This week, we engage in the second episode of our collaboration with Inspiring Minds, a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skills.

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter converse with Joeana Cambranis, who is pursuing her PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Joeana's research focuses on developing augmented and virtual reality tools to help surgeons practice and improve procedures related to the treatment of liver cancer. She also shares her thoughts on life as an international graduate student from Yucatán, Mexico, what Western means to her, and discusses her next steps.

Want to know more about Joeana's work? Take a look at her page on the Inspiring Minds website.

Recorded on December 10, 2024

Airing at 11am on December 17, 2024 on Western Radio, 94.9 FM

Produced by Scott Walters

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are re-joined by William Laur, PhD Candidate in the Biology Department. His research focuses on exploring representations of and attitudes towards snakes in online media, through an ethnozoological approach. He was previously in the GradCast studio over the summer (Episode 470). This time around, William completed his written scoping review and qualitative analysis of the snake and bear-specific scientific literature. William chats about human perspectives and attitudes towards snakes and bears, the theological perspectives, how snakes are charismatic and the importance of snake conservation.

Recorded on December 3, 2024

Produced by Maria Khan

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

In our sixth installment of our #BookCast mini-series, we discuss Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies. The novel builds upon childhood events and grows into a personal epic spanning decades of national and world history, centered through the perspective of an older academic looking back over his life. The story begins, and the main characters all originate from, Deptford, a fictional town based on the real community of Thamesville, Ontario. Join us as your hosts Garth Casbourne, Meghan Voll, Mark Ambrogio, and Scott Walters dive into some of the book's main themes, including spirituality, ageing & changing perspectives, and socioeconomics.

The podcast edit features an extended discussion by Mark on the concept of unreliable narrators, and Meghan reveals the next title in our ongoing series.

Aired December 5th at 11 AM on Radio Western, 94.9 FM in London, Ontario.

Recorded on November 27, 2024

Produced by Scott Walters

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot