Hello Everyone,

Thanksgiving is this week! With the break starting, there are a few things we would like to update you all on. 

Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s GBM where we presented Dr. Mendelson’s paper for journal club. We hope you all learned and enjoyed the paper. If you missed the meeting from last week, please refer to our myUMBC page to a recording and slides of the presentation. 

Our next GBM will be tomorrow 11/21, where we will have Dr. Erill present. Dr. Erill is a professor at UMBC with research interests in evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks in Bacteria He also conducts research at the university focusing on evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks. This is a great opportunity for networking and earning potential for lab positions. 

To prepare, we recommend that you read Dr. Erill’s research paper (attached below), which will give you more insight on his lab and practice breaking down scientific articles. 

Please refer to our Journal Club Meeting slides for aid on reading the paper. 

Furthermore, for those who were interested in the mentorship program, we have your groups/pairings. Each mentor and mentee will be sent personalized emails detailing more information. Get excited!

Also, the Bioethics Panel is right around the corner. Keep your schedules open for next Friday (12/3) from 7-9 to learn more about CRISPR and Genetic Engineering. We will have amazing panelists; so please come out. IT’S IN PERSON.

One more thing, for those who have met the requirements will be getting T-shirts soon! But first, we need to have designs; therefore, we will be having a T-shirt competition where you all will have the opportunity to submit

Hello Everyone,

We hope you all have had a great halloweekend.

Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s GBM where we had Dr. Eldridge, from NIH, speak to us about her experiences as a scientist and ways to persevere in the field. We hope you all learned and enjoyed her presentation. If you missed the meeting from last week, please refer to our myUMBC page to a recording and slides of the presentation. 

Our next GBM will be next week, 11/8, where we will have Dr. Mendelson present. Dr. Mendelson is a professor at UMBC with research interests in Evolution and Ecology. She also conducts research at the university focusing on causes and consequences of evolutionary changes in communication systems. This is a great opportunity for networking and earning potential for lab positions. 

To prepare, we recommend that you read Dr. Mendelson’s research paper (attached below), which will give you more insight on her lab and practice breaking down scientific articles. 

Please refer to our Journal Club Meeting slides for aid on reading the paper. 

Additionally, many of you are interested in gaining summer research experience. So now’s the chance! Summer research applications will be opening soon and many times, they run on a first come first serve basis. Therefore, have everything completed BEFORE applications open so you can turn everything in as soon as possible. This week, you can focus on finishing everything we’ve provided you with (attached below).

One more thing, please remember to sign up for mentor/mentee positions. The more people we have, the better help we can provide.

Google Forms for Mentorship (11/7): https://forms.gle/o7oo7h9AnFELY8Sr7

Resume/CV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/150rC7JlMWmMWHyc8EDijJW1CQ3jJCKa2ga5SLKiblMc/edit?usp=sharing

Personal statements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEMOkp4xJcehPPOK-BYc2uA6SxTwHCXGBOTpwF085-M/edit?usp=sharing

Hello Everyone,

We apologize for the very late weekly email. However, we are here now!

Thank you to everyone who attended our Journal Club last week; I hope you all learned a lot. If you have any questions, please reach out to any of the executive board members. Also, if you missed the meeting, please refer to our myUMBC page to a recording and slides of the presentation. 

Now, get excited for our next GBM 10/25 (tomorrow) as we will be having a guest speaker from NIH, Dr. Sandy Eldridge. This is a great opportunity to learn more about off-campus research opportunities and networking. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Please remember to keep up with your outreach to labs and writing those personal statements. Summer internship applications will be opening up soon; therefore, statements must be ready to go! On that note, to prepare for internship opportunities or applying anywhere, a Resume/CV is very important. This is the topic of this week’s email; so, look in the attached document for more information.

Furthermore, as aforementioned in our last meeting, we will be starting mentoring opportunities. This is a great way to build up leadership skills and/or gain more personalized advice from a peer. You can use this experience to boost your resume and/or gain a friend. Sign-ups are below.

Google Doc for Resume/CV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/150rC7JlMWmMWHyc8EDijJW1CQ3jJCKa2ga5SLKiblMc/edit?usp=sharing

Google Forms for Mentorship (11/7): https://forms.gle/o7oo7h9AnFELY8Sr7

If you missed the last google doc on personal statements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEMOkp4xJcehPPOK-BYc2uA6SxTwHCXGBOTpwF085-M/edit?usp=sharing

Good Morning Everyone,

Thank you to everyone who attended our GBM with Dr. Starz-Gaiano last week. We hope you all learned a lot from her.

Please remember that next week (10/11) we will have our GBM for the introduction to Journal Club. This is a very important meeting as it will teach you how to read scientific papers, which will aid in your outreach to potential research labs and classroom assignments. 

Also, please note that we are requiring members to attend at least 4 meetings per semester.

Last week, we sent out a guideline for reaching out to research labs. Please see below for our second information topic: writing personal statements.

You may submit the statements to us if you would like them to be looked over.

Google Docs link for Personal Statements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEMOkp4xJcehPPOK-BYc2uA6SxTwHCXGBOTpwF085-M/edit?usp=sharing

If you missed last week’s google doc on research labs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DwI1VtBoezhX4wPmjztRdQ0o8qSS6Drt1lj-aQ1Nr5M/edit?usp=sharing

Hello Everyone,

Thank you to everyone who attended our first GBM and filled out the questionnaire. We are excited to have you all part of BioCOM this year!

Based on the results from the questionnaire, the executive board has decided to start sending out informative weekly emails where we discuss how to apply for summer research, create/update resumes, write personal/research statements, and more! This week we will be discussing how to obtain a lab position; so, open and read the document attached to this post. There is also an “assignment” so make sure to complete it as soon as possible, and reach out to us for help if needed.

Also, get excited for tomorrow as we have Dr. Starz-Gaiano speaking for our second GBM. 

Dr. Starz-Gaiano is a professor here at UMBC with teaching interests in Cell Biology, Developmental Genetics, Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics, and Biomathematics. 

This is a great opportunity for networking and learning about graduate schools. So bring lots of questions! 

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow at 12pm!

Google Docs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DwI1VtBoezhX4wPmjztRdQ0o8qSS6Drt1lj-aQ1Nr5M/edit?usp=sharing

Meeting link: https://umbc.webex.com/m/54ece59e-d4cb-4f1f-bcd2-08fca9ca5f28