CSUPERB Newsletter - Issue #32

The Howell Scholar Awards always mark the beginning of the holiday season at CSUPERB. Since 2001 the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women’s Health Research and CSUPERB have jointly funded 209 scholarships to students at 21 CSU campuses, totaling $642,855. This year’s cohort of 12 students are working on a range of biotech research projects investigating nanodiscs to mobile health units to thyroid cancer biomarkers at eight CSU campuses.

We also announced the Fall Travel Grants totaling $27,709 to CSU faculty and students at 13 CSU campuses. Grant recipients are travelling to conferences all over California, but also Canada and France. These $1500 awards often represent the first professional meeting CSU students attend as they begin their careers. One AY 11-12 Travel Grant recipient from Humboldt State, Jessie Uehling, is now starting as an assistant professor at Oregon State. We celebrate and reflect back on CSUPERB-supported students‘ biotech career progressions every year. These individual stories of fascinating research projects (check out Jessie’s photography at her website) and faculty mentorship combine to make CSUPERB the successful community it’s been over time.

This year’s symposium is the latest in January it’s ever been since I joined CSUPERB, so our timing in the program office is all off. Usually we rush to finish all the fine, logistical details before the holiday. This year it feels like we’re walking away midstream! We plan to post the first version of the detailed symposium program today (we’ll catch all the errors and omissions in the New Year!). The at-a-glance schedule and speaker bios are already posted at the website.

New Years bring new beginnings. We are thrilled to welcome Christine Montgomery as Student Programs Specialist in the program office! She’s replacing Oscar Zavala, who moved to Massachusetts this summer. She’ll be working with the Eden, Nagel and Pauling Award nominees and finalists during the symposium - so look out for her in Santa Clara and introduce yourself.

Find below some interesting reading and videos to browse during your holiday break. Many thanks to CSUPERB colleagues who send me suggestions or @Tweet them - your help makes this newsletter fun to collate. I hope you all find time this holiday season for a change of pace or scenery, some creative activities, and festivities with family, friends, and pets!

Links to all requests for proposals (RFPs) and nominations can be found at the CSUPERB home page (www.calstate.edu/csuperb). All deadlines are at 5 p.m. pacific time.

We will offer a CSUPERB Proposal Writing Workshop on January 16 during the symposium in Santa Clara. If you can’t attend in person, take advantage of the webinar recorded in November and call the program office with questions unanswered.