Alex Vera, a recent MRSEC graduate from Materials Science and engineering, and Cierra Chandler, a computational material science researcher in her final year, dove into the survey data, talked with fellow grad students across the college and drew upon their own experiences to determine that a graduate student engagement program would fill a need.
“One of the things we wanted to tackle was reducing graduate student fatigue and isolation, which were identified as the top reasons for why graduate students considered leaving,” Vera said. “We wanted to give students tools to combat fatigue and isolation through an engagement network aimed at building the graduate student community across departments.”
Working with the Diversity Council and the Office of the Associate Dean for Educational Equity, they launched several activities to improve the experience, including field games, welcome retreats and a peer mentoring program. The goal was to bring together students from varied disciplines within the college to find common ground outside of their research. Bonding over things like volleyball and ice cream socials, Vera said, would lead to lasting relationships that spilled over into academic experiences.