Month: April 2021

Research and PhD info Night – 3/29/21

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IA Scholars alum Jacob Caponi came to share his experiences doing undergraduate research at Ohio State and his Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan. As an Economics and Math major, I am also interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics after I finish studying at Ohio State, so it was great to learn more about the application process and how getting funding for a Ph.D. program from universities works. At OSU, Jacob was involved in research with Dr. Hollie Nyseth Brehm from the Department of Sociology, where he studied the Rwandan genocide by reexaming the re-entry and re-integration of those who were incarcerated for genocide perpretation in Rwanda. He also worked with other PhD students and faculty members of the Ohio State Sociology Department, such as Dr. Evelyn Gertz who was a sociology PhD student, with whom he studied sibling influence in committing genocide during the 1994 Genocide against the Tusi and many others. Jacob also discussed taking the GRE for graduate school and the importance of being passionate and dedicated about the PhD programs you want to study for. I learned a lot more about the PhD admissions process and I am a bit scared about applying to graduate school, but I am glad that my research involvements and coursework are currently keeping on track for being a competitive applicant for Economics PhD programs. 

 

IA Research Panel – 2/21/21

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The IA Research Panel featuring Lizzie Bateman, Dani Wollerman, and Sandhya was very informative for me and helped me learn about the different types of research students are involved in on campus! I am also involved as a Research Assistant with the Ohio State Department of Economics and the Neuroeconomics Lab, but the research work I am doing is much different from the involvements of Lizzie, Dani and Sandhya. Lizzie has been researching on how food insecurity has been affected during the pandemic and how foodbanks and nonprofit organizations have had to shift their responses based on the pandemic with the OSU Society of Undergraduate Fellows. Dani has been researching the experience of Refugee women in central Ohio with the Undergraduate Research Library, which is a really interesting interesting and relevant issue to study for us in Columbus. Sandhya has been involved in research with the OSU Department of Sociology, where she studied the immigration backgrounds of Uber and Lyft drivers, along with studying single moms and children in Nicaragua. The experiences of Lizzie, Dani and Sandhya have taught me about opportunities I can utilize on campus to fund my research, especially a thesis, which is something I want to do in the future and shown me other avenues on campus I can get involved in research through. 

IA LinkedIn Workshop ft. Jillian Kemper – 3/23/21

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Jillian Kemper is a 4th-year Business Scholar and President of the Undergraduate Business Women’s Association who shared her knowledge on how to use LinkedIn effectively. As a Business major, she has used LinkedIn to build connections with Ohio State alumni and find internships and job opportunities for the future and it was helpful to hear from her on how I can use LinkedIn effectively. I have had a LinkedIn account for a year now and while I have learned a lot about how to set up my account and have used LinkedIn to build meaningful connections with alumni from IA Scholars, OSU, and other organizational involvements, it was nice to hear about ways I can improve my account. One thing that Jillian mentioned which really stuck out to me was to not focus on getting to the 500+ connections mark on LinkedIn, which is something that I had become fixated on, and rather cultivating your connections carefully and meaningfully because that milestone would gradually come in the future anyway. Whenever I now send or receive LinkedIn connections, I am more cognizant of building a network for the future and ensuring that those I am connecting with are those with who I can actually connect with.

IA Alumni Spotlight featuring Greg Zane – 3/4/21

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A Professional Development event I organized this semester was another alumni spotlight featuring Greg Zane, an IA alum who graduated from Ohio State in 2018 and now works as an epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health. I found out about Greg from another IA alum who came to a community meeting last semester and encouraged me and Steven to reach out to him. I did not have his contact information, but I sent him a cold LinkedIn message and he responded to me with great excitement about coming back to IA and sharing his experiences after graduation! I have had a lot of interaction with IA alumni this year and they have all been very eager to come back to the program and share their experiences, which really has helped me see how involved IA alumni have been with the program and how this program really builds lifelong connections!

Greg studied Public Health as an undergrad and after graduation, he obtained his MPH from the University of Washington in 2020, and now works as an epidemiologist, which is a career path that has become increasingly relevant, since we are living in a pandemic! Although Greg’s epidemiology interests revolve around female reproductive health and disparities in developing nations, he has currently been working as a Lead Outbreak Systems and Notify Epidemiologist where he has coordinated COVID-19 case investigations, contact tracing policies and is also working to develop an online database for tracking COVID cases in Washington and nationwide. Along with learning about a new career path that is very relevant to International Affairs, I was also able to learn more directly about the COVID pandemic from a public health expert! Greg offered his knowledge on vaccination and how the Washington State Department of Health has been working to increase public awareness in social distancing measures and now encourage vaccination among the public.