Getting started in applying to grad schools

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Susan Mazer

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Oct 27, 2012, 2:34:10 PM10/27/12
to Undergraduates Fall 2012, Leah Dudley
Dear Clarkia and Phenology interns in the Mazer lab,

Now that you're all settled in to the lab, I wanted to express again my thanks for all of your hard work and attention to detail in the greenhouse, herbarium, and lab.  We're relying on you to be observant and careful, and I wanted also to encourage you to contact me or Leah whenever you see a problem with the data collection, the data sets, labels in the greenhouse or lab, etc.  Often our students are the first to detect a problem that we need to trouble-shoot, so if you think that something isn't going quite right, please bring it to our attention so that we can determine whether corrections to be made.  This is the best way to improve our science, and we're always happy to hear your thoughts and observations about our experiments and protocols.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to respond to some of you who have been wondering how to get started in the process of applying to graduate school (either Masters or PhD programs) in Ecology and Evolution and/or in Molecular or Cell Biology.

There are some great on-line documents and descriptions of how best to apply to graduate school in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  The process should be similar for molecular biology, and I'm not familiar with the process (or with most of the Molecular Biology professors at UCSB) except that it is often the case that molecular biology programs do not match students with particular professors or labs before the student has entered the program.  In some molecular biology programs, students conduct internships in a variety of labs during their first year and take a bunch of classes before choosing one that is best suited to their interests and for which their skills are most appropriate.  

By contrast, in all strong Evolution and Ecology graduate programs, prospective grad students contact one or (maybe) two professors whose research greatly interests them in each department that they're considering and start a correspondence by email (after having read the professor's recent papers) to determine whether they might be a good match.  Usually this involves writing an initial email that describes your research interests and why they seem to be a good match for those of the professor (in case it isn't obvious) and in which you send your resume and perhaps a longer statement of your research interests.  

Most professors will reply to your email with a friendly summary of what their lab is working on currently and whether they anticipate inviting new students into their lab in the upcoming year.  Professors with openings in their labs typically rank the prospective students who apply to work with them, and then determine whether they have sufficient funding in the form of teaching assistantships or grants to support additional students.  Most students apply to 3-8 different graduate programs in case funding in their first-choice lab is highly limited.

Please check out the following "primers" thoroughly, and then, as questions occur to you, we can talk about them during our weekly lab meetings so that everyone can learn about the process together.






Best,

Susan


Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

office: 805-893-8011





On Oct 26, 2012, at 6:58 PM, George Naugles wrote:

Dear Susan,
Thank you for your reply and the advice about setting up new sites on Nature's Notebook.  I am also getting emails from a Robert_...@nps.gov about Paramount Ranch field trip possiblities . . . I just mentioned it because I want to avoid inefficiencies and confusion.

On another topic, if you were considering doing a Ph.D. or Master's degree in Moleculary Biology or Evolutionary/Ecology Biology at UCSB . . . which professors at UCSB are both open to new students for the academic year beginning in August 2013 and positive/known/productive?  Do you know what exams they require for admission (e.g. GRE, etc.) and the best link to visit to get comprehensive/clear information?

Sincerely,

George Naugles
(805)814-0036 cell phone

From: Susan Mazer <susan...@lifesci.ucsb.edu>
To: George Naugles <gnau...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: Please read carefully: UCSB Extension - receiving grades and units AND OTHER STUFF

Hi George,

I'm sorry that I'll miss you tomorrow -- I'm actually at the University of Toronto until Sunda, giving a seminar about my research on the evolution of pollination systems in Clarkia and visiting with colleagues and grad students.

I'm sorry that you had a bit of a problem setting up the Ormond Wetlands site. Technically, I think it works best to set up the site on a computer that has a stable internet connection using Nature's Notebook (on the NPN website), and then using the ipad or iphone app in the field once the site is established and each plant has been identified and given its unique code.  I guess that its good that there are still places in the world where the cellular signal is weak!

