BESA

Meeting Minutes (1/10/12)

besa — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:27:20 +0000

We first started off the meeting by recapping previous events: the BME Holiday and Adopt-a-family. The BME Holiday party was a great success. The turnout was large (comparable to last year), the room was a good size, and the games (trivia!) was EXCELLENT. The Adopt-A-Family event was also successful. Almost all items were collected for two medium-sized families. We are looking forward to upcoming events: BMES research fair, BME recruitment weekend, student/faculty dinner, and a BME ski trip. There has been little interest in IM sports, so we are going to have to resume for next quarter. A design context for a BME t-shirt will be announced soon. See below for more detailed meeting minutes…

I. Budget

$1097.40 from Christal, $304 from Pasha (not counting recent expenditures, esp. Student-Faculty Lunch and unapproved Dean Witter events; however, +$500 for winter quarter. Note that Dean Witter is entirely for social events while MyTravel is entirely for business events.)

II. Recapping Previous Events

BME Holiday Party: Comparable turnout to last year, good room size, EXCELLENT games esp. trivia! Must have more games for next year with additional planning.

Adopt-A-Family: Two medium-sized families is good. Almost all items were collected without issue.

III. BMES

Research fair – January 19, 6pm after the Thursday seminar. Open only to BMES members (max 100 people).

- BMES will arrange poster boards and set up beforehand, and they will be in charge of cleanup.

- Business casual individuals with resumes will be channeled through the café where snacks abound

- BESA will contribute $100 towards the procurement of sustenance

- Action Item: Encourage faculty to arrange poster presentations. Even if spaces are not available for undergraduates, it will be good to have many posters displayed. NOTE – Make it clear that spots for UG researchers are limited, and that UGs should not expect research positions. Also emphasize the importance of follow-up (on the UG side) to show true enthusiasm for a particular research topic.

ICC Resume workshop

- Grad student mentees are encouraged to contact their mentors for resume advice.

IV. Upcoming Events

BME Recruitment Weekend – March 1-4 (Feb. 29 for early arrivals)

- Tentative schedule exists. Bring personal schedule with you for next meeting.

- Note that an outdoor dinner is planned on Friday evening… possibly bad, given the weather?

- Consider shifting bowling and Downtown events (Fri and Sat respectively; possibly better to do Sat and Fri respectively?)

Ski Trip – Not the 1^st weekend nor Presidents’ Day weekend of February nor 1^st week in March. Mid-Feb or even late March?

- ACTION ITEM: Pasha is organizing and should poll for the most popular resort (correlated with season passes)

- Trip to be postponed to a time when snow exists plentifully

Student-Faculty DINNER – February 2^nd, 5:15pm after Faculty Candidate Seminar

- Burritos from South Davis Guadalajara! Robin should contact Erica for contact information

- ~25 burritos, wrapped in halves. Chips and salsa will be available; prepare easy methods for serving these.

BME Grad Student Research Symposium, May 11 (Friday), Alumni Center. See 10/25 notes for more info

V. Community Service/Outreach

Little interest in school visits; next visit Jan 17. Mostly UGs attend; few grad students. Gauge present interest by better advertising, i.e. emails when beginning-of-the-year-spam subsides? Encourage those who cannot attend to email Meghan/Ann regarding scheduling conflict. Also, weekend events (soup kitchens, planting trees) are alternative possibilities.

VI. IMs

Not enough interest. Maybe next quarter.

VII. Standing Committees

Executive committee: 285 applicants (new record!) – plan on accepting 50, and expect 25 to actually come.

Space committee: 3303 may revert to public space for holding office hours, doing homework, student-faculty lunches, meeting space, and general hanging out. Simply removing cubical walls would suffice. Café on 1^st floor may be converted to postdoc offices. Lobby on 1^st floor may be furnished with couches and tables for loitering. Liason – Tim Kwa

VIII. T-Shirts

A design contest will be held very soon. Aiming for 40 shirts@$12 ea. Contest announcement will include present design to spur creativity and submissions. “UC Davis” trademark issues exist, so avoid using that term.

