Newsletters

DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES FALL 2024 NEWSLETTER

Welcome back!

IN THIS ISSUE

• Letter from the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies 
• Graduate Division News
  • Welcome, New Senior Systems Business Analyst! 
  • Advising Graduate Students Conference
• Graduate Student News
  • Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Awards
  • UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Fellows
  • Congratulations, Grad Slam Winners!
  • UCSC Astronomy Ph.D. Graduate Receives Prestigious Astronomy Award
• Featured Graduate Student Profile
• Featured Programs
  • Graduate Student Peer Mentor Program
  • Accelerate 2 Industry (A2i)
  • ARCS Fellows with Don Smith
  • Contributor Catalyst Mentorship Program for HBCU Students
• Featured Resources
  • Professional Development Events
  • TLC’s Teaching Statements & Portfolios Canvas Resource
  • Teaching as an Ethical Practice
  • University Library
  • DEI Office Hours

LETTER FROM THE VICE PROVOST AND DEAN

Dear graduate students,

I would like to warmly welcome you back to campus and wish you all a successful academic year.

We are excited to introduce you to our new website, designed to make important information more accessible and help you navigate your graduate studies at UCSC. Kudos and a big thank you to the Graduate Division staff and GSR Seth Glickman for their hard work.

Please also reach out and follow the Graduate Division on social media to stay updated on research opportunities, programming, events and news involving graduate education. Let us know if you have ideas for events or opportunities to post. I will continue hosting “Bagels and Coffee with the Dean” in the Graduate Student Commons every third Thursday at 9 am and I invite you to join me there. If that time doesn’t work for you, please email me to arrange a meeting. I want to hear about your achievements, concerns, and how we can support you in these challenging times. 

I also want to acknowledge the struggles our campus and broader communities have faced this past academic year. The current crises and the terrible human suffering in the Middle East and Europe have tested us as universities and opened up important conversations about our role in educating, protecting and respecting our students, faculty and staff. I believe universities should continue to foster open discussion, inquiry, criticism, and debate.  I am working with the GSA to organize events to continue the important conversations we need to have about global issues as well as campus matters concerning graduate education at UCSC and the University of California. I hope you will come to those meetings with a spirit of openness and collaboration and work with me to help you navigate these challenging times.

We continue to work to implement the recommendations of the taskforce on Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education and those of the UCSC Strategic Plan Committee on Envisioning Graduate Education for the Future. Our focus is on bolstering support structures for student success, and promoting professional development for diverse career pathways. Our goal is to foster a welcoming, respectful environment that nurtures a strong, diverse, and resilient graduate community.

I encourage you to explore our newsletter where you’ll find a selection of accolades about your fellow graduate students and a list of new opportunities and programs.

And finally, I am thrilled to welcome our new Senior Systems Business Analyst Jessica Chavez to the team!

Please accept my warmest wishes for a wonderful, fulfilling year of work, study and growth.

Yours,

Peter Biehl

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GRADUATE DIVISION NEWS

We are excited to welcome Jessica Chavez as our new Senior Business Systems Analyst!

Jessica obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating, she started working as an account and project manager in the private sector. In 2021, Jessica began working at UCPath on the HR Workforce Administration team and her most recent role was as a Benefits Systems Team Associate. Jessica enjoys finding opportunities for continuous improvement, finding solutions to implement new functionality, and learning new processes. During her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, caring for her 16 year old cat named Ginger, and trying new boba or coffee shops.

Jessica can be reached at jeechave@ucsc.edu.

Advising Graduate Students (AGS) Conference

After six years at UC Davis, the Annual Advising Graduate Students (AGS) Conference was held at UC Santa Cruz for the first time this August 2024. Organized by and for Graduate Advisors, the theme of this year’s conference was “care.”

“I was thrilled for the opportunity to bring the AGS Conference to our UCSC campus for the first time. I joined the AGS Committee because I wanted to facilitate connections among our fellow graduate advisors from across all UC campuses,” AGS 2024 Co-Chair Nathalie Espinoza said. Other conference organizers included Jeremy Parker (Co-Chair), Alissa Nolan, Sandra Pomeroy, Amy Kaskowitz Profitt, Judy Straub, Eric Sneathen, Kathy Montano, Janina Larenas, and Dawn Loyola.

