Each year, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recognizes and celebrates our graduate students during Grad Student Appreciation Week.
“Graduate students are at the heart of the Illinois research community—and I am always energized by their fresh perspectives and ideas that drive innovation and impact!” said Susan Martinis, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.
“Graduate students are at the heart of the Illinois research community—and I am always energized by their fresh perspectives and ideas that drive innovation and impact!”
This week, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute and the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance are celebrating our Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance Technology-Based Healthcare graduate fellows and the graduate student participants in the Community Seminar Series science communication program.
Using Illinois expertise to enhance patient care
The Technology-Based Healthcare fellowship program provides a unique opportunity for Illinois graduate students to work collaboratively with Mayo Clinic researchers and clinicians on a translational research project aimed at developing new technologies and clinical tools. To get the most from the experience, fellows are encouraged to spend one year at Illinois and one year at Mayo Clinic.
Since 2016, the fellowship has been awarded to 18 Illinois graduate students dedicated to applying their knowledge in engineering, AI, and data science to enhance patient care. Fellows are selected as innovators, connectors, and integrators who can take ideas and experiences from each institution to help develop new ideas that build on collective strengths.
“Our graduate fellows play critical roles in advancing technology-based healthcare by not only operationalizing the ideas and goals that we’ve established, but also seeing first-hand where problems may exist, where solutions are needed, and what ideas and innovations can be developed as those solutions,” said Stephen Boppart, Director of IHSI and Illinois Co-chair for the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance.
For many students, the fellowship helps enrich and shape their educational experience, broaden their career opportunities, and foster personal and professional growth. Advisors from both Illinois and Mayo Clinic provide a collaborative, supportive, and mutually respectful environment for fellows, encouraging them to be curious, think boldly, and learn through failures.
Huyen Nguyen, a doctoral student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Illinois advisor Minh N. Do and Mayo Clinic advisor Chen Wang, gained a clearer understanding of how research projects can be more practical and beneficial to the clinical team during her time at Mayo Clinic.
“Experience and knowledge gained from working on the fellowship project will help me become a more well-rounded researcher who can integrate the knowledge from different domains in my research,” Nguyen said.
For some fellows, the experience opens doors for further education or careers at Mayo Clinic or other clinical research centers. To date, 37% of graduate fellows have been hired for employment at Mayo Clinic.
Providing science-based health information for community members
A partnership between IHSI and University of Illinois Extension, the Community Seminar Series provides educational seminars covering health topics driven by public interest each fall, spring, and summer. Presentations are delivered over Zoom by graduate students and postdoctoral research trainees. Each seminar covers current research on a specific topic, helping attendees make more informed decisions about their health and wellness and overcome public health misinformation.
By participating in the series, graduate students and postdocs develop their science communication skills, working closely with fellow presenters and Extension mentors to develop, practice, and deliver their presentation and engage with the public. At the same time, these presenters help promote meaningful dialogue around health, equipping audience members with data, resources, and knowledge that can help them better understand and navigate an ever-changing health landscape.
Maxwell Wallace coordinates the Community Seminar Series for IHSI along with Extension collaborators Dee Walls and Chelsea Byers.
"Each semester we have brand new speakers that are eager to develop skills on presenting their research to all audiences and returning speakers that enjoyed their experience talking to community members, wanting to continue sharing their health research. It's amazing seeing how much they grow and refine their content, delivery, and engagement with attendees so that the program makes a difference in people's day to day health behaviors!" Wallace said.
Since its launch in 2020, the Community Seminar Series has engaged over 70 graduate students and postdocs from various domains of expertise. They have covered topics in brain health, nutrition and gut health, physical activity, healthy aging, healthcare delivery and systems, disease prevention, genetics, and public and community health.
Quang Nguyen, a graduate student in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, participated twice in the Community Seminar Series. Because of the experience, he was invited to Clark Lindsey’s Longevity Symposium to talk about how circadian rhythms can influence healthy aging, an opportunity that deepened his professional growth and allowed for interaction with another public audience.
"I learned through the experience that I really enjoyed the presentation process and interaction with online audience who are always excited to learn about science backed health information," Nguyen said.
Looking ahead, the series will continue to offer free webinars, invite diverse voices to address issues identified by the community, and connect people with experienced researchers to provide a forum for dialogue and accessible health information.