I went to graduate school. It was a great experience. I learned a lot. I experienced the world. However, I seem to have missed out on one vital part of the graduate school experience: I did not get to dance on a stage in a loincloth and post the resulting video on YouTube.
How could I possibly have missed this important experience? Perhaps it is because I did not do work at the doctoral level. Yes, that must be it. I was simply a Masters student, working long, hard hours poring through ecology journals. Had I known how much fun the doctoral students were having, I would have carried on to further my education in the area of science – I mean dancing.
The Dance Your PhD contest gives me new inspiration to complete a doctorate one day. In this annual contest run out of the University of GonzoLabs (all right, just GonzoLabs) and sponsored by Science and Tedx Brussels, you too can leap, plié, and cavort your way to global fame and a one thousand dollar prize – as long as you’ve completed your doctoral work.
Students, post-doctoral fellows and professors alike dance in their areas of research. This leads to scintillating dance titles like A Study of Social Interactivity Using Pigeon Courtship or Equatorial Plasma Drifts. There’s nothing like a few good Equatorial Plasma Drifts first thing in the morning.
These days, that 30-second elevator pitch doesn’t seem so worrisome. Chatting with your future inlaws? Talking about your PhD doesn’t need to send you into paroxysms of fear. Now you can simply whip out your iPhone and show the questioner your Dance Your PhD video. There’s no better conversation-starter and friend-maker, I assure you.
No longer is the acquisition of a fancy, poofy hat and robe the driving force behind doctoral research worldwide. GonzoLabs has given scientists worldwide a reason to dust off their lab coats and initiate new research, all in the spirit of having a good dance.
Image Credits: [Kylua90 / DeviantART] [Dance Is For Everyone]
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