From the desk of Vicky Prince
A fruitful academic year
Our Spring Quarter recently wrapped up with the annual dinner at the Drake Hotel, the Divisional Academic Ceremony and Spring Quarter convocation.
At the DAC on June 12, 42 of our PhD graduates and candidates were hooded in the beautiful Logan Center for the Arts performance space by their mentors, family members with higher degrees, or the student-selected faculty marshal, Dr. Richard Hudson. We were fortunate to have Martin Chalfie (Columbia University and Nobel laureate, 2008 Chemistry) as this year’s DAC speaker. Dr. Chalfie also addressed a packed room the day before the ceremony on the topic of his Nobel Prize winning work on green fluorescent protein. Dr. Chalfie told us the story of GFP’s discovery, highlighted its myriad uses, and drew inspirational contrasts between the way people imagine science should be done and the far less linear real world process that leads to a major discovery. The weekend events were completed in grand style under clear skies, as more than 15,000 people attended the university’s 523rd convocation.
We are delighted that the achievements of many of our students have been recognized by the award of fellowships from NSF, NIH and multiple other agencies (see story below). On April 30th we hosted our first BSD fellows fete in GCIS to celebrate the accomplishments of both new and continuing fellows.
We were also thrilled that Dean Nancy Schwartz was recognized with the 2015 Faculty Award for Distinguished Leader in Diversity and Inclusion (shown above at the awards ceremony with Harriet de Wit). Dean Schwartz has long been a national leader in this arena, with her latest achievements including securing an NIH Initiative for Maximizing Student Development award at UChicago, and a successful NIH NRMN (National Research Mentoring Network) supplement to build a midwest-based academic network through the CIC schools.
The myCHOICE program (Chicago Options in Career Empowerment) has continued to expand its offerings, launching E2:Education mini-courses in spring. The spring E2 courses were “Leadership Effectiveness and Development†(in collaboration with Booth School of Business), “Introduction to Emerging Technologies†(instructed by Matthew Tirrell, Pritzker Director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering) and “Elements of Successful Teaching in the Sciences†(in collaboration with the Chicago Center for Teaching). More mini-courses: “Strategies and Processes of Negotiations,†“The Business of Life Science –Financing Innovation,†and “Mini Medical School†will run towards the end of the summer.
As we move into summer, myCHOICE is piloting elements of the final phase, E3: Experience. In E3 externships, selected trainees will benefit from two- to five-day job shadowing opportunities that range from on campus (UChicagoTech and Arete), to local Chicago companies, to the FDA in Washington DC. Another seven students and postdocs are now enrolled in on-campus E3 part-time summer internship opportunities in the areas of communications, science administration, grants development, and marketing/operations. Student interns earn class credit that appears on their transcripts, whereas postdoc interns are enrolled in a certificate program. The myCHOICE team is extremely grateful to the offices and mentors who are providing these opportunities. We are also delighted that to date all the PIs of the E3 on-campus internship participants have been entirely supportive of their trainees pursuing these extra-curricular career development activities.
We wish everyone a pleasant and productive summer, whether in Chicago or beyond.
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