2017 Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate cohort summer research

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Thirty-eight members of the 2017 Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate cohort will be participating in research rotations this summer.

The students will be working in twenty-seven different labs in the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Twenty-six of these students arrived on Monday, July 10, 2017 for the Summer Research Orientation meeting where they were introduced to faculty and staff in the department and informed about the departmental resources that they will utilize over the summer and beyond.

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Members of the 2017 Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate cohort at the Summer Research Orientation meeting.

Summer research provides new students, who are able to come to UCLA one quarter early, the opportunity to get a head start on their graduate careers. They are able to acclimate themselves to the department, work with faculty, postdocs, and other graduate students, and spend up to ten weeks focusing purely on research before graduate coursework begins in the fall.  

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Current graduate students Dan Baumann (Duan group), Marcus Jellen (Garcia-Garibay group), Orlando Martinez (Clubb group), and Erick Velasquez (Torres group) answer questions from incoming students.

During Summer Research Orientation meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Aaron Sanchez and faculty Graduate Advisors Professors Bill Gelbart and Anastassia Alexandrova welcomed the new students and Student Affairs Officers Nick Baerg and Annie Carpenter provided the students with information about UCLA and the department, as well as information on the summer rotations. The students were fitted for lab coats and goggles and given a building and facilities tour by Dr. Janette Kropat and Nati Alcaraz. The orientation ended with a student panel, where four current graduate students shared their experiences with summer research, living at UCLA, and joining a lab.

Many thanks to Graduate Student Affairs Officer Annie Carpenter for writing this article. 

Photos by Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.