Grad Life

A few people have noticed that I have been entirely silent on this blog for quite some time.  Others have noticed that I’ve been absent from my personal blog as well as Facebook, Twitter – pretty much all of my usual online haunts – since the fall.  Their somewhat apprehensive inquiries – “How are you doing?” – have been appreciated, even if they’ve been met with rather vague replies: “I’m ok”, or, “I’m hanging in there”.  Or sometimes they’ve received no reply at all, because I haven’t known what to say.

I read a blog post recently, forwarded to me by someone who I consider a good, considerate friend as well as a colleague and mentor. That blog post shook me a bit, I think because I recognized myself in its words so prominently.  It prompted me to write a post of my own, because I think it’s important and because I think it might help me, personally.  So … deep breath … here we go.

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Hello Grad Life,

I have been terribly negligent on here lately! Despite my best intentions, I’ve been too busy lately to sit down and type something out. The craziness surrounding the end of my M.Sc. has been augmented by a few things which all ultimately stem from trying to get the most possible out of the grad school experience.

   Different people have different lifestyles. It is a fact so evident that we sometimes don’t fully comprehend what that entails. I am more specifically referring to the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle comprised of a proper diet and regular exercise. I don’t know if it is because I wasn’t really one to work out intensively before and thus simply did not see it around me, but when I was living in Sherbrooke I did not notice  a considerable amount of people, that exercised regularly (out in the open at least). However, now that I am  a grad student in Montreal and that I do work out and exercise regularly, I am noticing a high number of people doing the same. Every day as I am walking to work or back home, I remark numerous people running outside in the beautiful weather. Even sub-zero temperatures or pouring rain does not stop determined individuals from going outside and getting some exercise. It even seems that the people who exercise regularly and eat healthy are part of a community of individuals who are determined to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Almost like a clique of  health-conscious individuals. Some wish to be fit and toned, others want to develop muscles while some simply want to be in shape. All of these are great reasons to exercise often. I personally belong to the latter category. My main goal is to be in shape and healthy, for my own good. I always feel physically and mentally better after I exercise.

   Unfortunately, let’s face it: exercising is far from being fun and exciting for everyone at any given time. Personally, I find that what helps me continue my workout regimen is to do activities that I enjoy. It seems obvious, but it wasn’t always so for me. For instance, instead of doing seemingly unpleasant workouts, I run outside in the morning while I can gather my thoughts in the silent and chilly morning air. I have also recently taken up squash. I initially had my doubts about this sport, but I gave it a try and I now thoroughly enjoy it. Instead of being a boring activity that I must do to get some exercise, it is a fun activity that I do with friends. Fortunately, at the same time it is a very good sport to play. It involves a lot of cardio, develops thigh and bicep muscles and ameliorates hand-eye coordination. I highly suggest that you give it, or any other sport for that matter, a try! My tip is thus the following: do something that you enjoy, with friends if possible! It will improve the experience and the workout will seem much shorter in duration. Plus, it is always more enjoyably and more motivating to exercise with someone else. Another personal example is that this week, for the first time, I started running with someone else. My best friend and I motivated ourselves to go running in the evening after work. It was very interesting to run with someone else, firstly because it was nice to have someone to talk to and mostly because we challenged each other to run faster and longer. So grab a friend, go outside, do some exercise and have some fun! Your body and mind will thank me (and you) later.

- It does not matter how slow you are going, so long as you do not stop. – Confucius

I am off west! While writing this blog post I am on my way to the US to spend a month at Washington State University in Pullman (WA) and University of Washington in Seattle (WA). This is my first trip in the 2013 academic travel season, and I am really excited.

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edx is the platform chosen by McGill

Academic courses being offered online are not new. In the early 2000s it was already possible to find videos of full courses online from top universities. Over time, the offer grew and the number of channels too. From decentralized repositories, we had iTunes U, YouTube EDU and others. But a recent phenomenon is taking shape under the name of MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses.

Recently McGill has partnered with edx to start offering MOOCs in 2014. The two other major platforms today are coursera and udacity. As a member of my faculty Teaching and Learning Committee, yesterday I attended a discussion about the topic and I was amazed about how little we know about it.

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Distributing education material at a World TB Day event. Kunming, China

Upon first describing my research—on tuberculosis (TB) control in China—I’m generally met with glassy stares or feigned interest. When people ARE instantly captured, I get the feeling that much of it comes out of an anxious hypochondria that’s more about themselves than anything that I have to say. A bit of an exaggeration, okay, but to be sure: TB is not the “sexiest” of research topics.

And that’s part of the point of my work.

Did you know that approximately 30% of the world’s population is already infected with the TB bacillus? Or, that TB is seventh on the list of top causes of morality worldwide, at 1.4 million deaths (4.3% of all deaths)? Or, that 8.7 people fell ill with TB in 2011?

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Learning to Teach Day

I have been to three or four so far. And all I can say is that they are remarkable and indispensable. McGill Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) organizes these day-long workshops on learning how to teach for graduate students about once every semester. They are, in one word: amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I think “Learning To Teach” should be a graduate course. I think anyone who is teaching would benefit from it. (more…)

From left: Kartik Sameer Madiraju, Lysanne Rivard, Feng Qi, Marie Senecal-Tremblay, Saoussan Askar, Laura-Isobel McCall, Alexandra Fletcher, Sebastien Boridy, Dianah Msipa, and Janelle Marie Baker

When I first heard of the event hosted by McGill called “3 minutes to change the world”, I thought it was a snazzy title for a speed-talk event. While it was indeed centered upon three-minute presentations by students from seven different faculties at McGill, changing the world was not the exaggeration I had presumed it to be. This year’s event hosted 10 fantastic speakers who are undertaking massive, world-changing endeavors in their respective fields of research. From seeking answers to cure disease to finding cleaner, greener solutions, this group at once made me proud to be a McGillian and astounded by the calibre of research undertaken by young professionals.  (more…)

Three Minutes to Change the World

from: http://www.fermemorgan.com/?page_id=138

What’s for dinner has never been a more confusing topic. The food we eat nowadays is hardly food at all. Once harvested, it is processed and preserved with such ferocity that it is now more accurate to call what we ingest “food-like-products” than food. This has not gone unnoticed. There has been a recent outpouring of information, particularly in the form of books and documentaries, to uncover the practises of the food industry. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Inc., Fresh, the Future of Food, Fast Food Nation, and Vegucated (to name a few) all arrive at the same conclusion – we have become irrevocably detached from food. A short meander to the grocery store tells us nothing about our food – where it came from, how it was preserved, or how fresh it is – and this is especially concerning when the lives of food animals are involved.

Indeed, to cope with the ever-increasing demands of consumers (i.e. us), the food industry has resorted to treating food animals as food units. They are used, processed and discarded with minimal regard for their suffering, let alone their dignity. They are treated so because it is the only way that the industry might cost-effectively sate our lust for meat, dairy, and eggs. Allowing animals the conditions and treatment that would be considered humane is not feasible when the most recent statistic for meat consumption among Americans is 276lbs per person per year (see Economist article). (more…)