I'm sending the information that you provided (below) to Lisa Okazaki and Barbara Applebaum (the educators at Santa Monica Mountains, based at Satwiwa); they are the ones who will be able to schedule a field trip for you.  I don't have the authority or the awareness of the schedule at Santa Monica Mountains to be able to make any decisions.  Once the field trip is scheduled, you could send an invoice to me for the cost of a substitute, and then I can pay it with the funds remaining on the workshop grant budget.

Best,

Susan


Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

office: 805-893-8011





On Oct 26, 2012, at 6:20 PM, George Naugles wrote:

Dear Susan,  I hope the information I have written below is more helpful than verbose.  Please let me know if you have any questions, clarifications, or suggestions.  You are welcome to call me on any of my numbers . . . I will be at UCSB tomorrow for an intertidal monitoring protocol workshop and would be happy to get together after that is over, if you are interested to visit Coal Oil Point, for example and enter some Phenology data.  BTW I set up a new site for Ormond Wetlands  . .  .three times.  I think the last time I did it finally worked . . . signal is a little spotty out there.:) happy


George, I received your message about plant labels; we typically order them on-line from Fisher Scientific.  If you'd like to talk more about the specifics of your class' activities, please let me know of some windows of time during the week when you're available to talk so that we can make an appointment by phone -- it's the only sure way to connect.

Also, everyone:  If you are interested in a field trip to SAMO for your middle school or high school class, Barbara is going to check on the availability of dates. Unfortunately, the park does not run field trips on weekends.  Please contact me to let me know if you are interested and what months you have available.  We can run field trips through May 2013, but also have some funds that have to be used before the end of December 2012, so let me know if a November/December date would be possible.

If you are interested in a field trip please send me an email with the following information:

a) Cost of a substitute teacher at your school $150 per day for a substitute teacher

b) Cost of a bus from your school to SAMO -- if it's cheaper than what SAMO can contract, Barbara will instruct you as to how to send the invoice to SAMO$200 for a schoolbus with the District-approved insurance = Durham Transportation, who probably gives better prices to our School District than they will give you if you work directly with Durham Transportation.

c) Number of students that you want to bring  60+/- 5 students and 6 +/- 2 chaperones and 1 Mr. Naugles = 67+7 people.

d) Number of trips (if more than one) that you would want us to schedule (e.g., if you have more than 40 students) -- no guarantees that we can fund more than one trip per school; it depends on the demand  I have about 150 students, 95% of them love field trips, so we would love to schedule as many field trips as we can find donors to sponsor . . . provided the timing is right.

e) Your windows of availability (months of the year, days of the week) between now and June 2013 Upland sites:  November 9th, November 26th through 30th, December 3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14, January 10,11,14,15,17,18,22,23,24,25,28,29,30,31.  (avoiding oat grass pollen and also preparing for CST exams)
Coastal sites:  Same dates plus weekdays between May 20th and June 19th.  Either Saturday or Sunday is also a possibility on most weekends that follow a school-week.

Please Note:  I have a "green light" from my principal to do a Satwiwa field trip on November 9th or during the week of November 26 plus a December 10th Carpinteria field trip I have yet to fund (it will cost about the same as Satwiwa and I will pay for it out of my own pocket if we cannot find a donor) . . . so we can apply any or all of our standards taught so far:  
7.7 Investigation/Scientific Method, 
7.1 Cells (including Photosynthesis/Cellular Respiration),
7.5 Form and Function Complimentarity, including Asexual/Sexual Reproduction Life Cycle Differences as one of 6 characteristics that living organisms share . . . 
. . . as well as appreciating/understanding Chumash Indigenous culture around Thanksgiving time and pre-Colonization ecology.