IX. Next meeting –Mid Feb to plan for recruitment

Meeting Minutes (11/29/11)

besa — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:06:04 +0000

We started off the meeting by recapping previous events: the BME Halloween party and the November 18th student-faculty luncheon. Although we did not have a large number of students attend the BME Halloween party, we had a HUGE TURNOUT for the student-faculty lunch! (See photos on the “Photos” page) Next time we will plan for a group of at least 50 people in order to prevent any shortage of food. We are looking forward the BME holiday party, in which Erica and Robin will be planning the entertainment (Holiday trivia, etc.). Also, we are looking forward to BESA’s “Adopt-A-Family” volunteering opportunity, especially after seeing how much interest there was in the BESA Thanksgiving Day volunteering event, which ended up being a hit! (See photos on the “Photos” page) We will be having another BESA meeting in January to discuss the BMES undergraduate research fair, scheduled for January 19th at 5:00 pm (immediately following seminar).

I. Budget

$1097.40 from Christal, $383.90 from Pasha (figures from 10/25/11; has not accounted for Halloween party, SFL)

II. Recapping Previous Events

BME Halloween Party: We neglected to invite BMES! 40 partiers sporadically attended with only 5 donning costumes (anomalous). Induce excitement in future years and condense the official party time? Games were exciting (donut-on-a-string).

Student-Faculty Lunch: Severe sustenance shortage stemming from sparse RSVP (18 students / no faculty, but >40 arrived). Exacerbated by excess selection (Namaste Nepal), inducing individuals to sample small spoonfuls of each dish. Already over-budget => aim for well-defined serving sizes with minimal selection (i.e. burritos from South Davis Guadalajara, contact Erica). Expect to entice 50 every event. Due to budgetary constraints, make no open invitation to UGs, post-docs, but do not bar them from attending.

III. BMES

Research fair – January 19, 5pm after the Thursday seminar. Open only to BMES members.

-BMES will arrange poster boards beforehand

-Business casual individuals with resumes will be channeled through the café where snacks abound

-ACTION ITEM: Kristen will inform faculty at the faculty meeting this Friday, and she will inform grad students to prepare posters in early January. This event will also be listed in our upcoming events.

ICC Resume workshop

-Grad student mentors are encouraged to attend and interact with mentees in preparing resumes.

-Engineering Career Fair is 3^rd week of January

IV. Upcoming Events

BME Holiday Party– Saturday Dec. 3 6-9pm

-Erica and Robin are planning activities and prizes.

-ACTION ITEM: Christal will provide an object to Erica and Robin

-Regarding cleanup, encourage your friends and labmates to stay behind and help transport trash to the proper receptacles. BESA officer volunteers: Brad, Robin, Kristen, Meghan(?)

-BMES not invited

Ski Trip– Not the 1^st weekend nor Presidents’ Day weekend of February

-ACTION ITEM: Pasha is organizing and should poll for the most popular resort (correlated with season passes)

Student-Faculty Lunch – Sometime in Winter Quarter

-Burritos from Guadalajara! Robin should contact Erica for contact information

BME Recruitment Weekend – March 1-4 (Feb. 29 for early arrivals)

BME Grad Student Research Symposium, May 11 (Friday), Alumni Center. See 10/25 notes for more info

V. Community Service/Outreach

Adopt-A-Family through STEAC. Aim to provide for 2 families of 4. A poster advertising this event will be available at the Holiday Party, possibly including a trifold brochure and a tree with gift wishes? ACTION ITEM: Also a coffee can can be placed in the office for donations.

Peanut butter drive – an email has been sent

Thanksgiving Volunteering – Thanksgiving Day. 13 volunteers (too many), everything went smoothly if not boringly. To better distribute the work, possibly add an event for the day after Thanksgiving in Sacramento. Contact Evan/Sarah for more information.

Giftwrapping – ACTION ITEM: Erica will contact malls, Target, etc. to determine whether this event will be feasible. Accept donations towards causes we already support such as Adopt-a-Family. Event could be scheduled on a Thurday after seminar.

Outreach event– Friday, December 2, LN₂ ice cream!

