Graduate Student in the Spotlight: Bryce Boe

Bryce Boe, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Computer Science, took some time to talk to the GradPost about how he came to be interested in Computer Science Education, his involvement in starting the UCSB subreddit (/r/UCSantaBarbara), and what else keeps him busy as he finishes up his graduate degree.

Tell us a little about your background

I grew up in Poway, a city in North Inland San Diego. I came to UCSB in Fall 2004 to begin a Bachelor's in Computer Science having very little idea what Computer Science actually meant. As an undergraduate I worked part time at a local company, WorldViz, and during the summer prior to starting graduate school I had an internship at Google.

Tell us a little about your research and how you came to choose the topic

The short version of this story is that after failing with my first attempt at research I took a TAship for funding. I discovered rather quickly that I had a penchant for teaching Computer Science, and shortly thereafter became responsible for training the Computer Science department's teaching assistants. Following my second failure with "traditional" Computer Science research, Professor Diana Franklin asked me if I was interested in Computer Science Education research; I was, and she became my advisor.

The growth in Computer Science popularity at the college level, and the movement to place it in K-12 presents new challenges in assisting both students and instructors. Automated tools can assist in both realms to provide students with timely feedback and significantly aid instructors in assessment. My research involves developing such tools, and evaluating the tradeoffs of using them.

One of the tools I developed will assist with the assessment of a fourth grade computational thinking curriculum we are piloting in select local elementary schools in the fall. We are collaborating with the Education department for both the development and evaluation of the curriculum. At the university level, a few UCSB Computer Science classes use another tool I developed that provides automated feedback to students. There is a vast amount of knowledge to be learned about student submission and resubmission behavior with respect to how and when feedback is provided.

What has graduate student life been like for you?

I'm not going to sugarcoat this response at all. Graduate student life has been quite the roller coaster for me. I really had no idea what a Ph.D. entailed when I signed up for it, and as I previously mentioned I had a few failures along the way. Between the failures, and the inability to separate work-life from home-life, the idea of quitting was always on my mind. My immense desire to teach is the only reason I remained, and now, less than a year from finishing, quitting is no longer an option.

Socially, graduate school is both amazing and terrible. I've met and become good friends with some of the most incredible people. Computer Science is an incredibly ethnically diverse field, and as such I am often the only U.S. American in the room. The discussions I have with my social circle often span global economics and international politics with viewpoints from a handful of places around the World. Sadly, as the years progress my social circle's churn rate increases when I would very much prefer it to stabilize. Nevertheless, all the frustration I have had with graduate school is meaningless compared to the professional and social contacts graduate school has inadvertently provided me.

How did you become involved with the UCSB subreddit? How has it affected your connection to the UCSB campus and community?

reddit (always lowercased) is a great way to share things with those interested in similar topics. As such I was interested in what other people had to share on reddit at UCSB. Unfortunately, the individual who created the former UCSB subreddit /r/UCSB did not do a very good job of approving legitimate submissions from the spam queue, so I took it upon myself to solve that problem. After many failed attempts of contacting the individual responsible for /r/UCSB, the only course of action was to create a new subreddit. That's how I became involved with /r/UCSantaBarbara.

The subreddit does exactly what I originally desired from it. That is, it keeps me up to date on campus events and issues that I would never otherwise be aware of. Moreover, it provides an excellent resource to students who are considering applying to or attending UCSB. Neither of these attributes, however, require my active involvement. While I have organized a few /r/UCSantaBarbara events and met some awesome people as a result, my involvement in the subreddit has had little impact on my connection with the UCSB community (until this interview).

What else are you involved with outside of your graduate studies, both on and off campus?

At this point in time, as I near closer to completion of my Ph.D., there is very little that I am involved with on campus. I previously organized programming competitions for undergraduates, and for three years I helped organize (co-chairing, and chairing in 2009 and 2010 respectively) the Computer Science department's Graduate Student Workshop on Computing. This workshop is organized entirely by graduate students and showcases the research of the Computer Science graduate students.

Off campus, I am a fairly active member of the Python open-source community. What that essentially means is I volunteer my time to write new software and improve existing software that is free for everyone to use. My most notable contribution is PRAW, the Python reddit API Wrapper, which is utilized by a large majority of the bots on reddit. I also thoroughly enjoy running for beer with the Hash House Harriers of Sant'o Barbara.

