U-M BME Hosts Orientation to Welcome Grad Students
BME community welcomes matriculating students to campus
U-M BME held its annual graduate student orientation on Tuesday, August 22, to welcome Master’s and PhD students to the new academic year and provide an overview of their respective programs. One of the session’s goals was also to build a sense of community; more than 120 students attended.
“The best predictor of your success in graduate school – this means your successful completion of the BME graduate program and your successful launch into the next phase of your professional lives – is your sense of belonging in our BME community,” said Mary-Ann Mycek, BME Interim Chair and professor of biomedical engineering, during her opening remarks.
“That’s why I was delighted to see the orientation program that our graduate education team has created for you today. This will be a wonderful introduction to the broader BME community and will hopefully help you as you find your place in it,” she added.
Following introductions from faculty and staff, students learned about the variety of organizations in which they can become involved and details about their curricula. Students met with their program advisors in small groups (based on concentration) to formulate academic plans.
“This meeting not only provided academic structure to their program, but also provided students an opportunity to meet directly with other students who are passionate about the same focus areas, thus creating a peer support group of people who will be taking many classes with each other,” said Rachel Patterson, BME Student Administration Manager.
“Current graduate students, led by Sydney Wheeler and Mary Dickenson, did a fantastic job at welcoming and integrating new students with the orientation activities they planned,” said Tim Bruns, BME Associate Chair for Graduate Education, biomedical engineering and associate professor, biomedical engineering.
For more information about BME student organizations, please visit this link. For information about the BME Graduate Student Council, which led many orientation activities, please visit this link.”