VIEW to the U: An eye on UTM academic community

An ode to audio and the UTM academic community Creator and current host of VIEW to the U (VTTU) Carla DeMarco is embarking on a secondment with the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students at U of T St. George. VTTU might return in some iteration, as yet TBD. But for now, Carla is hanging up her headphones, and handing back the audio equipment. Please stay tuned and stay subscribed for further updates and episodes. This last recording is just a big love letter from Carla to all the supporters and participants who made the show what it is. Thank you!

Creating more equitable environments in academia On this episode of VIEW to the U, guests are Profs Scott Jess and Lindsay Schoenbohm – Lindsay is a faculty member in UTM's Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, where she has served as its Chair since 2019, and Scott, a former postdoc in Lindsay’s lab, is currently a faculty member in the School of the Environment at Washington State University. Over the course of this interview, Scott and Lindsay talk a bit about their field – geosciences and how they got into this particular area of research – but also their motivations for partnering up for a very profound collaboration that they undertook: “A Demographic Survey of Canadian Academic Geosciences.” Their “Demographic Trends in Canadian Academic Geoscience” report was published in 2023. The findings in this report are stark, and, as will be discussed, focus primarily in relation to the state of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion – or what’s commonly referred to as “EDI” or DEI – in geosciences, however, the statistics, which are not widely available in Canada – one of the reasons Scott spearheaded this research with Lindsay and Emily Heer from the University of Calgary in the first place. Resources - A full transcript of this interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-scott-jess-washington-state-university-and-lindsay-schoenbohm-chemical-physical - Scott, Lindsay, and Emily's report is at Report https://www.geodemographicscananda.com/ - U.S. National Science Foundation report https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23315/report/introduction#overview - Lindsay Schoenbohm’s website https://www.lindsay-schoenbohm.com/ - Scott Jess’s website https://www.scott-jess.com/ - Dancy and Hodari article “How well-intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction” https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-023-00433-8 - Lindsay was also on a previous episode of VIEW to the U in 2018 https://soundcloud.com/user-642323930/lindsay-schoenbohm-earthy-pursuits

Kids, kindness, and community On this episode of VIEW to the U, Tina Malti, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, and the Director of the Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy – or CCDMP for short - talks about her work at CCDMP, which was established in 2019, and for which she is the Founding Director. But Tina is a world-renowned expert, whose contributions to child mental health and development extends over the past two decades. Prior to the birth of CCDMP, in 2010 she established the Laboratory for Social-Emotional Development and Intervention (SEDI), which seeks to explore the roots and ramifications of kindness and aggression in children. She discusses some of her findings related to children’s mental health and also offers a few suggestions for fostering more empathy in people. And, in conjunction with our theme for this season of the podcast, Tina also talks about the benefits of community-engaged scholarship and how it differs from traditional scientific research. She also shares some of the unexpected but extremely valuable outcomes that she’s seen in her research over time in working with various communities, as well as what she sees on the horizon for her field. Resources - A full transcript of the interview is available at https://uoft.me/9YH. - Read accompanying profile "Kids, kindness, and collaboration" at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/kids-kindness-and-collaboration. - Find out more about Tina Malti's work on her website at https://www.tinamalti.com/. - Go to the CCDMP website for more information https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/ccdmp/.

This is, once again, a VIEW to the U first: it’s a Part II continuation of another episode with guests Mary-Rebekah Reyes and her brother Romario, just in time for Halloween to talk about their short horror film Short Drop. It is audio from the chat with them in September 2023, however it contains some spoilers on their film Short Drop. So, if you don’t want the plot of the film ruined for you, please stop listening and go and watch the film now: it is available through Liquid Matter Studios’ YouTube Channel; link below. We talk a bit more about Trinbagonian folkloric characters and they also divulge some technical and creative insights that make that final shot of the film so iconic. Resources - You can view the short (9-minute) horror film Short Drop through the Liquid Matter Studios' YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdW08LVSkHc. - Listen to both Mary-Rebekah and Romario Reyes on the recent episode of VIEW to the U: https://soundcloud.com/user-642323930/mary-rebekah-reyes-and-romario-reyes. - Also see the article "Family, filmmaking, and folklore" at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/family-filmmaking-and-folklore. - Also see the article "Short Drop screening leads to long-lasting contemplation and admiration" at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/short-drop-screening-leads-long-lasting-contemplation-and-admiration. - To get in touch with any members of the Short Drop team, their social media handles are the following: Romario Reyes is on Twitter https://twitter.com/Romariojreyes?t=NoI8NiTJma1VZbmOv2KmmA&s=08 and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/romariojosereyes/. Mary-Rebekah Reys is on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/merr.rebeks/ and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-rebekah-reyes-a54003292/. Liquid Matter Studios is on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/liquidmatterstudios/ and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@LiquidMatterStudios.