Name an accomplishment you are most proud of and why.

This will be an easy question to answer once I complete my Ph.D. Until such a time, I think being the instructor of record for a UCSB Computer Science course is probably my biggest accomplishment. Only a handful of CS students take the opportunity to teach a course, and I am incredibly glad I did as the teaching experience I gained should prove to distinguish me from other academic candidates when I apply for positions this coming winter. To help further distinguish myself, I am teaching both over the summer, and again in the fall.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

Most people are surprised to learn that I am incredibly uncomfortable in new situations as they often initially encounter me in a role where I am already considerably confident and comfortable. In their defense, I explode out of my shell rather quickly, so my nervousness is something few people observe.

What do you hope to be doing five or ten years out of graduate school?

Within ten years I hope to be a tenured faculty member of a Computer Science department and have established some sort of name for myself in the Computer Science Education community. More importantly, I hope to have a family to share my life with as all this education and desire for a career is just a means to an end; to provide the best environment possible for my future family.

Do you have any advice for other grad students?

Make the most out of your time as a graduate student. Try new things, and do not be afraid to fail as each failure will point you closer toward success. Eventually you will either make it through, or you will find an even more awesome path to follow.

Gaucho Health Insurance to Replace UC SHIP

Over the last few months there has been much discussion about changes to our student health coverage. The UCSB campus has now finalized plans for next year's student health insurance program. Below are a few key points:

• UCSB will withdraw from participation in UC SHIP for student health coverage; Aetna will be the new insurance provider starting Fall 2013.
• The 2013-14 annual graduate student premium is projected to be $2,452.96, a slight decrease from this year’s rates.
• The new plan will be called “Gaucho Health Insurance."
• The insurance plan will retain the same benefits that students currently have with Anthem/Blue Cross in UC SHIP, while also eliminating any pharmacy caps or annual and lifetime maximums.
• Dental and vision care will continue to be provided through UC SHIP, at a cost included in the Gaucho Health Insurance premiums.
• Please note that coverage for students currently enrolled in UC SHIP will continue through Sept. 21, 2013.

In a question-and-answer interview, Student Health Executive Director, Dr. Mary Ferris, and Senior Associate Dean of Students, Deborah Fleming, discuss the reasons behind the decision and what it means for UCSB students.

For the full story, read the 93106 article.

Graduate Students Election Results

This year's elections were a success! Graduate students have elected a new executive board to serve as your Graduate Students Association (GSA) representatives for the 2013-14 academic year. The elections also featured four fee items on the ballot. Below are the results of this year's elections.

In addition, at the upcoming June 4 GSA General Assembly meeting, the GSA will hold a special election for the vacant external affairs position. If you or anyone you know is interested in running for GSA VP of external affairs, please feel free to send their nominations, or questions about the position, to gsapresident.ucsb@gmail.com.

GSA Executive Officers Election Results:

President, Gary Haddow (Education)

VP, Internal Affairs, Emma Levine (Music)

VP, External Affairs, (Vacant)

VP, Committees & Planning, Dusty Hoesly (Religious Studies)

VP, Student Affairs, Jaycee Bigham (Education)

VP, Academic Affairs, Marcel Brousseau (Comparative Literature)

VP, Communications, Ester Trujillo (Chicana/o Studies)

In addition to the GSA executive officer elections, there were four fee initiatives. All four of the initiatives passed for reaffirmation, beginning fall 2013. The descriptions of the fees are listed below:

1) Night and Weekend Parking (last reaffirmed in 2011, on a 2-year reaffirmation schedule)

The first reaffirmation on the ballot asked if graduate students wished to continue a $5 (includes return to financial aid of $0.42) per graduate student per quarter, (excluding summer) mandatory fee to fund annual Nights & Weekend parking passes for all graduate students. The fee will be collected starting fall 2013 through spring 2015 and be subject to reaffirmation in spring 2015. This sticker comes in handy for those late-night reading, writing, or grading sessions.

