2021-2022 SPICE Projects
AMO Student Seminar (PizzAMO)
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physics, Structural Biology
Contact: Ronen Kroeze, rmkroeze@stanford.edu
PizzAMO is a biweekly lunchtime seminar series for graduate students and post-docs interested in learning more about topics in the field of atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics.
Animal Studies Working Group
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Juliet Tempest, jtempest@stanford.edu
Since 2019, the Animal Studies Working Group (ASWG) has brought together researchers across the university--from anthropology to biology to comparative literature--whose work concerns animals, human included. Scholars at Stanford and within the broader community have participated in ASWG lectures and discussions, writing workshops, as well as reading groups. Members benefit from sharing their work with a diverse community of scholars and build connections that enrich their insights into what it means to live as animals. ASWG will continue organizing these interdisciplinary events that contribute to Stanford's place in the growing field of animal studies. We welcome students, post-docs, and faculty in any discipline interested in animal studies (and animal enthusiasts in general) and invite community proposals for future events.
Archaeology Lunch Club Series
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Classics, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, History, Latin American Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology
Contact: Jocelyn Lee, jlee3675@stanford.edu
The Archaeology Lunch Club Lecture Series is a weekly discussion forum organized by graduate students at Stanford Archaeology Center (SAC) that will bring together faculty, students, and scholars within and outside the Stanford archaeology community, exploring topics of common intellectual concerns. The 2021–2022 series, entitled “Community Engagement and its Challenges”, will feature over 20 practitioners over 20 practitioners from academia, industry, and NGOs across the globe, whose multi-disciplinary research interests covering heritage, environmental studies, indigenous studies, ethnic studies, black studies, religious studies, and history.
Art as Science Communication Initiative (Art-SCI)
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, Biology, Developmental Biology, Earth System Science, Geological Sciences
Contact: Wing-Sum Law, wslaw@stanford.edu
Website: https://art-sci.weebly.com/
Art as Science Communication Initiative (Art-SCI) is a collaborative dance project dedicated to communicating scientific concepts through dance. Communicating science through artistic movement addresses two needs: (1) it shares science with broader audiences in an accessible, playful way and (2) it helps scientists rethink and contextualize their ideas through choreography. Art-SCI’s team, an interdisciplinary group of Stanford graduate students across several STEM departments create and perform choreography based on their research. This year, Art-SCI is particularly committed to broadening participation by providing introductory workshops on expressive movement and choreography, and the application of these concepts to communication of complex scientific topics. We hope that scientists will discover how to express their ideas in engaging ways, and that dancers and other artists will be moved to look to science as a source of inspiration.
bioBUDS: Building Up Developing Scientists
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology, Genetics, Immunology, Mathematics, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurosciences, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Evan Nichols, enichol3@stanford.edu
BIO114: BioBUDS (Building Up Developing Sciences) serves as a flagship service-learning experience for graduate students, wherein graduate students across the biosciences facilitate journal clubs for an audience of undergraduate students. Each week, a different graduate student facilitates a discussion ranging from new discoveries to reflections on scientific culture. Our facilitators represent a large breadth of sciences: Mathematics, Ecology, Immunology, Bioengineering, etc. This interdisciplinary suite exposes undergraduates to new scientific topics, while simultaneously connecting them to potential graduate student mentors. Further, BioBUDS’ nontraditional classroom structure provides graduate student facilitators with sovereignty and creativity to learn how they teach best. We are seeking funding to serve donuts during class sessions to facilitate an inclusive and conversational learning environment and to thank the graduate students who generously donate their time to BioBUDS. In addition, we will be funding 2 community lunches between graduate students and undergraduate students to build dialogue around science careers.
Bridge to Health Justice: Formerly Incarcerated Research Scholars Program
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Cancer Biology, Education, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Health Research & Policy, Immunology, Medical Scientist Training Program, Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Neurosciences, Sociology
Contact: Yiran Liu, yiranliu@stanford.edu
Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are at elevated risk of numerous poor health outcomes. Concomitantly, these communities are extremely poorly represented in science, medicine, and public health, facing a multitude of systemic, social, and legal barriers to pursuing careers in these fields. The Formerly Incarcerated Research Scholars (FIRS) Program will provide an immersive summer research internship at Stanford for formerly incarcerated college students around the country interested in pursuing health equity through scientific research. Stanford graduate students from the biosciences, epidemiology, medicine, anthropology, and health policy will each host and mentor a summer intern, with whom they will work together to design and execute a research project related to health equity, and they will work across disciplines to develop seminars and workshops for summer interns. The program will culminate in a summer symposium where scholars will present their research to peers, faculty, graduate research mentors, and other Stanford community members.
