Dr. Alex Hearn is a marine fisheries ecologist, and has worked as a Professor and Researcher at USFQ and the Galápagos Science Center since 2015. In this Latitude Zero Talk, Dr. Hearn will speak from his extensive experience and research in the region, and delve into the current state of overfishing in the Galápagos Islands and how it is endangering this unique ecosystem and its species.

Dr. Valeria Ochoa is the Director of environmental Engineering and a co-founder of the Office of Innovation and Sustainability at UFSQ. In this talk, Dr. Ochoa will lead us to look at the bigger picture of the state of water in Ecuador through a comprehensive lens stretching from the Amazon region to the Galapagos.

Dr. Diego Quiroga is the Dean of Research at USFQ. In this Latitude Zero Talk, Dr. Quiroga will bring the Galápagos focused series to a close and take a look at the human dimension of the islands.

What are your origins? Join your peers to learn about each other’s background! This session will be an opportunity to share a bit about your home through an interactive activity.

What are your local culinary traditions and what can they tell us about your culture? This session is sure to leave us all a bit hungry as we will be sharing international culinary traditions through multimedia as we continue to create an online international community.

What has been your experience with gender and equality? What does the LGBTQI+ community in your context look like? Join us for a session to discuss gender and equality across international borders, find connections, and take part in a dialogue led by local USFQ campus group: Dragones Queer.

Date	Description
Oct 1	Introduction to American Research University
Oct 8	Understanding the American Classroom & Cultural Adjustment
Oct 15	Academic Honesty in the American Education System
Oct 22	Employment Opportunities & Career Development
Oct 29	How to Choose & Apply for Graduate Programs?
Nov 5	Leadership & Collaboration
Nov 12	Personal Wellness: Recreational Activities, Mental Health, Work-Life Balance Resources
Nov 19	Student Organizations & On-Campus Activities
Nov 24*	Living On or Off Campus
Dec 3	American Culture in a Nutshell

*Note: November 24 will replace the 26th due to observation of the Thanksgiving Holiday

This virtual excursion takes the participants to the uncharted territory of a death ritual, namely the writing of tomb epitaphs. In medieval China, it was common for a biographical eulogy in formal script, sometimes penned by famous calligraphers, to be engraved onto the tombstone of the deceased. The buried tombstone was not meant to be seen or read by the living. What kind of information was recorded?

Join us at CUHK, home of a premier collection of Chinese art with dozens of tombstones and rubbings, in a journey to reflect on the life of a prematurely deceased 20-year-old in medieval China through her ultimate CV – the tomb epitaph.

Did you know that once you join LinkedIn, each connection made introduces you to an average of 400 new people? You also get access to potential employers looking for your talent and skills. How to build a professional LinkedIn profile and help you be memorable for the right reasons? Come join us and learn more!

In this event, volunteers will be comparing satellite images and adding buildings to a shared online map which will then be made available for all humanitarian organizations worldwide.

The early Daoist text the Daodejing is popularly and anachronistically thought to speak in direct ways to ecology and the environment. Such prevalent ways of reading the text persist even as they are frequently criticized in the Sinological and Daoist scholarly community. While the Daodejing was composed across different historical contexts with diverse purposes in mind, the text continues to speak to questions of how to individually and socially live and interact with human and inhuman life and the natural world.

In discussing the book Daoism and Environmental Philosophy: Nourishing Life, the extent to which the Daodejing and other early Daoist texts can be suggestive for addressing the contemporary environmental crisis will be reexamined. The talk will consider whether and how early Daoist conceptions and practices of emptying (xu 虛), stilling (jing 靜), and making plain (su 素), responsive attunement (wuwei 無為), and nourishing life (yangsheng 養生 ) can be interpreted and reimagined in critical ecological models that indicate different more nurturing ways of dwelling and becoming with our environment and the myriad things (wanwu 萬物), in their own respective tendencies and ways of becoming (ziran 自然).

About the Speaker

Eric S. Nelson is Associate Professor of Humanities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His areas of teaching and research include modern European, East Asian, and intercultural/comparative philosophy and religion.

In this workshop, you will learn how to cultivate more personal space for loving awareness and self-kindness in your daily life, thus enhancing our capacity for emotional well-being and building resilience. With a spirit of openness and tenderness, you will stop being so hard on yourself but motivate and encourage yourself with greater ease and confidence.

Intimacy, sexuality and sexual expression are basic human needs. Our understanding towards sex and intimacy affects how we see ourselves and the relationships with others. This workshop will discuss the relationship between having a healthy view on sexuality and its impacts on overall psychological well-being. By achieving positive relationships, you will enjoy the companionship, excitement, fulfillment of emotional pleasure and love.

