Time-to-Write Session
- Graduate Students
- Postdocs
Do you have a paper, dissertation, grant proposal, or application you’ve been putting off? Or maybe you’re finding it hard to motivate yourself to sit down and write?
On March 30, the Grant Writing Academy is hosting its first Time-to-Write Session for Stanford graduate students and postdocs. Join us for a focused block of writing time in a supportive environment—bagels and coffee provided!
….Come for the bagels, stay for the writing!
Note: This session runs from 10 AM–1 PM and requires participants to attend the full session. Please register only if you can stay for the entire time.
Download and share our flyer with friends!
What to Expect
During the session, you’ll complete four 25-minute writing blocks using the Pomodoro technique. Participants will be placed in small groups of 2–4 students or fellows. At the start of each block, you’ll briefly share your writing goal with your group. At the end of the block, you’ll do a quick check-in to reflect on your progress and set your next goal
How to Prepare
Please bring a fully charged laptop or whatever materials you prefer to write with. If possible, review any relevant literature and have your references ready in advance. Preparing a brief outline ahead of time can also help you make the most of the session.
We’re looking forward to a productive morning of focused writing and helping you move closer to your writing goals.
To help us improve future sessions, we’ll also invite attendees to share feedback on the timing and format of upcoming Time-to-Write events.
Questions? Please contact the Instructors: Dr. Troy Dildine and Dr. Mekhala Dissanyake.
If you need a disability related accommodation to participate in this event (captioning, sign language interpreting, Braille, etc.), please contact the Diversity & Access Office at disability.access@stanford.edu or 650.725.0326. Requests should be received at least one week prior to the event.
About the Instructors:
Dr. Troy Dildine is a NIDA T-32 Postdoctoral Scholar within the Pain Division at Stanford University School of Medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Sean Mackey. He received his PhD from the Graduate Partnership Program (GPP) between the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the National Institutes of Health and the Clinical Neuroscience Department at Karolinska Institutet. Troy’s research is focused on identifying the influence of sociocultural factors on pain expression and pain assessment. With the help of the Jump Start award, Troy will be applying for an NIH K award to further his development and continue to advance his research in health equity.
Dr. Mekhala Dissanayake is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics. She received her PhD in Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill. As a public health researcher, her work is at the intersection of social epidemiology and health services research, focusing on how availability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare contribute to maternal health disparities. Her grant writing experience includes an R36 Dissertation Award as a doctoral student and an NIH Loan Repayment award for Health Disparities Research as a postdoc, the latter of which she developed in a Stanford proposal bootcamp. She hopes to support diverse groups of graduate students and postdocs in their grant writing process through her involvement in BIOS 432: Boost your Research Productivity With Design Thinking Tools. When she’s not writing grants, Mekhala is reading fantasy/science fiction novels, cooking, or playing pickleball.