2) Student Medical Emergency Relief Fund (last reaffirmed in 2009, on a 4-year reaffirmation cycle)

The second reaffirmation on the ballot asked if graduate students wished to continue an $0.89 per student per quarter, including summer, mandatory fee in order to provide funding for the Student Medical Emergency Relief Fund (SMERF), which will continue to fund grants for students who are not able to cover the costs of medical procedures. The fee will be collected starting fall 2013 through summer 2017, and be subject to reaffirmation in spring 2017. Some of the many services that the SMERF fund covers are dental and medical costs.

New Fee Proposals

1) Health & Wellness Programs (H&W): The first fee proposal asked if graduate students wished to pay an additional fee (per student, per quarter): $7.53 (including summer), $5.65 is for Health and Wellness, $1.88 is for return to aid. Of the $5.65 for Health and Wellness, a 7 to 10 percent administrative assessment and a 1.6 to 3 percent UCOP assessment will be charged on all non-capital expenditures. If affirmed, the fee will be collected fall 2013 through summer 2017 and be subject to reaffirmation in 2017.

The fee will provide funds to continue and expand Health and Wellness services. Health and Wellness will expand its selection of resources (such as condoms, healthy food, massages, and field trips) at no additional cost to students. The fee will also increase student involvement through internships, increased staff, and Health and Wellness education on topics such as sex and relationships, healthy eating, drugs, stress-reduction techniques, and wellness. The goal at Health and Wellness is to help students be physically and emotionally healthier and this fee will enable them to provide outreach and prevention efforts to reach more UCSB students. 

2.) Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity (WGSE): The second fee proposal asked if graduate students wished to pay an additional fee (per student, per quarter): $4.14 (including summer), $3.11 is for WGSE, $1.03 is for return to aid. Of the $3.11 for WGSE, a 7 to 10 percent administrative assessment and a 1.6 to 3 percent UCOP assessment will be charged on all non-capital expenditures. Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity currently collects $4.25 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter (including summer). The WGSE fee increase would be in addition to the $4.25 per student per quarter currently collected, and would bring the total to $8.39 per student per quarter. If affirmed, the fee will be collected fall 2013 through summer 2017 and be subject to reaffirmation in 2017.

The Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity support fee will help maintain staff and programs including Campus Advocacy Resources and Education (formerly the Rape Prevention Education Program), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resources, Women's Center Programming, and Non-Traditional Student Services. The support fee will maintain the public spaces within the Women’s Center, Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and Non-Traditional Student Resource Center (e.g., libraries, art galleries, meeting rooms) through the addition of new technology, library acquisitions, art gallery resources, and replacement of aging equipment. It will also help to improve current WGSE programs and services such as 1) the Campus Advocacy Resources and Education; 2) help for individuals in crisis; 3) support for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/intersex/ally communities; 4) student-initiated activities and events; 5) student employment opportunities; 6) student internships; and 7) educational programming.

An Opportunity to Participate in HSI Research Project

Below is a message from Dr. Patricia Marin and Dr. Richard Duran about a research study they are in the process of conducting. If interested, please contact them at the email address provided in the message.

Dear UCSB Graduate Student,

We are researchers at UC Santa Barbara conducting a study to understand what it would mean for graduate students when UCSB becomes a Hispanic-Serving Institution. As more and more Latinos/as attend UCSB, understanding the impacts of this change is important. UCSB, like other UCs, is a research intensive university and graduate students are at the core of this research mission. Therefore, insights of graduate students regarding UCSB’s transformation are an important resource for institutional planning and improving opportunities for all students.

All UCSB graduate students are eligible to participate in a 1-hour, digitally recorded focus group with other graduate students. Focus groups will discuss whether students are aware of the institutional transformation that is occurring and what impact this might have on graduate students. It is not expected nor required that you have prior knowledge of Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

Your identity will remain confidential. You will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card for your participation.

The anticipated benefit of this research is to better prepare the UCSB community for the upcoming transformation.

If you would like to participate in this study, and are a UCSB graduate student who is 18 years or older, please email us at hsi-project@education.ucsb.edu with the subject line “HSI Participant” and include your name in the message. You will get an email back with a doodle poll to provide us with your availability for a 1-hour focus group. At this time, dates range from Wednesday, May 15, through Tuesday, May 28.

You can also email us at hsi-project@education.ucsb.edu if you have any questions about the study or participating.