Community support, love, and art On this episode of VIEW to the U, Mary-Rebekah Reyes and Romario Reyes, a sister and brother team and a truly dynamic duo, talk about Short Drop, a short film they made together – Romario was the writer and director, and Mary-Rebekah produced it. Short Drop has recently made the rounds at film festivals over the past few months – notably the Film and Folklore Festival in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival in Toronto – and it will be celebrated at a special watch party at UTM on October 25, 2023. Over the course of this interview, Mary-Rebekah and Romario also talk about art and creativity, as well as the ins and outs of working on creative projects with family, and what’s on the horizon for them both. They also discuss the long line of artists they stem from, and how family has played a significant part of their community, influencing and contributing to their creative pursuits throughout their lives.

The value of community engagement in academia On this episode of VIEW to the U, Andreas Bendlin, a faculty member in the Department of Historical Studies, and UTM’s current Vice-Dean, Academic Experience, touches on his work in Classics & Roman History, with expertise in ancient religion and ancient civilizations, in many areas, but particularly in the Graeco-Roman world. But he provides insight with regards to the two portfolios that he oversees within the Deans’ Office at UTM: Academic Integrity, which has many interesting challenges arising right now, as well as Experiential Education, an area in which UTM has particularly thrived over the past few years, providing students with many unique opportunities to gain valuable and practical experience outside of the classroom to better prepare them for future career paths. Resources - A full transcipt of the interview is available at https://uoft.me/9Lg. - Learn more about Professor Bendlin's work from his website at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/people/andreas-bendlin. - Learn more about UTM's Academic Integrity Unit at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/academic-integrity/. - Learn more about UTM's Experiential Education Unit at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/experience/. - The Research Opportunity Program can be found at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/experience/rop. - See all the Lecture Me! events at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/experience/events/lecture-me-series.

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Professor Andreas Hilfinger talks a bit about his work in Chemical & Physical Sciences, but we also get to hear about the work of Professor Meghan Sutherland from Visual Studies. It's a bit of a film review with two brilliant UTM researchers, and we are talking about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie – both undoubtedly THE films of the summer that had so much buzz around them, with a return to theatres in a big event way, And I actually need to sometimes remind myself that I have access to the smartest people around to discuss these kinds of things – in this case pop culture. So, today, as a way to cap off summer and this season, we are going to the movies, and it’s a double feature! Resources - For a full transcript of the episode, go to https://uoft.me/9E1 - For more on Professor Hilfinger's work, go to his website at https://www.hilfinger.group/ - For more on Professor Sutherland's work, go to her website at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dvs/people/meghan-sutherland - Prof Hilfinger mentioned the Opinionated History of Mathematics podcast and it can be found at https://intellectualmathematics.com/opinionated-history-of-mathematics/ - Prof Sutherland mentioned Michel Serres the Variations of the Body, https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/variations-on-the-body#:~:text=World%2Drenowned%20philosopher%2C%20Michel%20Serres,clowns%2C%20artisans%2C%20and%20artists., Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut of The Lost Daughter https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9100054/, and the Lying Life of Adults https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12708140/; both the Lost Daughter and Lying Life of Adults are Elena Ferrante adaptations.

