Seminars & Conferences

I cannot help but notice that most graduate students in general, are not making a point to attend these department seminars (see the link to the left). The simple reason not to attend is because the topic is not the focus of your research but I would argue that this is a narrow perspective and not a healthy one. I am always amazed at how often I learn something relevant to my ideas about the body and the heart from a seminar on an apparently unrelated topic. Whether the knowledge is technical or physiological, it still adds to my arsenal of information. Just observing how someone tells the story of his or her own research can be intriguing.

Of course, not all seminars are immediately useful and some are of questionable rhetoric excellence so I have always gone prepared to make the best use of the time. I always bring a computer, an iPhone, a paper to read, something that allows me to respectfully check out for a while. But I am often surprised at how compelling many seminars are, and rarely feel like I have wasted my time. If nothing else, I have something to rant about or to reaffirm my commitment to helping you all to be great presenters.

So I would ask that each of you make a real point to attend these department seminars. I am doing my best and I think there is a department wide recognition of the value of such attendance. I hope you will see some of your fellow grad students there and that, by itself, it probably a good thing. And if all that were not enough, usually there is even free food! (-:

-Rob Macleod