Thank you for your interest,

Patricia Marin, Ph.D.
Associate Researcher
Gevirtz Graduation School of Education

Richard Duran, Ph.D.
Professor
Gevirtz Graduation School of Education

Graduate Student in the Spotlight: Sarah Stark Shows Off Smarty Pants

Sarah Stark, a second-year Master's student in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, wowed the audience in a Grad Slam preliminary round as she introduced her idea for using new media in education to change the world ... one student at a time. As Sarah prepares to graduate this spring with a Master's of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) and a specialization in Coastal Marine Resources Management, she took some time to respond to a few questions for the GradPost.

Read on to learn about Sarah's Eco-Entrepreneurship project, Smarty Pants, and how she hopes to launch it as a business after graduating.

Tell us a little about your research and how you came to choose the topic.

At the Bren School, every student is part of a Master’s Group Project, rather than a traditional individual Master’s thesis. These Group Projects consist of students working together to solve a problem for a client. We also have the option of pursuing the Eco-Entrepreneurship (Eco-E) focus, where we can propose our own Master’s project, but we treat it as though we are creating a business.

All Eco-E projects must solve a significant customer problem while providing an environmental benefit. I chose to go down this path after taking a few classes about entrepreneurship. I didn’t have any sort of business background as an undergraduate student studying science, so I thought I would expand my horizons. As an undergraduate student, one of my best friends and I had talked about creating a television show that taught science to kids, so I began exploring this topic at Bren, and my Master’s project eventually evolved out of that idea.

I never thought that I would actually be able to take my idea of a science television show for kids and run with it, especially as a basis for my Master’s project. I feel extremely fortunate that the Bren School has allowed me to research a topic that is so near and dear to my heart.
-Sarah Stark

Tell us a little about your project “Smarty Pants.”

Smarty Pants creates educational media that teaches environmental science to students in grades K-8. It is presented in the form of webisodes, or web episodes. It is designed as a tool to save teachers time (e.g., preparing lesson plans) and to help them teach science in their classrooms. The webisodes are entertaining and informative for the students and they come with lesson plans and assessments for the teacher to use.

Our webisodes are episodic in order to feel more like a television show and less like a boring educational video. Each episode features our main characters going on an adventure to learn about an environmental issue in their community. Along the way, they learn the science behind the issue, so each webisode aligns with the required academic standards for each particular grade it is targeting.

We use live-action characters and local settings so students can relate to and look up to the characters. We want the students to feel empowered to solve environmental problems in their own backyards. We reach out to students that are often underrepresented in science by featuring students like them in our webisodes.

The ultimate goal of Smarty Pants is to increase environmental stewardship in youth by giving them the knowledge and self-efficacy to take care of the environment. Knowledge is power and we think that our media can inspire this next generation of students to save the planet.

What has graduate student life been like for you?

Busy. Extremely busy, but also extremely rewarding.

What has been a source of motivation or drive for you in your graduate studies?

I never thought that I would actually be able to take my idea of a science television show for kids and run with it, especially as a basis for my Master’s project. I feel extremely fortunate that the Bren School has allowed me to research a topic that is so near and dear to my heart. Also, the entire Bren community has been so supportive of our idea.

Name an accomplishment you are most proud of and explain why.

Smarty Pants recently competed in the International Business Model Competition at Harvard. We were one of 28 semifinalists, out of about 1,400 applicants. We were extremely proud that we got into the competition! While we did not move forward to finals, it was a great experience overall, and it was great for Smarty Pants to make connections on the East Coast.

What do you do to relax? Any hobbies, collections, pastimes, favorite places to go, favorite things to do? 

I like to watch a lot of really bad TV shows because they help me zone out. I really enjoy baking treats and going out for good meals with my friends. I love going to shows, especially at smaller venues. I love relaxing at the beach as long as I have my SPF50 with me at all times!

What do you hope to be doing 5 or 10 years out of graduate school?

I would really love to see Smarty Pants get off the ground as a business and ideally we would already have our products in some schools by then. In one way or another, I hope to be educating people about science and the world around us, because I think science can solve so many important issues these days.

Do you have any advice for current grad students?

Learn a lot, and work hard, but don’t forget to have fun!