The Director of DEI in Graduate Studies, Lorato Anderson, presented her keynote lecture “Proactive Care, Community, and Change as Graduate Studies Professionals;” the theme “care” was also explored through a series of workshops on care for self, care for students, and care for departments.Espinoza said that hosting AGS 2024 at UC Santa Cruz “enabled me to actively contribute to our graduate advising community, support professional development, and showcase the exceptional graduate advisors we have here at UCSC.”

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GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS

Congratulations, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Awardees!

The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship Program provides opportunities for doctoral students to engage in dissertation research abroad, contributing to the development and improvement of the study of foreign languages. We are proud to feature three UCSC graduate students who have recently won this award: one currently conducts research abroad, and the other two are beginning their studies this academic year.

2023-24 Fulbright-Hays DDRA Recipient: Rikki Brown, Anthropology

Rikki Brown is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Cultural Anthropology department who has been conducting research abroad in the Republic of Georgia since January 2024. Her research project examines the relationship between the geopolitical landscape, including ongoing occupation of Georgian territory, and the Georgian wine economy, traditional values around wine production and consumption, and the regulation of vineyard land.

Rikki is passionate about international exchange, and has been helping smaller winemakers and farmers attract tourism through translating marketing materials and promoting their businesses online. She’s also become an itinerary planner for people visiting Georgia.

In addition to the Fulbright award, Rikki’s project is currently supported by a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG). She has also been supported by Title VIII fellowships that have sponsored Georgian language study and field work since she began her work in 2018. She received grants from the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC), which has included working with a graduate student from Tbilisi State University to trace the wine route in the Kakheti region.

Rikki’s goals post-graduation are to apply for postdoctoral and tenure-track positions in academia. She is also interested in contributing to economic, agricultural, and educational policy development in the Caucasus region. She would also like to open a wine bar featuring Georgian wine in the United States.

Rikki’s research in Georgia is the culmination of many years of involvement in the hospitality industry, working in her family’s restaurant, and visiting Russia during the summers; she is very grateful for these experiences and for the ability to say she “studies wine” full-time.

2024-25 Fulbright-Hays DDRA Recipient: Emanuel Suarez Jimenez, Education

Emanuel Suarez Jimenez is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Education department whose research looks into how Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, use digital technologies in ways that safeguard their cultural practices, showing how technology can be a tool for uplifting and empowering communities.

To Emanuel, this work is not just academic; it is a political and ethical act of solidarity with historically marginalized communities. He aims to use his privilege as a non-Indigenous researcher to uplift Indigenous voices and serve the communities he collaborates with.

In addition to the DDRA, Emanuel has received a UC Alianza MX Short-Term Research Grant, which allowed him to begin preliminary fieldwork to expand upon for the DDRA.

After he earns his Ph.D., Emanuel aims to become a professor in Learning Sciences and continue his research with teachers and communities in Oaxaca and California. He plans to study and use technology in ways that make teaching and learning more equitable, and incorporate Indigenous frameworks into teacher education programs, recognizing the need for this as the U.S. becomes increasingly diverse.

With the Fulbright DDRA, he will be collaborating with Indigenous teachers and communities in urban and rural areas of Oaxaca to understand how they use technology in educational contexts. This means observing how they develop materials such as digital resources in their native languages. In classrooms and community programs, Emanuel will be observing how digital tools are incorporated with local knowledge, languages, and practices in teaching. He is looking forward to getting to know teachers, students, and community members, learning from their experiences, learning more Zapoteco (one of the languages spoken in the region), and the amazing food.

Emanuel’s advice to graduate students who want to apply for the Fulbright DDRA is to build meaningful relationships with the people and communities you want to work with, and aim for your research not only to advance your academic goals but to have a positive impact on the community. He also recommends starting early and relying on feedback from friends, mentors, and resources such as UCSC’s Writing Center.

2024-25 Fulbright-Hays DDRA Recipient: Christina Blebea, Environmental Studies

Christina Blebea is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Environmental Studies department who studies the community factors that lead to forest permanence in El Salvador. While past work has looked at macro-scale factors that affect forest cover change over time, Christina is interested in local factors such as individual landholder decisions, community beliefs about the land, and social pressures.

Christina is very passionate about mentoring undergraduates. When she is not traveling, she leads undergraduates in processing ant specimens she has collected in the lab. She finds working with the undergraduates a lot of fun and learns a lot from guiding them.

