Newsletter for 03/26/2023

New Announcements

Announcements

Baskin Engineering PhD Hooding Ceremony May 20, 2023

As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Baskin School of Engineering, you are invited to participate in a Baskin Engineering hooding ceremony on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 1 pm, followed by a reception for your friends, family members, advisors, and Baskin graduate student alumni. The events will take place in the Baskin Engineering Auditorium and courtyard. 

Please complete this form by April 4 to indicate your participation on May 20. 

Note that the campus will host the usual commencement ceremonies in June. In addition to the May hooding ceremony, you are welcome to participate in the Graduate Division Slug Crossing on Saturday, June 17, 2023. More information is available on the UCSC Commencement website.

New Course this Spring! BME118/ 218: Mathematics of the Mind

Join David Haussler this Spring Quarter for BME 118/218: Mathematics of the Mind! This course counts for the graduate Neuroscience Designated Emphasis.

It will explore mathematical theories of brain circuits, knowledge representation, and learning in animals. As a highlight, students build Jupyter notebooks that interact with lab-grown human cerebral organoids to explore adaptive processes in neural circuits.

Winter 2023 University Deadlines

Please note the following upcoming university deadlines, and ALWAYS check the Academic and Administrative Calendar for important dates and deadlines. Bookmark this year's Academic and Administrative Calendar and refer to it regularly.

Graduate Student Tax Preparer Workshops

2023 NASA Planetary Science Summer School Applications Due March 27, 2023

Offered by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, PSSS is a 3-month long career development experience to learn the development of a hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment while getting an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule & the inherent trade-offs.

Science and engineering doctoral candidates, recent Ph.D.s, postdocs, junior faculty, and certain master’s degree students, who are U.S. Citizens or legal permanent residents (and a very limited number of Foreign Nationals from non-designated counties), are eligible. There is no charge to attend, travel stipends are available, and applicants from diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.  Diversity, equity and inclusion are important to us, and we strive to create a welcoming environment where participants’ contributions and unique perspectives are valued. 

Session 1: Preparatory Sessions May 11-July 28.  Culminating Week with JPL’s Team X July 31-August 4

Session 2: Preparatory Sessions May 25-August 11.  Culminating Week with JPL’s Team X August 14-18

With workload of a rigorous 3-credit graduate-level course, participants act as a planetary science mission team during the first 12 weeks of preparatory webinars, with the final culminating week mentored by JPL’s Advance Project Design Team for refining the mission concept design & presenting it to a mock expert review board.  The culminating week is planned to be at JPL.

Applications are due March 27, 2023.  Register now for informational session February 14 11:00 am ET.

Zuckerman STEM Postdoctoral Scholarship in Israel

The Zuckerman STEM Leadership program offers significant funding for selected postdoctoral scholars interested in achieving STEM research in Israel.

Offering a scholarship of US$63,000 per academic year for up to two years, postdoctoral scholars benefit from achieving STEM research in their respective fields under the supervision of world-renowned faculty.

The upcoming and third application deadline is March 31, 2023.  Additional information can be found at:

Funding | Zuckerman Scholars Program (zuckerman-scholars.org)

Applications should be sent in one PDF file via email.

GANAS VOCES Drafting Stages Workshop

Seeking Latine Participants for Focus Group Study

Flyer.pdf

Robert “Bob” Moses Scholarship

The inaugural scholarship is named in honor of the late Bob Moses, a pioneering civil rights leader and educator who founded The Algebra Project, a national U.S. mathematics literacy program aimed at helping low-income students and students of color achieve the mathematical skills in high school that are a prerequisite for success in college and beyond. The application deadline is April 3, 2023. More information is listed below:

Scholarship Award: $15,000

Who Is Eligible to Apply?

Any student who:
        • is enrolled as a master’s or doctoral student in good standing at a public or private U.S. university during the 2022–2023 academic school year
        • demonstrates leadership abilities and commitment to community service
        • demonstrates financial need
        • is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident with a valid permanent resident card or passport stamped I-551

How To Apply

To apply for the scholarship, you must provide: 
        • a one-page statement outlining financial need
        • the official transcript for your most recently completed academic term; this should include your Fall 2022 grades and cumulative GPA
        • two recommendation letters (one should be from a school advisor or the chair of the dissertation committee)
        • two original essays, answering the following essay questions (maximum of 500 words per question):
               – Describe how your approach to learning is aligned with the work of Bob Moses.
               – Tell us a bit about yourself, your background, why you should be awarded the Robert (Bob) Moses Scholarship and how this scholarship will help you support underserved communities.

