October 27, 2017
PHD Comics and creator coming to K-State
Jorge Cham, creator of PHD Comics and "The PHD Movie," will visit K-State to provide a free showing of "The PHD Movie 2," offer a professional development workshop and present a lecture to the K-State community Oct. 30-31.
Cham also is the co-founder of PHD TV, a video science and discovery outreach collaborative, and a founding board member of Endeavor College Prep, a nonprofit school for kids in East Los Angeles. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in robotics from Stanford University and was an instructor and research associate at California Institute of Technology from 2003-2005. He is originally from Panama. Often called the Dilbert of academia, PHD Comics has appeared in the Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University newspapers among others, and is published online where it is read by more than 7 million visitors a year from more than 1,000 universities and colleges worldwide.
The following events will be a part of Cham's visit:
• "The PHD Movie 2" will show at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, in 1109 DUE, the Engineering Hall Auditorium. Graduate students and faculty will get the chance to laugh at graduate education and academic life together. Take a research, scholarly and creative activities and discovery break and join us for movie night. The movie is a live-action adaptation of the popular web comic strip by Cham. 
According to IMDB, "The PHD Movie 2" is "A comedy about life (or the lack thereof) in academia. Two young scientists (a quantum physicist and a molecular biologist) search for significance in the high stakes work of academic research." The movie was filmed on location at the California Institute of Technology and features real scientists and researchers. Watch a trailer.
• Cham will provide a professional development workshop, Discovery and Communicating Your Research, from 1-3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, in 121 Eisenhower Hall. The interactive workshop will provide graduate students the opportunity to practice communicating complex topics in accessible ways. Students will begin to start to understand their audience. This workshop will count toward the Graduate Student Council professional development certificate. Registration is required. Learn more about the opportunity by visiting the Graduate Student Council website.
• Cham also will offer the lecture "The Power of Procrastination/The Science Gap" at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 31 in 1109 DUE, the Engineering Hall Auditorium. A recent survey by University of California, Berkeley found that 95 percent of all graduate students feel overwhelmed, and more than 67 percent have felt seriously depressed at some point in their careers. In this talk, Cham will recount his experiences bringing humor into the lives of stressed out academics, examine the source of their anxieties and explore the guilt, the myth, and the power of procrastination. A book signing will follow the lecture.
The PHD Comics is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Graduate School.