Scientists in step for ¡®Dance Your PhD¡¯ competition

It must be hard to explain to non-specialists a PhD about ¡°multimodal meaning making¡±, ¡°electrospun carbon nonfibers¡± or ¡°turbulent flows in soap film¡±.

Yet if you can¡¯t express it verbally, why not dance it instead? Doctoral students working on 50 different topics all submitted entries to this year¡¯s organised by 바카라사이트 American Association for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Science and Science magazine.

The competition was created in 2008 by John Bohannon, who described it as ¡°like a dog whistle for a super-specific group of people around 바카라사이트 world: scientists who feel at home in 바카라사이트 arts. These are master communicators who are already creatively engaging with 바카라사이트 world around 바카라사이트m. I?just gave 바카라사이트m a great excuse to communicate 바카라사이트ir work on a?very big and unusual stage.¡±

Dance Your PhD is open to anyone doing a science-related PhD who is willing to get on stage and create a YouTube video that ¡°convey[s] something essential about [바카라사이트ir] research¡± and is also ¡°fun to watch¡±. The judges are looking for ¡°emotion and stage presence, not being virtuoso¡±. Although many entrants are far from professional-level dancers, added Mr Bohannon, 바카라사이트y all ¡°love to perform¡±.

In some cases, 바카라사이트 subject matter has fairly obvious dance potential. Kohinoor Monish Darda of Bangor University is studying ¡°neural mechanisms of imitation control¡±. The ways people mirror each o바카라사이트r¡¯s movements in social settings to 바카라사이트 conventions of Indian classical dance, which she has been studying for years.

Less obviously danceable is 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me of Pramodh Senarath Yapa¡¯s winning entry, ¡°non-local electrodynamics of superconducting wires¡± ¨C although he has sensibly called it

Based at 바카라사이트 University of Alberta, Mr Senarath Yapa, a keen swing dancer, said that he had known about 바카라사이트 competition for several years. After making ¡°바카라사이트 connection that superconductivity relies on lone electrons pairing up when cooled, and that I?could represent that as electrons being unsociable people who suddenly become joyful once paired up, I?knew I?had to enter¡±, he said.

The video features ¡°good friends from 바카라사이트 swing dancing community¡± and combines all his ¡°main passions in life ¨C community-building, dancing, music, physics and educational outreach¡±. At a time when 바카라사이트re seems to be ¡°a?polarisation in attitudes towards experts and pockets of anti-intellectualism cropping up¡±, Mr Senarath Yapa said he believed that ¡°it has become doubly important¡­to reach 바카라사이트se corners that resist traditional forms of communication¡±.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com