IGPBS: Recruitment round X^Nth
March 3rd, 2010This weekend is the yearly Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in the Biomedical Sciences (IGPBS) primary recruitment weekend. I have been solicited for help every year since I joined the program as the students have been stated as one of the largest factors for coming to the program here at the University at Buffalo. It struck me just recently that this will be the 5th year I have helped out with this endeavor. It really shows my age in the program, and reminds me I need to be wrapping things up within the next 12-18 months. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around that thought at this very moment, but every now and then it hits me while I’m working in the lab, and completely sidetracks my focus for an hour or two. At my progression within the program, I become more and more disconnected from the current coursework/courseload that the students are expected to take, and really only become knowledgeable within my own department in the context of available research projects and who does/does not have funding available for prospective students. I may be a shining example of what the program is capable of, but my age is becoming a bit more of a bane than a boon at this point!
In regards to finishing, I need to sit down and hash out just what couple experiments left that I need to finish up my current publication in progress. I have the primary experiments done; I need to wrap up the couple loose ends and decide exactly what the “story” that I am going to tell will be. This isn’t my strong point in research by any means (my communication issues have always been a little off-kilter), but I really have to do this and force myself to learn from it if I intend to keep instigating my own research and publishing it.
Anyways, back to the recruitment weekend stuff. With the recent reshuffling of the administration that runs the program, our off-campus venues have significantly changed from what they have been in previous years. In years’ past, we typically started off the weekend with a casual mixer between graduate students and prospective students Thursday evening at Tully’s on Niagara Falls Blvd, followed by dinner Friday night at somewhere a little more upscale1 like Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, and finally ending the weekend with a breakfast session at the hotel at which they are staying2 followed by an optional/voluntary tour of some typical areas that students find housing in.
Of the above locales, only the hotel is staying the same. Thursday evening, we will be classing it up downtown at the Chocolate Bar on Chippewa. The reviews look tantalizing! Friday evening, it will be fine dining at Shanghai Red’s. I have mixed thoughts about this as Yelp has an all over the field reviews mix on the restaurant; we’ll see. Hopefully it will turn out well. If nothing else, I know it has a nice view of Lake Erie!