Jeff K. Ward

Jeff founded Animikii in 2003 and has orchestrated and managed its growth ever since. Everything Jeff does in business is geared towards uplifting his family, communities and Indigenous Peoples. He is Ojibwe and Métis, originally from Manitoba, and now lives and works in Victoria, BC on Lekwungen territory. Jeff is a web designer, software developer, author, and speaker. He also serves as a board member for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).

“It’s an exciting time for the Indigenous movement. We’ve begun a new era of Indigenous-settler relations and the long journey towards Reconciliation has just begun. Each and every one of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, has been called upon to honour the past, to do better, and to rise up. Warriors everywhere are rising up in the fight for equitable outcomes for Indigenous people. We at Animikii believe that our call-to-action is to support all of these warriors in their journey by using the tools available to us. Our answer to that call, our weapon and tool of choice, is technology.”

Howard Dai

SCA Alumni

Associate Artistic Producer at Rice & Beans Theatre

Howard is a Taiwanese-Canadian performer and theatre artist, who graduated from SFU in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance. During his time at SFU, he performed in four consecutive theatre mainstage productions, and one dance mainstage production. Currently, he is the Associate Artistic Producer at rice & beans theatre this season, which is also a theatre company founded in 2010 by two alumni from the SFU Theatre program! 

Kathleen Estanislao

CMNS and PUB Alumni

Digital Marketing Manager at Market One

Kathleen is the Digital Marketing Manager at Market One, a growing marketing agency serving Canada’s capital markets. She is an SFU Alumni, Grad of 2016 with a BA in Communications and Minor in Publishing. During her time at SFU, she worked with organizations like CMNSU, TEDx and AIESEC and is inspired by community building. She is 4+ years in her career and currently works with over 50 companies across various sectors including mining, tech and cannabis managing their social media campaigns from start to finish.

Sean Warwick

SIAT Alumni

User Experience Designer at Relic Entertainment

As an undergrad in the SIAT program Sean was interested in fostering stronger relationships between the SIAT program and Vancouver game development studios. To accomplish this he founded and directed the AFK: Game Development Symposium, as an annual event allowing SIAT students to network with game industry professionals and present their personal game projects in a conference setting. AFK ran for two years with a peak attendance of 225 students, faculty, and industry guests. More info on the event can be found here at: http://www.smwarwick.com/afk2016/ and http://smwarwick.com/afk.html.

Tiana Marconato

CMNS Alumni

Marketing Coordinator at WA Architects

Tiana is a Marketing Coordinator at WA Architects in Vancouver. During her time at SFU, Tiana was a part of the Communication Student Union for two years, including one year as President. After graduating in 2017, Tiana pursued a career in marketing in the music industry, and has experience interviewing Grammy-nominated artists. Tiana looks forward to meeting you all at the FCAT Undergraduate Conference!

Hana Barazandeh

SIAT Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

The bedroom simulation is a game like interactive program including a series of ac8ons that are all united towards one goal: taking care of the room.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

I loved revisiting my project aMer months of creating it. And I felt like I understood my project better, because I had to prepare a presentation for an audience that are not necessarily my classmates or my professor.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

I loved people’s reaction to my work, connecting with them, and seeing their work too. It made me even more motivated towards my current projects.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/d9Ostvf3koI

Want to get in touch with Hana?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hana-barazandeh-26984b99/

Email: hbarazan@sfu.ca       

Grace Mavko

CMNS and Publishing Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

My presentation focused on a case study of the 2018 Northern California wildfire season, and how Internet Service Provider, Verizon, interfered with disaster relief efforts. This investigation identifies a weak-link in disaster communication, and further speaks to ideas around net neutrality laws.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

The process preparing for this presentation centred around telling a story. Understanding the context in which this event occurred is vital to explaining how important Internet is to disaster communication.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

The 2021 UGC was the first academic event I have participated in, and it gave me the confidence to be in these spaces within the SFU community. I feel more confident in my presenting skills, research, and ability to question the world critically.

Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45-8sc5yHD8&feature=youtu.be 

Want to get in touch with Grace?

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/grace-mavko

Email: grace_mavko@sfu.ca

Sarah U

Dance Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

S T E P is a short dance filmchoreographed, performed, and edited by Sarah U. This is a site specific project, inspired by the sense of depth and elevation/depression on the fire exit stairwells in the building she lives in. In this project, she documents her body’s responses to the space and investigates ways to use her backspace, pivot, twist and rotate while moving up, down and around the stairs.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

It was challenging to find the right words to describe my creative process, but it was fulfilling that I get to study/research and see my own project in a different perspective.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

It was super fun and inspiring to connect with other hard-working, talented students and see what they are making.

Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOocSOJ7Eds&feature=youtu.be

Want to get in touch with Sarah?

Email: sarahu1025@gmail.com   

Aman Ahmad

CMNS Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

I explored what makes influencer marketing effective and outlined some of the struggle’s influencers face. The presentation was based on a paper I had written for my communications class.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

I had to take the most interesting points from my paper and put them in a presentation. I then had to make the presentation pretty and make sure it was under 10 minutes. I discovered pretty early on that a lot of the points would have to be taken out due to time constraints.

Since the presentation was pre-recorded, I had the freedom to reshoot and trim bits I didn’t like. The finished product was a video just under 10 minutes.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

I was a little nervous presenting online. With a live audience it’s easy to see what parts interesting and what parts are need work. It’s also easy to see if your presentation is funny or engaging. Luckily everyone watching was super talkative in the chat which I really appreciated. Everyone was also extremely supportive of one another and it was a pretty pleasant experience overall.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/XUHtzXcE_T4

Want to get in touch with Aman?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-ah/

Email: foramaan@hotmail.com       

Cassandra Graves, Daniel Shi, Keith Leung and Nisha Perera

SIAT Students

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

Moment Track is a design solution our team developed for the clean-tech startup Moment Energy during our Interaction Design Methods course. Moment Track addresses Moment Energy’s potential customer’s needs for their main product: clean energy storage solutions. Our presentation highlights our design process, our collaboration between our team and Moment Energy, and the mock-up design of our design solution Moment Track.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

To prepare for our presentation, our team refined our final course presentation and prototype of Moment Track we designed. We also re-organized our presentation in a way where it’d be more easily understood by the general public rather than only our academic peers. Because of our previous experience with collaborating remotely, we were able to develop our presentation quickly and efficiently.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

With the conference being held over Hopin this year, it was unique experience presenting over video rather than in person (which definitely helped our nerves!). We enjoyed the opportunity to connect with my peers, mentors, and other faculty members. It was great to see projects from all over FCAT and engage with topics of research we were unfamiliar with!

Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-RzX9fNSY&feature=youtu.be

Want to get in touch with Cassandra, Daniel, Keith, and Nisha?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-graves-437a6b191/

Email: cmgraves@sfu.ca, danielxshi@hotmail.com, nishap@sfu.ca

Santiago Henderson

Film Production

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

WNSB News is a project developed in a directed studies course under the supervision of Prof. Steven Hill by Sterling Weran, Niall Creegan, and myself. It is an exploration of local news through the craft of clowning in the style of 90s public access television programming. Equipped with state-of-the-art VHS cameras, the team hit the streets to collect news stories while exploring concepts of failure, instability, and dramatism.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

Preparing for the presentation was an opportunity to revisit the project from an objective viewpoint, to step out of the characters we have been playing and reintroduce the concept (which up to this point had been more of a process) to new audiences. We were able to speak about the project from a place that allowed us to point to some of the theories we explored through the semester and share some of the best moments from the three episodes we produced.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

Presenting at UGC was a positive and cathartic experience where we spoke with people outside of our disciplines and departments. It was interesting to experience how a new audience encounters and engages your work, and it validated the countless hours we invested in developing this concept.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/C4sumqeY7LA

Want to get in touch with Santiago?