Timeline:  Application Portal Open: February 1, 2023
                Application Deadline: April 3, 2023
                Winner Notified: May 15, 2023

For more information, contact: ETSScholarships@ets.org

Call for Papers: UCLA Q Grad

UCLA QGrad

Conference 2023

New Coalitions

Call for Papers

Queerness is where we can expand, rather than limit, the spaces of possibility for self
and collective expression and engagement with the world.
- Dr. Sa’ed Atshan, Keynote Speaker

UCLA LGBT Studies’ 26th QGrad Conference is seeking graduate student papers that speak to the theme: “New Coalitions.” We hope that this year's conference will generate rich discussions about past, present, and future solidarities between queer and other social justice movements across the world. We wish to foster intellectual and activist commitments that are intersectional, global, and anti-imperialist, and we encourage submissions from all fields of study. Possible submission topics include, but are not limited to, past, emerging, and potential connections between Queer/LGBTQIA+ theory/movements and one or more of the following:

• decolonization, anti-war, and non-violence movements.
• racial justice and prison abolition.
• economic equality and mutual aid.
• health, disability, and neurodivergence.
• reproductive rights.
• transgender and gender equality.
• climate and food security.

We also welcome submissions that consider:

• comparative modalities of activism, political engagement, and agency.
• thinking with, through, against, and beyond human rights frameworks.
• solidarities made possible or hindered by digital, transnational technologies.
• collaborations between theorists, activists, and artists.
• the affective contours of coalition building and sustaining.
• Intersections and disjunctures between humanist and posthuman discourses.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but as you consider your submission, keep in mind the overall theme of past, emerging, and potential connections across boundaries that have conventionally been kept or considered separate.

Apply here (Google Form):

https://forms.gle/sfkXmW17EcHV8noU8

The last day to submit to the CFP is Wednesday, March 15th, at 11:59pm PST. Contributions are welcomed from all disciplines and should be in alignment with the theme. Interested students should submit 500-word abstracts along with their CV and a short 150-word bio.

This year’s conference will be held on Friday, May 19, 2023 at UCLA, a land grant institution whose formation rests upon the dispossession of the Gabrielino and Tongva/Kizh peoples, the traditional caretakers of this land, whose history and presence resonates through this event and our every day.

The conference will be held entirely in person, and this year we are happy to offer conference participants from outside of UCLA partially subsidized accommodations at the UCLA Guest House (more information about this will be shared upon acceptance to present at the conference).

Please direct questions to uclalgbtq@gmail.com 

More about the Keynote

Upon his graduation from Swarthmore College, our distinguished Keynote speaker, Dr. Sa’ed Atshan, received an award the institution named that year—the Edward Said/Audre Lorde Scholar-Activist Award. The critical legacy memorialized in this honorary title aptly captures Professor Atshan’s commitments, and is evident across his work: from his efforts to work with Israelis and Germans to repair the wretched reality in Palestine/Israel; to his current research about the parallels and disjunctures between African-American and Palestinian Quakers; to his ongoing study about LGBTQ movements across North Africa and the Middle East. The UCLA LGBT Studies program shares professor Atshan’s conviction that new coalitions are the way forward.

Interested in Volunteering?

LGBTQ Studies is currently seeking volunteers who are interested in supporting this year’s conference on Friday, May 19^th. Volunteer activities include registration support, reception set up, room management, and other general activities. For those interested, please reach out to the conference organizers at UCLALGBTQ@gmail.com.

Notice Regarding UC’s Native American Opportunity Plan

UC’s Native American Opportunity Plan (NAOP) ensures that in-state systemwide Tuition and Student Services Fees are fully covered for California resident students who are also enrolled in federally recognized Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native tribes. This plan applies to undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students will have the opportunity to apply for this program every quarter.

If you are eligible for the Native American Opportunity Plan, your in-state systemwide Tuition and Student Services Fees will be fully covered by either UC financial aid or another federal, state or other financial aid program.