Grad Slam Finals Videos Now Online

On Friday, April 19, nine graduate students competed in the first annual Grad Slam finals. Open to all graduate students, the Grad Slam is a campus-wide competition for the best three-minute talk. This is an opportunity for graduate students to tell the campus about their research or share their thoughts on ‘big ideas that matter’. The finalists were the winning presenters from each of nine preliminary rounds held earlier in the week. The overall competition included presentations from eighty students representing thirty-six departments and programs.

The finalists' presentation are now viewable on YouTube in the embedded playlist below or on the GradPost's YouTube channel.

Coverage of the finals and each preliminary Grad Slam round may be found here:

• Opera, Posters, AlloSphere, and 3-Minute Talks Highlight a Day of Graduate Student Showcase Events
• Grad Slam Round 1: Students Impress Panel of Judges With Their Research
• Grad Slam Round 2 Recap: Superman to Smarty Pants, and More
• Grad Slam Round 3 Recap: Solar Cells, Exploding Brains, and More
• Grad Slam Round 4 Recap: From Curing Diseases to Finding Happiness
• Grad Slam Round 5 Recap: From Lighting the World to Feeding the Hungry
• Grad Slam Round 6 Recap: Rethinking Time, Energy, and the History of Products
• Grad Slam Round 7 Recap: Talks Include Diseases and Disasters, Unions and Unicorns
• Grad Slam Round 8 Recap: From Suburban Sprawl to Super-Capacitors
• Grad Slam Round 9 Recap: Natural Resources, Near-Death Experiences Among Talks in Last Qualifying Round

Congratulations to our Research Abroad Fellowship Recipients

Several UCSB graduate students have recently won awards to conduct research or study abroad. Congratulations to all on their successful applications!

2013-14 Fulbright Student Program

• Joseph Figliulo-Rosswurm, Ph.D. student in History, awarded research grant to Italy
• Kimberly Hartson, Ph.D. student in Psychology, awarded research grant to Lesotho
• Nicholas Williams, Ph.D. student in Anthropology, awarded research grant to Nicaragua

2013 Critical Language Scholarship Program

• Nicholas Ragheb, Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology, awarded scholarship to study Arabic in Morocco

2013 National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Fellowship

• Andrew Kirst, Master's student in Global and International Studies, awarded fellowship to Mozambique

Grad Student in the Spotlight Jennifer Guerrero: Scientist, Cook, Runner, and Role Model

Jennifer Guerrero in the Daugherty lab. Credit: Sylvia LanatiIf it hadn’t been for a visit to the campus in 2009 for College of Engineering Graduate Study Preview Day, Jennifer Guerrero might not be working in a UCSB laboratory today doing important research on engineered enzymes that could potentially be used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

While she was an undergraduate studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA (B.S., 2010), a professor there encouraged her to visit UCSB and apply to graduate school here. During her Preview Day visit to UCSB, she was impressed with the research being conducted here as well as the “highly collaborative atmosphere” she found between faculty and departments. In addition, it pleased her to hear from UCSB grad students that they were able to strike a good balance between their research work and their extracurricular activities.

Jennifer – a native of Montebello just east of downtown L.A. and the daughter of two educators – returned to UCSB in the summer of 2010 as a participant in the Summer Doctoral Research Institute (SDRI) program before beginning her graduate studies here. The goal of SDRI, geared toward first-year underrepresented graduate students, was to provide students “with the opportunity to begin a course of research prior to fall quarter enrollment,” according to a welcome letter at the time by Graduate Division’s Admissions and Outreach Director Walter Boggan. “You will enjoy the benefits of hands-on mentoring, advance introduction to your respective program and departmental expectations, and early exposure to the professional academic environment that is UC Santa Barbara,” he wrote to them.

'One of the great things about being a graduate student is that you get to fill in the blanks where most textbooks leave off. I have learned over the years to celebrate the small victories while staying focused on the big picture.'
–Jennifer Guerrero

The SDRI program enabled Jennifer to work for eight weeks in Dr. Patrick Daugherty’s lab identifying peptides that bind to Herceptin, an antibody used in the treatment of breast cancer. “Being able to rotate in the Daugherty lab for the summer allowed me to determine if the lab was a good fit for my graduate studies before choosing my advisor in the fall,” she said.