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/santiagohenderson

Email: shenders@sfu.ca

Kristen Chan and Amanda Lau

CMNS Students

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

Through a compilation of videos, personal stories and research artifacts Growin Up ABC discusses the challenges many 2nd & 3rd + North American Chinese people face as they are torn between two different cultures and the role media education and literacy can play in bridging cultures together to create media diversity.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

We originally created this project for CMNS 327 - Media, Learning and Social Change and have taken many communication courses together. Because we have worked together before and have similar experiences as young Asian Canadians, we were both passionate about the subjects we talked about in our project. Most of our preparation consisted of writing a script, filming the video, and selecting which components of our project we thought were most important to share.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

We are extremely grateful that we were chosen to present our project Growin Up ABC at the FCAT UGC and that we had the opportunity to share our work with faculty, friends, colleagues and family. Presenting at the FCAT UGC allowed us a larger platform to discuss Asian representation in media, which we felt was very important as Asians are often left out of discussions about media. We really enjoyed being able to watch other colleagues present their projects and it gave us a glimpse into the great work that happens in the Faculty of Communications, Art and Technology.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/ddW1hgPCYow

Want to get in touch with Kristen and Amanda?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-chan-60b005197/

Email: aalau@sfu.ca/ kristen_chan@sfu.ca

Beau Han Bridge

Film Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

For the 2021 FCAT UGC, I presented a short film painting I filmed called “Lone Scholar in the Autumn Woods”. The work was done in response to a film assignment exercise I did in my CA 231 production course, where our professor challenged to transcribe a still painting that we admired and/or resonated towards, into a film form. The interdisciplinary and artistic experience I inevitably gained from this wonderful assignment was huge and I learned a lot in regard to how the nature of visual art and film can combine to form a transcendent experience.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

It was quite calibrated and smooth. I started out with re-watching the film a couple of times and then pondering to myself as to what specific aspect of the film I felt was most important to present. I decided that the process of the transcribing from still-to-motion should be the primary subject I presented, with some secondary points being about the specific formal qualities I worked on emphasizing in the film (I.e. composition, framing, and wardrobe). I then wrote a brief point-form outline, and then sat myself down on Zoom and recorded myself improvising a talk about the work, then cut that down into the final presentation video.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

A nervously amazing experience! Although I despise seeing my face on video and mumble often in speech, I found the other presenters, the mentors, and the chat reactions to the presentation very supportive, uplifting, and motivational. I also significantly enjoyed catching other FCAT students’ presentations – especially in other FCAT departments outside the SCA, such as SIAT and CMNS – and I stumbled upon many incredible works and learning to which I feel I would have never discovered elsewhere. Presenting at the 2021 FCAT UGC was truly a lovely and rewarding experience, and I would totally do it again!

Presentation: https://youtu.be/eZ-iOJj75To

Want to get in touch with Beau?

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/beauhanbridge

Shannon Lin

Dance Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

My presentation covered a summary of my Directed Studies research on Dance/Movement Therapy (D/MT) and its application in a criminal justice context, as I was interested in combining my research interests in dance and criminology. I studied the psychological and physiological effects of D/MT and discussed the rehabilitative aspects of mechanisms such as mirroring and kinesthetic empathy. By coupling criminological theories, behavioural patterns, and tendencies with the study of movement therapy, the potentials of D/MT with a culturally competent approach are emphasized as a plausible form of rehabilitation in the system moving forward.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

While the opportunity in of itself was an exciting one and I am extremely grateful that I had the chance to present my project, the process was initially quite challenging as I had to fit several key findings from an entire semester into such a short presentation for the FCAT Undergraduate Conference. As I was unable to embark upon any hands-on or in-person experiences to supplement my research, the preparation process has overall inspired me to pursue postgraduate studies or a career in a related field in the future.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

Presenting at the FCAT Undergraduate Conference, especially online, was an experience unlike any other! It was a fantastic way for me to gain insight into the work that students do outside of my SCA bubble, as well as receive feedback on my presentation skills and inquiries regarding my research.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/UHmlUvEu27Q