To be eligible, students must use this form to submit supporting documentation verifying their membership with a federally recognized tribe and meet all additional eligibility requirements. At that time, the Graduate Division will review your documentation. If approved, we will work with your Graduate Program Coordinator/Advisor to ensure that your tuition and Student Services fees are covered.

When you submit your tribal documentation, please contact Lorato Anderson directly at lorato@ucsc.edu.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the Native American Opportunity Plan, students must meet all of the following criteria:

• Must be a current or newly admitted University of California undergraduate, graduate or professional school student.
• Must be a California Resident.
• Must be an enrolled member in a federally recognized Native American, American Indian and/or Alaska Native tribe.
• Must be enrolled in a qualifying UC degree program.

Documentation of tribal enrollment may include any of the following:

• Certification of tribal enrollment on tribal letterhead.
• Enrollment/membership card that contains the tribal seal and/or official signature of a tribal leader.
• Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) if the CDIB includes tribal enrollment information.
• Tribal identification card with an enrollment number. You must also submit tribal contact information (address, phone, and email) if it is not evident on submitted documentation.

If you have questions about the Native American Opportunity Plan, please visit the University of California’s NAOP website for further information. You can also contact me at lorato@ucsc.edu for help.

STEM: DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research Awards

Last week, the Department of Energy announced that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2023 Solicitation 1 cycle. Applications are due 5:00pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate theses research at a DOE national laboratory or facility in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist — with the goal of preparing graduate students for scientific and technical careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral theses while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the host DOE laboratories

SCGSR application assistance workshops will be held on March 9, 2023, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET and April 20, 2023, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM ET. The first workshop will provide a general overview of the program and the application requirements and will include a time for discussing potential research topics with the program managers; register here. The second workshop will guide attendees through the application process, answer general questions, provide guidance on proposal writing and feature discussions with scientists and former awardees; register here.

Jobs

Title IX is Hiring Graduate Student Interns

The Title IX/Equity and Equal Protection Office is hiring graduate student interns interested in working on projects related to education, policies/procedures, and media and public awareness efforts concerning sex discrimination, including sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH). See flyer below.

Roles and responsibilities may include:

• Co-developing trainings and presenting to various student groups and campus partners

• Designing programming and events related to SVSH prevention

• Maintaining WCMS for Title IX website

• Conducting surveys and research 

Pay: $26/hr

Hours: 3-6/week (flexible with additional hours over the summer as desired)

• Remote hybrid work opportunities available

We also encourage graduate students to propose their own ideas for projects and events to address SVSH. 

For more information and to apply, please see the posting on Handshake (# 7549227; https://ucsc.joinhandshake.com/emp/jobs) or email Laura Young at lyounghi@ucsc.edu

Postdoc Opportunity

Jennifer Doudna <https://doudnalab.org/> and Benjamin Rubin
<https://www.therubinlab.org/> are recruiting a jointly supervised postdoc
to work on in situ DNA editing of microbiomes at UC Berkeley. The candidate
will join a highly collaborative team of researchers in the two labs, who
are tightly integrated with the broader Innovative Genomics Institute’s
Precision Microbiome Editing Initiative
<https://innovativegenomics.org/precision-microbiome-editing/>. Projects
will build on proof-of-principle community editing experiments
<https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34873292/> to enact precise and efficient
modification of microbiome members. This work relies on developing and
using novel CRISPR-Cas editing systems, sequence-based tracking of edits,
and next-generation tools for in situ control of edited organisms. The
postdoc will collaborate with a multidisciplinary group from UCSF, LBNL,
JBEI, and Cedar-Sinai to apply microbiome editing to understand and control
impactful microbial communities such as those in the human gut, cow rumen,
and the rhizosphere. Potential projects range from identifying and
modifying microbes with causal roles in inflammatory bowel disease and
asthma, to mitigating methane emissions from livestock.


If you are interested you can find more information and apply here
<https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03866>.

Molecular Biologist/Biochemist - Tenure Track - Rhode Island College

Job Description: 2023B_MolecularBiologist_Poster.pdf

Cellular Biologist/Biochemist - Tenure Track - Rhode Island College

Job Description: 2023A_CellBiologist_Poster.pdf