2023-2024 SPICE Projects
*Projects with an asterisk were awarded SPICE funds as a part of the Winter 2024 Off-Cycle Pilot program.
American Politics Student Workshop
Participating Department(s): Political Science
Contact: Chenoa Yorgason chenoa@stanford.edu
The American Politics Student Workshop is a gathering that aims to help graduate students present their research and share budding ideas in a helpful, low-stakes environment. It also provides participating students with a fuller understanding of the field of American politics. Weekly meetings comprise student presentations of research projects at all stages, conversations on the profession, and close readings and discussions on new or influential works within the field. This group brings together students who might otherwise not discuss research together: substantive student interests include race, gender, religion, congress, local politics, media, extremism. Methodologies span from surveys and survey experiments to administrative data collections. Participant seniority in the field also varies, encompassing both new and senior graduate students.
AMO Student Seminar (pizzAMO)
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physics, Structural Biology
Contact: Gabriel Moreau moreauga@stanford.edu
PizzAMO is a biweekly lunchtime seminar series for graduate students and post-docs interested in learning more about topics in the fields of Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) physics and photonics. PizzAMO is organized in collaboration with two graduate Volunteer Student Organizations: the Stanford Optical Society and the Graduate Students of Applied Physics and Physics. PizzAMO's mission is to provide a low-stress environment in which students can present on an AMO/photonics topic of interest to them, allowing them to both learn or refresh their knowledge of this topic and share it with the PizzAMO community via a blackboard talk. In general, this has given an opportunity for more senior graduate students to transfer knowledge to more junior graduate students. PizzAMO has also been a great opportunity for junior graduate students to practice their qualifying exam talks.
Art History Research Seminars*
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, History, Modern Thought and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Emily Chun emchun@stanford.edu
The goal of this proposed project is to enhance the intellectual community of graduate students who work on art history. There are many extraordinarily interesting research projects happening in the Department of Art and Art History (which encompasses three subfields: art history, art practice, and film/media studies—the project’s target audience), but the disruptive nature of COVID upended established practices of academic research sharing. This project aims to provide a centralized, consistent avenue through which faculty and advanced graduate candidates in the department can share their research projects. Currently, there is no such avenue. There is a palpable, much-expressed need for research seminars that will generate dialogue around our respective projects and strengthen the intellectual core of our department. These research seminars will also double as professional development workshops, as participants will be able to ask wide-ranging questions regarding their academic career choices and the like.
Asian American Theory at the Interdiscipline*
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, East Asian, Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, Education, English, History, Interdisciplinary Studies in the, Humanities, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature, Psychology, Sociology, Theater and Performance Studies"
Contact: Jennifer Lee leejen@stanford.edu
Asian American Theory at the Interdiscipline is a group of scholars in humanities and social science departments working within the multidisciplinary field of Asian American studies. We provide space to read and discuss current scholarship in the field addressing topics including racialization, diaspora, identity, politics, literature, and culture. Our goal is to provide a space for community-building and professionalization for students who might otherwise feel isolated or alone in working on Asian American topics within their own departments. We hope to expose graduate students to a variety of theoretical, disciplinary, and methodological approaches within the field and to create a community where our work is enriched by each others’ differing disciplinary approaches. Over the winter and spring quarters we will meet to discuss a range of texts on Asian America over biweekly lunch.
bioBUDS (Building Up Developing Scientists)
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Genetics, Immunology, Mathematics, Medical Scientist Training Program, Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurobiology, Pediatrics
Contact: Taylar Hammond taylar@stanford.edu
Website: https://biobuds.sites.stanford.edu
bioBUDS presents an innovative opportunity for graduate students to practice and expand their STEM education toolkit before entering the workforce. bioBUDS facilitates community for education-interested graduate students to connect both professionally and personally and establishes scaffolded training and practice for graduate students interested in both undergraduate mentorship and leading self-designed courses. Specifically, we offer a flexible curriculum of peer-directed workshops for teaching mentorship, pedagogical skills, and course design.
Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Action Committee (ChemE GSAC)
Participating Department(s): Chemical Engineering
Contact: Gaurav Kamat gkamat@stanford.edu
We are Chemical Engineering students working on enriching the intellectual community and experience of the Stanford ChemE Graduate Student body. We organize events for mentorship, professional development, and social cohesion as well as programs that serve needs unaddressed by the department. These events include first and second year mentorship; qualifying exam preparation; advisor selection lunches; yearly convocation featuring later-stage PhD candidates, new faculty, and alumni speakers; career development sessions and workshops; and intra-/inter- departmental social mixers. ChemE GSAC also represents the voices of PhD and Masters students to work towards a better community in collaboration with the department.
