Jorge Cham, creator and artist of “Piled Higher and Deeper,” the comic strip about life (or the lack thereof) in graduate school, is scheduled to speak Wednesday, April 20, at 5:30 p.m. in the NDSU Memorial Union Century Theater. A free pizza social will be held prior to the event at 5 p.m. and a book signing will be held after the presentation at 6:30 p.m.
In his presentation, Cham will recount his experiences traveling to more than 150 universities and research centers across the world, lecturing and listening to graduate students from all walks of life share their stories of academic anxiety and de-motivation. Thought provoking and humorous, Cham will talk about the current economic environment and encourage graduate students to look outside of academia for rewarding careers.
Often called the “Dilbert of academia,” “Piled Higher and Deeper” has appeared in the Stanford, MIT, Caltech and Carnegie Mellon newspapers among others, and it is published online where it receives more than 7 million page views per month from more than 1,000 universities and colleges worldwide.
Cham was born and raised in the Republic of Panama. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and his master’s degree and doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University (specializing in robotics), where he started drawing his comic strip. He was subsequently an instructor and research associate at Caltech from 2003 to 2005, where his work focused on developing “Smart” Neural Implants. He has published and presented nationally and abroad on his robotics and neural prosthetics research. He also travels and presents all over the world to thousands of graduate students, faculty and administrators on the graduate student experience.
“Three Piled Higher and Deeper” book collections have been published. In all, Cham’s books have sold more than 48,000 copies.
The event is sponsored by the NDSU Graduate School, Graduate Student Association and the Cooperative Sponsorship Committee.
For more information, contact Sonya Goergen, NDSU Graduate School at (701) 231-7771.