Article by Trent Students Courtney Mondoux (M.Sc. Candidate, ENLS), and Symons Seminar Series Executive Committee Members, Lanna Desantis and Morgan Wehtje (both Ph.D. Candidates, ENLS).
The Symons Seminar Series is an opportunity for graduate students at Trent University to practice the oft-illusive art of cross discipline communication. To truly share the wonder of what one studies with others however, is not only a rewarding experience, but something many of us have difficulties achieving. Part of what we strive to do as researchers and academics, is to delve ever deeper into our questions and passions; we explore the world we live in, explain where we have come from, and look forward to what may come. As we become more deeply rooted within our particular area of expertise over time however, it often becomes increasingly difficult to share the excitement of what we learn with others. The specialist knowledge that allows us to investigate complex ideas can act to isolate us, preventing outward communication of our research.
Named in honour of Trent’s founding president, Professor Thomas H.B. Symons, the Symons Seminar Series both celebrates the graduate student research being conducted at our university and aims to bridge the gap (the Series’ motto) between the arts and sciences, different disciplines, and the university and the public. The seminars, held each month, feature both a student from the physical or biological sciences and another from the arts, humanities or social sciences. To be selected as a presenter, students must submit an abstract that is both captivating and comprehensible to a wide array of volunteer student abstract selectors. Thus, conveying their research and its significance in jargon-free written form is the main challenge. Of those chosen to present throughout the year, volunteer student judges select one individual as the overall winner of the Series.
This year’s winner, Ayden Sherritt, was chosen because he best exemplified the values of the Series: the ability to communicate his research effectively to a broad audience, strong presentation skills, and excellence in research. Ayden is a M.Sc. candidate in the Environmental and Life Sciences program, and supervised by Drs. Jim Schaefer (Biology) and Bruce Pond (OMNR). Ayden was awarded the Symons Award of Excellence and shared his presentation, “Caribou movement as an indicator of habitat health,” at the 8th annual Symons Series Gala dinner. The gala, held at the Peterborough Naval Association on April 12th, 2013, offered Ayden a chance to showcase his research among members of the Peterborough community, past and present Trent faculty and staff, and graduate students alike. Despite the widespread storm that enveloped the Peterborough area in ice the night before and knocked out power for many residents, more than 100 guests were still in attendance this year, including Mayor Daryl Bennett and his wife Jewel.
The 2012-2013 Runner-Up, from the department of Applied Modeling and Quantitative Methods, was M.A. candidate, Ryan Kwan, supervised by Dr. Bruce Cater (Economics). During the year, Ryan spoke to the regular Seminar Series audience on the topic of, “Why are more educated people healthier? Utilizing National Health Interview Survey data to validate health economic theories.” Other speakers featured in the series this year included, from the arts: Steven Martin, Jane Gray, Evelyn Deshane, Travis Morton, Brigitte Evering, and Jeffrey Fitzgerald; and from the sciences: Shannon Fera, Eva Webster, Latchmi Singh, Jim Johnson, Kaitlin Breton-Honeyman, and Hance Ellington.
Following Ayden’s informative and entertaining presentation, the delicious banquet dinner (a warm gift to those left without power in their homes following the ice storm), and the silent auction (at which this author managed to snag some beautiful sketches of Kawartha area aquatic plants hand drawn by Colleen and Jessica Middleton, even if it did mean somewhat aggressively guarding the auction table…), a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Stephen Hill began. The panel of Trent Heroes discussed “Effective use of Research and Knowledge.” Drs. Joan Sangster, Chris Furgal, and Joe Nocera each presented on given topics before the floor was opened to discussion.
Dr. Sangster addressed the value of different types of knowledge: can we compare, relatively, two different research questions? In response, she asked the audience, “Why is your research a passionate concern for you?” Rather than suggesting that valuable research questions are to be found in strictly useful or pragmatic lines of thought, Joan proposed that perhaps “research emerges from our passions, questions, [...] the small goals that animate us.”
Next, Dr. Furgal discussed incorporating knowledge that seems tangential to our own into our work. Despite warning that as a professor, the allotted eight minutes would barely give him time to introduce himself, let alone approach such a topic, Chris managed to bridge the issue through anecdotes from his own career. In one such story, we find him sitting in an airport with a former supervisor who told him people didn’t know ‘what he was.’ What kind of ologist was he? To the gala audience, Dr. Furgal answered, “as researchers, what are we but problem solvers? […] It’s good to know who you are and what you know but not to be limited by it.”
Finally, Dr. Nocera spoke of the importance of being able to communicate your research outside your discipline and to a public audience. “All of you have paid for Ayden’s research, so it’s a good thing he explained it tonight,” he began. While stating he believes “we all hope our research will be used someday, somehow,” Joe provided what he identifies as the three main obstacles to communicating our research: providing meaning to the work we do (or our failure to do so), explaining probability, and the use of jargon. “When I was a twelve year old boy I communicated my ideas of wildlife without the word ‘phenotype’ just fine,” he concludes. “We all have the power to communicate; we all did it just fine until university.”
This year’s series has been organized by graduate students Morgan Wehtje (Financial Coordinator), Lanna Desantis (Communications Coordinator), and Amandah van Merlin (Operations Coordinator), and you can look forward to the Symons Seminar Series resuming activity in September 2013. If you are passionate about communication and sharing research between disciplines, why not consider getting involved as a volunteer abstract selector or judge next year? See you at the first seminar night in October!
Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2013.