Jennifer began her graduate studies armed with a newly won NSF fellowship, which she had applied to during her last year as an undergrad at UCLA. She attributes her success at winning the fellowship to her outreach efforts through such organizations as SOLES (a UCLA chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, or SHPE) and SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science). “The NSF review criteria are based on broader impacts in addition to intellectual merit,” she explained. “Having the NSF fellowship has allowed me to work on a project that is high-risk and maybe less likely to receive grant funding.”

Jennifer, who is now a third-year graduate student in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biotechnology working in Professor Daugherty’s group, took some time to talk with the GradPost about her life inside the lab as well as outside of it. She shared with us the challenges of her research; her least favorite thing about grad school; how her greatest accomplishment resulted in a national honor; what she does to “allow my brain to rest”; and more. Read on. …

Click to read more ...

It's Campus Elections Time: Vote on GSA Officers and Student Fees

Polls are open for campus elections. Graduate students can vote now through Thursday, April 25 for next year's Graduate Students Association officers and student fees. Read on below for more information about the candidates and the proposed student fees.

Graduate Students Association Officers:

Read candidate statements at ucsbgsa.org/2013-spring-elections/. Write-in candidates are permitted for all positions.

• GSA President
  • Gary Haddow
• GSA VP, Academic Affairs
  • Marcel Brousseau
• GSA VP, Student Affairs
  • Gary Fox
• GSA VP, External Affairs
  • Katie Koehler
• GSA VP, Communications and Records
  • Ester N Trujillo
• GSA VP, Budget and Finance
  • Caitlin Rathe
• GSA VP, Committees and Planning
  • Dusty Hoesly
• GSA VP, Internal Affairs
  • No Candidate (write-in candidates allowed)

Graduate students will vote on two GSA fee reaffirmations:

Night and Weekend Parking (Reaffirmation)

Do you wish to continue a $5.00 (includes return to financial aid of $.42) per graduate student per quarter (excluding summer) mandatory fee to fund annual Nights & Weekend parking passes for all graduate students. If passed, the fee will be collected fall 2013 through spring 2015 and be subject to reaffirmation in 2015.

Student Medical Emergency Relief Fund (SMERF) (Reaffirmation)

Do you wish to continue a $0.89 per student per quarter, including summer, mandatory fee in order to provide funding for the Student Medical Emergency Relief Fund (SMERF), which provides grants for students who are not able to cover the costs of medical procedures? If reaffirmed, the fee will be collected fall 2013 through summer 2017 and be subject to reaffirmation in 2017.

Graduate students will vote on two new campus-wide fees:

Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity (WGSE, formerly known as the Women’s Center) Support Fee Increase

Mandatory fee increase of $3.92 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter, including summer, in order to further support the Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity Department (WGSE, formerly known as the Women’s Center).

The WGSE currently collects $4.25 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter (including summer), currently up for reaffirmation, through a campus lock-in fee. 

If passed, the fee would begin fall 2013, be subject to joint reaffirmation (base fee of $4.25, plus increase of $3.92 = $8.17) in spring 2017, and would raise the total undergraduate and graduate per student quarterly fees for this service to $8.17 (fall, winter, spring and summer). 

Failure of the reaffirmation of the campus lock-in base fee of $4.25 negates the increase whether or not the increase passes (see below).

The Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity support fee increase will help maintain staff and programs including Campus Advocacy Resources and Education (formerly the Rape Prevention Education Program); Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resources; Women's Center programming; and Non-Traditional Student Services. The support fee will maintain the public spaces within the Women’s Center, Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and Non-Traditional Student Resource Center (e.g., libraries, art galleries, meeting rooms) through the addition of new technology, library acquisitions, art gallery resources, and replacement of aging equipment. It will also help to improve current WGSE programs and services such as 1) the Campus Advocacy Resources and Education; 2) help for individuals in crisis; 3) support for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/intersex/ally communities; 4) student-initiated activities and events; 5) student employment opportunities; 6) student internships; and 7) educational programming.

Health & Wellness Programs Fee

Mandatory fee of $7.13 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter, including summer, in order to support Health & Wellness Programs, (Breakdown: $5.35 goes to Health & Wellness, $1.78 is for return to aid). Of the $5.35 for Health & Wellness, a 7% administrative assessment will be charged to all non-capital expenditures. If passed, the fee would begin fall 2013 and would be subject to reaffirmation in spring 2017.