Colloquium on Media Studies
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, Modern Thought and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Grace Han ghahahan@stanford.edu
Though media studies-inspired talks persist on-campus, there are few spaces for graduate students to talk amongst themselves. In the interdisciplinary spirit of the non-discipline, this colloquium aims to carve out a monthly forum for students interested in media studies to discuss current debates in the field and workshop their works-in-progress. In so doing, we aim to build a more robust community of practitioners, historians, and theorists interested in media theory here at Stanford.
Condensed Matter Journal Club
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Biophysics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physics
Contact: Josephine Yu jjy@stanford.edu
The goal of the journal club is to foster intellectual collaboration and encourage conversations between members of different groups. Condensed matter physics is a diverse field, with fundamental and applied research approached through theory and experiment. 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. We generally hold these meetings over lunch or dinner, encouraging a friendly and relaxed environment.
Conscious Correspondence
Participating Department(s): Epidemiology and Clinical Research, International Policy Studies
Contact: Skylar Coleman skylarzc@stanford.edu
As popular approaches to connection building find a dependency on digital spaces, we aim to engage Stanford's community of emerging professionals on the impact of letter writing. Our project encourages Stanford students to engage with physical correspondence through three distinct frames: history, art, and communication. Applying these as a program structure, our project consists of three frame-specific events each quarter provided as workshops and guest speaker seminars. The project offers a reflective discourse on epistolary history, inspiration for creative engagement, and well-rounded tools for strengthening interpersonal relationships, all while highlighting the incredible interdisciplinary work on the subject by current Stanford-affiliates.
Core Texts in Theory Reading Group
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Studies, English, French and Italian, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Slavic Languages and Literature, Sociology, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Ido Keren ikeren@stanford.edu
This interdisciplinary, graduate-oriented reading group will come together each quarter to read together a major theoretical work in the humanities and social sciences that have come to be a major influence, and that is still a staple of contemporary work being done in these fields. The group will meet bi-weekly over the quarter, reading selected portions of the text and discussing it in detail each session.
Critical Asian Studies Working Group*
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Jennifer Lee leejen@stanford.edu
The Critical Asian Studies Working Group is a community of scholars working on topics in or adjacent to Asia who are invested in developing scholarship that rethinks traditional area studies paradigms. We meet to read and discuss emergent scholarship that challenges the modes and assumptions of Asian studies as it arose as an area studies discipline; workshop and offer feedback on each others’ work; and meet guest speakers who are either scholars at Stanford or who are visiting campus for other events. We especially aim to be intentional in creating space to center those working on regions less visible within area studies models, such as minoritized and diasporic communities. Ours is an interdisciplinary cohort working across disciplines and fields including literature, history, science and technology studies, and ethnic studies.
Critically Conscious Young Adult Literature Book Club
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Comparative Literature, Education, English, Master of Liberal Arts, Modern Thought and Literature
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. 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.
Cross Stanford FOW (Future of Work)
Participating Department(s): Business, Computer Science, Education, Symbolic Systems
Contact: David Peran davperan@stanford.edu
Cross Stanford Future of Work aims to cultivate an interdisciplinary intellectual community deeply engaged in exploring the dynamics of the evolving work landscape. Recognizing the profound workplace transformations driven by technology, artificial intelligence, and societal trends, we aim to prepare the next generation of leaders to effectively navigate these shifts. Our target audience includes students and faculty across all disciplines, with a particular emphasis on workforce development, education and training, and industry-sponsored credentials. We will foster intellectual engagement through a comprehensive program of activities, including curated professional resources, thematic brown bag lunches/dinner series covering topics such as reskilling, the impact of AI, and frontline work, speaker events featuring industry thought leaders, and alumni mixers promoting cross-generational dialogue and networking.
Exploring Transition Pathways for a Sustainable Energy Future
Participating Department(s): All Civil & Environmental Engineering. Earth System Science. Earth Systems Program. Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Energy Resources Engineering
Contact: June Choi junechoi@stanford.edu
Climate change is a defining challenge of this century, and rapidly scaling down global emissions while achieving a just transition within and across countries requires interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration. This group brings together students across a variety of disciplines from climate science, engineering, economics and policy to discuss transition pathways for addressing the climate crisis and securing a sustainable energy future. The group will meet regularly to discuss and attend events on topics including: the role of negative emissions technologies, integrity in net zero and sustainable finance targets, and the social cost of carbon. Discussions will feature graduate student research, invited scholars as well as practitioners who are actively working on these critical topics.