Cancer Biology Seminar Series
Participating Department(s): Cancer Biology
Contact: Griffin Hartmann, griffinh@stanford.edu
Our seminar series enhances awareness of racial and social justice issues and improves representation within the Cancer Biology community through interdisciplinary seminars with particular focus on racial inequity in cancer incidence and mortality. By weaving seminars from postdoctoral trainees from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints into the current Cancer Biology seminar series and lunch discussions, we will broaden the research, role models and advice to which our students are exposed and provide a networking opportunity for the postdoctoral trainees. Additionally, we will host a virtual talk back session after each seminar to allow for a smaller group of Cancer Biology students to interact with each speaker. This will allow our community to learn not only about each speaker's work, but their story and path navigating science.
Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Action Committee (ChemE GSAC)
Participating Department(s): Chemical Engineering
Contact: Elise Loppinet, eliselop@stanford.edu
Website: http://chemegsac.stanford.edu/
The Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Action Committee (ChemE GSAC) is committed to improving the experience of graduate students of all stages. Our Convocation & Research Symposium brings all graduate students together in a unique opportunity to learn from each other through oral presentations. Additionally, all graduate students can benefit from Networking Sessions with alumni. Through this project, ChemE GSAC aims to promote mentorship, networking and educational and social programming in the Department. Early-career graduate students will have the opportunity to learn from older graduate students and alumni, through networking events, talks, lunches and poster sessions. Late-career graduate students will have chances to present their research and hone their mentoring and teaching skills. These events will help students develop professional skills and discover career paths they may not otherwise be exposed to. These events will be specifically designed for ChemE students, filling a need not addressed by the department.
Condensed Matter Physics Journal Club
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physics
Contact: Yanbing Zhu, yanbingz@stanford.edu
This journal club fosters intellectual collaboration and encourage conversation between members of different groups. Condensed matter physics is a very diverse field, with both applied and fundamental research. At our meetings, we create a platform for informal yet focused discussions. The format is a hybrid between a seminar and a group discussion, led by the speaker of that session. These club meetings are usually held over lunch, and we provide suitable food and drinks for the participants.
Critical Studies of Blackness in Education (CSBE)
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Danielle Greene, dmgreene@stanford.edu
The purpose of Critical Studies of Blackness in Education (CSBE) is to foster an intellectual community specifically dedicated to understanding and developing applied solutions to embedded anti-Blackness in education. Graduate student members seek to work collectively to reimagine educational futures drawing on Black traditions and understandings in ways that protect and uplift Black schoolchildren. Leaning on the scholarly lineage of Black Studies and Black feminist epistemology, CSBE is a transdisciplinary space that sponsors workshops, writing groups, presentations, and collaborative knowledge production that disrupts anti-Blackness at all levels of education.
Critically Conscious Young Adult Literature Book Club
Participating Department(s): Comparative Literature, Education, English
Contact: Stephanie Robillard, smr2@stanford.edu
This yearlong book club will provide an opportunity for students to read and engage in critical conversations around young adult literature. During monthly meetings, participants will discuss group-selected titles, discussing their merit in advancing a critically conscious mindset. Stanford currently offers young adult literature classes at the undergraduate level. This book club will provide opportunities for graduate students from across departments to engage with young adult literature, making connections to their own research and studies. In addition to discussing YA literature, meetings will periodically feature invited scholars who will help frame specific texts, contexts, and uses of YA literature.
East Asian Studies Intellectual Community (EASIC)
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Aaron Gilkison, amgilki@stanford.edu
This intellectual community connects graduate students and scholars across campus studying East Asia, broadly defined. We foster multidisciplinary conversation and collaboration through a wide range of activities including workshops, networking events, reading groups, and film screenings. In doing so, we aim to enrich graduate research in East Asia studies, cultivate professional networks, and provide opportunities for extensive intellectual exchange.
