Previous Meeting Notes


December 6, 2007

Microbiology Retreat 2008

The departmental retreat will be on Feb 2, 2008. Don't forget to sign up at the Microbiology office by Jan 21. Also if you are interested to meet the prospective students for breakfast, give your names to Maryanne. Afterwards the current graduate students take out the prospectives to ABC. Do plan to come along. We will also need designated drivers. More details soon..

Tom Lessie Award nominations

The Tom Lessie Award in Distinguished Lectureship is an award from the grad students for excellence in teaching graduate courses and it's awarded at the retreat. You will find a ballot in your mailbox which needs to be returned to Caryl's mailbox by the 23rd, with your vote.

MGSG outreach program

Please come up with suggestions about our outreach program for Microbiology undergraduate students as a part of the funding which MGSG received from ASM. We can discuss them over at our next meeting.

SACNAS

Jennifer discussed the outreach program conducted by the The Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), as a part of which she needs volunteers to teach middle school students in Springfield. If you are interested to participate please get in touch with Jennifer.

November 1, 2007

Halloween Party

The students of the department of Microbiology celebrated Halloween on the 31st of October in the Conference Room. We had fun dressing up, carving pumpkins, and enjoyed the Swamp Punch, Graveyard Brownies, pumpkin pie, not to forget the scray lollypops which Ruthie made for us!!

ASM student discount

There is still time to get your studnet discount for ASM membership. If you have not submitted the forms yet this will be your last call to keep your forms and check made out to Klaus Nusslein in Tawanna's mailbox. The deadline is this Friday (Nov 16th)

Lunch hour

There were concerns about some faculty members not honouring the lunch hour booked by the MGSG to be used only by the students. The issue will be addressed at the earliest by Dr Lopes and Maryanne and we hope to have the Conference room free between 12-1 p.m everyday.

Guest Speaker

Last month we invited Dr Dianne Newman to give us a talk here in UMass. She has accepted our invitation and will visit us in Spring. Currently we are working on her schedule and will update you as soon as a date is fixed.

MGSG International food social

At our last meeting we decided to have a potluck on Friday (Nov 16th). Tawanna will send an E-vite soon to decide on the specifics.

UMass grad students listserve

Teresa mentioned the listserve for graduate students in the UMass-Amherst area to discuss ideas, post social events and learn whats going on in Campus.

October 4, 2007

Student discount for ASM Membership

The forms for ASM membership were distributed at the meeting. Please fill it out and return it to Tawanna's mailbox with a check or cash for $12 made out to "Klaus Nusslein" by 10-12-07 (Friday).

Nominees for seminar speakers

It seems that Bonnie Bassler was invited to speak at UMass last year. So we need to consider inviting someone else. Plese mail me your sugesstions if you have someone in mind. We are working on inviting a guest speaker from PIH but it looks like that will be in Spring.

Upcoming Meetings

a. The Fifth Annual Symposium in Plant Biology will be held on Saturday, OCTOBER 13, 2007 at UMass, Amherst. Registration and talks will be in the Engineering Lab II lobby and auditorium.

b. Interdepartmental Graduate Student Colloquium Series (IGSCS) will have their AY 07-08 lecture series on Wednesday, October 17 in Bartlett 206. The goal of the Interdepartmental Graduate Student Colloquium Series (IGSCS) is to provide graduate students with an opportunity to learn about research done by graduate students in various disciplines. The series consists of monthly semi-formal lectures given by graduate students about their own research.

c. The 42nd Annual Region I Meeting of the Northeast, Eastern New York, Connecticut Valley and New York City Branches of the American Society for Microbiology will be held at the Conference Center at The Conference Center at Harvard Medical, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston on the 1st and 2nd of November. Do let me know if anyone is interested and we can carpool.

Funding from ASM to promote Microbiology

MGSG has recieved $620 from ASM for the following project: Microbiology: “A Diverse Field.” The purpose of this activity will be to increase the awareness of Microbiology as a field of study. This activity will be held in the Spring semester to attract undergraduate students at the University. This event will include posters by graduate students of the department and a poster on the types of occupations and careers someone with microbiology training can explore. We expect to achieve increased interest in Microbiology, increased membership in ASM, and increased participation at the Branch meetings through this project.

NRE College day

Friday (10-12-07) is NRE College Day - 12 to 1:30 p.m in front of Stockbridge Hall. We need to represent our department and also support our new dean. There will be food and live music..

GSGS grant writing workshop

GSGS is sponsoring two Information Sessions and three Writing Intensive Workshops this fall.
Info Sessions will be held in Campus Center 168C on Fri. Oct. 19, 3-5 pm.
Writing Intensives for Sciences, Math and Engineering will be held in Campus Center 801/802 on Thurs. Nov. 1, 2-5 pm.
There will be an information Session on funding sponsored by the American Association of University Women on October 12, 2007 from 10 a.m. to noon at Campus Center 903

Brewery trip

Our last trip to BBC was a great success again. We proposed to visit Greg's home brewery as our next stop. However, I am yet to hear from Greg. I will keep you posted as soon as we make a plan.

How to read research papers

Dr Schloss will give us a talk on "How to read research papers effectively" at the Microbiology Conference room at 4 p.m before our next meeting (1st Nov,2007).

International Fall Social

We discussed a potluck as our next social event. The time and date will be decided soon. Do let me know if you have any ideas for the event.

September 6, 2007

Graduate handbook

Our Graduate Program Director has welcomed all questions regarding the current handbook. He addressed these questions openly at a meeting with all interested and available graduate students on Aug. 29. A list of student questions and the corresponding answers can be found here: Graduate handbook queries

Treasurer

Tawanna has been elected to be the treasurer for the coming academic year. Congratulations, we are glad to have you as an MGSG Officer.

Meeting time

MGSG will continue to meet on the 1st Thursday of every month at 5pm. Our next meeting will be in the graduate lounge on the 4th of October.

MGSG Brewery Tour

We will continue with our brewery trips which have been quite informative and educational along with a touch of recreation. Berkshire Brewing Company in South Deerfield will be our next destination on the 29th of September. The tour starts from 1pm so we should all meet near the conference room around 12. I will send more information regarding coordination and car pooling.

Departmental picnic

The Department of Microbiology has organized a picnic at the Mill River Recreation Area on the 15th of September, 2007 at 2pm. Magician Fran Ferry will be present and we will arrange for some games as well.

The following students have volunteered to help
- Adam, Ajanta & Supratim (Setup)
- Ameet, Ana & George (Cleanup)

A Ph.D.Is Not Enough
[September 24, 2007; 9:30am - 6:00pm; Campus Center]
The Graduate Education and Career Development Initiative (GECDI) has organized sessions on networking, panel discussions, and workshops in their yearly event: "A Ph.D. Is Not Enough!" This year, APINE will have a greater focus on mentoring education and networking. Do register for the event at GECDI

Guest speaker

MGSG will invite Bonnie Bassler (Department of Molecular Biology - Princeton University) to be our guest speaker this semester. Teresa and Tawanna have volunteered to initiate communication.

Partners in Health (PIH)

The PIH model of health care for the poor was introduced at the meeting. To promote general awareness and encourage participation from the student community at UMass we hope to invite Dr Paul Farmer (Founder Director, PIH) or Dr Joia Mukherjee (Medical Director,PIH).

SACNAS

Jennifer introduced The Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) at the meeting.

Upcoming meetings

ASM : 108th General Meeting: Boston, MA, June 1 - 5, 2008

Molecular Parasitology Meeting: The Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole,MA. September 16-20, 2007

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM): Harvard University Sep. 28 - 30 UAEM

August 9, 2007

Graduate handbook & discussion about suggested revisions:

There are major concerns with the graduate student handbook which was discussed in detail at the meeting. Some of the issues include lack of clarity about qualifying courses, qualifying exam, annual meeting with the committee. The general opinion was the handbook is like a contract handed over initially to an incoming student and the student should not be expected to submit to major modifications during his/her graduate career. Otherwise, the handbook given to the student at the beginning of his or her career may be nullified and irrelevant as a guide to completing his or her program. For example, if a student enters in a year where hypothetically 6 courses is required and in the student's final year the handbook says a student is required to have taken 8 courses before completing the program, is this fair that in the last year this student must fit 2 more courses in?

Another issue that was brought up in the meeting concerns a "clause" suggesting that in this and similar scenarios, there will be a case-by-case evaluation to find a suitable solution. Questions about how fair this "case by case evaluation" were brought up and clarification was requested.

Furthermore, there were queries about the status of a publication before a final doctoral exam seeing as how the suggested revisions could jeopardize the student's graduation date potentially for a year or more.

*Please mail me your individual queries about the handbook. All the questions will be compiled and we will forward it to the Graduate Program Director for a possible solution, before the next version of the handbook is released. All queries will be anonymous.

Break room for Graduate students

The Conference room has been reserved by MGSG for an hour during lunch specifically to be used by graduate students. We will let you know the timings soon.

Orientation for new students

There will be an orientation for the new students on Aug. 30 (Thursday) from 10-1pm. We'll meet at the conference room located across the hall from the department office. During the orientation, we will go over some key websites, obtain University IDs, show useful buildings/offices around the campus and the building, answer questions about classes and the department, and have lunch with other graduate students.

Mentoring

Helene, Teresa, Dave and Supratim will be the official mentors for 4 incoming graduate students who have requested for a mentor.

Treasurer

We will have a re-election for the post of the Treasurer. The following are the nominations which were decided upon:

Adam, Helene, Tawanna and Jennifer.

Shortly, you will receive a ballot in your mailbox that you should return to Caryl's mailbox.

Brewery tour

On popular demand we will revisit the Berkshire Brewery (BBC) along with the incoming students. The exact date will be finalized at our next meeting.

Graduate student BBQ

We will have a Graduate student BBQ on the 2nd/3rd weekend of September. We haven't decided on the location yet but any inputs are always welcome.

Notes: Greg's experience from the Gordon Research Conference and discussion on the student chapter and invitation of guest speaker from Partners in Health (PIH) has been postponed until the next meeting since we thought it'll be relevant for the incoming students as well. Meanwhile if you are interested to know more and join the mailing list of PIH do get in touch with Sherrie.

June, 2007

Meeting location

Because the graduate lounge is closed for the summer we met in the conference room. If anyone has strong feelings about having our next meeting (August) somewhere else let us know, but for now we will continue to meet in the conference room.

MGSG Brewery Tour

Our last trip to the Northampton brewery was great fun. Our next stop is the Berkshire Brewing Company in South Deerfield. They give their tours Saturdays at 1pm. We have worked out June 30th as a good day for everyone to go. We will try to minimize gas consumption/emissions and drunk driving by carpooling so I will send out a coordinating e-mail as the date approaches. As June 30th is almost our regular meeting time (first week of the month), and people may be away for the Fourth of July, we decided to not have our regular July meeting. Issues can always be brought up via e-mail.

Graduate Student BBQ

We would like to have a grad student summer BBQ, and we worked out that July 21st would be a good day. We decided that undergrads should be invited, since they invited us to their BBQ, but we would rather keep it just students, and of course friends and family of students. There will most likely be a departmental wide BBQ in the fall. We could easily have it at Groff park, but that is a dry area, so we may relocate. If everyone has any good ideas about possible locations please let me know.

ASM

Our registered ASM student chapter was recognized at the annual general ASM meeting in Toronto. Several of us went and represented the department. It was an informative and enjoyable trip.

Break Room / Conference Room

It was brought up again that we are often inconvenienced by our department not having a break room for eating and checking mail separate from the conference room, which often gets reserved or just taken during the prime hours of the day. MGSG is going to try to officially reserve the conference room from 12:30-1:30 everyday possible.

Mentoring Program

We are going to have a mentoring program for our incoming students next year to help them adjust to grad life and answer questions. Mentors will be given contact info for the incoming student so he or she can contact the incoming student/mentee before arrival. Some of us will take the mentees on a tour of the campus and then meet them for lunch in the Blue wall. Given that the incoming class is really small, each mentor will only have one student. Please contact Caryl if you would like to mentor a student.

Graduate Student Handbook Concerns

The GPD wanted to remind students at our MGSG meeting about annual meeting with the dissertation committee as well as the rule that students must have published at least one article or have an article in press before setting the final defense.

These reminders sparked the following discussion:
Many of the rules in the handbook are vague and their interpretation have varied between faculty members and students. Talk to your commitee members frequently and periodically to make sure that you are aware of what is expected of you.

Some questions that came up:
1) Which handbook version do you follow, the latest or the year that you entered?

2) The annual meetings, that are expected to happen every year with your committee, are not adequately described in the hand book. We hope that goals, requirements, time span of data, length and depth of meeting, etc will be clarified in the new version.

MGSG Officer Nominations

Below are the nominations that were proposed. Shortly, you will receive a ballot in your mailbox that you should return to Caryl's mailbox. People are nominated for numerous positions; we are hoping that after the voting this will not be an issue. We will have secondary elections if a person is elected for more than one position.

President:
Helene, Caryl, Ed, Dave, Ben

Secretary:
Adam, Teresa, Supratim, Helene

Treasurer:
Adam, Teresa, Katir, Helene

Lastly, we the MGSG officers would like to say that it has been a pleasure and honor serving you this year. Have a great summer!

MGSG Officers,
Caryl, Helene, and Greg

May 3, 2007

Paper City Trip

I declare the Paper City Brewery trip a success. We all managed to find the place, get home safely, and drink/get a lot of beer in between. To recap, on Fridays 6-8pm you can drink as much as you like for $6, listen to a band, take a tour, and get beer to go home with. They also make different sodas. Apparently on Wednesdays you can go and help bottle and they will pay you with pizza and a case of beer. If anyone is interested to going again please coordinate with Greg or Helene.

Future Social Trips: Northampton Brewery

The Northampton Brewery has been proposed as our next social brewery trip. They have a nice porch where we can enjoy this time of year. We plan on going Friday June 1st. In the future we hope to also go to Deerfield and other breweries.

More socializing: BBQ

We also thought that an end of the year BBQ might be fun. We haven't set a date but it will be after ASM. We also haven't decided if it will be departmental wide or just MGSG. Any insights should be directed to Caryl.

Aceademic: MGSG Invited Speaker

Ken Nealson, who MGSG voted and sponsored to come speak, cannot attend due to personal health reasons. Slava S. Epstein was invited and will give a departmental seminar on May 15th.

Undergrad Liaison

Our undergrad liaison, Devin Currie, represented the department at the Undergrad Symposium 5-4-07 1:30-3:30.

ASM

Many of us will be attending ASM this year in Toronto. There is a MGSG van that will be making the trip, which may or may not have an open seat. Adam also sent out an e-mail to help MGSG members get business cards for the conference.

Micro 160

Biology of Cancer and AIDS, Micro 160, is the department's largest class. Regular semester exams are always under staffed by TAs because of minimal attendance (thank you to those of you who do attend). The final exam will be even more stressful because the class' grad TA as well as other departmental TAs will be at ASM. If you are a departmental TA you absolutely must proctor the final. All departmental TA contracts include proctoring all 160 exams. If you are not a departmental TA I wanted to inform you of this opportunity to voluntarily serve your department, who needs you. The final is Tues 5/22 4pm in Marhar. For more info contact Helene.

April 4, 2007

MGSG Welcomes...

Heather, to the Nüsslein lab as a post-doc.

Katir, to the PhD program (Webley Lab)

Ajanta De, to the Klingbeil lab as a new PhD student

ASM

A group of 5-6 students have registered as a group, rented a van, and booked hotel rooms together in order to save money. This shows the benefit of coordinating in a group such as the MGSG.

Water Conference 4-9-07

Caryl and Teresa are presenting at a water conference this Monday (4-9) at the campus center

BBQ

The micro undergrads have graciously invited us to crash their BBQ. It will be Tues 4-17 5:30 or 6 most likely in the parking lot behind Morrill. I will send updates.

Paper City Brewery

Friday 4-27 MGSG and the micro undergrad group will be going to the Paper City Brewery in Holyoke. We will meet at the inset parking lot of Morrill ~5:15 and drive to 108 Cabbot St (or meet us there). DDs will need to be coordinated; any volunteers please contact Greg. For $6 we can each drink from 6-8pm and get a tour of the brewery. I hope a lot of us come and we have a great time.

ASM group chapter meeting

There is a meeting at Manchester Community College and Caryl, Vicente, and Tawanna will go to represent our group.

March 1, 2007

Welcome to "new" PhD students:

Tawanna has been accepted into the PhD program and we all welcome her, again. There are two others that may be making the crossover from MS to PhD we welcome their prospects.

ASM group discount

Adam has e-mailed info to everyone previously about registering for ASM as a group so we can all save a percentage. I have attached that information to this e-mail. Please file your form and check to Adam or his mail box prior to 3/25 if you want to get on this deal. There is also discussion on a group van rental and road trip to Toronto. There are no formal plans yet but keep in touch if you are interested in participating.

Recruitment Weekend Suggestions

Klaus is very interested in feedback from last month's recruitment weekend. We mentioned a few things like having less prospectives/slot in program, less speakers, more/earlier food, assigned seating, etc. Please e-mail Klaus with any feedback, especially if you prefer th Lord Jeff or Campus Center.

Party at Jeff Blanchard's!

Jeff is very excited about Ken Nealson, who we invited to come speak in May. Jeff has proposed a large party at his place that may include a bon-fire, live music, and lots of wine. We generally accepted his proposal and will keep you updated on specifics as it nears.

Paper City Trip

We have set a date: 4/27/07. The MGSG will be going to the Paper City Brewery to tour the brewery and drink a lot of beer for $5. Come learn about applicative microbiology.

ASM funding proposals

As an official chapter, we are applying for money from ASM again this year. The money from last year went to bringing Ken Nealson. There were numerous proposals about what we could do this year with the money: set up a mini-brewery, expand our mentoring program, expand undergrad recruitment, and bring another speaker. I have attached a draft of those proposals. Please e-mail Caryl if you have any other ideas, if you have any strong feelings about any of the options, or if you have any comments that can help in the drafting process.

Feburary 1, 2007

Retreat

The departmental retreat is this Saturday at the campus center. Afterwards it is customary for the current grad students to take the prospectives out to ABC. We hope that a large portion of you will attend.

MGSG meeting time

Our current schedule is to meet the first Thursdays of the month at 5pm. We will meet in the graduate lounge when it is open and the conference room when it is not. If you have a conflict with this time and want to come please let us know and we will try to figure out a better time at the next meeting.

ASM group discount

Adam has found that if 5 or more people register for the ASM conference as a group they can each save 10% on their registration fee. If you are interested e-mail Adam.

GECDI

Graduate Education & Career Development Initiative has two upcoming workshops. They first is titled "Setting Up Shop: How to start a research laboratory?" and will be lead by Klaus Nusslein. The second is titled "A Recruiters Guide to Getting a Job." For more information e-mail Caryl.

ASM Funding

As an ASM chapter, we will be applying for funds, approximately $300. We are collecting ideas on what we could do with this money. We could invite a speaker, host a social event, etc. E-mail Teresa with any thoughts.

Paper City Brewery

A probable social event that we are trying to organize is a trip to the Paper City Brewery. Greg has investigated and it seems that we can all go on a Friday afternoon and for $5 get a tour of the brewery (microbiology related) and get a 2hr bottomless glass. If people express interest we will set a date.

November 2, 2006

ASM registration

If you want to register for ASM as a group to save money, you should give your form and $12 (cash or check made out to Klaus Nüsslein) to Caryl ASAP

Recruitment Weekend

2/3/07 in Campus Center. The Tom Lessie Award in Distinguished Lectureship is an award from the grad students for excellence in teaching graduate courses and it's awarded at the retreat. Last year's went to Pablo Pomposiello. Please e-mail Caryl with nominations for this year. Our Treasurer, Greg, will be collecting a $2 donation for the award (usually awarded in the form of a certificate and restaurant gift-certificate)

ASM student chapter group

We are currently a ASM student chapter group. This is how we got funding to welcome Ken Nealson to give a seminar. We need to reapply in January for next year. Teresa has volunteered to help us reapply.

Courses

Professors met Mon 11-6 to decide who will teach what courses when.

Grad Student Trip

We think it would be nice to go on a field trip as a group. BBC or Paper City, would be a lot of fun and technically microbiology related. A ski trip is another possibility. If you feel strongly about this or have other propositions please share via -email.

Conferences

Supratim announced that NEMBG conference was 11-4. Cayl, Almaris, Greg, attended SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) in October. Javier mentioned 2 valuable conferences this year. NEMPET (North Eastern Microbiologists: Physiology, Ecology and Taxonomy) and BBM (Boston Bacterial Meeting)

October 5, 2006

New Policies

As stated in the new graduate student handbook, there are some new policies that grad-students should be aware of. A doctoral candidate must meet with their committee once a year. The new students will have a quick (15min) committee/panel meeting.

ASM Membership

If you plan on going to the conference in Toronto you should become an ASM member. We can get a $5 discount off the ASM student membership fee. However, we need to apply as a group of 4 or more. Klaus has agreed to be the "sponsor". Please fill out the membership form and turn it into Caryl's mailbox as soon as you can. She'll send an email out again when we are about ready to turn in the forms.

Picnic

The department picnic is going to be this Saturday 10/14 at noon in Groff Park. Please sign up in the office if you are coming and if you are bring guests and/or food. We have bought lots of candy, games and prizes including a piñata. Adam, and Helene will set up at 11am. Thereasa, Zara and Amber will clean up after. Almaris will help with the grilling. Javier will prepare music. Zara will bring a soccer ball etc. Greg will bring a volley ball etc.

Tuition Bill

Remember your non-tuition tuition bill is due today 10/11! Do not pay your full amount because GEO pays for 95% of your healthcare costs and the MASSPRIG is optional. GEO also has a new dental and vision plan that is free for individuals that you should sign up for very soon if you want continuous coverage.

Next Meeting

Our meetings are the first Thursday of the month in the graduate lounge. Next will be 11/3. Please attend!

September 7, 2006

Welcome new students!!

We would like to introduce the MGSG to the new students as a great opportunity to keep in touch with what is going on in the department and as a way to collect ourselves into a unified group with enough weight to do significant things. Here are our original mission statements:

The purpose of this organization is
(1) fostering student involvement in and communication within the Microbiology program at The University of Massachusetts - Amherst,
(2) creating an environment for student researchers to present their work and engage in scientific discourse,
(3) encouraging participation in scientific conferences,
(4) increasing the number of visiting speakers, and
(5) promoting student participation in local, state and national ASM activities.

Because this is an important group we hope that attendance will improve.

Monthly Meeting Time
We discussed member's availability and have decided that future meetings will occur on the first Thursday of the month at 5pm in the Graduate lounge. The next meeting will be Oct 5th. Our meetings are only once a month!

New Treasurer
William Latouf, aka Greg, has been elected our new treasurer. Congrats!

Department Picnic
The department picnic will be Saturday October 14th noon at Groff Park. Everyone and their families are invited. It is a potluck meal and a sign up sheet for people bringing desserts, side-dishes, etc will be posted in the departmental office soon. Help is needed with entertainment, setup, cleanup, and assisting to cook. Helene and Adam have volunteered with setting up; Teresa has volunteered with cleaning up, and Almaris has volunteered to assist the cook. Entertainment is needed for both adults and children, it will be a joint effort, and many ideas were proposed at the meeting. Greg will bring a volley ball and net, Javier will make music mixes, Caryl will bring rope for a three-legged race, and Jeff will hopefully bring a soccer ball. We will get a piñata, bingo set, and prizes, and maybe a bubble set, and botchy ball set. Anyone interested in acquiring these and other supplies for the picnic should contact Maryanne, who will give you money ahead of time.

A PhD is Not Enough
"A Ph.D. Is Not Enough!" will be held this year on September 19, 2006 at the UMass-Amherst Campus Center with featured speaker Jorge Cham of the Piled Higher and Deeper (Ph.D.) comics. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information and to register, please visit www.apine-event.org.

MGSG guest speaker
Through MGSG ASM support Ken Nealson was scheduled to give a seminar this semester. Unfortunately he has to have surgery and will be unable to attend. We hope that he will be able to come next semester. We discussed local seminar possibilities and voted to first invite Edward DeLong, Division of Biological Engineering & Department of Civil and Environmental Engineerin at MIT. For more information on his research visit http://web.mit.edu/be/people/delong.htm. We will keep you updated if he agrees to come, or if we invite someone else.

Micro 160 Proctoring
It is in all Micro grad-TAs' contracts to proctor the Micro 160's exams. For the new students, Micro 160 is a gen-ed science class of 400-500 students with one grad-TA. Exams are chaos without other grad-TAs to help supervise. This is mandatory and if you have a conflict you should contact Helene (helenev@microbio.umass.edu). The exams are 11-12 in Marhar 9/27, 11/1, 12/8, and the TBA final. Helene makes breakfast.

Conference Discussions
As one of our mission statements states, we would like to use this meeting time to discuss conferences that have been attended by members. Due to poor attendance Almaris and Javier's conference discussions have been postponed to next month were we will hopefully have more people.

August 3, 2006

Reminder Of Our Mission Statements
The purpose of this organization is (1) fostering student involvement in and communication within the Microbiology program at The University of Massachusetts - Amherst, (2) creating an environment for student researchers to present their work and engage in scientific discourse, (3) encouraging participation in scientific conferences, (4) increasing the number of visiting speakers, and (5) promoting student participation in local, state and national ASM activities.

Invited Speaker(s)
We voted in May to invite Ken Nealson to give a seminar. He will be coming this semester because of our support. Any suggestions for local speakers that can give a talk would be appreciated. Pat Reilly and Sam Black have been proposed so far.

Conference Summaries
At our next meeting those how have participated in conference are invited to speak to the group and share your experiences. Almaris, Javier, and Dave have volunteered so far.

New Students
There are a total of 14 new graduate students coming to the micro department. 4 are enrolled to get their PhD, 6 are enrolled to get their 5th year MS, and 4 are enrolled to get their MA. We are planning both and Orientation and a mentoring program to ease their transitions.

New Student Mentoring
Paring new students with a current graduate student might really help the new student get comfortable here. If you are interested in mentoring or have questions please attend the information session on Tuesday in the conference room at 12:30pm. If you cannot make it, but would like to participate, please e-mail Caryl. Caryl, Helene, Dave, and Adam have volunteered so far.

Orientation
There will be an orientation day where current grad students will show the new ones the campus. There is a draft itinerary of this day attached to the e-mail. Please e-mail Caryl of you are interested. Caryl, Helene, and Teresa have volunteered so far.

Pot Luck / Picnic
We were going plan a pot-luck/ picnic social gathering but we heard rumors that the department may be doing the same thing. We will try to keep updated if there is something planned.

APINE
A PhD Is Not Enough conference will be 9-19-06. More information will come later when registration is set-up. This is a great opportunity to learn from others experiences. There will be sections for both students in the beginning of their PhD studies, and those further along. There will also be lunch and dinner included, all for free. Micro will be well represented: Wilmore Webley will be giving a talk, and Javier and Almaris will be on a panel.

Next Meeting
The next meeting is tentatively planned for Thurs September 7, 2006 at 4pm.

April 6, 2006

I. Upcoming Meetings and Events:

Connecticut Valley ASM branch annual meeting - April 27th 7 PM in Manchester, CT. Speaker TBA.

Society of Undergraduate Microbiology Majors Picnic - Thursday April 27th - the undergrad group is having a picnic and would like to invite us. Details will follow.

Microbial Sciences Initiative Symposium - Saturday, April 29th, 2006 Science Center, Lecture Hall C Harvard University, Cambridge, MA - free 1 day symposium with a lot of great talks. See the website for speakers. Contact Patricia Waldron if you would like to go, and she will arrange carpooling.

Boston Bacterial Meeting - June 9-10th at Tufts University - A small meeting and a good venue to show your work. Held at Tufts University, $50.

III. ASM funds - money is available for us to apply for through ASM. We can use this money to invite a speaker or to plan any other event. It has been proposed that we have an event for grad students to showcase their research and that we invite a speaker for next fall. Let Patricia know if you have a nominee for an invited speaker.

IV. Mentoring - despite much discussion, we failed to adequately mentor our 1 incoming grad student this year. For next year's students we will try to contact them before they come to campus, offer a campus tour and match them up with a buddy to make the transition process smoother.



February 6, 2006

I. Future Meeting Times: Meetings this semester will be held at 5 PM on Thursdays in the Grad Lounge. If anyone has a conflict with this time who would like to come to meetings, let me know and we may be able to change it.

II. Tom Lessie Award in Distinguished Lectureship: The award was approved and professors were nominated. A local restaurant gift certificate and an award certificate will be given to the chosen professor at the Annual Retreat.

III. Graduate Student Senate: Microbiology can have up to 2 members at the graduate student senate. If anyone is interested in participating, please contact Sherrie Bain.

IV. UMASS ASM Branch: The CT Valley ASM branch approved us as an official Student group. I have sent everyone's names and e-mail address to the secretary, so you may get an e-mail regarding your membership.

V. Undergrad Micro Group: The UMASS Micro majors have formed their own group, and the president was interested in planning a joint event, such as a grad school Q&A. If you have any other ideas, please let me know.

VI. Skills Test and Workshop: There is a GECDI event scheduled for Tuesday February 21st. Dinner is at 5:00 PM, followed by an Introduction to Self-assessment methods, and guest speaker Caroline Gould from UMASS Career Services. For more information and to register, visit www.apine-event.org.

VII. Research Fest: Currently the Chemistry Dept. hosts a poster session and invites local companies to attend in order to encourage networking. Students expressed interest in presenting micro posters at the next Research Fest, which may occur in the Fall. For more information or to help plan, consult Caryl Becerra.

VII. ASM roommates: If you need a roommate for ASM this year, contact myself or Winnie.



January 9, 2006

I. The meeting time for the next year will continue to be the first Monday of the month at 4:30 PM, at least until everyone gets their class schedules straightened out. The new meeting place will be the Graduate Lounge at the Student Center.

II. There is a GEO meeting on Friday January 13th at 12:00 noon on the third floor of Skinner Hall to discuss our contract status.

III. The UMASS-Amherst Sigma Xi chapter is accepting applications for membership. Contact Beth Stevens at stephens@microbio.umass.edu for more information.

IV. A Communication Group consisting of Adam Glickman, Jessica Johnson, Larry Feinberg, and Jay Rennie has been formed. This group will act as a liaison between the graduate students and the department head and GPD. If you have any concerns, please contact one of the members.

V. There will be a GECDI dinner/workshop on Tuesday February 21st from 5-8 PM to conduct a self-assessment test.

VI. We are looking into becoming a Registered Student Organization (RSO) in order to get more funding for the group, and also looking for a gavel.



December 5, 2005

I. Elections
President: Edward Long
Secretary: Patricia Waldron
Treasurer: Almaris Alonso

II. Outside review
At the lunch we discussed stipend levels, class offerings, financial security, TA-assignment and status of construction in the building. If you have further concerns/complaints/compliments, let Patricia know and she'll send a statement to the reviewers.

III. The ASM constitution was submitted and the committee will vote on it and let us know in January if we are accepted.

IV. We will attempt to also be recognized as a UMASS group in an effort to get more funding.

V. We'll try to get a bulletin board to announce meetings and meeting notes.

VI. We also had a long discussion concerning what channels one should take when he/she faces a problem with an advisor. This will likely be an on-going discussion.

Also, thanks to Javier and Maryanne, the MGSG website is now available from the main UMASS microbiology site.



November 5, 2005

ELECTIONS
We will have elections for the office of President, Secretary and Treasurer in our next meeting, on Monday, December 5 at 4:30 pm. Nominations can be submitted by e-mail to me by Thursday, December 1. Likewise, if you've been nominated by a third party and would like to withdraw, please do so by Friday, December 2. So far, the nominees are the following:

President: Ed, Sherrie, Dave
Secretary: Patricia
Treasurer: Almaris, Kyle

These positions will be effective upon counting the votes this December, and will be held until new elections in September 2006.

MGSG REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
Adam, Jay, Jess (Johnson) and Larry have volunteered to constitute the Representative Committee that will be bringing relevant issues discussed by the MGSG to the department head and the GPD. Thanks for volunteering guys! The only new issue added to the list from our previous meeting was the possibility of creating/designating a student lounge. However, if you have questions/concerns that you think could be discussed in our meetings, pass them onto the committee so that the whole group can discuss them in future meetings and formulate a way to bring it up with the GPD/DH.

WEBSITE UPDATE
A website update is coming soon! Also I will be trying to move it out of the nusslein server onto the main microbio site. Negotiations with Maryanne are underway.



October 7, 2005

SURVEY STILL INCOMPLETE
Unfortunately, we have only received 12 out of 37 surveys back. This survey is extremely important to determine our new meeting time and to approve our constitution for ASM. PLEASE return them to Javier's mailbox ASAP!

GRADUATE STUDENT COMMITTEE
We talked about the possibility of forming a Graduate Student Committee that would represent the Microbiology Graduate Student Group, to bring questions and issues to the Graduate Program Director and the Department Head. Some of the issues that were brought up include:

    Variety of classes / How often they are taught
    Additional courses to take, depending on prospective paths (Statistics, Teaching, etc)
    Adjunct faculty advisorshipk
    Seminar assignment, time, location, number of sessions

This is, as you may expect, an ongoing discussion and more topics and concerns are welcome. Ideally the Committee would be composed of a 1-2 year student, a 3-4 year (post prelims) student and a senior graduate student, to have complete representation. A 5th-year Masters student would be also welcome. So far, Adam has volunteered among the 1-2 year students, and Ed and Beth have been nominated. Who else is interested?



September 9, 2005

NEW STUDENTS
We welcomed a few of the new students (Helene, Lynda and Nick) that made it to our first meeting of this semester. Welcome everyone!

APINE EVENT
Please, remember to register for the upcoming set of APINE Workshops on September 20. Javier and Dr. Wilmore Webley will be part-taking in some of the panels. Volunteers are still needed, so if you're interested please talk to Caryl.

OPEN Q&A ABOUT PRELIMINARY EXAMS
Dave proposed and started a Q&A session about prelims. We had a brief discussion as to how to prepare for them, whol to talk to and how to plan a schedule for proposal submission and committee meeting.



May 6, 2005

NEW CONSTITUTION
Copies of the new constitution that was drafted by Patricia will be passed around with a sign-up sheet to gain the approval of the whole graduate student body.

A PH.D. IS NOT ENOUGH
The event was a succsess, particularly the first workshop (for starting grad students), discussions about communication and the lunch on mentorship

Help is needed for the next APINE session in lage September (greeters, registration, packet preparation). If you're interested, please talk to Caryl.

ADDITIONAL GRADUATE SEMINAR
Within this discussion Sherrie brought up an excellent suggestion of an additional mandatory graduate student seminar in which we could be exposed as students to additional aspects of our future proefssional and academic lives. We could get talks from faculty on what to expect (K Nusslein, J Holden), grant writing (S. Sandler), etc - with low impact on faculty if they only need to prepare only one class or seminar

MENTORING
Also, inspired by APINE, we may start a mentoring program next year to be tested with the one and only new grad student joining the department.



March 4, 2005

RECOMMENDATIONS OF PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE STUDENTS TO FACULTY
We discussed who, among those prospective students that attended the Microbiology Department Retreat, had a great deal of interest and/or came across as an outstanding candidate.

NEW GRADUTE STUDENT WELCOMING COMMITTEE
We discussed an idea brought up by Caryl from the first MGSG meeting, the possibility of a welcoming committee for graduate students. Specifically what a welcoming package may include. Other ideas are more than welcome, here is a list of some of the items that we thought could be relevant:

Where to get an ID
Where is the...
   Bursar
   Registrar
   Health Center
   Science Library / Main Library
Overviews of
   SPIRE
   Umail / Squirrelmail
Key people in the department
   Maryanne/Administration
   GPD
   Teaching Services
Minority issues
Q&A on
   Classes
   Rotations
   Graduation requirements



December 8, 2004

Greetings everyone, we had a good meeting last friday and here's a brief review of what we talked about.

MGSG WEBSITE
A website for the MGSG has been approved by Maryanne and we discussed what should be in it. Here is a list of the contents as of now:
- Meeting notes
- Meeting times
- Funding sources and opportunities
- Conferences / Institutes

GRADUATE STUDENT HANDBOOK
A few new issues were raised regarding the Graduate Student Handbook.
- Do 899 credits need to be consecutively taken?
- Is there a format memo for signatures from prelims? Whose responsibility is it?

* PLEASE turn in your Graduate Student Handbook Evaluation Forms. Out of thirty-something forms I have received 6(!) back. It is so important that we, as a group, can voice our opinion to Jim Holden and dthe department about how to make it better and clearer.

* Caryl and Javier will be working on a design for the department's t-shirt. But the competition could still be on, depending of what prize the department is willing to offer. There will be more news on the department's t-shirt over break.

* Our next meeting will be Friday, February 4, 2005. We will not meet on the first week of January. Happy holidays everyone!



October 27, 2004

SACNAS MEETING
Almaris came back from presenting at SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) General Meeting in Texas. Almaris reported that it was great for minorities, postdoctoral opportunities, networking and oral presentations. All participating students can apply for funding that covers food and lodging. The next meeting will be in Denver between September and October of 2005.

GRADUATE STUDENT HANDBOOK
The Graduate Student Handbook discussion addressed the following issues:
- It needs to include thesis formatting
- Resindence info
- Is the oral exam about the core areas (but not limited to them)? Could it potentially include more?
- Can you qualify with a lab for your core areas?
- Do core areas require one or two classes? Which ones?
- Seminar requirements
- "Failing" is too harsh and may need rewording
- An example timeline could be provided
- Suggestions of courses to take in other departments (Stats, MCB, soil sciences)



September 17, 2004
Initial Meeting

In this first meeting we discussed what the Microgiology Graduate Student Group (MGSG) could be:

1. A PLACE OF ACADEMIC EXCHANGE
  1.1. Current research in our labs
  1.2. Techniques being used that could help others in potential collaborations
  1.3. Equipment available in the department or outside
  1.4. Summer opportunities, workshops, conferences, etc
  1.5. Practice of posters, seminars, prelims, etc

2. MENTORING AMONGST OURSELVES
  2.1. Classes available in and outside of the department
  2.2. Discussion of unknown professional/academic opportunities

3. DISCUSSION OF DEPARTMENT ISSUES
  3.1. Jim Holden has finished writing a graduate student manual, and he would like the grad students as a whole to read it, critique it and discuss it.
  3.2. Jeff Blanchard is proposing a t-shirt design contest amongst graduate students

4. FUNDRAISING FOR SPEAKERS / CONFERENCE TRAVEL EXPENSES
  4.1. T-shirt sales
  4.2. Creation of an ASM Student Chapter ($1500 a year provided by ASM)

5. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
  5.1. Teaching in local and regional public schools

6. OTHER STUDENT ISSUES
  6.1. Did you know that we have a GEO (Graduate Employee Organization) steward?

7. WHATEVER WE WANT TO MAKE OF IT!