This fee will allow Health & Wellness to preserve the staff necessary to continue student-centered and student-requested programs on topics such as sex and relationships, healthy eating, drugs, stress-reduction techniques, and positive psychology. The Wellness class (ED 191W) and internship program provide professional training and leadership certification for more than 330 students per year.  Annually, Health & Wellness interns facilitate over 90 workshops, 26 field trips, 120 healthy food demos and 20+ events such as Dog Therapy Day, HIV Testing, Love Your Body Day, Liquid Lab/DUI Prevention, Random Acts of Kindness, Sex Affair, and National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  An affirmation of this fee will also allow Health & Wellness to continue providing resources such as weekly massage, organic apples, and condoms to students at no additional cost. If this ballot measure does not pass, Health & Wellness will be forced to reduce and/or eliminate services and staff.  This fee will preserve Health & Wellness services and help UCSB students to continue to thrive academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. 

Graduate students will vote to reaffirm two existing campus-wide student fees:

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS, formerly Counseling Services) and Career Services Support Fee

Do you reaffirm a mandatory fee of $5.85 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter, including summer, in order to provide funds to maintain service levels for Counseling & Psychological Services and Career Services ($2.69 goes to CAPS, $3.16 goes to Career Services)?  If reaffirmed, the fee will continue to be assessed until subject to reaffirmation in spring 2017.

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) currently collects an additional $10.85 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter (including summer), collected through a campus lock-in fee, for a total of $13.54 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter to support CAPS. 

Career Services currently collects an additional $5.55 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter (including summer), collected through a campus lock-in fee, for a total of $8.71 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter to support Career Services. 

Counseling & Psychological Services receives $2.69 (of the $5.85 fee) to see graduate and undergraduate students who are in emotional distress. Along with providing confidential individual counseling, we work with roommates, friends, parents, teaching assistants, faculty, and staff to help them get counseling for someone in need. Students also now have access to counseling 24/7 through our phone consultation services.

Reaffirmation of this fee will allow us to continue to support psychologist positions, and budget permitting, avoid co-payments and reduced hours. A yes vote for this reaffirmation will ensure that we are able to continue to offer these essential services to all graduate and undergraduate students in need. 

Career Services receives $3.16 (of the $5.85 fee) to assist approximately 10,000 students per year with career-related issues such as major and career selection; access to internships and part- and full-time jobs; assistance with graduate school applications; provision of job search tools such as workshops, employer information sessions, job fairs, and on-campus interviews assistance.  Specifically, these monies support one career counselor, one job developer and related marketing efforts, and the free three-month grace period for students after graduation. 

Reaffirming this fee will support employer development, outreach, career counseling staff, and budget permitting, enable us to avoid reducing hours and instituting or increasing fees for testing, job fairs, and workshops. By reaffirming this fee, you ensure Career Services will continue to be available for your career counseling needs and continue to offer quality services.

Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity (WGSE, formerly the Women’s Center) Support Fee

Do you reaffirm a mandatory fee of $4.25 per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter, including summer, in order to enable the Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity Department to maintain programs and staff positions?  If reaffirmed, the fee will continue to be assessed until subject to reaffirmation in spring 2017.

The Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity support fee will help maintain staff and programs within the Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity department such as the Campus Advocacy, Resources, and Education program (formerly the Rape Prevention Education Program); the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (RCSGD); and the Non-Traditional Student Services.

For more on the proposed new fees and fee reaffirmations, check out Upcoming Campus Election Material from February.

Opera, Posters, AlloSphere, and 3-Minute Talks Highlight a Day of Graduate Student Showcase Events

The nine Grad Slam finalists: From left, Bob Lansdorp, Mohammad Mirzadeh, Peter Mage, Torrey Trust, Jasmin Llamas, Misty Riddle, Cyrus Dreyer, Britney Pennington, and Briana Simmons. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

A lively Performance Showcase with opera and play readings, a dazzling 3D tour of the AlloSphere, and a Poster Showcase featuring more than a dozen exhibits were among the events that preceded UC Santa Barbara's Grad Slam Finals and Graduate Student Reception on Friday afternoon.