Feminist, Queer and Trans Studies Colloquium
Participating Department(s): Art and Art History
Contact: Marco Antonio Flores, marcoaf@stanford.edu
The Feminist, Queer and Trans Studies Colloquium (FQTSC) will cultivate discussions focused on feminist, queer, and transgender art and scholarship. This workshop is created in response to doctoral students’ demand for a robust home for feminist, queer, and transgender research at Stanford University. Through workshops with prominent scholars, artists, and curators, FQTSC members will be encouraged to consider the following questions: In what ways have interdisciplinary methodologies shaped feminist, queer, and transgender art and scholarship? How do intersectional identities—such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality—shape these emerging fields? What are the current blind spots in feminist, queer, and transgender art, history and theory? We have enthusiastic support for our colloquium from a diverse group of graduate students and faculty across Stanford University. Most importantly, while there are institutions on campus dedicated to women’s and LGBTQ+ issues, those programs do not focus on academic research.
FieldWork & Writer's Retreat
Participating Department(s): Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Marina Bergenstock, marinajb@stanford.edu
FieldWork is a graduate programming series that provides tickets for TAPS Ph.D. students to see live performances in the Bay Area up to four times per quarter. This creates a space that fosters grad community while helping us grow as critical spectators and thinkers. As a result, after each show we engage in a moderated discussion. In order to create space to solidify this summer research into academic writing, paired with the necessary collaboration of peer-feedback and collegial input, we request funds for a 3-day writing retreat in advance of the school year. TAPS grad students spend their summers in individual research projects, isolated in the archives, and otherwise operating on solo scholarship. This would dually serve as a way to meaningful bring incoming graduate students into the academic community of TAPS, the professional community of the field, and the larger network required to become a successful academic.
Goggles Optional Podcast
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Earth System Science, Electrical Engineering, Genetics, Geological Sciences, Immunology, Mechanical Engineering, Microbiology & Immunology, Neurosciences, Physics, Radiology, Structural Biology
Contact: Rebecca Gellman, beckgell@stanford.edu
Website: gogglesoptional.com
Goggles Optional is a weekly podcast where Stanford scientists explore and discuss recent scientific discoveries. Our hosts invite listeners to explore the significant news and discoveries of the week using a combination of wit, straightforward explanations, and interviews with researchers. We hope to cultivate excitement for science and increase public understanding across STEM disciplines. Anyone with an interest in science is welcome to listen - no formal scientific education is necessary, so the goggles are optional! Our team writes, performs, produces, and edits our 30-minute show each week and it's available on several podcast platforms and played on KSZU radio.
Graduate Workshop in Science, Technology, and Society
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Meghan Shea, mshea@stanford.edu
The goal of the Graduate Workshop in Science, Technology, and Society is to enhance the development of doctoral students in humanities and social sciences whose research concerns questions around technology, biomedicine, and science. The proposed graduate workshop offers an interdisciplinary space to improve and share work from in-progress dissertation chapters, and article manuscripts. Also, we expose PhD students to Stanford faculty and other Bay Area STS scholars across disciplines through guest talks. Some departments in H&S offer spaces for practice job talks or other research presentations, however the STS workshop uniquely offers a rigorous, yet generous intellectual space for work-shopping one's writing for dissertation chapters, specifically for those who want feedback from outside of their home discipline. Without the proposed workshop, graduate students in H&S researching the social and humanistic study of scientific knowledge production, and above mentioned themes would have no other forum, platform, or space to meet and exchange ideas, network, and build community.
International Community-based Health and Development (ICHD) student group
Participating Department(s): Civil & Environmental Engineering, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine
Contact: Christine Pu, cjpu@stanford.edu
ICHD brings together students who are interested in achieving positive social impact in their careers by applying community-based approaches to issues of international health and development. ICHD has three objectives: 1) to enable students to share community-based and culturally sensitive research skills (with a focus on challenges in international work); 2) to promote interdisciplinary collaboration related to community-based research in international settings in order to apply these skills; and 3) to facilitate networking between students with similar interests from diverse backgrounds who may not otherwise meet each other across campus.
