New Students-Welcome

WELCOME NEW FALL 2018 ADMITS!

Congratulations and welcome to the Program in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (BMEB, MCDB, CB3, and MICRO Tracks) Graduate Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The PBSE Program is designed to provide you with an opportunity to understand “how to” gain academic and personal success in the area of Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Microbial Biology. During your years in the PBSE Ph.D. program at UCSC, your program/track Graduate Program Adviser will be your personal contact for all administrative processes and procedures required by the PBSE and the Graduate Division.

Please take a few moments to review the program information below, and feel free to email or call if you have any questions or concerns.

On behalf of the PBSE faculty, I welcome you and look forward to seeing you this Fall!

Sincerely,
Grace Kistler-Fair
Graduate Program Coordinator/Adviser, MCD Biology

PBSE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Thursday, September 13, 2018 from 8:00am-9:00pm at Roaring Camp (http://www.roaringcamp.com) 5401 Graham Hill Road, Felton, CA 95018.

Please be sure to try to carpool with a current graduate student to the PBSE Research Conference. Parking is limited at the Roaring Camp venue, so we encourage carpooling.

The PBSE Research Conference is a one-day event to introduce you to faculty, grads, postdocs, and other researchers in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology, and Biomolecular Engineering.  This event will include faculty research talks, posters, lunch and dinner.  Your conference fees and meals have already been paid for by the departments.

CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Tuesday, September 19, 2017 from 9:00am-9:00pm at Happy Valley Conference Center (http://www.happyvalleycc.org/) 2159 Branciforte Dr, Santa Cruz, CA 95065

Please note: BMEB, MCDB, and MICRO Grads, please plan to attend the PBSE research conference only. CB3 grads, please plan to attend both PBSE and Chemistry conferences.

MCD DEPARTMENT GRADUATE STUDENT RETREAT - MCDB Track Students Only
Monday-Tuesday, September 10 and 11, 2018 from 12:00 noon to 12:00 noon - MCD conference at Monterey Tides (2600 Sand Dunes Dr, Monterey, CA, 93940)

The goal of this two-day event is to introduce new students to the research environment within the Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology Department. This overnight event will be held off campus at Monterey Tides in Monterey, CA.  The event will feature research talks from graduate students, a poster session, research talks from 3 new faculty members joining the MCD Department, and group photos on the beach. Your conference fees and meals have already been paid for by the department.

PBSE GRADUATE ORIENTATION

Orientation is scheduled for Thursday, September 20 from 8:30am-5:00pm and your attendance is required by the departments. During orientation, you will attend several short training sessions and get an overview of the departments. We will also provide a pizza lunch in the afternoon and you will have several opportunities to meet and speak with new and current graduate students throughout the orientation. In addition, there will be a brief program overview by PBSE Director Professor Karen Ottemann.  Following the program overview, you will meet with your graduate advising committees for individual academic advising and review the required and recommended coursework.

GRADUATE DIVISION ORIENTATIONS

SEVEN WEEK ROTATIONS
Rotations in labs are six weeks long. During the seventh week, first year students present brief rotations talks or posters on the goals and progress of their rotation projects. During the PBSE Orientation, you will be given a detailed timeline for the rotations and dates for when your lab rotation choices are due. We feel that six weeks is long enough to work on a research project and figure out if the lab is a "right fit" for you and your research interests.

ENROLLMENT: June 22
Enrollment and other services will be available to you using the Academic Information System (AIS), available through MyUCSC Portal - https://my.ucsc.edu. New graduate students may begin the enrollment process June 22. If you need technical support, including help with your CruzID and Blue or Gold Password, please call (831) 459-4357 or email help@ucsc.edu. If you need help enrolling in a class, call the enrollment Help Line at (831) 459-4412 or email registrar@ucsc.edu.