In honour of Canadian Multiculturalism Day, which comes around each year on June 27, on VIEW to the U, we are talking about identity that directly correlates to the language that we use. On this episode, featured guest, Professor Ai Taniguchi talks about her work as a linguist in UTM’s Department of Language Studies, as well as her art, which animates and illustrates much of her scholarly pursuits. Ai specializes in semantics and pragmatics – for those of us who need a primer, or a refresher, as the case may be - she explains both over the course of this interview. But she also goes into detail about the graphics-based project she spearheaded: L’IMAGE, which stands for Language, Identity, Multiculturalism and Global Empowerment. L’IMAGE is a project that brings the lived experiences of multilingual UofT students, both domestic and international, to life in the form of comics. In our chat, she is also very candid speaking about her recent diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – ADHD for short. Ai feels that neurodiversity, which basically means a person’s brain works differently than someone with a brain and way of learning that is considered “neurotypical,” should be discussed more often and be less stigmatized. She says it is her own neurodiversity that has fed her creativity and fuelled her art and innovative pursuits, like the L’IMAGE project. Resources - A full transcript of this interview is available at https://uoft.me/9qg. - Visit Professor Ai Taniguchi's website at https://www.lingcomics.com/. - Her Twitter handle is https://twitter.com/LinguistAiT. - Her Instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/linguistait/. - For Pan Cooke, the illustrator CD mentioned (who does dating as well as social justice-related comics), go to his instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/thefakepan/?hl=en.

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Nick Rule, UTM’s new Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean, and a professor from the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, talks about his research related to social cognition, and how first impressions can persist in colouring our perceptions of people. He is a leading expert on the concept of “gaydar,” among other related areas, such as racial bias, religious ideology, and social behaviour. On this episode, he also discusses the humility that can help drive progress in academia, as well as the “imposter syndrome,” something that Nick has written about in the past, and is also very candid about discussing – both in reconciling his own occasional feelings of being an ‘outsider looking in,’ along with the value that having the imposter syndrome can actually bring to our respective ways of being. Resources - For a full transcript of this episode, please see https://uoft.me/9k5. - To find out more about Professor Rule's research, see the Social Perception & Cognition Laboratory at https://rule.psych.utoronto.ca/. - Read the article that accompanies this episode: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/rule-school. - To read the article referenced in this episode on "imposter syndrome," see "Common Academic Experiences No One Talks About: Repeated Rejection, Impostor Syndrome, and Burnout," in the journal Perspective on Psychological Science (Volume 15, Issue 3) at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691619898848 (you may need to access via institutional sign-in).

Stewards of Sustainability The Curb the Rain team, who placed first in the Rain It In Competition in 2021, includes Lauren O’Malley, Nandaraye Choi, Borys Brodziuk, and Tina Elliott. The Curb the Rain team were accepted into the Leap Startup League program presented by ICUBE UTM and Sheridan EDGE. They were also finalists in the Early Stage Finalists category among 4 other start-ups, and they successfully won the ‘Sauga Pitch and Showcase presented by ICUBE UTM, Sheridan EDGE and Mississauga Business Enterprise Centre (MBEC) in December 2021. In addition, they were accepted into the Foresight Canada Clean Tech Acceleration Program in January 2022. Their project proposes an innovative, low-impact solution for the outdated storm water management systems that aims to tackle storm water before it - and the subsequent pollutants – get into the sewer systems. The Curb the Rain team suggests a redesign of existing curb infrastructure with permeable concrete that would withstand the impacts of climate change and mitigate its impacts. Hear about their challenges and triumphs in the latest episode of VIEW to the U. Resources - A full transcript of this interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-mscsm-students-imi - Find out more about the MScSM program at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/mscsm/