Want to get in touch with Shannon?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonlin780/

Email: shannonlin780@gmail.com

Harvin Bhathal

CMNS Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

My two presentations reflected my passion for the environment and how the interconnected political, social, and economic systems have unequal consequences for society — consequences that filter through privilege and marginalization. In “Comparing and Contrasting B.C.’s Ineffective Emergency Management System with the Emergency and Environmental Management of B.C. First Nations,” I discussed how the BCEMS is failing BC First Nations and how climate mitigation efforts only work in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. In “Framing the Arctic: A Cross-National Comparative News Analysis of the National Post and RT,” I discussed how right-wing news media in Canada and Russia framed issues in the Arctic, including the climate crisis, untapped oil and natural gas reserves, military tensions, and the presence of Indigenous peoples who call the Arctic their home.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

I was set to present at the 2020 FCAT UGC before it was cancelled, so I prepared pre-recorded presentations for two papers to not miss out on the opportunity from last year. While undertaking this in the midst of coursework, working for The Peak, and a pandemic wasn’t easy, I put forth my best effort and I was happy with the end results.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

While watching people process your presentation was nerve-racking, it was also a gratifying experience, thanks to the positive feedback I received. It’s nice to be recognized for your work, that you put hours of research and writing into it. We (the presenters) were aware of the circumstances surrounding the conference (COVID-19) and we all made a conscious effort to support each other through it, which I really appreciated. I’m grateful for the FCAT community at SFU.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/4ge-4v7zoGw

Want to get in touch with Harvin?

Linkedin: Harvin Vinny Bhathal

Email: hbhathal@sfu.ca

Mikela Vuorensivu, Roya Pishvaei and Andrea Isea Galindo

Dance Students

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

We did a documentary/interview style presentation on our process behind the creation of our dance film. Using behind-the-scenes footage we were able to provide viewers a more intimate look into the story behind the final product.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

Our goal was to leave people feeling a bit more connected to us as the artists, and to the work itself, and that played a huge part in the format me chose. We did an interview-style presentation where we narrowed down key influences on our final product and discussed our experience of them.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

As dancers we always talk about how you spend hours, days and months on rehearsing or creating a performance and all the audience sees is a single run onstage, or the final product on the screen. They often do not get to see the build up or backstory or what it took to get there, so we loved that this conference made a space for conversation around the process, not just the product.

Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwfTGYJxMOw&feature=youtu.be

Nazanin Boroumandzad

SIAT Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

Dog-E is a portable Neuro Training Companion for Stroke Survivors with Fine Motor Deficiency.

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

As a team, we decided to present it together, so we connected to communicate our ideas. We worked on the script, recorded voice for each person and compiled them as one video file.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

I was able to join our presentation room and watch our presentation as well as others. It was nice to receive positive feedback from people who watched our presentation.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/JjxTm4gb8a8

Want to get in touch with Nazanin?

Email: linkedin.com/in/nazaninboroumandzad

Jordan Eng

CMNS Student

Describe the work that you presented at the UGC

I presented on the difficulties of AI and authentic values in accordance with Facebook. The meaningfulness of this conversation is very well relevant to present day social and cultural values. The construction of values are set by society itself and it is one of the many benefits of being human, where does AI as a moderator fit in this?

What was the process like to prepare for your presentation?

I utilized a step by step process which started from the roots of my research article. I furthermore extracted key segments and progressive elements that would contribute the most towards my thesis and objective. Overall the preparation phase required me to be attentive towards the details but also be broad enough to elaborate on my thesis.

Describe your experience of presenting at the UGC:

I never had to compassion or courage to share my work until I heard about UGC. With the help of TA, I was able to gain the confidents to even sign up. The workshops offered provided me great depths of information of how to make the best out of my presentation.

Presentation: https://youtu.be/0Y_EWbF-0kE

Want to get in touch with Jordan?

Email: jordankyleeng01@gmail.com