My name is Jessica Stromberg, I'm a PhD
candidate in the Department of Earth
Science, studying Geology and Planetary
Science. The first thing that drew me to
Western is, it's one of the few
universities in Canada which has a
collaborative program in geology and
planetary science, but from that I met
some grad students working with my
professor, and I was kind of struck by
the support that the department, for graduate
student research, as well as the
opportunities for collaborative research,
as well as experiential learning. So my
PhD research is focused on understanding
gold deposits in Northern Ontario, one
specific deposit in particular, but by
using the geochemistry to fingerprint
the gold, as well as the fluids that
deposited there. In particular my
graduate program allows myself to be
successful and thrive, because of the
community and culture within the
department, there's a huge breadth of
research, yet collaboration is really
encouraged between both grad students
and professors. There's also a lot of
opportunities for professional
development, as well as international
collaboration and experiential learning.
I think one of the best parts about
being a Western graduate student is,
really the  community we have here,
there's students from all over the world,
all different sorts of research, there's
a lot of opportunities to develop
relationships, both research
collaboratively, within my department
and also within other
departments. The most important piece of
advice I can give to someone thinking of
applying to graduate program is, do not
be afraid to ask questions, starting a
graduate program is a big commitment, you
really need to find a project, and
adviser, and an environment that you
can thrive and succeed in.