VI. IMs

ACTION ITEM: Brad will poll for next quarter’s sports

VII. Next meeting – 1^stweek in January after classes start.

Meeting Minutes (10/25/11)

besa — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:29:39 +0000

We first started off this meeting recapping the BME Fall BBQ. Although less people attended this year compared to last year, we still had a very good turnout (~100 people) with ample food and entertainment (Labnotes performance). We also had a pretty decent turnout for the BESA “Boom” events, especially with Sudwerks and the Ice Cream Social. Unfortunately there we was not a high turnout at the Student Track-Specific discussion luncheon, and so we decided that next year we will change the name to “BME Grad Student Life Discussion” and make it a mandatory event for the first years. Then, we discussed the agenda for our first BESA/BMES mentorship kickoff, to be held on November 10th, and also discussed a potential BESA/BMES research internship fair for mid-January. Other upcoming events include the BMES Halloween Party (10/28/11) and the BME Holiday Party (12/5/11), as well as a BESA Thanksgiving volunteering at the Episcopal Church of St. Martin in Davis (11/24/11). The IM sports (football, volleyball, and soccer) have a high turnout this year and are looking good so far! The next BESA meeting will be in early December.

I. Budget

$1097.40 from Christal, $383.90 from Pasha. Be sure to apply for Dean Witter for the Halloween/BBQs

II. Recapping Previous Events

Fall BBQ – We had plenty of food. Meghan should update food quantities for next year to reflect: too many veggie burgers, too many chicken breasts, and that sausages are better than hot dogs. Also, request RSVPs for next year (it seemed that fewer people attended this year).

Track Specific Discussion – Limited participation from 1^st-years (5-6) due to poor advertising (“What is this for? I already chose my track…”). Those who came found it exceedingly useful and fun. Make it mandatory, change the title to something like “BME Grad Student Life Discussion” to encourage more interaction, communication, and participation.

Other BOOM! Week Activities:

Sudwerk – 15 people, mostly 1^st-years, good times were had by all

Trivia – 6ish people, only one 1^st-year, good times were had by all

Ice cream social – Scheduling conflict with seminar, but good turnout and ample ice cream

III. BMES

Erica and Gina attended the first meeting and started pairing mentor:mentees (~3:1). First event (panel discussion) on Thursday, Nov. 10.

Upcoming events – Research internship fair in mid-January (early evening, GBSF lobby, formal event complete with resumes and posters). Lab tours in Spring quarter.

Lab tours were very popular. Needed more well-defined roles (i.e. tour guides, tour schedules). BBQ food production was slow. In the future, labs should be split into tracks.

IV. Upcoming Events

Halloween party – Fun events like donut on a string. Expect ~40 people with ~20 costumes. Erica will organize games and buy supplies, Meghan will buy food, Christal will set up, and Kristen will buy prizes.

Corn maze – Erica will organize

Student-Faculty Lunch – November 18 (Friday before Thanksgiving)or possibly December, pending Faculty lunches which are historically 1^st and 3^rd Fridays of every month.

V. T-Shirts.

Design came from 5-6 years ago, but we can update the color. Vote on Navy shirt/white writing or gold writing. Pricing to be determined based on shirt cost. Survey to gauge interest, and introduce pre-order+pre-pay methods. Also, get American Apparel and advise regarding size (AA runs small).

VI. BME Grad Student Research Symposium, May 11 (Friday), Alumni Center

Objective: To bring people together, sharing research ideas across the entire grad group.

Scheduling: Breakfast, 5-6 talks, Posters, 5-6 talks, Lunch

BESA or senior students will review abstracts, stimulate interest, and advertise, and possibly provide prizes. In the future, it can be entirely student-run; in the meantime, Christal will organize. Undergraduate participation is pending.

VII. Community Service/Outreach

To organize: canned food drive (USPS?) / Thanksgiving soup kitchen + Thanksgiving BME dinner

VIII. IMs

- American football is awesome

- Volleyball is awesome

- Soccer needs more people

IX. Holiday Party is December 5

X. Next meeting – sometime before Thanksgiving to plan for December events

Meeting Minutes (9/10/11)

besa — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:40:31 +0000

We first started off this meeting discussing plans to develop the mentorship program between BESA (grads) and BMES (undergrads) for this upcoming year. We then discussed the recent student/faculty lunch in August, which had a great turnout and high number of faculty present . With this we discussed the BME Welcome BBQ (September 8th), for which we expect a turnout of over 100 people. Crazy indeed! We also talked about helping out with the first-year BME orientation and discussed the plans for our BESA “BOOM” week (see “Events” page for more details). Lastly, we discussed the logistics of the Track Specific Discussion for the first years and how we can build a solid foundation for discussion for this year.