We will focus on integrating psychological theories into practical tips for you to navigate social and emotional obstacles to our well-being. Guide you to gain insights in human emotions and social interactions through some interesting thought-experiments and case studies. You will also be inspired to value self-care and empathetic communication in facing stress and adversity in life, thus gaining more confidence in handling your own emotions and in turn rendering timely support to your beloved ones.

Join us and make up for what you miss seeing in person with an in-depth look at historical paintings and rare vintage photos of Hong Kong in The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) collection. Scholars from different disciplines will introduce early tourist attractions against 21st century street views.

Based on Jim Kouzes' and Barry Posner's The Student Leadership Challenge®, you will learn about five practices of exemplary leadership, and exchange ideas with HKUST students on the application of these five practices to inspire excellence in your circle of influence.

What are your origins? Join your peers to learn about each other’s background with an interesting spin! This session will be an opportunity to share a bit about your home through an interactive activity based on local legends.

What’s the culture on your campus like? Join your peers to learn about each other’s universities and what makes them unique! This session will be an opportunity to share a bit about your university experience through an interactive activity.

What does art mean to you, and how does your culture shape this perspective? Join your peers to learn about each other’s cultures and experience through conversations about art- conceptualized broadly (i.e. visual arts, music, theatre, media, etc.) ! This session will be an opportunity to share a bit about your culture and explore your creativity through an interactive activity.

Aside from making sure you are wearing trousers and that your Zoom background looks professional, preparing for an interview means being ready to answer some new questions. Join us to find out more.

Everyone from beginners to native speakers are welcome! You don’t have to speak the target language, just come along and enjoy chatting with other people from various backgrounds about their countries and cultures.

Everyone from beginners to native speakers are welcome! You don’t have to speak the target language, just come along and enjoy chatting with other people from various backgrounds about their countries and cultures.

Everyone from beginners to native speakers are welcome! You don’t have to speak the target language, just come along and enjoy chatting with other people from various backgrounds about their countries and cultures.

In this event, volunteers will be comparing satellite images and adding buildings to a shared online map which will then be made available for all humanitarian organizations worldwide.

This live online event will give you a sense of what makes Korea University special and inspiring millions of Koreans' lives and why being a Korea University graduate is so important in modern Korean society. Tour the incredible neogothic campus facilities, experience its cutting-edge learning environment, and share the Korean custom of 신입생 (freshman) with your classmates.

This workshop will introduce practical ways to handle traumatic experience. There is a potential of sexual health and well-being for each individual. Despite the experiences, people can bounce back after adversity. We call it resilience. What makes a person more resilient than the others? How does it lead to a flourishing life? Can it be learned? The workshop will discuss ways to cultivate resilience and wellbeing through the lens of positive psychology.

Join The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on an interactive tour of Kennedy Town in real time! Our community tour guide will walk you through the alleys to discover the iconic stonewall trees, and show you the authentic Hong Kong from a local perspective.

The talk will focus on sharing the presenter’s shooting experience of wildlife in Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.

Topics including:
When is the best time to visit Antarctica?
What kind of tours should we join?
What should we prepare?
What kind of equipment should we bring along?
What kind of wildlife can we expect?
What stunning scenes may we encounter?
What lessons can we earn? (e.g. environmental impacts and concerns)

The theme of the event is about traveling in Japan. Enjoy and learn about famous places in Japan through a fun game of Sugoroku, Yes or No questions, and a video presentation of wonderful Japanese cities. In this event, we highly encourage participants to share their culture as well during our interaction.

Japan has many other beautiful places to offer other than Tokyo and Hokkaido. This presentation showcases some of the 'hidden gems' in Japan including Sendai, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. We hope to get people excited about traveling to different places in Japan and see what else Japan has to offer.

There are six famous festivals in Tohoku which are called 'Rokkonsai'. We will introduce the festivals' history and backgrounds, traditional dances, decorations, food, and so on. A special video will be shown to explain the festivals.

Through presenting anime, movies, comedies, actors, and karaoke, we will be focusing on these topics to bring light to Japan's media culture. With the various interactive events we have planned, international students are encouraged to participate.

Introducing fashion, food and music! You can travel from old Japan to modern Japan! We prepare some quizzes and dance that anyone can enjoy! There are even contents that make you feel like you are in Japan even though you are online!

Join us to meet new people from all over the world and to discover more about Japan's pop culture! Come learn new slangs that are commonly used by the Japanese natives, have fun discussions and quizzes about anime, and have a taste of Japan's cuisine. All participants are welcome!

Have you ever thought of what it means to become an adult, or celebrating the coming-of-age? In Japan, we have a ceremony to celebrate coming-of-age! Tune in to our event on December 6th to learn more about what coming-of-age means for the Japanese people. Let's share traditions and cultures while making origami kimonos!