In addition to her Fulbright award, Christina is currently on fellowship as an ARCS scholar, the Jean. H. Langenheim Graduate Fellowship in Plant Ecology and Evolution Award, and has received a seed research grant from the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation. She has also received a STARRS Grant from UCSC. After she earns her PhD, she plans to return to Central America to teach and lead a lab of her own. 

With the Fulbright DDRA, she plans to fly to El Salvador and conduct work in the Chalatenango department located in the northwest of the country. She will work with a number of partner organizations to identify participants to interview. In the interviews, she will ask participants for their beliefs about forest permanence in the region. She’s looking forward to connecting with family in the region when she is not conducting research.

For students who are interested in applying for the Fulbright DDRA, Christina suggests starting work in the fall due to the time and preparation required, looking into application timeline resources published by other universities, and reaching out to past Fulbright recipients for clarification.

Congratulations, UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Fellows!

Two UC Santa Cruz graduate students were selected as UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Fellows, who had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany. The 73rd annual summit was held June 30 – July 5, 2024. Read on for the Fellows’ statements about their experiences at the conference.

Rene M. Padilla, Physics

My name is Rene M. Padilla, a Ph.D. candidate here at UC Santa Cruz doing research in accelerator physics diagnostics and their broad application in national laboratories across the country. Traveling to Germany, meeting some of the most brilliant minds around the world, and sharing a week full of social activities with the Physics Nobel Laureates has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life.

I believe this trip was more meaningful since it was my first time traveling to Germany. Having the chance to hang out with people who are passionate about physics, doing research, and making a significant impact in science was really eye-opening for me. Listening to Nobel Laureate talks where they explained their research contributions, life experience, and answered our questions became one of the most enjoyable and learning highlights of the entire event.

Additionally, I met with multiple attendees from Spanish-speaking countries with whom I developed a strong connection immediately. Since I grew up in Mexico, I was really happy to see people from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and multiple other places that in some way made me feel part of an important community growing in STEM and physics. For me, having created a new network that includes people from different parts of the world doing incredible research in physics was the most remarkable feature of this particular and one-of-a-kind conference.

I would like to thank the University of California and the Lindau Nobel Laureate committee for inviting me to be part of this amazing meeting and share my personal history with incredible people.

Photo: Rene M. Padilla with Dr. John C. Mather (physics laureate from 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite).

Sagnick Mukherjee, Astronomy

I am Sagnick Mukherjee, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in Astronomy at UC Santa Cruz. I am working on characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets using NASA’s telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope. This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting. It was a deeply inspiring experience, especially meeting some of the stalwarts in my field whose work continues to influence my own research.

I also engaged in fascinating discussions with Nobel laureates outside of my field, broadening my perspective. A highlight was having lunch with laureates whose discoveries confirmed the universe’s accelerating expansion. Additionally, I learned valuable insights about selecting the most intriguing and impactful problems to focus on as a research topic, which has given me a fresh perspective on my own work.

The meeting was a wonderful chance to connect with fellow researchers from various disciplines, deepening my appreciation for the breadth and depth of physics. I also had the chance to meet and connect with fellow physicists at my career stage, sharing our experiences across different subfields and building a professional network that I hope will last beyond the meeting. The beautiful town of Lindau added to the memorable experience, and I am truly grateful to UCSC for supporting this incredible opportunity.

Photo: Sagnick Mukherjee with Prof. Brian Schmidt (physics laureate from 2011 for his discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe).

Congratulations, Grad Slam Winners!

Grad Slam is a communication contest hosted by the UC Santa Cruz Graduate Division that is open to all graduate students. Participants have a maximum of three minutes to explain their graduate research or artistic endeavor to a general audience. The top presenters advanced as finalists to the 2024 UCSC Grad Slam on March 2 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.

Champion Natalie Pedicino went on to compete against the other nine UCs’ Grad Slam Champions in the UC Office of the President system-wide Grad Slam, which occurred on Friday, May 3, 2024. Congratulations to all finalists and the winners!

UCSC Astronomy Ph.D. Graduate Receives Prestigious Astronomy Award

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has honored UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. graduate Maggie Thompson with the 2024 Robert J. Trumpler Award for her research at the intersection of astrophysics, geochemistry, and meteorites to explore the origins of rocky-planet atmospheres, feasible atmosphere compositions, and gasses that may be signs of life. You can learn more about Thompson and the award here.

