Christian is a master’s student in the Porter Lab. He is studying prostate cancer progression and treatments. Here, he is sharing his experience in science and outreach at the University of Windsor.
Hello all, here is what I’ve been up to:
It was an honour to be selected as one of the recipients of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Research Training Awards-Master’s (RTA-M) 2025. This award has supported me throughout my first year of my master’s research and provided me with unique opportunities to help develop my research career. One such example was the Canadian Cancer Society’s IGNITE Summit in Toronto. This two-day conference was organized to help past and current Canadian Cancer Society scholarship awardees across Canada make new connections, share knowledge, and develop our science communication skills while we presented abstracts of our research projects. I got lots of helpful feedback for my project and expanded my knowledge of research techniques at this conference, and even made some new friends. As a member of Porter Lab, a lot of the science communication and knowledge sharing techniques we learned during the conference felt like second nature to me, as our lab regularly gets involved in community events and lab tours.
The Windsor/Essex Multiple Myeloma March in my 4th year of undergrad was when I began developing these skills, where I had discussions with community members and learned how to translate the research we do at Porter Lab and scientific jargon to a lay audience. Earlier this year, I also helped with a lab tour where high school students visited our lab facility. We set up informational and plain-language poster stations to help translate cancer research to our young audiences, helping spark an interest in research for the next generation. In addition to these, there are lots of other experiences that have helped me develop these essential skills, which help bridge the gap between researchers and the community.
I had a great time presenting our research at Windsor Ride for Dad 2026. It was nice speaking with those who are helping fund our research and hearing their stories, as well as seeing so many members of our community being involved and engaged. I look forward to continuing to build on this partnership in the future!
I’ve also recently started the University of Windsor’s Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), which aims to help build a sense of community among black graduate students at the University of Windsor. We have on and off-campus events like socials/mixers and skill development workshops to help students in the professional world. Stay tuned for more posts from us! Follow us on Instagram at @uwinbgsa
Below is a video of our recent bowling event in collaboration with the UWindsor National Society of Black Engineers club.
If any of you are interested in learning more about the research we do in Dr. Porter’s Lab, want to learn more about the Canadian Cancer Society’s scholarship, or want to become a member of the Black Graduate Student Association, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at anytime! You can email me at kassac@uwindsor.ca