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Professor Doug VanderLaan from UofT Mississauga's Department of Psychology talks about his work in the Biopsychosocial Investigations of Gender Laboratory – or the BIG lab for short - and this interview highlights Doug's work in gender diversity and gender expression. In the BIG lab, Doug has several lines of research running, including a Neuroimaging Study of Transgender Adolescents and Adults, which investigates brain development and unique brain characteristics among Canadian adolescents who experience gender dysphoria, which is “distress due to an incongruence between birth-assigned and experienced gender.” However, on today’s episode we cover some of the other programs of research in the BIG lab, notably Doug’s work investigating the variations of gender expression in ongoing cross-cultural studies with collaborators in Thailand and China, and some of the ways in which Thai society is unique in their gender expression, as well as his lab’s exploration of potential interventions to decrease mental health risk in youth and broaden children’s acceptance of gender diversity, which has the potential for longer lasting acceptance. We also talk about International Transgender Day of Visibility and his outreach to make these particular issues a year-round and continuous focus. March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility: this episode is meant to mark this occasion and hopefully add to the dialogue of social acceptance of people who are transgender. Resources - Doug VanderLaan's website is https://sites.utm.utoronto.ca/biglab/content/home - A full transcript of the interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-doug-vanderlaan-psychology - Read accompanying profile related to Doug's work https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/big-lab-broad-aims

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Ajay Rao, an associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies, and UTM’s current Vice-Dean, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, talks about his work, including the Global Past project, which recently received funding with a University of Toronto Connaught Global Challenge Award, and is an undertaking that unites several UofT researchers as well as international collaborators. Ajay discusses the importance of humanities research, as well as the various initiatives on the horizon and collective efforts to foster a greater sense of community within the graduate studies and postdoctoral community to make UTM a destination for students looking to pursue their master’s and doctoral degrees. Resources - For more on Professor Rao's work, see his website at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/people/ajay-k-rao - A full transcript of the interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-professor-ajay-rao.

Taking the plunge into podcasting and floundering at university This episode of VIEW to the U features two UofT Mississauga undergraduate students from different disciplines who found common ground in their relation to academic failures – but also successes along the way. Harleen Kundan and Loridee De Villa were able to turn their experiences and discussions into a 12-part podcast series, called Fish Outta Water, to help other students, who are just starting out on their own university journeys, stay afloat.

Have you ever wondered about what all the role of a Dean entails? Well, we have got a guest for that: on this episode of VIEW to the U, UofT Mississauga’s current Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean Amrita Daniere fills us in on the joys and the challenges associated with serving in this role at UTM, as well as some of her priorities for the UTM campus. Amrita Daniere also talks about her research related to informal settlements, housing, and urban infrastructure around the world, but particularly in cities of the Global South, with much effort devoted to Southeast Asia. This episode is dedicated to Professor Barbara Murck from UTM's Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, who was an exceptional member of the UTM community and has impacted the campus and UofT immeasurably. She passed away suddenly in October 2022. Resources: Kudoboard for Barbara Murck is at https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/Onj9a3Nf. A full transcript of this interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-professor-amrita-daniere.

The guest on this episode of VIEW to the U, Professor Ruba Kana'an, a historian of Islamic art in the Department of Visual Studies at UofT Mississauga, talks about art and architecture, how it enriches our lives, what we can learn from it, and the stories it tells about people and places. Ruba also talks about her history with the work she has done with museums, particularly her association with the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto as part of their leadership and outreach team, and how those associations have informed her research.

A sweeping scholarly smorgasbord On this episode of VIEW to the U, the guest is Zoë Wool, an assistant professor from UTM’s Department of Anthropology. Very few researchers cover as much ground in a research program as Zoë does, and over the course of this interview, Zoë talks about this range of work, which spans medical and sociocultural anthropology, and examines the harms of war and toxic burn pits that the US military use around the world, as well as her focus on disability and technology studies, queer theory, and feminist science studies. Zoë also talks about how she got into this area of research in the first place, she imparts some words of advice for other people who are also just starting out at UTM, particularly students, what her strategies are for mitigating stress, and also some interesting little-known facts about her days prior to becoming an academic. Zoë is also the Director of a newly launched feminist research space focused on experimental approaches to studying toxicity, waste and infrastructure across the social sciences and humanities. The TWIG Research Kitchen is based with Zoë in the Anthropology department at UTM, with additional support from UTM’s Collaborative Digital Research Space (CDRS) and also the Critical Digital Humanities Initiative (CDHI). Zoë joined the faculty at UTM in 2020. Resources - Zoë Wool's website for more information about her research https://www.zoewool.com/ - TWIG Research Kitchen https://www.twigresearchkitchen.org/ - For a full transcript, go to https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/sites/files/vp-research/shared/pdfs/ZW-transcribed%2CJan-2021.pdf

