2009/2010 Community Building Grant Winners

 
The 2009/2010 Community Building winners are listed below.  To participate in their activities, e-mail them directly.  For the most complete information about Community Building events, please subscribe to our Google Calendar.

• BioOpportunities Student and Scholar Association. Promote professional development for graduate students and postdoctorals in life sciences and related disciplines toward a variety of career paths. Objectives are exposure, development and networking. Originated in the IBiS Career Hour program and the BioProfessionals programs. BioOpportunities seeks to go beyond speaker series to include alumni mentorship program, company tours, annual open houses. Contact: Wei Zhao, NUIN, Molly Ahrens, IBiS, Deanna Arble, NUIN, and Karen Guisbert.

   

• Celebrating Indian Culture with IGSSA Indian Graduate Students and Scholars Association. The goal is to bring together students from different educational and cultural backgrounds to celebrate the diversity of Indian culture.Contact: Sayantan Bose, IBiS and Sanchit Misra, ECE.

• Chicago Campus Students of Color Outings.  Activities to bond graduate Students of Color on the Chicago Campus. Contact:  Koshonna Brown, IGP and Ayanna Flegler, IGP.  
• Chicago Cultural Club.  A community of graduate students created around cultural, scientific, and architectural experiences in Chicago.  Contact: Danielle Kienzle, Material Science and Engineering, and Preeti Sukerkar,Chemistry. 
• Construction for Learning: Open House for Technology in Education. Graduate students interested in designing, implementing and studying technologies for education in a variety of settings. Looking to support a collegial community  that provides informal technical and professional development opportunities. Attend weekly open houses to discuss research ideas. Contact: Michelle Hoda Wilkerson-Jerde, Learning Sciences Program.
• Cricket Club.  A community of graduate students hosting weekly cricket games, bi-annual tournaments, screening of international games, and an on-line forum. Contact: Aniket Kaloti, Neuroscience, Ramanathan Narayanan and Sanchit Misra, ECE.
• The Northwestern University Curling Club (Teflon soles & brooms).  A sport that graduate students from all disciplines and their families can enjoy at any level of skill, commitment, athleticism or competitiveness. Contact:  Eric Mondor, Chemical Engineering and Erik Sczygelski, Materials Science & Engineering.
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation at McCormick & WCAS.  Activities that encourage participation among McCormick & WCAS programs: design competition, technopreneurial seminars, dinner with guests.  Contact: Kvar Black, Biomedical Engineering.
• Explore the Impact of Photonics.  Creation of interdisciplinary photonics club that sponsors talks or workshops. Contact: Tina Li, Chemistry, and Can Bayram, ECE.
• Graduate Broomball League.  A sport played like hockey with rubber broom and ball on ice that hosts bi-monthly tournaments. Contact:  Kevin Henderson, Materials Science & Engineering.
• Graduate Gaming Group.  Graduate students will be able to participate in group meetings that builds social networks regardless of background. Provides with a social atmosphere to casual gamers from accross disciplines and introducing video games to individuals that would not otherwise experience them. Contact: Matt Traverso and Rebecca Jensen..

• Graduate Women Across Northwestern (GWAN). Activities that bond female graduate students for three purposes: cross functional networking, sharing best practices, broadening social networks. (See also GWAN Moms). Contact:  Sandy Nguyen, Chemistry and Roxanne Atienza, Chemistry.

• GSA-TGS 5K Run. The GSA-TGS 5K Run is an annual event that invites graduate students from various disciplines to run followed by a barbeque on the lake field. Contact: Patrick Ryan, Chemical Engineering.  
• Let's Connect the Dots: A Coffee Hour.  A community of graduate students and post-docs bonded by desire to grasp various aspects of reality and to share intellectual wealth in informal two-hour long discussion sessions. Contact: Shehla Arif, Mechanical Engineering.
• Mental Health Coffee Hour Series.  The goal of this twice-monthly series is to bring together students and faculty across Northwestern’s often isolated mental health studies departments (including, but not limited to, marriage and family therapy, counseling psychology, and clinical psychology) every two weeks to socialize, network, and discuss issues of professional development and contemporary research in the field. Contact: Ariel Applebaum, Counseling Psychology and TeNnile Ray, Department of Marital and Family Therapy. 
• Northwestern Graduate Student Quilting Guild. The goal is to bring graduate students together across disciplines around a common interest. This will be achieved through bi-weekly quilting bees where students of all skill levels and disciplines will get to know each other while quilting; The secondary purposes of the guild are to makes quilts for charity and to teach students new quilting techniques. Contact: Stacey Standridge, Department of Chemistry and Linda Williams, Chemistry.
• Northwestern Swing Dancing Syndicate.  A community of monthly social dancers that includes school of music students and dance classes already given, i.e. BLAST.  Contact: Blythe Towal, Biomedical Engineering, Harold Hsiung, Material Science and Engineering, and Matt Gilmore, Music.
• Northwestern University Science Policy Action Network (NU-SPAN). Organization meant to engage graduate students in science and humanities disciplines who are interested in science policy; quarterly seminars w/local speakers. Hope to connect politically and scientifically informed groups. Joshua Kellar, Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Windsor Paige Hall, Department of Chemistry.
• NU Energy Technology Group. Bring together graduate students from across Northwestern’s departments and campuses in addressing the significant energy challenges facing our world this century. The group will consider our energy problem through the lens of emerging energy technologies used in both energy production and consumption. Contact: Jonathan D. Servaites,Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
• NUGETS, NU Graduate Triathlon Society. Unite graduate students weekly to prepare for the Accenture Chicago Triathlon, a long term goal, over 3 years.  Extend UG NU Triathalon Club over the summer and between campuses. Contact: James Finley, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Martha Cammarata, Department of Biomedical Engineering,  and Anthony Jarc, Biomedical Engineering.
• NU JOT: Northwestern University Jews Over Twenty-two. Interdisciplinary organization dedicated to provide community building opportunities for Jewish graduate and professional students at Northwestern. Contact: Aurora Zinck, Materials Science & Engineering, Ryan Gelfand, ECE, and Evangeline Su, Chemistry. 
• “Plant-it Purple” Graduate Gardens.  Creation of an Evanston community garden where graduate students and their families can come together to dig in the earth and discuss projects on-line.  Contact: David Giljohann, Biological Sciences,and Jill Millstone, Chemical & Biological Sciences
• Scientist and Engineers for America (formerly NU-SPAN). The primary goal is to bring students together across all disciplines who share an interest in science policy. The group provides a forum for students to learn more about the relationship between science and government by hosting debates, lectures, and informal dicussions. Contact: Windsor Paige Hall, Chemistry, and Josh Kellar, Material Science.
• SPG Improv: Northwestern University's Graduate Student Improv Group .  Diverse group of graduate students whose mission is to build community through learning, teaching and performing improvisational theatre. Contact: Bryce Meredig, Material Science and Engineering.
• This Film is Rated PhD. Nine monthly meetings that will allow students to critique films that have errors in science. Promotes awareness of scientific fallacies in movies. Contact:   Sorabh Agarwal, Interdepartmental Biological Science Program and Austin Rice, Biological Sciences.

See previous Community Building Grant Winners