Community Leadership

One of the things that makes OEB a great program is student involvement in planning department social and academic events. Serving on a committee is also a great way to meet students from other cohorts and get involved in the OEB family. Here are some of the committees that rely on OEB student participation:

DEI Committee:

This committee focuses on issues impacting recruitment and retention of diverse people within OEB. Previous action items were to begin a minute fund to assist in paying for student applications and construct a flowchart to aid current students in finding resources to help resolve conflict and get help that is specific to a need (includes conflict at the workplace and mental health resources).

2022-2023 Niah Holtz @email and Sonja Glasser @email

Food for Thought Committee:

Food for Thought is a lunch discussion that occurs once a week in the spring semester. A student, faculty member, or lab host the week by presenting their paper of choice and open the discussion up to the OEB community. Responsibilities of committee members include brainstorming ways to increase participation in FFT, come up with a theme, solicit discussion leaders, coordinate FFT logistics for the spring semester.

2022-2023 Stefanie Farrington @email , Alexa Hershberger ahershberger@umass.edu

GEO Steward:

Serve as the OEB liaison to the graduate student union, GEO, which is part of the larger UAW organization, & represent OEB during GEO contract negotiations & bargaining.

2022-2023 Chris Claypool @email and Beth Rogers @email

Graduate Student Senate (GSS) Representative

Represent the OEB student body at GSS meeting by advocating for causes that reflect the academic, professional, and student-life concerns of OEB students

2022-2023 Laura Hancock @email

Hosting Committee:

Arrange overnight hosts and grad student meals for prospective student visitors, and facilitate relevant information transfer between the prospective student, student host, host P.I., grad student meal-goers, and the program coordinator.

2022-2023 Will Pfadenhauer @email , Kimberly Acevedo @email , Caro Munoz Agudelo @email

IDGP Student Advisory Board:

Work with other IDGP representatives as the student voices in the IDGP decisions

2022-2023 IDGP Student Advisory Board is Kim Acevedo @email and Jori Barley @email

IDGP Restructuring Task Force, OEB Rep: John Swenson

New position this year created in hopes of making improvements across IDGP in a wide range of areas

2022-2023 John Swenson @email

Mentoring Committee:

Mentorship is an important part of one's academic, professional, and personal growth and can aid in transitional periods such as the beginning of a PhD program. The mentoring committee brings together current students in the OEB program and pairs them with incoming new students in efforts to foster relationships, transfer of program knowledge, and ease the transition into graduate school. In addition, the mentoring committee runs events such as a summer reading group and social events to prepare students for the upcoming academic semester.

2022-2023 Katrina Zarrella Smith @email , Aly Putnam @email, João Menezes @email, Emelia Kusi ekusi@umass.edu

Outreach Committee:

Compile outreach opportunities and make them available to grad students (particularly first-years), track outreach participation and interest among students, help match students with outreach opportunities.

2022-2023 Seanne Clemente @email , Michelle Jackson @email

R Hacky Hour

Everyone in OEB learns how to code (most people use R). Working on analyses and coding in isolation is not only intimidating and leads to imposter syndrome, but also can yield irreproducible science and other bad practices. We hope this group brings students together across cohorts to work on code, troubleshoot, work through tutorials to learn something new, and review old material. We meet once a week and have a Slack Workspace.

2022-2023 Alexa Hershberger @email , Aly Putnam @email , Graziella DiRenzo @email , Riley Mummah @email , Will Pfadenhauer @email

Sunset Stroll Committee:

The Sunset Stroll occurs in the early part of the fall semester. Students and faculty gather at a nearby vista, enjoy the view of Amherst, and watch the sunset over the western hills. Responsibilities include planning & advertising the grape-juice & cheese “hike” for early in the fall semester.

2022-2023 Laura Hancock @email , Beth Rogers @email , Emelia Kusi @email

Social Committee:

Make sure we have refreshments available for after seminar each week, coordinate relevant logistics and money-managing.

2022-2023 Will Pfadenhauer @email

Student Body President:

Oversee student committees & activities, serve as point person for the administration/GPD/OEB program coordinator, gather students at least once per semester to touch base on OEB business, etc.

2022 Fall Katie Schroeder @email
2023 Spring Aly Putnam @email

Steering Committee Student Rep:

Bring student concerns/feedback/viewpoint to OEB steering committee meetings, serve as a liaison between OEB grad students and the graduate operations committee (GOC).

2022-2023 Katrina Zarrella Smith @email and current OEB president, Aly Putnam @email

Seminar Committee Student Rep:

Serve on the seminar committee to help bring awesome speakers to campus.

2022-2023 João Menezes @email (main), Emelia Kusi @email (alternate)

Welcome BBQ Committee:

The Welcome BBQ is one of the first events of the OEB community. Faculty, students, advisors, and staff gather, enjoy some scrumptious grilled food and sides, and socialize with the incoming cohort. Responsibilities of the committee include plan & advertise the OEB Welcome BBQ for the first Friday of the school year. Work with OEB program coordinator.

2022-2023 Sonja Glasser @email , Stefanie Farrington @email, John Swenson @email