This episode of VIEW to the U features Professor Alana Ogata from UTM’s Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences. Over the course of this interview, Alana talks about her bioanalytical chemistry research that measures proteins, which are at the root of all biological functions and processes and has relevance for disease diagnostics and treatment. Alana is also particularly interested in investigating biomarkers in relation to women’s health. But also, Alana is committed to mentorship and animating equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia by discussing and fostering these considerations with her students and trainees. A full transcript of the episode is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/sites/files/vp-research/shared/images/AO-transcribedVTTU%2CDec-2021.pdf.

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Drs. Katie Harris-Howard, Elizabeth Parke, Dmitry Pichugin, and Vera Velasco from the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research at UofT Mississauga, talk about their roles as Senior Research Associates or SRA. So, what is an SRA? At their core, they are educators and academics in their own right, with established programs of research and expertise in their respective disciplines – in this case, cellular neurobiology, visual culture, biophysics, and plant physiology. And as part of their roles at UTM, they oversee a Core Facility. Find out more on this episode of VIEW to the U. A full transcript of the interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/sites/files/vp-research/shared/SRA-transcribed%2CNov-2021.pdf.

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Professor Kristen Bos from UTM’s Department of Historical Studies talks about her research on Indigenous feminisms, with among other things, considers the past, present, and future of seed beads. These little beads that have been used by Indigenous communities for thousands of years, vary in size but usually measure no more than 5 mm – or for a sense of scale, a bit smaller than a sesame seed – they tell stories, govern lands, and they have even been used as currencies, and on this edition of the podcast, Kristen covers all of this in fine detail, including how seed bead creations can be likened to a virus, how they help frame history, and how seed beads are “a visual reference to colonization,” but also to Indigenous futures. A full transcript of this interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/sites/files/vp-research/shared/KB-transcribed%2COct-2021.pdf. Resources - For more on Professor Bos's work visit her website https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/people/kristen-bos. - Kristen mentioned Indigenous artist Ruth Cuthand's seed bead work: https://www.ruthcuthand.ca/. - Kristen mentioned the article by Professors Eve Tuck and Karyn Recollet: "Introduction to Native Feminist Texts," https://bit.ly/3pTGd90. - Kristen also mentioned the exhibit curated by Lisa Myers: "Beads, they're sewn so tight" https://textilemuseum.ca/event/beads-theyre-sewn-so-tight/. - Kristen mentioned the following books as recommended reading: A Third University is Possible by la paperson https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/a-third-university-is-possible, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/605415/wayward-lives-beautiful-experiments-by-saidiya-hartman/9780393285673, and Theory by Dionne Brand https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/564847/theory-by-dionne-brand/9780735274259. - Lastly, the Reservation Dogs series by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi is the TV show she was enjoying lately. Highly recommend! https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/reservation-dogs

To kick off this new season of VIEW to the U, we are picking up where we left off – with representation from UTM’s Department of Psychology – but this time around the featured guests are two new faculty members, Professors Anna Kosovicheva and Benjamin Wolfe, co-directors of the Applied Perception and Psychophysics Lab, or APPLY Lab, that was recently established at UTM. Anna and Ben are helping me launch the new season: “Without further ado” is the theme for the year, and throughout this season, I will introduce some of the new people from UTM’s vibrant and ever-growing research community. Over the course of this interview, Anna and Ben talk about their research in the APPLY lab, which focuses on how we take in information, particularly visual perception and overall how vision works, and the applications for activities such as driving and reading. We also talk about some of their out-of-the-lab pursuits and the creative ways they spend some of their free time. A full transcript of this interview is at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/sites/files/vp-research/shared/images/BW-AK-transcribed.pdf. Resources: You can learn more about the APPLY lab at https://applylab.org/index.html Also see the companion piece for this podcast at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/news/setting-sights The books and shows both Ben and Anna mentioned they recently enjoyed are the following: The Golden Emperor by Katharine Addison The Witness for the Dead by Katharine Addison This is How you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone The Great British Baking Show The Great Canadian Baking Show