As construction finishes up for the new lab space on the 3rd floor, the Space Committee has been discussing what to do with the rest of what used to be the 3rd Floor Gathering Space.  Below you will find a proposed layout (from our very own Wenting Shih) that will allow students to regain some of their study/workspace.   We gotta FIGHT…for our RIGHT…to STUUUUUDY!

3rd_Floor_Layout

There were numerous representatives from the BMES undergraduate group in attendance for the final BESA meeting of the Fall Quarter.  Since BMES often struggles with finding the funding to support their events, most of the discussion centered around getting BMES members involved in BESA activities, assuming funding situations allow for it.  There was also recap of the most recent BESA events (including the movie screening before Thanksgiving) as well as a look toward events in the Winter Quarter.  For more details, click below:

BESA MEETING AGENDA                                          December 2, 2009

In attendance:

Stephanie, Natasha (BMES president), Adrian

BUDGET

BESA account: $150+$650 =$666

BME account: $1050

SPAC: $5

Total: ~$1500

Iwanà make a budget for winter quarter, and allocate how much money can go to BMES events

MOVIE DINNER NIGHT – November 19

-          Great success, thank you all for helping out

-          Turnout of ~80 students (40 from the dept and 40 from outside)

-          Great food options from Dos

-          Good job Jen and Justin on discussion of the movie

-          Potentially $165 comes out of the account for movie screening

BME HOLIDAY PARTY – December 5^th

-          6-9pm at Rec Pool Lodge

-          Can volunteers email Susie and sign yourself up for setup or takedown

-          Bring side/dessert/salad/appetizer

-          Game ideas – Little Known Facts. Any other ideas????

• Picture of famous person on backà guess the name

-          A schedule of events during the party will be arranged

-          Announce adopt-a-family at welcome speech for BESA

BESA-BMES collaborations

-          I want to invite undergrad students to all our student-faculty lunches

-          They are tight on money, so we can invite them to our events at no cost. They are willing to send officers for other help

-          About 25 undergrads on listerve who sign in and attend events.

-          About 175 BME undergrads, ~35 paid members

-          Lets have more events together, we can help subsidize: Jeopardy, Bowling

-          We can do a “How to get an Undergraduate Research Position” event, send a graduate student to help publicize and increase attendance

-          Day hikes and other cheaper events is an option

COMMUNITY SERVICE UPDATES

-          Soup Kitchen event on Thanksgiving at Episcopal church behind UMall, turned out well.

-          Loaves and Fishes charity in Sacramento may need more volunteers

-          Community service listserve from community service center sends out updates on community service events around the area

-          Talk about Adopt-a-family

• Deadline for collecting items: Wed, Dec. 16
• Please put tags on items so they can be separated for each family
• Volunteers for Wed Dec. 16^th to organize the items, and put items in typing paper boxes and wrap gifts that need to be wrapped.

-          Made money off snack bin jar which can be used to buy leftover items for adopt-a-family

• Second snack jar in 2^nd floor office and on 3^rd floor

-          SPAC account established

-          Need to start raising funds for future events

-          Upcoming outreach trips? Next one is Dec. 11 at Rosemount high school in Sacramento

COMMITTEE UPDATES

-          3^rd Floor space rearrangement needs Faculty approval

SKI TRIP UPDATE

-          Need to send out an email to gauge interest in the event and decide where to go.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE EVENTS

-          Recommendation for doing Sky High again

-          Kristen: Can you look into that as your event?

NEXT MEETING

-          Second week of winter quarter

BESA has recently gone on three visits to Sacramento area high schools to promote biomedical engineering and to interest students in BME careers. BESA visited with the biotechnology class of Arthur A Benjamin Health Professions High School on Oct 23, the MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement) Club of Rio Linda High School on Nov 4, and the Project Lead the Way Biomedical Sciences class of River City High School on Nov 13. In all cases, students learned about medical imaging, cellular and molecular engineering, and biomechanics. The class from Arthur A Benjamin High School even came to visit UC Davis BME on Nov 9 to see what science research labs are like! BESA Outreach is going strong and many more visits are planned in the upcoming months!

What: BESA cordially invites you to a FREE screening of the
documentary “Naturally Obsessed: the Making of a Scientist”.

When: Thursday, November 19, from 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Where: Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF), room 1005

Why: This new film provides a uniquely honest perspective on what
drives people to do science and what is behind a scientist’s obsession
to solve problems.  The movie is of interest not only to graduate
students, but also undergrads, faculty, and staff, so please spread the
word!

See the website www.naturallyobsessed.com for more info.

Due to limited seating capacity you MUST RSVP to attend this event.
To do so, please email: besa@ucdavis.edu.
In addition, BESA would like to invite you to join us for food and
beverages before the movie!
We will meet up outside GBSF 1005 for some grub and socializing at 5:15pm, immediately following the BME seminar.

Again, due to limited food and seating, you MUST RSVP. Please email:
besa@ucdavis.edu and indicate if you will be attending DINNER, MOVIE, or BOTH.

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.