Franz Fanon Reading Group*
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Yasin Al-Amin jersey12@stanford.edu
Franz Fanon was an Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist and decolonial philosopher from the French colony of Martinique who dedicated the latter part of his life to writing and fighting against French colonialism in the middle of the 20th Century. In homage to Fanon, this reading group will focus on wrestling through his groundbreaking works, starting with "The Wretched of the Earth". This project addresses the need to discuss the work of philosophers who generated ideas from the periphery of the world-system -- far away from the Eurocentric grips of what has come to be known as the collective "west". The principal goals of this project are to disseminate Fanon's ideas within the philosophical community and beyond at Stanford, and to contribute to the disciplinary movement to canonize Fanon as a philosopher in his own right who challenges and towers alongside the traditional figures in European philosophy.
Fronds: An Environmental Justice Storytelling Anthology*
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Communication, Comparative Literature, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, Education, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, English, Health Research & Policy, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Philosophy, Political Science, Public Policy, Sociology, Stanford Global Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Tanvi Dutta Gupta tanvidg@stanford.edu
Fronds, a Stanford anthology of environmental justice storytelling, aims to archive and unite the storytelling the broader Stanford community is making around themes of environmental, social, and racial justice through an event series and book. In our STEM-dominated campus, focused on deliverables and experiments, as conversations grow around what it means to enable environmental justice, our community needs spaces that allow them to imagine beyond the current (injust) status quos. Storytelling offers that opportunity to think beyond the immediately practical to the radically possible, but spaces for those stories are few. We will launch a second edition of our anthology, as a 200-page book collecting artwork, essays, and multimedia. Alongside the anthology, we will hold a series of writing and art workshops on EJ storytelling and reading events in collaboration with Earthtones. Fronds asserts and affirms the power of EJ storytelling at Stanford, now and to come.
Future of Edvolution Podcast
Participating Department(s): Business, Communication, Comparative Medicine, Computer Science, Economics, Education, Medicine, Neurosciences, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology, Sociology
Contact: Chinat Yu chinat@stanford.edu
Website: https://chinatyu.super.site/content-essays/the-future-of-edvolution
The Future of Edvolution Podcast aims to explore the changing landscape of education through interdisciplinary discussions with experts in technology, education, and societal impact. By interviewing diverse learners, teachers, scholars, community leaders, and entrepreneurs, the podcast intends to provide a comprehensive understanding of the changing educational landscape. The discussions will be backed by research, data, and frameworks to empower listeners to embrace the emerging trends in education.
The podcast addresses the need for understanding and adapting to educational trends, targeting educators, learners, and institutions. Featuring interviews and panel discussions, it offers valuable insights and perspectives on the latest developments in education. The discussions will be structured, starting with the future of education from the perspectives of the learner, educator, and institution, followed by an exploration of the broader societal implications. Finally, it will discuss actionable steps for administrators, teachers, and learners to prepare for and adapt to this future.
Graduate Workshop in Science, Technology, and Society
Participating Department(s): All, Anthropology, Communication, Education, History, Modern Thought and Literature, Sociology
Contact: Emilia Groupp egroupp@stanford.edu
Our goal is to enhance the development of doctoral students in humanities and social sciences whose research concerns questions around technology, medicine, 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. 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.
Healing and Harm in Religious Practice
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Classics, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Jonas Tai jonastai@stanford.edu
As part of a universal human concern for well-being, issues of bodily health and harm and their embodied ritual practices constitute a complex cultural and social nexus that implicate individuals, their communities, and broader transcendental forces. This interdisciplinary workshop is intended to serve as a site for open, collegial discussion on topics related to rituals of healing and harm within contemporary and historical religious practice, broadly construed. By bringing together graduate students from across the humanities and social sciences, we aim to foster an inter-departmental community that engages with a range of theories, methods, and comparative examples to enrich our research within our home departments, particularly towards dissertation writing. Programming will include informal works-in-progress presentations for feedback and discussion on written work, guest lectures, and reading discussions.
Healthcare Product Leadership Series by MCiM (Stanford Medicine)*
Participating Department(s): Business, Health Research & Policy, Medicine
Contact: Audrey Adrianne Vy vyaudrey@stanford.edu
Introducing the Healthcare Product Leadership Series by MCiM, a unique initiative comprising six dinner events strategically hosted around the Stanford campus. With a primary objective to foster meaningful connections between healthcare product startup leaders and Stanford students, this series aims to bridge the gap between tech culture and the intricacies of healthcare. Recognizing that healthcare licenses and clinical experience are invaluable components not easily acquired through traditional means, this series offers a distinctive opportunity to expose clinical professionals to the dynamic realm of health-tech. Beyond networking, the project aspires to establish a comprehensive directory of healthcare product leaders open to sponsoring future MCiM practicums, facilitating experiential learning and further enhancing the intersection of healthcare and technology.
