by Gladys We

PhD dissertations aren’t commonly known for their humour, but Benjamin Woo’s thesis examining how nerds have been transformed from targets of derision to lords of popular culture is not only well written and academically rigorous, it’s also witty.

It’s one contributing factor to Woo’s selection as one of two graduate students to be awarded the Governor General’s gold medal for the highest academic standing among all SFU graduate students.

He achieved a 4.22 grade-point average out of a possible 4.33 and, over the course of his academic studies, authored five journal articles, two book chapters and thirteen conference presentations.

He also received funding awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to complete his MA and PhD research.

Woo’s interest in comic books led to his thesis topic, which explores nerd culture while weaving in sophisticated concepts of social identity, community building, creative practices and economic analyses of media industries.

He points out that three of the five top-grossing movies last year were based on the Avengers and Batman comic books, and perennial nerd favourite, fantasy novel The Hobbit.

His supervisor, communication professor Gary McCarron says, “Ben’s thesis is the best-written dissertation I have seen — each member of the examining committee commented on the pleasure they derived from reading the work.”

Woo’s work wasn’t entirely academic. He organized conference sessions, worked as a tutorial assistant and sessional lecturer, and organized professional development workshops, amongst many other community contributions.

Since graduating with his PhD in October, Woo has continued to publish and present his research findings. He recently received the John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies and gave the Lent lecture at this year’s International Comic Arts Forum conference.

He’s about to start a SSHRC-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the English department at the University of Calgary, where he is examining creative workers in the comic book industry.

He hopes to find a faculty position after completing his fellowship.