Bringing the lab home and other hacks
Rising to the challenge: Rachel McNamee brought the lab home when the pandemic disrupted her experiments.
Imagine you’re a graduate student conducting research and lab experiments for your master’s thesis, excited to complete your degree by summer.
Or perhaps you’re about to find the perfect practicum placement that would allow you to apply all the knowledge you gained during your master’s program and kickstart your career even before you graduate.
Maybe you’re a PhD student, raising two young children while preparing your thesis proposal, eagerly anticipating that coveted prefix in front of your name.
This is how Ryerson students Rachel McNamee, Daryll Wilson and Zahra Yazdizadeh started 2020. In the months that followed, the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to alter their plans, adapt to their new reality and find another way to achieve their goals.
While each of them faced unique challenges, they all agreed that finding creative solutions and leaning on their community for support has helped them navigate these uncertain times.
Learning from home
As classes began moving online in March, Rachel McNamee (environmental applied science and management) was in a laboratory on campus, setting up a pre-experiment for her master’s thesis on the impact of microplastics on freshwater zooplankton. She was hoping to graduate last fall.
“I was told in no uncertain terms that I shouldn’t be returning to the lab, at least for the next two weeks,” said McNamee. “But two weeks turned into two months, and by May it was pretty clear that I was going to be enrolled in the spring/summer semester.”
While discussing how to move the project forward, her supervisor Professor Linda McCarthy suggested she could consider bringing the lab home.
“It was a big discussion because I live with my mom at home, so I would have a new lab manager who would also be upset if the chores didn’t get done. But thankfully, my mom agreed to the home lab situation and said I could use the guest bedroom,” said McNamee.
Using a mix of borrowed equipment and everyday objects found at home, Rachel McNamee continued her experiments to defend her thesis.
The home lab setup included plenty of dishes and glassware, four water tanks with zooplankton in them, a few mason jars with broodstocks, a microscope and a computer.
“I used a gas stove instead of a bunsen burner, and grew algae to feed the organisms nutritious food. With consistent temperature and natural light, they were able to survive,” McNamee explained.
She considers herself lucky to have her advisor’s support and professors who allowed her to take home essential equipment such as a microscope, enabling her to graduate this fall after successfully defending her thesis in August through a virtual presentation.
“I’m not an island. This was very much a community-supported project. I was creative with my space and time, and I connected with people. I leaned on the relationships and trust I had built with the people around me to make it happen,” McNamee said.
Continued access to experiential learning
One of the reasons master’s student Daryll Wilson (psychological science) chose to attend Ryerson is that the university’s psychology program includes a practicum requirement for psychological science students, while other universities have the requirement solely for clinical psychology students.
“I saw the placement as a great opportunity to build myself and my resume by working in the industry, build my network, develop new skills and gather new experiences outside of my lab and research,” said Wilson.
After discussing his options with his supervisor, Professor Kristin Vickers, he was looking forward to working either at University College in London, England or with a private institution in downtown Toronto that conducts research on the social determinants of health and health equity.
Daryll Wilson wanted to make the most of his practicum placement, and his perseverance finally found him the perfect fit.
But the pandemic didn’t help his cause. He could no longer travel abroad, and the institution in Toronto wasn’t undertaking any projects that could use the help of a graduate student.
“I was discouraged and wasn’t really sure what to do next,” Wilson said. “My supervisor’s support, encouragement and her willingness to back me was very helpful. We revised what I wanted to get out of my practicum, and she suggested connecting with Dalhousie University.”
Wilson was excited to work alongside Professor Tamara Franklin at Dalhousie, as she’s “not only a Black scholar, but also a brilliant neuroscience researcher, who’s studying animal models of human sociality.” Grateful for the opportunity, he was ready to accept the new reality and almost agreed to a virtual practicum.
But then Wilson found out that his practicum qualifies as essential travel, and he’s now made plans to fly to Halifax this year to work with Franklin in person after completing his mandatory quarantine.
Finding the right balance
Three years into pursuing her PhD in environmental applied science and management, Zahra Yazdizadeh doesn’t think she has successfully overcome the challenges the last year presented.
But ask her about a day in her life – how she’s managing her studies with two young boys at home and a husband who’s also pursuing a PhD in addition to working full time – and it’s hard not to admire her resilience.
“I’ve fulfilled all the requirements for my PhD and was on track to complete my comprehensive exam and thesis proposal this summer,” Yazdizadeh said. “But it became too stressful as I couldn’t spend time with the kids – when I was with them, I was thinking about work, and while working, I was thinking about them.”
Zahra Yazdizeh is balancing her PhD studies with raising her three- and nine-year-old boys.
With the added pressure of household chores, cooking and spending enough time with her kids, Yazdizadeh is now focusing on staying organized, managing her time and the children’s schedule. Meanwhile, she’s trying to finish her proposal and study for her comprehensive exams – both of which she can postpone till next semester, if needed, thanks to the department’s flexibility.
“After COVID, the department has become more flexible because they know many students probably can’t meet the requirements and deadlines,” Yazdizadeh said. “During the summer, I requested a leave of absence, but they told me that they understand it’s a tough situation and I shouldn’t be too stressed about the deadlines,” she added.
As we all try to find novel solutions to our unique problems during this difficult time, Ryerson graduate students are inspiring us to be resilient, and reminding us to seek help and support when we need it.