Ingest to Digest - Promoting Discourse Around Barriers to Change in Healthcare Innovation*
Participating Department(s): Biomedical Informatics, Business, Computer Science, Health Research & Policy, Medicine
Contact: Derek Lim derekz@stanford.edu
Healthcare innovation is hard to get right because stakeholder management, not technology, is the barrier to entry . Prof Schienker, Director of SURF Stanford Medicine created a framework for successful healthcare innovation in institutions: 1. Technologically successful 2. Implementable 3. Derive Sustained value. This project promotes discourse around different healthcare entrepreneurs innovations, leading would-be innovators through this framework to maximize success of their projects. Each week, 1 innovator will pitch their current innovation followed by feedback through the lens of the aforementioned framework with clinical informatics students. Additionally, journal clubs will also be held to improve the knowledge base of all club members around successful technological innovation in healthcare.
Latin America and Caribbean Working Group (LACWG)
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, Education, History, Latin American Studies, Law, Modern Thought and Literature, Political Science, Sociology, Stanford Global Studies
Contact: Mercedes Martinez Milantchi mmmm@stanford.edu
Website: https://clas.stanford.edu/about/latin-american-working-groups
Founded in Winter 2018, LACWG was established in response to the serious disparity between the number of Stanford scholars whose research focus on Latin America and the quantity of graduate students whose field sites, research, and theoretical interest are rooted in the region. To address this gap, LACWG introduced bi-weekly structured workshop meetings with the support of the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Anthropology. To date, the principal activities of the working group have consisted of discussions of: 1) varying themes and research methodologies relevant to current student research; 2) works-in-progress by both PhD students and senior scholars in a collegial environment; and 3) interdisciplinary exchange of research ideas and plans. With SPICE’s support, the working group will be able to sustain and expand this collaborative, interdisciplinary, and idea-oriented space for graduate students to ground their research in a collectively-developed understanding of Latin America.
Literary Sociology Reading Group*
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, English, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Modern Thought and Literature, Philosophy, Slavic Languages and Literature, Sociology
Contact: Lydia Burleson, burlseson@stanford.edu
The Literary Sociology working group brings together humanists across departments to engage in scholarship in literary sociology and cultural criticism. Our working group meets weekly throughout the academic year to discuss empirical methods in literature, art, and literary and art history and to explore “diagnoses of the present,” or socio-cultural theories that seek to explain “where we are now” in material terms. The aim of the group is to read both foundational and new texts in the field of literary sociology, share works-in-progress, and provide a regular meeting space for participants to share in new ideas. We also aim to bring authors and academics to speak to the group in the spring.
M&I DEI Expanded Learning Opportunities and Community Building
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Genetics, Health Research & Policy, Immunology, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurosciences, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Mary DeFeo mdefeo@stanford.edu
Science has been weaponized to promote inequities, and it is crucial that we learn about the true history of science, medicine, and research while reflecting on current issues to prevent further discrimination and build inclusive communities. To enhance the curriculum within the M&I Department and the Biosciences, we propose to provide structured learning in the form of speaker events that address social issues pertaining to science and medicine. By highlighting work from different fields (such as law, sociology, history, etc), we are promoting a diverse intellectual community that expands across the university and allows trainees the opportunity to engage with non-STEM perspectives. We also want to strengthen the exchange of knowledge within the M&I department through departmental workshops and mentoring programs to aid in our training as well-rounded scientists dedicated to creating a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive scientific community.
MASALA (Music, Arts, and Sciences: Advancing our Lives in Academia)
Participating Department(s): Music
Contact: Lorenzo Tunesi tunesi92@stanford.edu
MASALA brings together students from the four disciplines hosted within the music department: historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music composition, and computer research in music and acoustics. MASALA provides cross-disciplinary opportunities for connection 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.
