensive immigration bureaucracies.…
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ComSciCon18 Alum Bryan Le – A Journey to Book Publication
Originally Published June 19, 2020 by Bryan Le I never thought I’d end up as a writer. And yet here I am, publishing my first book about food science in the kitchen. Like many PhD students, I started off thinking that research was the life for me. Do experiments. Collect data. Get published. Rinse and repeat.…