MASALA: Music, Arts, and Sciences: Advancing our Lives in Academia
Participating Department(s): Music
Contact: Gabriel Ellis, gzellis@stanford.edu
MASALA is intended to foster collaboration and exploration across disciplinary boundaries in Stanford’s graduate music community. Our project brings together students from the four disciplines hosted within the music department: historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music composition, and computer research in music and acoustics. These disciplines are split between two separate buildings on campus (Braun and the Knoll) and their graduate students have historically had few opportunities to interact academically. MASALA provides such opportunities by hosting a weekly research colloquium series, a weekly journal/listening group, and other special events that bring together performers, composers, and scholars from Stanford and the local community. Through these activities, we aim to exchange viewpoints, stimulate thought, and share new research in the diverse fields of music scholarship. Cumulatively, MASALA’s activities fulfill the graduate music community’s need for an intellectual community transcending disciplinary boundaries.
Mathematics Directed Reading Project
Participating Department(s): Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics
Contact: Vivian Kuperberg, viviank@stanford.edu
Website: http://mathdrp.stanford.edu/
The Mathematics Directed Reading Program pairs undergraduate students with graduate student mentors one-on-one to meet weekly as they read an agreed-upon mathematical text over the course of a quarter. At the end of the quarter, the undergraduate participants meet for a colloquium and each give short talks about what they learned. The goal is to build connections between the undergraduate and graduate student communities by helping students engage in substantive mathematical projects together, and to facilitate the transfer of mathematical cultural capital to our undergraduate participants.
MatSci Mentors
Participating Department(s): Materials Science and Engineering
Contact: Ajay Subramanian, ajaysub@stanford.edu
Establishing a culture of mentorship across the entire MSE department is essential to creating an environment where students and researchers can thrive and feel like they belong, especially during these times when in-person community-building has been limited. We will develop a mentorship network that spans the entirety of the MSE population. The community members who opt-in will be assigned a ‘pod’ of diverse peers who they can meet and share their experiences, and both receive and provide mentorship.
Meeting of Astrophysics Students at Stanford (MASS)
Participating Department(s): Physics
Contact: Sebastian Wagner-Carena, swagnerc@stanford.edu
MASS is a weekly students-only seminar series and journal club within the Physics department and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). In the last few years, with the help of a SPICE Grant, MASS has become one of the main avenue for KIPAC students to discuss current papers and research. MASS will continue to focus on astrophysics and cosmology, as the main audience will be KIPAC graduate students; however, we will encourage students from all physics disciplines to attend. Our main objective is to provide a comfortable, stress-free setting in which graduate students can practice presenting.
Networking Outreach Meals for Science (NOMS)
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Physics
Contact: Connie Hsueh, chsueh@stanford.edu
NOMS aims to build an informal professional development space to explore non-academic career opportunities for students in physics, applied physics, and similar disciplines. The goal is to connect students with professionals at various stages of their careers for networking and advice-giving.
San Francisco Cinema Seminar
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Art & Art History, Communication, Comparative Literature, East Asian Studies, English, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature, Slavic Languages and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Christian Whitworth, cpwhit@stanford.edu
The San Francisco Cinema Seminar brings together PhD candidates and faculty in Film and Media Studies programs from around the Bay Area for a multi-day symposium on current doctoral research. The collaborative workshop, which includes thematic panel presentations, lively discussion and debate, and a keynote speaker, will strengthen Stanford's intellectual ties with the region's other university programs by: first, providing a platform for the development of new and innovative methods in the study of cinema; and second, establishing a professional network of like-minded scholars to aid in the progression of participant's careers in the field.
SITP Journal Club
Participating Department(s): Physics
Contact: Alexander Frenkel, afrenkel@stanford.edu
Theoretical physics thrives through active spread of ideas and discussion among its purveyors. A journal club, dedicated to bringing together graduate students to learn about a new topic every week together, is a powerful tool for facilitating the spread of ideas and growing the habit of communication and community among the graduate student body.
So, What Are You Working On? SWAYWO Conference at the GSE
Participating Department(s): Education
Contact: Megan Selbach-Allen, mselbach@stanford.edu
Website: http://web.stanford.edu/group/swaywo/cgi-bin/wordpress/
This annual conference at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) convenes students, faculty, alumni and others from the GSE in the sharing of research, passions, projects, and assignments. SWAYWO is run by students and provides a space to showcase current student work and build connections within the GSE as well as with the larger Stanford community. Any Stanford student, postdoc, staff member, or alumnus whose work is related to education is invited to present their research or degree-related work, at any stage of the process, within a collegial and supportive environment.