Materials & Culture Research-Creation Workshop*
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Art & Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, Education, English, Geological Sciences, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Linguistics, Master of Liberal Arts, Materials Science and Engineering, Modern Thought and Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, Symbolic Systems, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Kelsey Chen kelschen@stanford.edu
The Material (&) Culture Research-Creation workshop fosters space for graduate students in the humanities broadly interested in material culture to learn through creation, combining experimentation, making, and critical/theoretical approaches to historical material. Through discussions and workshops led by local artisans and creatives, as well as site visits to local studios and makerspaces, MCRC bridges the gap between archival/theoretical research of material culture and embodied engagement with matter, providing students with a hands-on opportunity to learn about the crafts, techniques of making, and materials involved in their areas of research. Not only supporting interdisciplinary intellectual community for graduate students interested in material culture but also creating contact zones between scholars and local maker communities, MCRC supports community-engaged, collaborative, and embodied learning–addressing a critical lack in humanities graduate intellectual life. Students interested in our workshop topics, whose research may not be in the humanities, are also welcome.
Meeting of Astrophysics Students at Stanford (MASS)
Participating Department(s): Physics
Contact: Anthony Flores aflores7@stanford.edu
MASS is a students-only seminar series and journal club within the Physics department and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). Our main objective is to provide a comfortable, stress-free setting in which graduate students can practice presenting and receive feedback from their peers. In creating this comfortable learning space, we will support students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds, who are more likely to have “imposter syndrome,” and support the intellectual growth of all students involved. Students from all physics disciplines are encouraged to attend.
Multispecies Working Group
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Biology, Classics, Communication, Comparative Literature, Developmental Biology, Earth System Science, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, English, French and Italian, German Studies, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Slavic Languages and Literature, Sociology, Stanford Global Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Aaron Hopes ahopes@stanford.edu
Since the early 2000s, humanistic social science scholarship concerning animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms has proliferated with academic journals, international conferences and edited volumes in the fields of Animal Studies and Multispecies Studies, renewing the global academy’s focus on the politics, ecologies, and economies of nonhumans. The biological sciences have seen renewed emphasis on research at the level of organism, ecosystem, and landscape ecology. The Multispecies Working Group at Stanford hosts guest speakers and workshops which catalyze dialogue across disciplines and schools. Via dialogue with scholars, activists, and artists engaging Multispecies Studies, we will improve our own research through exposure to the many growing techniques of investigating animals and their worlds. Taking a “multispecies” approach to the social and biological sciences, the group embodies the “shared conviction” that the “question of the animal” ought to be seen as one of the “central issues in contemporary critical discourse”. (Calarco 2008: 1)
Postcolonial Reading Group
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, English, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature
Contact: Carmen Thong tcarmen@stanford.edu
This postcolonial reading group will provide an opportunity for graduate students to read and engage with texts to do with colonialism, post-colonialism, and anti-colonialism. During meetings (roughly 3 times a quarter), participants will discuss titles that are selected by the group at the beginning of the year. This reading group will provide opportunities for graduate students working in postcolonial studies to find intellectual community with each other, and for graduate students who are curious about the field to learn in a low stakes and welcoming environment. The group will also periodically invite speakers to help us expand our thinking about texts.
Quantum Information Journal Club*
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics
Contact: Cesar Lema cl4393@stanford.edu
It's about time we have a Quantum Information journal club! Quantum information theory has revolutionized our understanding of quantum many body physics and computation but remains a mystery to many graduate students despite being an integral part of our physics/applied physics and related research. We dive into this mysterious subject through student led pedagogical and research presentations which will make us better quantum researchers and scientists. We plan to accomplish this through weekly Journal club meetings presenting and discussing quantum information topics with a focus on a specific subfield of quantum information every quarter to serve as a focal point of our discussions. We recognize inputs from different fields and perspectives are crucial for a robust intellectual community and we welcome any interested students and encourage interdisciplinary conversations.
Queer Perspectives Speaker Series
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Nora Enright nenright@stanford.edu
Queer Perspectives is a speaker series that empowers queer Stanford students (undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral) to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by hosting successful queer academics and professionals from those fields to talk about their experience and the intersection of their identity and career. The Queer Perspectives Speaker Series is coordinated by the Stanford Chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM@Stanford) and provides an opportunity for networking, community building, and professional development between students and openly queer individuals advanced in their careers.
Reading Group for Physically-Inspired AI in Imaging*
Participating Department(s): Electrical Engineering
Contact: Cindy Nguyen cindyn@stanford.edu
We want to start a reading group for students interested in Physically-Inspired AI in Imaging. There is currently no group for students interested in these topics to convene and discuss topics and ideas collaboratively. The target audience is CS and EE students interested in physically-inspired AI. We believe these weekly meetings can be a fertile breeding ground for interdisciplinary ideas.
