Have you met Ryan, Training and Project Management Coordinator of GlycoNet? Spend the next few minutes getting to know him a little better.
Where is your favourite place on campus?
The banks overlooking the North Saskatchewan. It’s a nice walk over lunch break.
Tablet or paper?
To stay personally organized I use my Google calendar, but I still find it useful to write down minute things that need to be done on basis. I still have a day planner that I write in. It’s a bit of a hybrid system.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
A few posters to colour my space a bit. I also have a few things that some of my colleagues from when I was a grad student have given me — something to remind me what an international community the U of A is.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
I need a good dose of daily exercise, and I listen to a lot of music — country, classic rock, heavy metal — kind of an odd combination.
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would really like to explore Northern Canada. Apparently it’s incredibly expensive to get up there.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
I have a lot of respect for Neil Macdonald. He’s a journalist for CBC news. He’s incredibly insightful and worldly in his reporting. I think he would be a really interesting person to talk to about the state of the world right now and Canada’s place in it. To talk about the future of the world, I think it would be interesting to pick Cory Doctorow’s brain for a bit. He’s an author and activist in the area of copyright/creative commons. He’s released some of his books under creative common licenses. I think his take on the future would be interesting to discuss.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
I would really like to spend some time in the Centre for Teaching and Learning. I originally trained to be a high school teacher. After I graduated I taught at NAIT for a little while. I really liked the adult teaching area. So I have a lot of respect for the Centre of Teaching and Learning does, and I’d really like to spend some time in the area of instructional design and learn a bit more about that field.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
Helping people access the resources they need to reach their full potential.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Anti-microbial resistance. Bacteria don’t respect borders, so it’s going to take an international effort to try to fight resistance and bacteria. Diseases like tuberculosis are really quite scary the more you read about it. The potential for disaster is closer than we often appreciate.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
International — I appreciate all of the great people I’ve met here since I first walked through the doors in 2011. Community — working together we can accomplish so much more than one person working by themselves. Ambition — there are some really top notch researchers here, and they really strive to understand the world around them, and they’re really working towards making the world a better place.
Ryan Snitynsky — Training and Project Management Coordinator, GlycoNet
Originally from rural Manitoba, Ryan pursued undergraduate training in chemistry and education at the University of Saskatchewan, followed by graduate training in carbohydrate chemistry at the University of Alberta. He has previously worked for NorQuest College, Athabasca University, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division. Ryan develops training initiatives for GlycoNet trainees and assists with administration of the Network’s research projects.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.