Grad Slam Grand Prize Winner Peter Mage with finalists Misty Riddle and Britney Pennington. Credit: Patricia MarroquinIn welcoming the audience to the Grad Slam Finals, part of Graduate Student Showcase, Dr. Carol Genetti, Dean of the Graduate Division, thanked the sponsors, the judges for each of the rounds, and all those who worked to plan Graduate Student Showcase events, especially Retention Services Director Whitney Winn, who she called “the organizational genius behind the Showcase.”

“Most of all,” Dr. Genetti said, “I want to thank the graduate students themselves, all of the participants who have taken the time out of their very busy lives to enrich us with their work, their thoughts, and their grand ideas.”

She praised the diversity of the more than 80 talks, on topics including mathematical symmetry,  quantum computing, U.S. diplomacy with Cuba, kelp beds, even effective hand-washing.

“This Showcase has given us the opportunity to hear from passionate scholars and to connect with the big ideas at the creative cutting edge,” Dr. Genetti said.  “Graduate students both reflect and enable their faculty, and the synergy between these populations is the central force, the fuel, that drives research productivity on this campus.”

The following are the nine Grad Slam finalists, their disciplines, and the titles of their talks.

Bob Lansdorp, Materials, “How Do Nano-Motors Unzip Your Genes?”

Jasmin Llamas, Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, “The Importance of Familia for Latina/o College Students: Examining Familial Support on Intragroup Marginalization”

Torrey Trust, Education, “K-12 Tech Tools Database: Understanding How Open Educational Resources Shape Student Learning”

Misty Riddle, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, “Reprogramming Cell Fate and Remodeling Organs in a Tiny Worm”

Mohammad Mirzadeh, Mechanical Engineering, “Direct Numerical Simulation of Supercapacitors' Charging Dynamics”

Britney Pennington, Biomolecular Science and Engineering, “Directly Reprogramming Human Cells to Treat Ocular Diseases”

Cyrus Dreyer, Materials, “Lighting the World From the Head of a Pin: Engineering Across Length Scales”

Peter Mage, Materials, “Taking the Guesswork Out of Medicine: Sensors, Steamships, and Loops”

Briana Simmons, History of Art & Architecture, “The Plantation Economy: Material Culture, Architecture, and Global Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Brazil”

Grad student Brian Granger introduces a reading of his play, "Cold Hill Road." Credit: Patricia MarroquinAfter spirited presentations, the judges left the auditorium to deliberate while the audience asked questions of the finalists. When the judges returned, the top three finishers were announced: Misty Riddle, Peter Mage, and Britney Pennington. The Grand Prize winner of a $2,500 research fund is Peter Mage. Misty and Britney each received $1,000 research funds.

Following the Grad Slam, students and their guests dined on Middle Eastern fare on the Hatlen Theater patio while enjoying the Indian and Middle Eastern music of Professor Scott Marcus’ grad students. Before the Finals, a Graduate Playwrights’ Showcase featured new work of grad students Gregory Dodds ("The Happiest Place on Earth"), Donald Molosi ("Dear Zibanani"), and Brian Granger ("Cold Hill Road").

Coverage of each of the preliminary Grad Slam rounds may be found here:

Grad Slam Round 1: Students Impress Panel of Judges With Their Research

Grad Slam Round 2 Recap: Superman to Smarty Pants, and More

Grad Slam Round 3 Recap: Solar Cells, Exploding Brains, and More

Grad Slam Round 4 Recap: From Curing Diseases to Finding Happiness

Grad Slam Round 5 Recap: From Lighting the World to Feeding the Hungry

Grad Slam Round 6 Recap: Rethinking Time, Energy, and the History of Products

Grad Slam Round 7 Recap: Talks Include Diseases and Disasters, Unions and Unicorns

Grad Slam Round 8 Recap: From Suburban Sprawl to Super-Capacitors

Grad Slam Round 9 Recap: Natural Resources, Near-Death Experiences Among Talks in Last Qualifying Round

Guests got a 3D tour of the AlloSphere, taking a simulated peek inside the brain, top, and the arteries of a human body. Credit: Patricia Marroquin