RNA Club
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Developmental Biology, Genetics, Immunology, Medical Scientist Training Program, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurobiology, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Neurosciences, Pathology, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Becca Rodell rodell@stanford.edu
The purpose of RNA Club is to bring together RNA biologists from diverse fields to discuss ongoing work and to build an RNA community on Stanford’s campus. We connect RNA biologists spread across different labs and departments at all stages of training. Monthly research-in-progress talks feature trainees speaking about their projects related to RNA biology, followed by time for community building through casual conversation over food. Furthermore, we provide professional development and career exploration through engagement with RNA biologists in non-academic careers through an annual panel featuring outside professionals.
Science and Technology Studies Film Forum
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Communication, Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Education, History, Modern Thought and Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Symbolic Systems, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Rebecca Lewis beccalew@stanford.edu
The STS Film Forum arranges monthly screenings and discussions of films that deal substantively with issues in science and technology. Films do cultural work by encouraging societies to think critically about science and technology. They also inspire us to think imaginatively about other possible futures for the world. We plan to host monthly screenings of films about science and technology and host discussions with scholars (PhD Candidates, Stanford professors, or outside speakers) with relevant expertise on the film’s topic. We hope these viewings and discussions will provide graduate students the opportunity to think deeply about the ways culture and technology shape one another and build an intellectual community with fellow scholars interested in these questions across multiple disciplines. These screenings also serve as a pedagogical tool for students who plan to teach STS-related topics in new ways or want to incorporate films as “texts” into their academic work.
Scientists Speak Up
Participating Department(s): Earth Systems Program, Education, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Law, Medicine
Contact: Mallory Harris mharris9@stanford.edu
Website: sci-speak-up@lists.stanford.edu
Scientists Speak Up offers workshops, seminars, and social events focus on countering misinformation about scientific topics. Our organization recognizes the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to these issues, connecting scholars of law, communications, history, public policy, and psychology, with scientists to help understand the roots of and solutions to science denial and medical mistrust. By understanding the parallels between misinformation about widespread scientific topics including climate change, vaccines, nuclear energy, GMOs, and smoking, we can start to develop systems-level approaches to build information literacy and improve how science is conducted and disseminated. We also offer opportunities to learn from journalists and science communicators working across social media platforms and practice developing original content.
So What Are You Working On (SWAYWO) Conference
Participating Department(s): Education
Contact: Megan Selbach-Allen mselbach@stanford.edu
Website: https://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.
Sound Humanities Reading Group
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Classics, English, History, Modern Thought and Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Matthew Gilbert mgpoietc@stanford.edu
The Sound Humanities Reading Group is an interdisciplinary community of scholars engaging in work that foregrounds critical attention to issues of epistemology and sound research methods. We ask: how do we ensure that the knowledge we produce as scholars is both experimental and methodical, that we remain willing to think outside disciplinary boxes without sacrificing academic rigor and legibility? This community brings together scholars from anthropology, theater & performance studies, sociology, philosophy, history, english, classics, music, modern thought and literature, art and art history, and religious studies for a weekly reading group that discusses academic literature in relation to our own developing research interests. Our purpose is to foster a collaborative, interdisciplinary space for developing scholars to engage with important and cutting-edge scholarship, share reading and research strategies, develop connections across departments, and get exposure to new ideas, new perspectives, and new colleagues.
Stanford Biotechnology Group (SBG)
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Business, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Developmental Biology, Medicine, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology, Urology
Contact: Joel Bateman batemanj@stanford.edu
Website: https://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. Our annual events include our career and summer internship panels, biotech landscape discussions, biotech company site visits, Startup Happy Hours etc. We also teach the popular INDE239 “Valuation of Public Companies in the Life Sciences” course.
Stanford Department of Biology Surf 'n' Turf Symposium
Participating Department(s): Biology
Contact: Ben Moran benmoran@stanford.edu
The Surf 'n' Turf Symposium helps Biology trainees communicate their research effectively, spark new collaborations across sub-disciplines, and develop professional skills in small-group workshops. This event will connect graduate students and postdocs from the Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey ("surf") and the main Stanford campus ("turf"). Through lightning talks, posters, and tours, we will encourage communication among biologists working in our department’s three main tracks: Cell, Molecular, and Organismal Biology, Ecology and Evolution, and Hopkins. This year, the symposium will be held at the Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey.
Stanford Founders Monthly Pitch Night*
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Mattia Mauro matmauro@stanford.edu
We have noticed a huge interest and demand from Stanford graduate students to present their startup ideas to their peers to find friends and partners for their venture, and for students interested in startups to find a team to join. Also people often lack teammates from a different background than theirs: MBAs look for technical cofounders and engineers look for MBAs. We have already done a pilot night where more than 10 ideas were presented and 80 people came. Each person is given one minute to present their idea and then we allow casual networking for an hour. We target all students, and especially graduate students, from all backgrounds. The audience at the first event was evenly split between engineers, MBAs and other schools.