I. Budget

$1097.40 from Christal, $441.90 less $98 from Pasha

II. Increasing interaction with BMES – Andrew and Rachel

Plan on having bimonthly/biquarterly mentor-mentee (undergrad-grad student) interactions, including Q/A sessions, industry/poster sessions, and social events. Erica and Gina will act as BESA liasons.

October 18, 4-5pm Fall BBQ + Lab tours. Action item: Email BMES [Anahid , Rachel , Nick ] if you’re interested in leading a tour of your lab. Then, free food at 5pm.

III. Student Faculty Lunch Recap

Turnout was great (~60 people, plus lots of faculty, many of whom have left)! => not enough food; Togo’s is expensive.

Lessons learned – Cheaper food alternatives include sandwiches/croissant-wiches from Costco. To ensure that we have enough food, ask for RSVPs, then expect 10-25% more, and include in the last reminder email, “Even if you haven’t RSVP’d, show up anyway because we ordered extra food!” To encourage people to come early, “Food is first-come, first-served.”

IV. BME Orientation – Tuesday, September 20

BESA officers must show up at 2202 by 2:40pm. We will have a recycled slide show presentation (by Kristen and Erica) on BESA-related things, while publicizing BESA BOOM! week. Plan to stick around after the break and have some snacks with the first years.

ACTION ITEMS – Community service slide? Also, remember that we must query for GSA recruitment (Pasha)

V. BESA “BOOM!” week – Sept. 26-Oct.1. First notification will be made by Kristen via email the week before.

Monday: Nothing. Kristen will send a reminder to everybody.

Tuesday: Ice cream 5pm, lobby. ($30). Informal dinner/trivia possible afterward. Contact — Erica

Wednesday: Sudwerk’s after BBQ (9pm-2amesque). Contact – Pasha, who will get a table early.

Thursday: Woodstock’s Trivia Night. Contact — Robin

Saturday (10/8): Apple Hill. Erica+Meghan to arrange rides, RSVPs, etc. Publicized at Orientation!

Thursday (10/27): Corn maze. Dr. Kuhl has connections to the Woodland corn maze. Plan to go after the seminar. Contact — ??

VI. Fall BBQ – Wednesday, September 28 5-9pm

- Food: Procured by Pasha, Robin, and Meghan. Plan for 110 people (note—last year, planned for 80-90; also, leftovers can go towards the BESA Camping Trip. Also, Wenting has the Costco card. Pasha –don’t forget to Dean Witterize a $100 receipt, as well as the receipt from orientation activities.

- Christal will secure the beverages

- Robin, Meghan, and Kristen will acquire the grill and flyers while managing the dessert contest. Acquire $10 gift cards from Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, and possibly Sugar Plum.

- Brad and Matt will grill

- LabNotes will perform 5 songs (~15min)

VII. Track-Specific Discussion – Friday, October 7, 11am~noon/1pm

- [Remind people about Apple Hill]

- Ann will find volunteers (students) to give small talks on their specific tracks, while compiling a FAQ. Other students should provide input for the FAQ.

- Ann will also find professors who are looking for students.

- Ann should draft an email and send it to Dr. Leach, who will inform the 1^st years about this mandatory discussion (but still encourage RSVP). Be sure to emphasize that this “Annual Track Specific Discussion” is to help the 1^st years figure out what to do, what classes to take, etc.

- Lunch will be common in one of the larger rooms (4202 probably), and we can split up into separate corners or other rooms (3202 and 3206) for smaller, focused group discussions.

VIII. Community Service / Outreach

- Training will occur sometime in October

- Gauge best times for school visits (Monday/Friday?)

