Welcome to our new Teacher-Scholar Spotlight, illuminating PhD students’ insights on teaching and learning! Each month we’ll share the experiences of PhD students who have engaged in Bok Center programming and what they’ve learned about and from teaching.
AJ Schick, G3 in Chemical Biology
Summarize your research in 2 sentences.
Migraine is a debilitating headache disorder that affects ~15% of the world's population, and although there are many treatments available, a large proportion of patients don't find headache relief from any of them. To improve the therapy landscape, I aim to understand the underlying biological mechanisms that enable headache relief by studying approved therapies in different biological systems, ultimately using the knowledge gained to support the development of more effective therapeutics for migraine.
What have you learned from teaching?
I've learned so many things by teaching, from active listening, to thinking on the spot, and even how to improve my presentation skills. What I think I take away the most from teaching is learning all the different ways students can take in information, process it, and convey it back to me. As I chat more with my own research colleagues, I've begun to notice that many people take in information in similar ways to my own students and I can take advantage of this to communicate with them most effectively. In reality, we never stop being students, and so I've found that learning all the different ways people can learn helps me "teach" others what issues I'm running into or what help I may need from them, ultimately enabling strong collaborations.
What is something you learned in a Bok Seminar that you’ll use in the future?
In the Engaging Audiences in Our Professional Stories seminar, I've really enjoyed learning about all the different ways we can communicate something and how our story can change as we change the environment or media we communicate with. It's been a real pleasure exploring how our speech cadence, tone of voice, use of visualizations, and even whether we are on Zoom or not can change the context of the same presentation. Being able to test out talking about my research through all of these ways, and listening to others tell their same story across the class, has shown me how each change can affect what portions of the story are better understood by the audience. This is something that will stick with me for every future presentation, interview, and casual conversation so I can focus on which techniques to use to allow the listener to best understand what I'm trying to communicate.
What would you say to PhD students about why they should get involved with the Bok Center?
The Bok Center is a great resource for not only teaching, but also for help in any career goal. Participating in any of the offered seminars helps you cultivate skills in communication, organization, creativity, and active listening, all of which can be used for any career path when applied correctly. What I've enjoyed the most is the comfortable environment the Bok Center staff provides so you can get the feedback you need most (positive and/or constructive). It's scary to put yourself out there, or have yourself recorded to review later with a stranger [during a video consultation], but each session I've had with the Bok Center has been so relaxed I've forgotten all the pressure I had put on myself. I was able to get the best tips to improve in areas I never would have known about if I didn't go through with that experience.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
I have a twin sister and I know how to juggle!
Have you been working with the Bok Center this year? Do you want to be featured in the Teacher-Scholar spotlight? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!