Fall 2021 orientation activities:
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| June 24 - Sep. 9 | Bootcamp faculty talks (online) Thursdays at noon throughout the summer |
| July - Sep | Campus-wide new graduate student orientation (online & optional in-person) There is an online course on Canvas for all new graduate students to do (July-Sep); in-person social events Sep. 8-10; and more events may be announced |
| Sep. 8-20 | Campus-wide new international graduate student orientation (online & optional in-person) Two sessions are mandatory for all new foreign graduate students; see detailed info on these sites. There are also optional in-person socials on Sep 13-14. (Overview/FAQ) (Schedule/registration) |
| Sep. 13-17 | BISB Boot Camp (online) Opening Talk by Program Chairs Sep. 13, 10-10:30am (Schedule) (GitHub) |
| Sep. 21 | UCSD Stuart Collection Scavenger Hunt & Campus Tour (in-person) 9:30am-1pm |
| Sep. 21 | New Cohort Welcome Lunch @ Dirty Birds (in-person) 1-4pm |
| TBA | Campus-wide new IA Teaching Sympoisum For BISB, usually applies to 2nd-3rd year students, not incoming students. Last year's links may be replaced, TBA. FA20 links (old): (Flyer) (Schedule/registration) |
| Jan. 14, 2022 | BISB Exchange Some years this is part of orientation, but this school year it will be January 14, 2022. |
The week-long boot camp for incoming first-year students of the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program aims to:
- Introduce the doctoral program, the University of California, San Diego, and the greater San Diego area.
- Foster community and collaboration among students of the incoming cohort and with senior students.
- Convey expectations for the core curriculum and elective courses, while reviewing basic concepts to remedy deficiencies.
- Showcase student and faculty research, while guiding students in preparing for their research rotations.
- Review strategies for choosing a thesis advisor, navigating a PhD, and preparing for a scientific career.
In addition to boot camp, new graduate students should also attend various campus-wide orientations:
- New Graduate Student Orientation (mandatory for all new graduate students)
- International Student Orientation (mandatory for all new international students). Follow the link for information on registering and what to bring.
- TA orientation and training (mandatory for all new TAs; usually 2nd-3rd year for BISB students):
- In September, there are campus-wide teaching assistant orientations by ASE and The Commons, usually announced by email rather than a website link. Sometimes these are repeated other quarters. These are for students doing their first TAship that school year; other programs have TAships in the first year, but BISB students typically do their first TAship their 2nd-3rd year.
- Throughout the school year, The Commons has many workshops and other programs available for graduate student TAs.
Fall 2019 orientation activities (last one pre-pandemic; keeping it up for now for reference):
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| Sep. 10 | Campus-wide new graduate student orientation |
| Sep. 16-20 | BISB boot camp (schedule) in SSPPS 1160 |
| Sep. 19-20 | Campus-wide new international graduate student orientation |
| Sep. 23 | Bootcamp Challenge Ropes Course at UCSD Forest |
| Sep. 25 | Campus-wide new teaching assistant orientations by ASE and The Commons (for BISB, usually applies to 2nd-3rd year students, not incoming students) |
| Sep. 25 | BISB Exchange at Sanford Consortium, Roth Auditorium |