Stanford Housing Equity Project
Participating Department(s): Health Research and Policy
Contact: Devon Lee devonlee@stanford.edu
Website: https://housingequity.stanford.edu/
Our project unites Stanford's graduate students to conduct service-focused research on homelessness, a challenge intertwined with health disparities. We have partnered with a number of community partners including LifeMoves, Silicon Valleys, largest shelter network, the United Effort Organization, a community-led nonprofit, and Valley Homeless Healthcare Program, a clinic. Ongoing research projects explore how housing specialists and behavioral interventions affect transitions to permanent housing. The outcomes will aid partner organizations in optimizing programs to enhance housing results. Participating students will gain insights into social determinants of health while designing research alongside community partners. Additionally, we offer direct service opportunities through a service learning course, MED 219, in which we equip volunteers with the requisite skills needed to engage as volunteer case managers. Finally, we will continue our speaking series alongside the Haas Center that debuted in the Winter 2023, featuring guests with expertise in housing-related issues and lived experience.
Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics Journal Club
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Physics
Contact: Sydney Timmerman sydneyt@stanford.edu
Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP) Journal Club aims to bring together graduate students interested in theoretical physics to learn about modern research topics together. It's often difficult for students to learn about where the current frontiers are in research, especially outside of their subfield. The goal of SITP Journal Club is to address this need by hosting weekly accessible and pedagogical talks on topics across the full spectrum of theory. This not only provides the opportunity for students to increase the breadth of their knowledge, but also helps welcome and integrate first-year students and build the community of SITP.
Stanford Jail & Prison Education Project
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Sophie Allen sallen2@stanford.edu
Website: https://cardinalservice.stanford.edu/opportunities/stanford-jail-prison-education-project-sjpep
Stanford Jail & Prison Education Project (SJPEP) 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 broader 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 Mathematics Directed Reading Program
Participating Department(s): Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics
Contact: Jared Marx-Kuo jmarxkuo@stanford.edu
Website: https://mathdrp.stanford.edu/
The Mathematics Directed Reading Program pairs undergraduate students with graduate student mentors one-on-one to meet weekly as they read a mathematical text over the course of a quarter. At the end of each quarter, the undergraduate participants meet for a colloquium and each give short talks about what they have 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 provide individual mentorship to our undergraduate participants.
Stanford Political Theory Graduate Conference
Participating Department(s): Philosophy, Political Science
Contact: Alexandra Minsk aminsk@stanford.edu
The Stanford Graduate Conference in Political Theory is an opportunity for students with normative political interests to present their work and receive feedback from the Stanford community of scholars. The conference strengthens the Stanford political theory community by 1) providing a professional development opportunity for graduate students to practice key skills such as selecting abstracts, providing commentary, and organizing logistics; and 2) connecting political theory students to scholars with normative political interests in other departments within the university and at other institutions.
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: http://polymer.stanford.edu
The Stanford Polymer Collective provides a collaborative environment for Stanford's macromolecular research community to build connections, develop professionally, and excel in a research environment. We provide numerous professional and academic opportunities while maintaining a strong commitment to outreach off-campus. Programs include 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.
Stanford Science Policy Group - Quarterly Action & Discussion (SSPG QUAD)
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: William Xu williamx@stanford.edu
Website: https://stanfordscipol.com/
Our project will foster structured community, collaboration, and action on science policy topics that empower students and leverage the intellectual richness available at Stanford beyond departments currently engaged in SSPG. This project will supplement SSPG with a structure that facilitates friendships and collaborations that keep students coming to SSPG and may lead to actionable policy (e.g., amicus briefs, advocating to lawmakers), which would otherwise require significant external time and energy investment. Our project will address the 21st-century need for interdisciplinary skills with a “science policy toolkit” that engages students in the breadth of science policy (ethics, communication, advocacy, etc.). We will dive into one science policy theme per quarter with regular social events, discussions, and learning opportunities that culminate in an opportunity to engage with policymakers.
Stanford-Berkeley Graduate Political Theory Colloquium
Participating Department(s): Classics, Modern Thought and Literature, Philosophy, Political Science
Contact: Malloy Owen owenmt@stanford.edu
In Spring 2023, the first Stanford-Berkeley graduate political theory colloquium was held, a one-day conference bringing together political theorists from our two universities. The colloquium was held in Berkeley (funded by Berkeley's department) and was a great success. We agreed to try to alternate year to year between the two schools, which would make it our turn to host in 2024. The idea is to have two or three students from each department present papers, which will then be discussed and critiqued first by a designated discussant, then by the group. We will also have some time to socialize and discuss work informally, including over meals. The intended outcome is useful paper comments from fresh readers; intellectual community; a broadening of our professional networks; and the development of stronger ties between the political theory programs at our two universities.
