Cham joked that he learned to perform an hour-long PowerPoint presentation on virtually anything, even procrastination.

Before Cham focused on drawing comics, he, like many students, fell into the category of students sucked into the long and arduous path of institutionalized education. Jorge Cham received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, and went on to become a full-time researcher at the California Institute of Technology. Cham’s studies focused on robots, specifically the brain machine interfaces that are responsible for making a robot behave in certain ways.

During his time as a graduate student, Cham began drawing comics to pass the time and as he put it “to procrastinate.”

Much of Cham’s presentation was received with applause and laughter. Nilsson Holguin, 25, from Queens, NY, said that Cham portrayed an accurate representation of graduate life. “It was not only funny but a lot of the things he said were so true.” Holguin, who is a graduate student studying biomedical engineering, enjoys going to work late in the afternoon, but says one of the worst things about being a graduate student is “doing so much in a day, and then asking, what have I done all day?”

Entan Chatav, 23, from Stony Brook, NY, said he read the comics online previous to the presentation and found them very funny. “I thought Cham was very funny, especially the joke about how much graduate students get paid.”

Cham explained that if Stony Brook receives $184,000,000 in funding of research, and there are 2,500 graduate students, then each graduate student receives $73,600. However, this is not the case, as Chatav says that he gets paid around $20,000.

Paula Espinosa, 29, from Queens, NY, says she very much enjoyed Cham’s presentation. Laughing, she questions why she is in graduate school in the first place. Espinosa, who is in the field of Ecology and Evolution, says her biggest problem is flexibility and time. Like Holguin, she too says she finds herself asking what she had done with the day.

Noel Corrosall, 30, from Ocanas, Colombia says he liked the presentation. However, Corrosall asked Cham a question about what he thought could be done to improve the problems of graduate school. Corrosall said he felt like Cham did not really answer the question. “I mean he was funny, but he kept mentioning many problems that we face as graduate students, but he offered no solution.”

Javier Monzon, 26, from Bogotá, Colombia, says “It was one of the best talks I have heard in a very long time.” Monzon says that he kept laughing because all of the things Cham were talking about were so true. Whether it was the clerical data, or the PowerPoint, or simply the lack of flexibility of time, Monzon says “that it something all graduate students must go through, and I guess it is funny but sad at the same time. It is easier to laugh about it.”

Following the hour-long presentation was a book signing with a line of nearly a hundred. When asked about his parents’ reaction to him being a comic instead of doing something with his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Cham replied, “They are still in shock, but overall they are supportive.” When asked if he would stop drawing comics and pursue a career in mechanical engineering,Cham simply replied, “Maybe, but I am very happy with what I am doing right now.”

As the hour long presentation of “The Art of Procrastination” came to a close, many of the graduate students who had filled up the Wang Center Auditorium fled back to their residences and laboratories and returned to work.