Sociology and Education Network (SAEN)
Participating Department(s): Education, Sociology
Contact: Hannah D'Apice, hdapice@stanford.edu
SAEN is an interdisciplinary community of sociologists and education scholars at Stanford who meet bi-weekly to workshop research, talk about relevant issues in the field, and foster interdisciplinary networking and professional development.
South Asia Working Group at Stanford
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Business, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Communication, Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Economics, Education, English, History, Law, Linguistics, Medicine, Political Science, Public Policy, Religious Studies, Sociology, Stanford Global Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Shubhangni Gupta, shubhi@stanford.edu
Website: https://southasia.stanford.edu/events/south-asia-working-group-stanford-university
The South Asia Working Group (SAWG) at Stanford is a bimonthly discussion forum at the Center for South Asia (CSA). Through student-led discussions, lectures, and paper presentations, the SAWG enables a space of dialogue, discussion and reflection for graduate students studying South Asia within and outside Stanford. With South Asian graduate students dispersed across different departments and programs, the SAWG provides a rare intellectual environment to engage with questions around an interdisciplinary study of South Asia. In 2021-22, the SAWG will host 12 events around the theme - "What does 'South Asia' look like?: Conceptual Standpoints and Empirical Locations". The sessions will host South Asian graduate students and early-career scholars from around the world, using both virtual and in-person formats. Conceptualized as a participatory endeavor, graduate students will be involved at different stages from suggesting ideas for possible activities to moderating and facilitating events.
Stanford Advanced Degree Candidates (ADC) Consulting Club
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Biyao Zou, biyaozou@stanford.edu
Website: adc.stanford.edu
This is a 10-week long course to help students from all graduate fields prepare for management consulting case interviews. The weekly sessions focus on a variety of skill development topics and include a portion of instruction by graduate students from the ADC (Advanced Degree Consulting) Club and a portion where students get one-on-one practice with each other. Graduate students learn how to build problem-solving frameworks and communicate the problem-solving process, skills that can be used for any application.
Stanford Biotechnology Group (SBG)
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Business, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Comparative Medicine, Computer Science, Dermatology, Developmental Biology, Economics, Genetics, Immunology, Management Science & Engineering, Medical Scientist Training Program, Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Stephanie Nevins, snevins@stanford.edu
Website: http://www.stanfordbiotechgroup.com/
The Stanford Biotechnology Group (SBG) is an organization run by and for Stanford life science graduate students, business students, and medical students who are interested in exploring careers in biotechnology business, management and investing. SBG facilitates opportunities for experiential education, hosts invited speakers, and provides relevant online content to allow members to survey the biotechnology landscape and prepare for careers in these fields. Annual events include career and summer internship panels, biotech landscape discussions, biotech company site visits, Startup Happy Hours, and more. SBG also teaches the popular INDE239 “Valuation of Public Companies in the Life Sciences” course.
Stanford Classics in Theater (SCIT)
Participating Department(s): Classics
Contact: Annie Lamar, kalamar@stanford.edu
Website: https://scit.stanford.edu/
Stanford Classics in Theater (SCIT) continues to stage original adaptations of ancient plays for the Stanford community. The complete process of production, from selection of the play for adaptation to its actual performance, is done by the Classics Department's graduate students. This process brings together the diverse range of academic and cultural interests gathered under the Classics aegis, whether literary, historical, philosophical, or archaeological. The play affords graduate students a space to work together and bring their passion for ancient drama to a wider audience. As all Classics graduates are members of SCIT, the production requires a delicate balance to create a unified product that reflects the contributions of all of its members. This process fosters a unique moment of inter-generational and interdisciplinary bonding within the department. Through SCIT, students of different interests can work together in a fun and collaborative way—a rare opportunity in graduate life.
Stanford Environmental & Behavior Group (SEB)
Participating Department(s): Business, Education, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Law, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology
Contact: Anna Lee, aslee07@stanford.edu
Website: https://seb.stanford.edu/
The Stanford Environment and Behavior (SEB) Student Group facilitates learning, collaboration, and networking across disciplines among future leaders in environmental behavior research. SEB serves two main roles: first, to facilitate interdisciplinary forums and organize events that bring students and scholars together (e.g. connecting students with environmental content expertise to students with disciplinary and methodological expertise); and secondly, to act as a hub of information, resources and contacts relevant to students and scholars with interests in environment and behavior topics. In doing so, we aspire to increase awareness of current trends and research, provide an organized outlet for integrating knowledge and skills across disciplines, and spark collaborations and friendships that will lead to the development of innovative approaches towards positive social and environmental change.
