The BSOS Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Council (DGSAC) is currently seeking proposals from BSOS graduate students to present their research in its new BSOS Research Interaction Day for GraduatE Students (BRIDGES) initiative, an event series aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and professional development.

Each BRIDGES event will revolve around a central topic, and will feature research presentations from 3-4 graduate student panelists from different departments across BSOS, followed by both moderated and open-ended discussions of the topic and the presented work. The goals of the event are to engage graduate students in meaningful cross-disciplinary discussions and to provide graduate students with additional opportunities and resources to develop as independent researchers.  

The first event, scheduled for May 4th, 2016 from 4-6pm, will have a central theme of Diversity, loosely defined to include, but not limited to, issues of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture, religion, and/or class. Our ultimate goal is to engage students in meaningful discussions with students from other disciplines who may be studying similar topics from different theoretical perspectives. Therefore, we will select 3-4 panelists who explore the role of diversity within their respective fields. For instance:

  • Do police officers stop, question, and frisk individuals differentially based upon race?

  • What are the economic repercussions of gender pay inequality?

  • What are the impacts of concentrated disadvantage, economic and social, on family formation?

  • How are class inequalities formed or maintained as a result of natural resource location and allocation?

  • What are the consequences to government actions or inactions with regard to refugees and/or migrants from areas experiencing civil war?

  • How has our conception of “race” evolved cross-culturally?

  • Does family strain influence speech development?

Proposals will be accepted for work at any stage of completion-- ranging from a literature review to a peer-reviewed manuscript. Proposals for this upcoming event on May 4th should address a diversity-related issue.  Abstract submissions up to 500 words are due by 12:00PM on Monday, April 4th. Selection announcements will be released on Friday, April 8th by 11:59PM.  Each selected panelist will receive a $200 fund for future research-related expenses. All submissions not selected will be kept in consideration for future BRIDGES events. Only one submission will be selected for the May 4th event from each department to ensure a multi-disciplinary panel.

Additional questions may be directed to Teddy Wilson, Chair, DGSAC: twilson5 [at] umd [dot] edu. Abstracts should be submitted to a DGSAC member or Teddy Wilson: twilson5 [at] umd [dot] edu ().