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FEATURED GRADUATE STUDENT PROFILE

Brook Thompson, Environmental Studies

Brook Thompson is a third year graduate student in the Environmental Studies department at UC Santa Cruz with a variety of research topics, one being a social science focus on integrating Indigenous knowledge into California water policy. She is also doing research within nature science, specifically on how spring and fall salmon in the Klamath River differ in nutrients and DNA; as well as within Coastal Science and Policy in order to create a guidebook on how non-tribal organizations can work better with tribes in California on restoration projects.

Brook is incredibly passionate about Native American representation in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). She also hopes to see all Californians with equitable rights to clean and safe water, “Californians” including all of the plants and animals that reside here as well. She has a particular focus on the salmon within the Klamath River, the population of which has declined steeply in recent years due to regional policy and poor water quality. She describes using her engineering background in order to fight for more accessible and cleaner water. She hopes to be a good role model for other Native Americans who are interested in STEAM and to break down barriers that she and many others have faced while entering the field, for everyone benefits from diverse ideas and backgrounds.

Brook was a winner in the Ford Foundation 2023 Predoctoral Fellowship Competition and the 2022 Native Journalism Awards. She is also honored as a UNITY 2020 25 Under 25 Recipient, a 2017 Undergraduate AIGC Student of the Year Awardee, a Gates Millennium Scholar, and a Eugene Cota-Robles Fellow. After graduation, Brook is interested in becoming a professional engineer or professor, and hopes to one day join the California State Water Resource Control Board and the Yurok Tribal Council. 

When asked to share more, Brook said that she is from the Yurok and Karuk tribes of Northern California, the Yurok being the largest tribe in California. She also works part-time as a restoration engineer for the Yurok tribe and has a small business called Thompson Teachings LLC. To learn more about Brook and her research, you can visit her website.

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

Graduate Student Peer Mentor Program

The Graduate Student Peer Mentorship Program aims to create a safe space for incoming graduate students, as well as returning graduate students, to connect with experienced graduate peers. It supports existing and new graduate-student led departmental peer mentor programs (with faculty partnership). Graduate student mentors offer tips and strategies to better navigate and understand program requirements in their own division and/or programs, as well as general expectations of graduate student life at UCSC. Peer mentoring can also focus on knowledge outside traditional grad program curricula, such as how to utilize grad-specific campus resources, how to connect with other students from similar identity-based affinity groups, and how to navigate advisor relationships.

For more information on Graduate Student Peer mentoring, please visit the Graduate Student Commons Peer Mentor website.

Accelerate to Industry (A2i)

UC Santa Cruz Division of Graduate is an academic partner of Accelerate to Industry (A2i) under the NC State University Graduate School. A2i is an NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) grant-funded program that supports industry workforce readiness for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. This year, the Division of Graduate Studies is teaming up with A2i Industry Partners NVIDIA and Genentech for professional development modules and networking opportunities for graduate students. Interested students should contact Associate Dean Don Smith (drsmith@ucsc.edu).

Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowships Available for Graduate Students

The Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation provides financial awards to students who are outstanding in both the academic field and as members of their communities in order to advance science and technology in the United States. In an interview with Don Smith, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Don provided some insight into how the foundation works at UCSC.

The Northern California Chapter of the ARCS Foundation supports a number of different institutions in the Northern California region, UCSC being one of them. The chapter has been supporting UCSC with an annual donation since the 1970s, and the funding provided to UCSC is awarded to students based on a nomination system. Don explained that his role in this program is to organize a selection committee, with staff and support from the Chancellor’s Office, of faculty across different departments that are eligible to receive the fellowship. Each department can nominate up to several students that they have deemed to be outstanding scholars based on their accomplishments, potential for future achievements, and their contributions to their communities. Around 15 students are selected out of the pool of nominees and each student is awarded a fellowship of about $10,000-$11,000.

This fellowship is completely unrestricted and can be used for academic endeavors or personal expenses, and it has been a tremendous program for the campus. Additionally, every year each ARCS Scholar in the Northern California area that is selected attends a symposium banquet where they give poster presentations about their studies. Here they can also receive feedback and training on how to better convey their sciences to an audience.