Your CruzID is your UCSC account, sometimes referred to as your username, that gives you access to many campus services and systems. Your CruzID is the beginning part of your UCSC email address. For example, in the email sammyslug@ucsc.edu, then "sammyslug" is the CruzID.

You will need your CruzID and Gold Password to access MyUCSC:

CruzID: <cruzID>
Password: <Your Gold Password>

When enrolling in Biol 200A, please be sure to enroll for a letter grade (ABC grading), not "S/U", Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

MCDB Track - please enroll in the following courses after June 22:

CB3 Track - please enroll in the following courses after June 22:

BMEB Track - please enroll in the following courses after June 22:

MICRO Track - please enroll in the following courses after June 22:

You will enroll in additional courses after you attend your Advisory Meeting at the PBSE Orientation on September 20th. All students are required to enroll in at least 15 units/quarter.

STATEMENT OF LEGAL RESIDENCE
The Statement of Legal Residence should be completed (even if you are a California resident) and returned to the Office of the Registrar so that your resident status can be determined for tuition purposes.  Failure to return the completed form will result in your status being classified as a non-resident and being billed accordingly.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Please visit the Office of International Education for more information: http://ieo.ucsc.edu/intl-students/new/orientation.html

All international students must complete the Graduate Financial Certificate. Students currently attending another U. S. school will also need to complete a Transfer Form.  The Graduate Division cannot prepare the I-20 for an F-1 visa without these forms.

PAYROLL INFORMATION
Paychecks for Teaching Assistants, Graduate Student Researcher, Fellowship recipients and Financial Aid are disbursed through the Student Business Services (831- 459-2159) or the Physical & Biological Sciences (PBSCI) Accounts Payable Office (831- 459-3650) or BSOE Accounts Payable Office.

• Student Business Services is responsible for financial aid, fellowship and scholarship checks. SBS sends checks to your local or permanent addresses, depending on the funding classification and student account.

• PBSCI Accounts Payable distributes your Teaching Assistant (TA) and Graduate Student Research (GSR) checks to your local campus address, unless your account is set up as direct deposit.

• Both offices use your address information from your student portal, therefore it is extremely important to keep your student portal information up to date on a quarterly basis. We recommend checking your Portal at least once a month as well to check for any bills or fees posted to your account.

The departments strongly urge all students to sign up for direct deposit with SBS and PBSCI Accounts Payable.

The PBSE (BCB [BMEB], MSCB [CB3], MCDB and MICRO tracks) pays its Graduate Student Researchers a quarterly stipend of $8,213 and its Teaching Assistants $6,884 per quarter. Registration/tuition fees ($6,216 per quarter) are charged to the faculty advisor's grants when supported as a GSR and to the Graduate Division if supported as a TA. Teaching Assistants will be required to pay a small offset fee (~$415) to the Registrar each quarter.

• GSR and TA pay dates are as follows: Nov. 1, Dec. 1. Jan 1 (Fall); Feb 1, March 1, April 1 (Winter); and May 1, June 1, July 1 (Spring).

• Quarterly regents fellowship (Cota-Robles, Chancellor's Fellowship, Dean's Fellowship, and Graduate Fellowships) pay dates are on the first day of each quarter.

Fellowships awarded for less than the full academic year will be paid in equal installments Fall and/or Winter quarter (if the award is larger than one quarter of fellowship) unless you contact the Graduate Division requesting a change in this payment schedule.

If you are waiting for a check, then it is always a good idea to check with the correct office to confirm the status of your account (outstanding bills, address information, correct set-up). Incorrect mailing addresses and outstanding bills can cause unexpected delays and minimize disbursement payments.

CAMPUS MAILING ADDRESS

MCDB Track students - Your mailing address is: 

         
MSCB (CB3) Track students - Your mailing address is:

BCB (BMEB) Track students - Your mailing address is:

HELPFUL URLs

SAVE THE DATE

Your attendance is mandatory at the PBSE Research Conference, PBSE Orientation, and Graduate Division Orientations.