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Welcome to our new PhD Candidates!

October 2, 2014

By Tom Tomp

The Division of Biological Sciences welcomes our newest class of doctoral candidates. 35 students began their graduate experience on Wednesday, September 10. The class includes 16 international students, the largest group of international students the program has attracted in one class. The 19 other students come from all across the U.S. including California, Connecticut, Indiana, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

The class has been very busy since their first day. After a welcome from Dean Bill McGinnis and from Graduate Chair/Advisor Dr. Jens Lykke-Andersen and a day of administrative informational sessions, the new students were invited to dinner on the beach with their Peer Mentors. Biological Sciences Boot Camp started the next day with laboratory safety training. Everyone then ventured to UCSD Challenge Course for some team-building exercises, high-wire walking and the "zip-line". Boot Camp continued for the next two weeks featuring lectures, laboratory group projects, faculty talks and the students’ own lunchtime “Chalk Talks” on the lawn outside of Pacific Hall. At the conclusion of Boot Camp, the class met with about 150 other researchers (faculty, postdocs and other grad students) for the annual Division of Biological Sciences Science Retreat which was held at the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead, CA.

Fall 2014 Grad Class

Top Row - Standing (L to R): Rachael Schwartz, Zhaoren He, Andrew Sher, Lindsey Salay, Anthony Thomas, Anwesh Kamireddy, Robert Pulido, Sorn Mudla, Masha Evpak, Daniel Johnson, Lara Labarta Bajo, Samuel Lin, Stefania Di Costanzo, Jess Gambel, Evan Campbell, Clare Quirk, Neeraja Vegesna, Audrey Proenca, Kaisa Hanley, Hamanda Badona Cavalheri, Tian Wang, Jose Waterton, Chi Ren;
Bottom Row - Sitting: Hannah Grunwald, Annie Rathore, Kanika Khanna, Fernando Vargas, Bahram Kheradmand, Christopher Piggott, Elizabeth Montano, Natalia Slepak, Jeanae Kaneshiro, Ye Gao, Antonia Darragh;
Not pictured: Ida Naughton