Stanford GradsTeachGrads
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Nandita Bhaskhar, nanbhas@stanford.edu
Website: https://web.stanford.edu/~nanbhas/outreach/gradsteachgrads/
Stanford GradsTeachGrads is an platform that aims to bring various graduate students together to share their skills, ranging from giving an elevator pitch to juggling basics. The group learns from one another in an informal setting and teaches skills that are rarely covered in academic programs or formal courses. We will hold tutorials, discussions, guest speaker sessions, and conduct empathetic interviews with students about things such as networking, designing a keynote address, end-to-end planning tips for paper writing, and other such topics related to professional development.
Stanford Graduate Conference in Political Theory
Participating Department(s): Philosophy, Political Science
Contact: Joseph Cloward, jcloward@stanford.edu
Website: https://stanfordpoliticaltheorygraduateconference.wordpress.com/
The Stanford Graduate Conference in Political Theory brings together graduate students across departments with an interest in political theory to learn with and from excellent graduate students around the country. Our goal is to provide Stanford students in political theory with opportunities to develop professional skills as conference organizers and paper discussants while helping them build a network of other early career researchers across the country (and around the world). We bring together students from political science, philosophy, law, and other departments, culminating in a weekend graduate conference that we host each year. This year will be our third conference and we look forward to building on past successes to reach a wider Stanford audience than we have before.
Stanford Higher Education Exchange of Research (SHEER)
Participating Department(s): Biology, Economics, Education, Psychology, Sociology
Contact: Emily Schell, eschell@stanford.edu
SHEER offers students from different academic disciplines a place to develop and share ideas regarding the theories and functions of higher education. The monthly research workshop serves as a forum for burgeoning scholars to present works in progress and get feedback from knowledgeable peers. The gathering also creates a network of colleagues for interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange of career advice.
Stanford Ocean Networking And Research (SONAR)
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Meghan Shea, mshea@stanford.edu
Graduate students across myriad departments at Stanford use unique lenses to interpret and study marine environments—from studying relationships with kelp (Modern Thought & Literature) and Chinese marine technology companies (Anthropology) to researching ocean nitrogen cycling (Earth System Science), jellyfish driven ocean circulation (Mechanical Engineering), and coral genetics (Biology: Hopkins Marine Station). However, since we’re spread across departments, and across campuses, no unifying space exists to bring us together. SONAR (Stanford Ocean Networking And Research) fosters an intellectual community for all marine-interested graduate students, to support interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration, highlight current debates related to marine environments, and facilitate discussion among students who ordinarily would not interact. SONAR hosts several events each quarter, including invited seminar speakers, a focused reading group, graduate research talks, and more. These events aim to bring new perspectives to our academic work, but even more importantly, to foster relationships and build community among ocean-interested graduate students.
Stanford Partnership for International Education and Development
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Anthropology, Business, East Asian Studies, Education, Health Research & Policy, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Latin American Studies, Medicine, Sociology
Contact: Hannah D'Apice, hdapice@stanford.edu
This project convenes individuals from across campus interested in issues of international education and development. Participants exchange ideas and engage in conversation with faculty, researchers, and practitioners in the field through dinners, guest presentations, student research presentations, and a Spring research colloquium.
Stanford Polymer Collective
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biophysics, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Lucia Brunel, lbrunel@stanford.edu
Website: www.polymer.stanford.edu
The Stanford Polymer Collective was founded to create a collaborative environment for Stanford's macromolecular research community to build connections, develop professionally, and excel in a research environment. To foster a sense of community amongst our members, we provide numerous professional and academic opportunities while maintaining a strong commitment to outreach off-campus. For professional development, we support networking, industry relations and oratory practice. For academic development, we organize lunch-and-learn courses, meetings with visiting professors, and larger-scale quarterly talks from academic and industrial researchers. Additionally, we curate a monthly list of polymer-related talks and host an annual research poster symposium. These events are intended to instruct and foster a safe space for collaboration. Our club positively impacts all departments with research agendas that employ polymer science and engineering by providing a collective identity and community for collaboration, networking, and outreach.
