Dean Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, Ph.D., who leads WSU Graduate School, spoke to Assistant Director of Media Relations for WSU Athletics Cameron Weidenthaler on WDTK The Patriot during halftime of the Saturday, Feb. 17, Wayne State basketball game against Northern Michigan. The dean talked about the 2022 Graduate Research Symposium that will be held March 8 – 10.

Transcript

Weidenthaler: And we welcome you back to Wayne State basketball at halftime. It's now time for our halftime interview. Today we are pleased to be joined by Dr. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich who's the dean of the Graduate School and professor of pharmaceutical sciences here at Wayne State University. Second time that Dr. Friedrich's been on with us this sports season here for Wayne State radio. First of all Dr., thanks for joining us this morning and talking to us. How have things been going since we talked during football season in the fall?

Bryant-Friedrich: Oh, things are still a little bit different than we would expect them to be, but things are moving in the right direction. Getting to see students on campus has been fantastic and the weather, yeah it's changing, it's changing, so I’m looking forward to spring as we're taping this interview today.

Weidenthaler: It’s about 45 out, which is very unseasonable for February but where we are in Marquette for the game tonight, it's about 12 degrees currently outside, but yeah it was definitely a lot warmer the last time we taped an interview during football season and a lot has changed and a lot has kind of gone back to normal. In a way, we kind of had that spike in cases of covid there in the middle of December through about the middle of January, but it seems like things are settling down now and things are kind of getting back to somewhat normal.

Bryant-Friedrich: Yeah it is, and I think the students are really happy about this too. It's really a stressful time for our students and so we really do have to pay attention and make sure that they're getting the experience that they signe on for, so we really appreciate having them on campus and being able to take care of them all.

Weidenthaler: Right, so the reason we're talking today is we want to talk about the Graduate Research Symposium. So, the first question I have for you is: what exactly is the Graduate Research Symposium, and then, what makes it such a popular event here at Wayne State?

Bryant-Friedrich: The Graduate Research Symposium basically is an opportunity for trainees who are past their bachelor's degrees ,so people working on doctorates, master's degrees, people who are postdoctoral fellows who already have the doctors to share their research with the community, and a university like Wayne State has a vast range of research interests and students pursuing very different kinds of questions. And we’re really excited to have people here talking this time about covid. We're going to talk about lots of different things around covid how that's affected the community; looking at urban issues, the things that are important to Wayne state university, so we will have a virtual event where people will just be talking about it and talking about the research that we do in an accessible way so that all of our community can actually engage in the important topics that we're investigating.

Weidenthaler: And who would benefit from attending this symposium, and who has attended the symposium in the past?

Bryant-Friedrich: You know, anyone and everyone. Anyone who has an interest in in broad topics should definitely decide to log on to our research symposium. We've had people attend from many different countries we've had different universities. So, the last time, I think we had like 24, 25 universities, we had 11 different countries that were actually involved, and that's people presenting and people who are listening. So it puts Wayne State University's research on the world stage. And so I have two kids, a 20 year old and an 11 year old; there are aspects of the research that I even bring them on to listen to because there are important things out there that our kids need to hear, our young kids. My oldest, of course, is a Wayne State student, so he kind of is in the groove already, but I just really feel like it's accessible to anyone.

Weidenthaler: And then the 2022 symposium is less than a month away. When exactly is a symposium and how is this year's event shaping up and looking so far?

Bryant-Friedrich: It's going to be in March, and it's March the 5^th through the 8^th, I believe. I'm supposed to know those dates, right now it's the 8^th through the 10^th. March 8^th through the 10^th, and so we're looking forward to making sure that all of the information is out on the internet so that you can see on our website the different topics that will be available. You'll be able to choose times that you want to come in and actually see very specific topics, so that'll be great to be able to arrange your schedule around our symposium.

Weidenthaler: Yeah, how can people learn more about the research that will be on display during the symposium coming up here in a few weeks?

Bryant-Friedrich: So it's at gradschool.wayne.edu. That's where the Graduate School has all of this information, and I will say if you take the time to sit down and go to gradschool.wayne.edu, take a look around, see what kinds of programs we offer see what kinds of professional development opportunities we offer. We have a wide range of things that are interesting for the broader community, and there you will find all the information about the Graduate Research Symposium and the topics that we'll cover.

Weidenthaler: Sounds great. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you during football season when we talked and you can give the same answer if you want, or maybe a different answer because we usually have some different people listening depending on the season and the sport, but I asked you to sell the Grad School at Wayne State. If it's somebody like me in their early 40s that are thinking about going back to grad school at some point, or somebody just out of college that wants to go to grad school, why come to Wayne State for grad school, and what's the benefit of attending grad school at Wayne State University?

Bryant-Friedrich: You know when you asked me that question before, I thought about it a lot afterwards, because you opened up about your own personal experience and I realized that, you know, there are a lot of people out there who have the same kind of thoughts that you do: what kinds of things can I do that are going to make me happy? We're at a point right now where there's so much change that people want to be happy. They want to feel motivated, they want to feel like they're moving socially and economically in the direction that they want to be. Graduate school offers that opportunity. It offers you an opportunity to expand your understanding of the things that you do now or to actually step into a whole new arena and gain new knowledge that you can apply to your everyday life or to your job. And so you can actually then of course sell those skills to the highest bidder. I would say so that you get compensated for the work that you're doing and overall then that actually increases your happiness, your well-being, that of your family and your community. So going to graduate school at Wayne State is a special experience. Wayne State has a special feel. It's committed to its environment around, it is committed to its community, and we actually study the things that are important to Wayne State, important to the State of Michigan, to the City of Detroit and our region, so I would say if you're thinking about grad school, you definitely want to take a look at us.

Weidenthaler: Alright, great answer. Again, I'm glad I asked you the question. Again, she had a few different things in there as well. Dr., thanks for joining us again today, taking some time out of your busy schedule. I know you're busy, especially this time of year with a symposium coming up here in a few weeks. Best of luck to you the rest of the semester, hope that goes well and go Warriors. 

Bryant-Friedrich: Thank you so much.

Weidenthaler: That's Dr. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, the dean of the Graduate School and professor of pharmaceutical sciences here at Wayne State University. We're at halftime. Second half coming up after this. You're listening to Warriors basketball.

The GRS is open to the public and free to attend. 

Register for the GRS