KINGSTON, R.I. – March 27, 2025 – The University of Rhode Island’s Graduate Student Association (GSA) will host its 14th annual Graduate Student Conference Saturday, March 29, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., in URI’s Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, 120 Flagg Road, Kingston.

For organizers and attendees, it’s a day to celebrate graduate students’ hard work and research and to encourage cross-disciplinary connections and partnerships.

“Innovation is born from the intersection of disciplines,” says GSA senator Florence Fields, evolution and marine biology Ph.D. candidate, discussing the upcoming conference.

URI’s annual Graduate Student Conference (or “Gradcon”) is the largest graduate student event of the year. The conference began in 2007 with a small group of graduate students from the URI English Department. Since then, URI Gradcon has welcomed hundreds of attendees, including those from universities and colleges all over the nation and world. The conference continues to serve as a platform for academics, researchers, and practitioners to exchange ideas, present findings, and foster collaborations.

This year’s conference will examine the theme of “Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Breaking Boundaries” and feature guest speakers James Anderson, Monda Raquel Webb ’90 and Selçuk Şirin, as well as oral presentations and posters.

James Anderson (8:30 to 9:45 a.m.) is a psychotherapist and professor at Northwestern University, teaching courses on personality psychology and the psychology of film. His focus is on psychobiography, the use of psychology in the study of notable people, such as historical figures, novelists and other artists, and creators of popular culture. Anderson has written about Simone de Beauvoir, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Henry James, Oprah Winfrey, Harvey Milk, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sigmund Freud, Mohandas Gandhi, Edith Wharton, and Anaïs Nin. His latest book, Psychobiography: In Search of the Inner Life, was published in October. Anderson’s topic at this year’s conference is “The Psychology of Literary Creativity: How Works Emanate from the Crucible of the Artist’s Mind.”

Selçuk Şirin (12:30 to 1:45 p.m.), a psychology professor at New York University, focuses on the lives of marginalized children and enhancing professionals’ ability to support their needs. At this year’s Gradcon, he’ll discuss “From Research to Action: Supporting Vulnerable Children in Fragile Times.” Şirin specializes in studying youth during fragile times, including Muslim-American youth post-9/11, refugee youth navigating displacement, and immigrant youth adjusting to new environments. Şirin has received multiple awards, including the Young Scholar Award from the Foundation for Child Development for his work on immigrant children. He also led the 1 Million Book Project, which distributed over one million free books to children to promote early literacy. He is a columnist for the respected Turkish weekly Oksijen and author of several bestselling books, including Turkey at a Crossroads.

Monda Raquel Webb (3:30 to 4:30 p.m.) is a URI alumna and award-winning author, filmmaker and performing artist. After graduating with a degree in journalism from URI, Webb began her production career as a traffic coordinator for City Cable 16 in Washington, D.C. As producer, she has won awards from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors for production across several categories. She was also voted Filmmaker of the Year by the National Black Movie Association and established Little Known Stories Production Company. Two of Webb’s short films, Zoo and Pooch Sitter, have won national and international awards after making the rounds on the festival circuit. Webb’s conference presentation is co-sponsored by URI’s Women of Color Conference.

In addition to the day’s speakers, 66 graduate students will present their work via oral and poster presentations on topics ranging from appetite and athletic readiness to the Pawtuxet River and the literature of J.R.R. Tolkien, and more. The event welcomes participants not only from URI but also from institutions across New England, including the University of New Hampshire, Clark University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“We are honored to have President Marc Parlange, Graduate School Dean Brenton DeBoef, and many other members of URI’s leadership team, and numerous faculty and students, in attendance to support and celebrate the work of our graduate students,” says Karolina Wojcik, president of the Graduate Student Association.

To learn more or register for this year’s Graduate School Conference, visit here. The Graduate Student Conference is open to all members of the URI community, and to the public. For any questions or further information, please email gsagradconference@gmail.com.