Poster by Jeremy Parker.

This is a quick update to say: I defend my dissertation tomorrow! I have a lot of thoughts about this, most of which I am unable to articulate because I am literally eating, breathing, and dreaming my dissertation, which means I’m finding it difficult to articulate anything that isn’t about late-glacial novel ecosystems, bison, dung fungi, glaciers, or pollen.

If you’re interested, I’ll be live-streaming my seminar (but not the closed session with my committee) here, at 1pm CDT. Feel free to join in– there’s even a chat feature. Be forewarned that, while I’ll do my best to give a compelling and accessible talk, my target audience will be more on the academic than popular side. But if you’d like to hear about what I’ve been up to for the last 4.5 years, please feel free to join in!

Why live-stream my dissertation? Well, it started as a way to broadcast to two remote committee members. After a few Twitter followers expressed interest in watching the stream, I decided to make the link public. I’ve gotten some raised eyebrows from some folks about this, because it’s largely unprecedented at my department (we’ve only recently started requiring public talks, and they haven’t yet been very well-advertised). I think graduate defense seminars are good opportunities to give back to the broader university community, and are a way to display the vitality of research on campus. I also think defaulting in favor of more communication and outreach is generally a good thing (you can read more on that in my recent interview with Inside UW). While defenses serve a particular purpose as a gateway ritual, I think there is value in sharing the experience with the broader community. First, the culture of science (and academia!) is something of a mystery to many people (including undergrads and early grad students), and there’s something really powerful about increasing the visibility of our successes, and the work that goes into them. Secondly, the ability to give a compelling talk that balances accuracy and accessibility is, so I’m told, a good life skill to have, and a critical component of academic job talks.

So, while my fellow Americans are enjoying one of the hottest Independence Days on record, I’m preparing for my own Independence Day tomorrow, and thinking about the last ice age.

Categories: Academia Communication Education Grad School Outreach

Tagged as: #PhD2012 cultural representations of scientists dissertation grad school media milestones science communication yay!

Jacquelyn Gill