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Welcome to our new Ph.D. Candidates!

September 22, 2016

By Suzi Harlow

The Division of Biological Sciences welcomed 40 students into the Ph.D. program on Wednesday, August 31st. The class includes 11 international students, from Belarus, China, France, Japan, Korea and Mexico. The other 29 students come from all across the United States including Arizona, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota 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 enjoyed dinner with their Peer Mentors overlooking the ocean at the Martin Johnson House at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The next day included laboratory safety training in the morning and an afternoon of team-building exercises on the zip line and high wire at UCSD’s Challenge Course. Then just after Labor Day, students jumped right in to the academic year with an intense two-week Boot Camp featuring lectures, faculty research talks, laboratory group projects, and the students’ own lunchtime “Chalk Talks”. At the conclusion of Boot Camp, everyone traveled to the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa for the annual retreat which brings together nearly 200 faculty, postdocs and graduate students from the Division of Biological Sciences and the Salk Institute.

Welcome incoming doctoral candidates!