Halloween Party Pictures!

Pictures from the BESA Halloween Party are now up.  Check out the “Photos” tab to catch a glimpse of all the crazy costumes!

BESA would especially like to thank Dr. Heinrich for taking all the photos and providing them to be displayed on the web.

Celebrate Halloween!

Meeting Minutes (10/14/09)

All BESA officers plus Dr. Leach and Christal Wintersmith were present, along with a few other BME students (thanks Phil, Gina, Laura, Jason).

Recaps were provided for both the most recent GSA meeting as well as the BMES conference in Pittsburgh.  The budget was discussed and a few officers volunteered to become involved with various faculty committees.  The welcome BBQ was also discussed, including good points as well as areas for improvement next year.

Future events such as the Track Specific Discussion and Halloween Party were topics of debate and planning.  Penny Wars! was brought up, primarily to make students aware of the huge faculty lead (bring in those pennies!).  Finally, some financial matters were batted around.

To read more about the specifics, please click below:

Penny Wars!

Penny Wars is happening NOW:

Time to bust open those piggy banks and get your spare change ready for a PENNY WAR! 2 jars will be kept in the main office by the front desk (or on the 3rd floor by the mailboxes) one for faculty/staff and one for students. The objective of this fundraiser is for your group to finish with the most points in your jar. For each penny added to the jar, your team will get one point. Add nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars to opposing teams jars to deduct points from their total (i.e. 5, 10, 25, and 100 points). At the end of October, whichever jar has the most points (pennies – the sum of all other change/bills) wins!!

What’s at stake? Bragging rights of course and an awesome trophy that your team will own until the next time we play.

Where will all this pocket change go? To events BESA plans for you! And to the adopt-a-family program we’ll be planning for the holidays.

How long do you have to play? October 1st-October 29th. Winners will be announced at the BESA Halloween party on October 30th. So dig out all those pennies you don’t know what to do with, have fun, and don’t let the other teams out change you!!

High School Outreach!

On Friday, Sept 25, UC Davis BESA visited St Francis High School in Sacramento for their bi-annual Health and Safety Fair. Members from the community representing many organizations, including UC Davis, Sutter Health, the California Highway Patrol, and the US Army, set up booths and displays with information and hands-on activities for students to learn more about health and safety. BESA attracted many students with displays of UC Davis BME and the College of Engineering, as well as demonstrations of BME topics including imaging, pulse oximeters, and biomechanics and functional knee models. Many students were shocked at how the knee ligaments and tendons actually slide, bend, and stretch during movement! Check out photos under the “Photos” tab.

Ice Cream Social Recap

BESA’s very first ice cream social turned out to be a great success!  Over 30 students gathered around the 1st floor gathering space of GBSF, with almost all of the first years and newcomers from Dr. Athanasiou’s lab present.   Many BME students from labs in Sacramento were also happy to make an appearance and to greet the new students.  The senior BME students opened up to the first year students and discussed their transition into grad school life here at Davis.  They also offered suggestions for activities to do inside and outside Davis, as well as discussed how they manage to maintain a balance between school and hobbies.  We plan to have more of these ice cream social events in the future and look forward to seeing you there!

P.S. Check out the photos page for shots from the ice cream social

BESA Meeting Minutes (9/18/09)

All BESA officers were present, in addition to a few others (thanks Laura, Mike, Donald, and Phil for attending).  BESA gathered for its first meeting in 2202 since construction began in the 3rd floor lounge.

Major discussion points included:

1) BESA Budget – Total funds for the year were laid out and money was tentatively allotted for each quarter.

2) Orientation – Officers discussed there roles in the orientation for the new first year students, including describing their position and introducing “their event” for the year.

3) Welcome BBQ – Budget and plans we discussed for this years Welcome BBQ (September 30 and Putah Creek Lodge).

4) Community service/outreach – Jen and Justin updated the group on their recent work and upcoming events (see Events Page for more info)

5) Track Specific Discussion – BESA officers were assigned to lead each track discussion and progress towards identifying labs with open positions was discussed.

To read the full meeting minutes please click below: