COLUMN: A World of Opportunities
Hello again College of Science students. I hope the semester has been going as well for you as for me (and that I am the only one with an ever-growing mound of past-due homework on my desk).
I am really excited to be your Science senator for the upcoming year and I thought it would be good to let you know about some of the opportunities available.
First of all, for those of you involved in undergraduate research, I encourage you to take advantage of the wide variety of forums available. For example, applications for Posters on the Hill are now being accepted. Students selected for this event will have the opportunity to present their research on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. If you are interested, check out the Web site at: http://www.cur.org/pohcall.html.
Don’t let the national competition daunt you; USU and the College of Science have been very successful in sending students to this prestigious event. Also of interest is the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, which will be held at the University of Utah. For more information check out: http://www.conferences.utah.edu/ncur2003. Another good source of information about undergrad research funding and conferences is the Web site of the vice president for Research at: http://www.usu.edu/vpr.
And for those of you looking to get involved with undergraduate research at Utah State, the Science Council is hard at work on the “Brown Nose” Luncheons for the 2002-03 academic year. These luncheons provide students with the chance to interact with faculty outside the classroom setting, learn about their research, and find out that … yes they are human after all. This is an excellent chance to discuss undergraduate research opportunities with faculty from your department. We will be setting one luncheon up for each department in the College over the course of the year.
Another exciting new opportunity for student involvement is the Ambassadors program. The main duty of our ambassadors will be to represent the College of Science to prospective students and the community at large. They will give tours of the college’s facilities, help with recruitment fairs, hold office hours for peer advising, and work closely with the administration to publicize the image of the College of Science. Look for applications later this semester.
These are just a couple of ways you can be involved with the activities of the College of Science and the research community at large. But if you have any ideas of your own, the Science Council would love to hear about them. I have office hours in Taggart Student Center, Room 326 on Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon, and there will be a Science Council meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Dumke room (right by the Dean’s Office in the Eccles Science Learning Center).
Please feel free to stop by with your complaints, suggestions or encouragement. Remember, the Science Council and I are here to serve you, the students of the College of Science. Take advantage of all the good stuff going on and drop me an e-mail at scienceninjamaster@hotmail.com if I can help you out.
Well, I better get back to that mound of homework … talk to you later.
Jeffrey Leek is the Science senator. Like he said, comments can be sent to scienceninjamaster@hotmail.com