- Remember to emphasize the importance of college, financial aid options, the application process, possible personal statement editing by the Dean’s office (esp. for minority students) [contact Kim Reinking],

IX. Next meeting – sometime in Mid October.

Meeting Minutes (8/10/11)

besa — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:28:54 +0000

The first meeting of the 2011/2012 school year was recently held with all of the new officers present. We discussed the outcome of the summer camping trip at Glory Hole (see pics on the Events page), and planned for some new Fall events, including a trip to Apple Hill Orchard and a trip to the Dixon Corn Maze. We also discussed plans for a BESA “Boom” week (Sept 26 – Oct 1) where we’ll hold extra social activities (i.e. Ice Cream Social, Sudworks, Woodstock’s Trivia) alongside orientation in order to further welcome the first year BME graduate students. See more details below!

Members present: Kristen, Ann, Meghan, Robin, Erica, Pasha, Brad, Tim

I. Budget

We have $597. Will spend ~$200 on Student-Faculty lunch ($100 from Dean Witter), so we actually have an extra $500 (pending reimbursements).

II. Camping Recap– Erica

Glory Hole Recreation Park, 17 attendees. Having multiple officers would be better. Budgeted $270 for 20 people; we would like to see upwards of 30 people, perhaps publicize more towards people we rarely see (i.e. @Sacramento). Pictures are on the website.

III. Officer responsibilities, Facebook, Website

All current officers should talk to the previous officers! Secretary Tim must also manage the Facebook page. Group officer picture?

Regarding Facebook—it’s just another way of publicizing events, not to replace the website or anything, and it will be directed towards internal networking as opposed to outward advertising. Therefore, photos, etc., should not be visible to prospective students and outsiders. The website, on the other hand, should be where we post photos, minutes, etc. for public consumption.

IV. Yearlong Events

Robin: Student-Faculty lunch, Aug. 20. Make inquiry regarding food. See VI.

Pasha: Ski trip (January?)

Ann: Track-specific discussion (October 21ish). Prepare list/handout of faculty who want students.

Erica: Apple Hill – weekend after welcome BBQ. See V.Saturday.

Meghan: Corn maze – Thursday, October 20?

??: Orientation – 2-4pm September 20. We have an hour to give a pre-prepared presentation. We should add cool pictures to help make us look fun. We may want to use 2202 or 1005 because it makes a better impression (less gloomy than Kemper). Check with Christal.

Kristen: Welcome BBQ, Wednesday, September 28. Dessert contest, getting food, etc. Robin will help.

Brad: Dodgeball/paintball (March)

Robin+Brad: Spring camping (April/May)

Tim: Spring BBQ (May/June)

Alternatives: Day hike to Berryessa, Fall Camping Trip

V. BESA Boom! week – Sept. 26-Oct.1. First notification will be made by Kristen via email the week before.

Monday: Nothing. Kristen will send a reminder to everybody.

Tuesday: Ice cream. Plan for unofficial events like dinner and trivia post-ice-cream. Contact — ??

Wednesday: Sudwerks after BBQ (9pm-2amesque). Contact – Pasha, who will get a table early.

Thursday: Woodstock’s Trivia Night. Contact — ??

Friday: Nothing

Saturday: Apple Hill. (Saturday in October) Once people have gotten to know each other, they can group together and explore Apple Hill. It’s a place in Tahoe with ponies, apple orchards, brewery/winery with jams and arts/crafts. Contact – Erica.

NOTE – WE SHOULD DECIDE OFFICERS WHO WILL BE IN CHARGE OF TUESDAY/THURSDAY.

VI. Student-Faculty Lunch

Friday August 26. Robin will reserve the room and send out pre-emails to query for food. We have Dean Witter over the summer for $100. Budget $200 total. Erica will take care of Dean Witter (free $100) and food purchasing. Food will be Pluto’s, potentially. Plan for 40-50 people. Robin could ask Susie Helton for budgetary advice. To email faculty, send an email to Christal.

VII. T-shirts:

Using old design, has BME on it. We want a different color. October/November, so that new students can order them. Will be discussed in October.

VIII. Outreach

Meghan/Ann: New curriculum! Building a knee model for K-8 students. Getting materials. Meghan will do the handout portion, i.e. academics. Dr. Yamada has some useful information in his grant. Hopefully we shall have a new cell module.

IX. Next meeting – a week before orientation (Sept. 20). Tim will email the week before the meeting (Sept. 5) for scheduling. Brad will not be present for Orientation; someone should cover for him. We’ll discuss the orientation, BBQ, and BESA BOOM! week.