STATS: Student Talks in Applied and Theoretical Statistics
Participating Department(s): Statistics
Contact: Julie Zhang jyz27@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 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.
Studia Liberalia Lecture Series
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, Education, English, French and Italian, German Studies, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Slavic Languages and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Zach Haines zhaines@stanford.edu
Stanford Camerata is a collective of music scholars working on premodern topics. We broaden the reach and impact of music studies at Stanford by organizing multidisciplinary workshops, lectures, and performances that center music in the study of the past. Each quarter, we invite an external speaker to give a music-centered talk on our flagship lecture series, Studia Liberalia, which draws a multidisciplinary audience of students and faculty members in the humanities. Each talk concludes with a roundtable discussion featuring two Stanford professors who respond to and contextualize the lecture through critical lenses, positionalities, and historical frameworks associated with disciplines outside of music. The lecture and panel brings other disciplines into a greater conversation with musicology and equips students across the humanities with the skills and confidence to engage with music in their own research.
Tea Time with T-Shaped People
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Julia Lin juliajoy@stanford.edu
Tea Time with T-Shaped People is a recurring teatime event for curious individuals within the Stanford graduate community to engage with each other and learn about each other's passions. The aim of the project is to inspire dialogue and enhance communication skills by having people talk about their interests outside of their main area of study at Stanford. Overall, this teatime aims to enhance communication and presentation skills, encourage learning about a variety of topics, and foster a stronger sense of community at Stanford.
The Dish on Science
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Comparative Medicine, Developmental Biology, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Health Research & Policy, Immunology, Medical Scientist Training Program, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurobiology, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Neurosciences, Physics, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Katherine Nico knico@stanford.edu
Website: http://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 newly updated website, thedishonscience.stanford.edu, we write and post scientific articles targeted to an audience with an 8th grade science background. These articles are both crafted and peer-reviewed by club members through monthly workshops. We also hope to collaborate with other clubs focused on science outreach and education to further our goal of broader accessibility and interest in science. 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.
Transpacific Studies Working Group
Participating Department(s): Anthropology, Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, English, History, Latin American Studies, Modern Thought and Literature, Political Science, Religious Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Christine Xiong ccxiong@stanford.edu
Website: thedishonscience.stanford.edu
Transpacific studies is an emerging framework in the Humanities and Social Sciences that seeks to encompass work across geographies, languages, cultures, archives, and methodologies in the Pacific region. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, transnational focus, and wide-ranging scope, there are relatively few community spaces that can bring together transpacific thinkers who work across disparate (or even disconnected) fields such as Asian American Studies and East Asian Area Studies. This SPICE project would address this lack by creating a research collective for students whose projects span across or move between the Pacific. Project activities may include paper workshops, informal presentations, writing seminars, and other collaborative research efforts. Our target audience is graduate students across the Humanities and Social Sciences whose work relates to Asian Studies, Asian American studies, Pacific Islander and Global Indigenous studies, and those who examine historical, diplomatic, and cultural relationship between Asia and the Americas.
Water Resources Club
Participating Department(s): Business, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, Geophysics, Law
Contact: Ananya Jain aj22@stanford.edu
The water resources club at Stanford aims to bring together water enthusiasts in a proactive community. Through various activities, the club will engage with researchers, working professionals, and innovators to widen the horizons of our inquisitive student community. Our goal is to bring active dialogue to students at Stanford and let everyone interested in water find a space to share their ideas and enthusiasm.
Working Group on Narrative
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, Classics, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, English, French and Italian, German Studies, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies Music, Slavic Languages and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Ido Keren ikeren@stanford.edu
Website: https://novel.stanford.edu/programs-1
The WGN, which meets in person two to three times per quarter, aims to provide a space for the presentation and discussion of new work on narrative by advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Dinner and drinks are always provided, and papers are pre-circulated to facilitate engaged discussion. The tenor of the group is informal and collegial; the purpose is to help students get helpful feedback on work in progress in a supportive, low-stakes environment, and to engage in a public conversation with a respondent (often a faculty member) of their choice. The WGN is also committed to facilitating cross-disciplinary interaction. Our activity is directed and open to a wide audience interested in narrative, broadly conceived, and to scholars working in diverse fields.