Grad Student Q&A: Alex Urtheil
We spoke with Alex Urtheil, a master's student in the University of Guelph’s Water Resources Engineering program in the Artificial Intelligence Collaborative Specialization. Alex's research is focused on climatology and artificial intelligence to improve climate predictions.
What's your name, program, year, and major at University of Guelph?
My name is Alex. I'm in my fourth semester of six of my Master’s program. I'm doing water resources engineering in the artificial intelligence collaborative specialization.
What made you choose water engineering?
In environmental engineering, we study air, water and earth, and I was particularly interested in the water aspect, so I decided to specialize in water for graduate school. I find water interesting because it's like the blood of the earth. You know, water is everywhere. I think a lot of people are unaware of that - in Guelph, we get our water from the ground and it's always beneath us: the water cycle and everything. If the earth were an electronic circuit, water would be like the electrons. It's fun to look at it like that.
What's your favorite food or dish? And can you make it yourself?
I will say my favourite dish is probably Schnitzel with Spätzle which is a German/Austrian kind of dish. I could probably make it myself if I tried, but I couldn't ever make it the way my Oma makes it. I like it for the cultural/familial association and because it tastes great!
How do you commute between your place of residence and University? Do you find it economic or convenient?
I live directly beside the university, so I take a two-minute walk to the university every day. It hasn't always been like that in the past. I've lived in five different houses in Guelph and in those I always took the city bus. From my current perspective, being a 2-minute walk from school is life changing. I wish everybody had access to that. I think the world be a better place if people could spend less time commuting. . I'm a big proponent of public transport and in North America, we unfortunately haven't quite nailed it down, although I'd say Guelph is pretty good.
Tell us about your research interests and your thesis.
In climate science, data-based forecasting models require observations from the past to predict the future. A key issue lies in that people only began taking measurements, particularly for precipitation, in the late 19th century. So effectively we don't have a very long catalogue of empirical information to provide these models. Our research project involves the fields of dendroclimatology and dendrochronology; basically, you can look at the growth of tree rings and relate it to climatic variables like precipitation. We have access to tree data that is sometimes thousands of years old, so if can we translate growth into historical precipitation, we can provide climate models with a broader scope of information. In turn, it could improve our understanding of the future direction of the climate.
If you could improve one thing about students experience and life at the University of Guelph campus what would that be?
One thing I would love is for campus to feel more connected. A favourite memory of mine from first year was the pep rally. It almost felt like Harry Potter - all the houses coming together with school spirit. But after first year, people go off and do their own thing and they don't have to be connected with anybody or join any clubs. That’s not to say these things don’t happen, they do, but technology adds a layer of interference that, in my opinion, makes our relationships shallower and our campus more antisocial.
If you could give one advice to your earlier self just after you started grad school at University of Guelph (this could be undergrad for you), what would that be?
I would tell myself that at the end of every week, you should know 10x more and 100x less, and you should be OK with that. A challenge in the learning process is that you don't know what you don't know, and behind every door there are thousands of new ones so it can get overwhelming very quickly. Especially at the beginning of my master’s, after reading and digesting five research papers, I realized that the problem is so much bigger than I had initially understood. Slow and steady truly wins the race.
Now the opposite of that question: what is an advice or note you want to leave for your future self, based on your experience at grad school and at this moment in your life?
I'd tell my future self to remember how hard things once seemed and then to recognize where you are now, and how everything was resolved or ended up working out in the end. Just don’t think too much.
What's your favorite place or building on campus, if any?
My favourite place on campus has to be the Bullring. I don't see many fellow engineers there, it’s more of an artsy space and I really like that. I love going there to read, I’ll frequently buy a coffee and read for an hour or so on the comfy couches.
Do you have any interests or passions you have pursued throughout your studies beyond your research?
My main interest would be languages. I speak German fluently, I learned a lot of French in elementary school but have since lost much of it, and I began learning Russian during grad school. Russian is a very challenging language so I'm still in the beginning stages, but that's one of my more serious hobbies that I could bring up. I practice German at the German club, and a friend here from Ukraine helps me with Russian. I’ve also picked up one or two words in languages like Persian, Turkish and Hindi from the international students here.
Do you think you're striking a good work life balance? Do you think your school and lab environment help you with that?
Work life balance is something that I need to improve on, and that's not to say that I work all the time either, because it can lead to periods of burn out. I really need to figure out how to finish for the night and leave it till the next day. University Clubs have been a great way to pull myself away from my work and take a social break.
What was an academic skill or something useful in your academic work that you acquired through your years in Guelph, which you find really helpful?
Something I’m improving at, though I haven't perfected yet, is organization. As I’ve reached stages in life where missing things can have serious consequences for my career, I’ve learned the value of using a real calendar. It’s better not to rely on memory alone and stress about forgetting things. I used to think organization was easy and unnecessary. But once I started practicing it, I realized that organization is actually quite difficult—and it’s a skill in and of itself.
What's next for you? What's your plan after graduation?
My current goal is to leave Canada as soon as possible—whether to Austria, somewhere else in Europe, or the United States—and start a career in my field. Water resources engineering is a vast field with many opportunities across different areas. One of the aspects I love about this field is that it aligns with my plans to travel, and water gives me the opportunity to do that.
Do you have a same quote or philosophy that you often refer to for yourself and you would like to share?
I have three I’d like to share. First, “boats are safe in the harbor, but that's not what boats are made for.” The second is the aptly named golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated. Sometimes people forget to treat themselves with respect, which makes the rule unnecessarily hard to follow. The last one that I really like is 'We are either alone in the universe, or we are not—and both options are terrifying.'
Do you have advice for early career researchers and graduate students: people who are just starting grad school?
My advice is: read, read, read! It’s better to thoroughly understand one paper than to skim through ten and only vaguely grasp their meaning. This was something I had to learn early on. It can feel overwhelming when you start out and tell yourself, ‘Okay, here are 10 papers I need to read.’ It’s like learning a new language, with all the scientific terms and concepts coming at you for the first time. You might get through the introduction without really understanding it, and then you start to realize it’s taking you a week to read one paper. That’s the nature of research. It’s better to go slowly and not rush. Research is inherently slow at first, but it speeds up. You take small steps until eventually you can start taking bigger ones. But to reach that point, it’s important to have a solid foundation, rather than rushing through the process.