When asked for his perspective on the foundation, Don Smith replied, “The foundation itself, I would say, is a hugely influential beneficial foundation because they have been supporting scholars and scholarship in various STEM fields for such a long time with their donations. They put a lot of emphasis on trying to support student scholars in their professional development and career preparedness so they are able to enter career paths that they can be very successful in.”

You can learn more about the ARCS Fellows at UCSC here.

Contributor Catalyst Mentorship Program for HBCU Students

The Contributor Catalyst is a UCSC-run program for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to gain coding experience, learn about open source, and receive mentorship from peers. A $1 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation will expand the program and support more students from HBCUs. Over the past two years of the program, UC Santa Cruz has hosted cohorts of students from Norfolk State University for an eight-week long program on gaining experience on contributing to open source software development. Students make tangible contributions to open-source projects, visit tech company offices, receive invites to an open source conference held in the fall, and get to know California’s natural beauty. You can learn more about the Contributor Catalyst Mentorship Program and its expansion here.

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FEATURED RESOURCES

Professional Development Events

The Graduate Division offers professional development events (certificate programs, panel discussions, presentations, workshops) throughout the academic year, as well as online resources that can be accessed year-round. See a list of featured events below, and a complete list on the website.

TLC’s Teaching Statements & Portfolios Canvas Resource

The Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) Teaching Statements & Portfolios mini-course is an online, self-paced Canvas resource that provides step-by-step guidance in creating or refining a teaching statement and a teaching portfolio—widely requested documents in the academic job search, particularly for positions that involve college-level teaching. This resource aims to help you develop strategies for effectively communicating about your teaching approaches and their impact on student learning while telling a compelling story of who you are as an educator.

The resource is designed for UC Santa Cruz graduate students and postdocs, but is open for self-enrollment to the broader campus community. This is not a credit-bearing course, but rather an open resource that will remain available to you while you are at UCSC.

To engage with the resource, graduate students and postdocs are welcome to self-enroll via Canvas. After utilizing the resource to draft or refine your teaching statement or portfolio, you are welcome to reach out to us at tlc@ucsc.edu to request a consultation on your materials.

Please note that access to the Canvas resource requires that you log in with your UCSC Canvas account. If your CruzID login does not grant you access, contact the Instructional Technology Team (canvas.help@ucsc.edu) for assistance.

Teaching as an Ethical Practice

If you are a first-time teaching assistant (TA) this quarter, you are required to take Teaching as an Ethical Practice (TA Ethics) on the Canvas online learning platform. Developed by the Teaching and Learning Center and informed by educational research, this training provides a foundational introduction to key pedagogical principles applicable across disciplines. TA Ethics also introduces campus resources that TAs should be familiar with. The videos feature campus resource staff and experienced TAs, and content includes case scenarios, personal reflection questions, and quizzes.

If you are a first-time TA this quarter and have not received an invitation from Canvas to enroll in TA Ethics, contact your graduate student staff adviser.

University Library

Find support for your research, publishing, and teaching from the Library’s Graduate Services. Sign up for publishing tips by email, once a week from October 24 to December 5. Check out and sign up for the Library’s workshops this fall. Get involved with the Center for Archival Research and Training, including the opportunity to apply for the 2024-25 Alternative Spring Break Huerta Center Scholars. Use equipment and find support for digital methods & tools at the Center for Digital Scholarship. If you have questions, email librarians at research@library.ucsc.edu or schedule a one-on-one to chat on Zoom.

The University Library Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) is soliciting applications for two graduate scholars to participate in an alternative spring break processing the Dolores Huerta personal papers and Dolores Huerta Foundation records in March 2025. CART also provides fellowships; stay tuned for more information via email.

Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Office Hours

Lorato Anderson, the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Graduate Division, holds office hours for graduate students in the Graduate Student Commons rm 208 and on Zoom every Wednesday, 2:00 – 4:00 PM. Please feel free to drop in for help/information regarding graduate support, help with a specific situation (e.g. encountering bias, starting/running a DEI program in your department, a grant you’d like her to apply for on graduate students’ behalf, etc.), have questions about DEI-related plans or decisions, or just want to check in. Email her at lorato@ucsc.edu if you’d like to set up an appointment outside of these hours.

https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/94605643570?pwd=4dbpYNQUyaIz461pidlA1ma6lIAwyO.1
Meeting ID: 946 0564 3570
Passcode: 873162

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