BMEGC General Meeting3-14-07

12pm – 1pm, Union 3202

General

  • The point of representation from each lab at general BMEGC meetings was raised
  • There was a discussion on making attendance at meetings mandatory, or having at least one representative from each lab present
  • Nominations are being collected today
  • If anyone has a specific interest in a position, please speak to the current chair, and read the position descriptions sent out in email
  • Once all nominations are in, we will contact all those who are nominated to let them know and give them the chance to accept or reject the nomination.
  • A list of those people running will then be sent out to all the graduate students.
  • Elections will be held at the April meeting.
  • We will use a trickle-down theory of voting if you are nominated for more than one position.
  • Doctoral Student Yearly Review due March 23rd to the office of graduate education.
  • If you didn’t get one, check with Lorrie or email Dennis Gornic.
  • If you were accepted as master’s student, you need to fill out advancement paperwork for PhD track before the end of the month.
  • If you added the masters to your PhD, check with Lorrie & the registrar to make sure they keep your account open.
  • Faculty Candidates
  • Dr. Ashok Ramasubramanian is visiting today and tomorrow. His research area is biomechanics of soft tissues, grown, remodeling and morphogenesis; biomechanics of blood vessel formation, etc.
  • His lecture will be today at 1:30pm in DCC 337. All graduate students should attend, schedule permitting.
  • We will be having another faculty candidate visiting March 29-30th. His name is Dr. Yu Chen, and his research interests are very similar to those of Dr. Intes.
  • We are looking for volunteers to take him to lunch on Thursday the 29th from noon to 1pm.
  • Dara Missan & Karen Ellison have volunteered. Anyone else interested contact Mary Beth Mulrane.
  • BME Senior Design Project presentations will be held on May 4th. All graduate students should try to attend.

Communications Chair

  • Our website is now linked to the department’s website.
  • Go to the BME Department website, the link is off of the Grad tab.

Service Chair

  • Project for spring semester
  • Rolling for Autism
  • The date is set for Sunday, April 15th at Bomber’s.
  • Glenn is looking for volunteers to help visit local businesses inquiring whether they would like to donate money or a raffle prize to the cause. ()
  • Each Lab will be in charge of collecting local donations (i.e. items to raffle, monetary donations, etc). Look for an email with more information.

Social Chair

  • Winter Invitational bowling winners
  • Team Ledet won the team trophy with an average score of 122 over 24 games with 8 bowlers
  • Team Thompson came in a close second with an average score of 109 over 20 games with 7 bowlers
  • Karen Ellison took home the Top Women’s Game trophy with a score of 154
  • Dr. Ledet took home the Top Men’s Game trophy with a score of 172
  • Upcoming Events:
  • This coming Saturday, March 17th come on out to the Albany St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Parade starts at 2pm, talk to Karen if you’re interested in carpooling
  • GM Wednesday (March 28th) Movie/Games Night in the grad lounge
  • Spring invitational bowling: April 23rdat Uncle Sam Lanes.
  • May 5th Cinco de Mayo Party at Angela’s house
  • May 16th Kickball Game Championship
  • This coming Friday is the Baby Shower for Dr. Vashishth & his wife. If you haven’t already, sign the card and give money to Colleen or Mary Beth if you’re interested in contributing.

Ongoing Projects

  • Logo / T-shirts
  • Aaron Weymouth is working on final draft of proposed departmental logo
  • Angela will work on getting approval from the department & school.
  • T-shirt design and prices are finalized. They will be a deep royal blue shirt with the white BME logo on the front. Short sleeve shirts will be $12 and long sleeve will be $16.
  • Angela will send an email to faculty asking to announce shirt sales this week.
  • Please sign up for a class to sell shirts at (before/after the class). We will pre-order the shirts next week to cover the costs of making the shirts.
  • Goal is to pre-order enough shirts by March 23, so we can have the shirts in time to sell at accepted students day.
  • Angela will also have Lorrie send out an email to the undergraduates.
  • Look for an email with order forms & class schedules.
  • Budget
  • We will present a new budget by the end of fiscal year (June 30th).

Departmental Requests/Achievements

  • REMINDER: BME Advisory Council request for participants
  • April 13th8:30am and/or12-1:30pmUnion 3202
  • Networking event with many people from industry and academia, to discuss the current and future state of the BME department at RPI.
  • All graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend. More information to follow.
  • Accepted Student’s Day is Saturday April 14th. We need volunteers to show the labs/give presentations. This can include recruiting your undergrad URPs.
  • One person from each lab (grad or undergrad)

Registering for Classes for Next Semester

  • Registration starts soon, so we have provided a list of the classes that will be offered next semester on the newsletter.
  • Of particular interest are two new classes being offered by Dr. Spilker and Dr. Ledet:
  • Dr. Spilker will be offering a 4XXX level class entitled Biomedical Modeling. He will be sending Mary Beth a course description by the end of the week which she will forward onto the grad list.
  • Dr. Ledet will be offering a 4XXX/6XXX entitled Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. The course description was discussed at the meeting by Dr. Ledet and will be available for distribution shortly.
  • The course will be co-taught with surgeons from Albany Med to cover each aspect of NIH funding (~6-8 topics). TWR 9-10am
  • If you are interested in taking this class, register early, the class will be capped at 40 students (grad & undergrad).
  • Mary Beth will be sending out an email to gauge interest in Biomedical Modeling, Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research, and Biomechanics of Hard Tissues to see about the possibility of adding an additional course to be taught by Dr. Corr in the fall.

Monthly Meetings & Luncheon Dates

  • Next BMEGC meeting: April 4th, 12pm Union 3202
  • Next BMEGC luncheon: Next week March 21st, 12pm Union 3202 (bring your own lunch).