Stanford Prison Education Project (SPEP)
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Sophie Allen, sallen2@stanford.edu
Stanford Prison Education Project (SPEP) plans and executes interdisciplinary seminar courses at local jails: Maple Street Correctional Center and San Francisco County Jail #3. Each week, a different Stanford graduate student teaches a lesson related to the course theme (e.g., Humans and Earth, Great Innovations, Virtue and Vice) from the perspective of their academic discipline. When they do not teach, graduate students co-learn as students in the class. Our goals are to provide much-needed educational services to the incarcerated individuals and to offer Stanford graduate students across the University an opportunity to develop their interdisciplinary teaching and learning skills.
Stanford Psychology BIPOC Affinity Group
Participating Department(s): Psychology
Contact: Akshay Jagadeesh, akshayj@stanford.edu
Stanford Psychology BIPOC Affinity Group is a dedicated space and intellectual community for Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) within the Stanford psychology department. Members of our community, who are experts on the psychology of race and identity, will lead discussion sessions on their research and its implications for us. We will invite BIPOC psychology scholars from other institutions to virtually present their research examining the role of race in academia and how it affects building and maintaining inclusive, diverse academic communities. We will also hold journal and book clubs prior to these presentations to familiarize ourselves with the relevant psychological research.
Stanford Social Science Intervention Collaborative
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Communication, Earth System Science, Economics, Education, Health Research & Policy, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Political Science, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology, Public Policy, Sociology, Symbolic Systems
Contact: Angela Lee, angela8@stanford.edu
The Stanford Social Science Intervention Collaborative (SIC) is an interdisciplinary community that meets bi-weekly to discuss and collaborate on intervention-based research. We provide (1) a forum for students to develop, share, and receive feedback on research in progress related to interventions, (2) opportunities to read and discuss current intervention research and reflect on ongoing questions and challenges, and (3) a social community organized around a shared interest in leveraging science and research for positive impact. SSSIC is open to any students in the social sciences that are interested in intervention-based research.
STATS: Student Talks in Applied and Theoretical Statistics
Participating Department(s): Statistics
Contact: Benjamin Seiler, bbseiler@stanford.edu
Student Talks in Applied and Theoretical Statistics (STATS) is a full weekend retreat where students are invited to give presentations on their research. This allows younger students to appreciate the quality and breadth of research in the department, provides a channel for feedback and potential extensions for the presenters, and generally enhances the intellectual and academic dialogue among the doctoral students. In the past we have had a very high turnout, with over 60% of doctoral students attending the event. Each year, several participants give presentations on their research. This event is already well publicized within the community due to its historic success. The number of PhD students in our department has continued to grow, and research interests of incoming students never cease to diversify. Department-wide student-focused activities such as the STATS talks are essential to facilitate an active exchange of ideas throughout the student body.
The Dish on Science
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Katherine Nico, knico@stanford.edu
Website: thedishonscience.stanford.edu
The goal of the Dish on Science is to promote accessibility, understanding, and interest in topics in STEM fields among the general public. On our website, thedishonscience.stanford.edu, we create and post scientific articles targeted to an audience with an 8th grade science background. These articles are both generated and peer-reviewed by club members through monthly workshops. The editing process provides quality control and ensures the scientific accuracy and accessibility of the article, and a final review is done by the Editor-in-Chief/President. We also hope to collaborate with other clubs focused on science outreach and education, such as Scientists Speak Up, Stanford FAST, and Goggles Optional, which we have done in the past. Through these activities, we aim to encourage dialogue between scientists and non-scientists, make the scientific process more tangible, answer common questions from the general public, and provide informational and entertaining content to individuals of all backgrounds.
Wastelanding: An Indigenous Environmental Justice Seminar Series
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computational Geosciences, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Energy Resources Engineering, Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Health Research & Policy, Law, Political Science, Public Policy, Stanford Global Studies
Contact: Zach Perzan, zperzan@stanford.edu
Too often, Native voices are silenced and marginalized across the United States, including in the environmental justice movement. This seminar series provides a platform for some of those voices, giving students a chance to learn about environmental justice directly from communities and researchers affected by environmental degradation on Native lands. Over the course of 7 seminar talks and panel discussions, we hope to bring together a diverse array of students – from law and sociology to environmental engineering and earth science – in order to foster new collaborations among Stanford affiliates passionate about environmental justice.