Join an RCO

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

UCSF Graduate Students are superheroes. They conceive of, develop, and perform ground-breaking science. But that alone is not enough. They care deeply about each other and the UCSF community, and work hard to enhance life at UCSF through their involvement with Registered Campus Organizations (RCOs).

The Associated Students of the Graduate Division (ASGD), whose mission it is “to create community for graduate students, to represent the needs of the diverse body of graduate students, to advocate for student rights and interests, and to promote career and professional development for students,” met for the first time in the 2018-2019 academic year.

They invited representatives from Graduate Division RCOs to share their missions, goals, upcoming events, and find new ways that ASGD can better support them. As always, the breadth of involvement and commitment of UCSF students was inspiring.

The Graduate Queer Alliance (GQA), which has been inactive for a few years, is back and ready to build an active, supportive community for queer researchers.

Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) is a UCSF chapter of a national organization. They work to increase representation of underrepresented minorities in science through social, academic, and professional events. SACNAS hosts monthly meetings, events throughout the school year, and an annual summer barbeque and leadership retreat.

Want to learn about science policy and policy-related careers, get involved with current issues, and enact change? Look no further than the Science Policy Group (SPG). They recently wrapped up their “How to write an OpEd” series and hosted a NAS briefing on sexual harassment in science.

The Basic Science Alumni Seminar Series, a spin-out of what used to be an ASGD-run event, hosts monthly talks with alumni from UCSF’s basic science graduate programs to give students an understanding of the breadth of careers available to them.

Women in Life Sciences (WiLS) looks to support women trainees through social, career-building, and networking activities. They have exciting events coming up this month, including a career talk scheduled on November 27 (5 pm at Mission Bay) and a monthly meetup on November 30 (12 pm at Mission Bay) to discuss gender harassment, implicit bias, microaggressions and their potential solutions.

If you are looking to build a diverse scientific workforce and engage in community building, Scientists for Diversity (S4D) is the place for you. S4D has already hosted a coffee career talk, a social hour to discuss identity in science, and a social hour to discuss mental health. They have an upcoming networking hour on November 30 (5 pm at Parnassus).

Carry the One Radio (CTOR), is science podcasting group that hosts weekly podcast workshops and produces a variety of science podcasts. They recently helped cover Discovery Days live for the Bay Area Science Festival. The Fog at Bay is a second podcasting group that aims to highlight the personal stories behind science, and often discuss mental health.

ASGD was excited to announce the creation of the Career Development Award, a new, one-time award of up to $150 which is designed to help students meet professionals, develop new skills, and directly engage in career exploration (learn more, apply). In addition, they will continue the Conference Travel Award, which grants Graduate Division students a one-time award of up to $400 to attend an academic conference (learn more, apply).

ASGD is also seeking additional board members: A Social & Population Sciences Representative to the Graduate and Professional Student Association, as well as program representatives for Biological and medical informatics (BMI), Biomedical Imaging, Biophysics, Epidemiology and Translational Science, Nursing PhD, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, and Sociology. Join them at their next meeting on November 13 (6 pm at Mission Bay).

Are you interested in learning more about these organizations or joining one (or a few)? Check out their OrgSync pages, which are linked above, or reach out to the following contacts:

There are many more active, vibrant RCOs that can enhance your life at UCSF. Why not dive in?