From: Susan Mazer <susan...@lifesci.ucsb.edu>
To: Barbara Applebaum <Barbara_...@nps.gov>; Carol C Fujita <fuj...@dock.net>; Carly McKean <carly...@gmail.com>; Isabel McCary <scif...@yahoo.com>; Deidre Ericksen <deidre....@hotmail.com>; etuc...@gmail.com; Javier.C...@ouhsd.k12.ca.us; alli_m...@yahoo.com; tschi...@sbsdk12.org; George Naugles <gnau...@yahoo.com>; oscar....@gmail.com; fortb...@gmail.com; hhel...@wildblue.net; hels...@gmail.com; hsz...@lausd.net; jro...@lausd.net; Anne Marie Bergen <ambe...@calpoly.edu>; trans...@gmail.com; cbu...@alschool.org; Carebutler <careb...@aol.com>; ssi...@cvusd.org; ssi...@conejousd.org
Cc: Brian Haggerty <brian.h...@lifesci.ucsb.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 12:58 PM
Subject: Please read carefully: UCSB Extension - receiving grades and units AND OTHER STUFF

Hi everyone,

Thanks for making our Saturday follow-up workshops so pleasant and informative.  Both Brian and I learned a lot from all of you (and we still learn SOMETHING whenever we inspect Baccharis pilularis!), both about the challenges and potential for adding phenological themes into today's classrooms, and about the specific kinds of lessons and activities that work and don't work.  

Some of you have already sent to us the digital materials that you either mentioned during the workshop or showed to us on Saturday (October 13 or 20 -- thank you, Javier!), and we would welcome receiving more of these from those of you that haven't yet sent us anything in digital form.  Naturally, we would be happy to provide comments or suggestions if you'd like to receive them, and we'll contact you about posting your lesson plans (with your permission and crediting you, of course) as we receive and read them.

I'm mostly writing to you know to let you know that I've assigned your grades on the UCSB Extension website, and they should be "certified" and posted on the UCSB Extension website within a day or two. 

Please write to Michael Brown (michae...@els.ucsb.edu) if you have trouble finding your grades or the certification that you need to earn the two units of credit.

The website for your course is:


If you were originally signed up for the "Middle School" course, your course number is X300.36

If you were signed up for the High School and Adult Ed course, your course number is X300.37

If you don't recall your login and password, I can't obtain these for you, but you can request them on-line at the Extension website.

I have just submitted all of the paperwork for your $250 stipend -- it will probably take at least a couple of weeks for the checks to be cut and sent to you.  

Oscar, I need your SS number to request your stipend.  If you would rather give it to me by phone, please call me at 805-893-8011.

George, I received your message about plant labels; we typically order them on-line from Fisher Scientific.  If you'd like to talk more about the specifics of your class' activities, please let me know of some windows of time during the week when you're available to talk so that we can make an appointment by phone -- it's the only sure way to connect.

Also, everyone:  If you are interested in a field trip to SAMO for your middle school or high school class, Barbara is going to check on the availability of dates. Unfortunately, the park does not run field trips on weekends.  Please contact me to let me know if you are interested and what months you have available.  We can run field trips through May 2013, but also have some funds that have to be used before the end of December 2012, so let me know if a November/December date would be possible.

If you are interested in a field trip please send me an email with the following information:

a) Cost of a substitute teacher at your school

b) Cost of a bus from your school to SAMO -- if it's cheaper than what SAMO can contract, Barbara will instruct you as to how to send the invoice to SAMO

c) Number of students that you want to bring

d) Number of trips (if more than one) that you would want us to schedule (e.g., if you have more than 40 students) -- no guarantees that we can fund more than one trip per school; it depends on the demand

e) Your windows of availability (months of the year, days of the week) between now and June 2013

We should have funds to support multiple trips (i.e. for multiple teachers and schools) because Barbara has some additional funds available for buses, and we have funds leftover in the Parks as Classrooms budget that funded these Phenology & Climate Change teacher workshops due to recruiting fewer teachers than we expected.

Again, please don't hesitate to write at any time -- it has been a real pleasure to get to know all of you.

Best,

Susan


Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

office: 805-893-8011





Begin forwarded message:

From: "Michael T. Brown" <michae...@els.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Re: UCSB Extension - receiving grades and units reply by Brown 10/22/2012
Date: October 22, 2012 12:27:46 PM PDT
To: Susan Mazer <susan...@lifesci.ucsb.edu>

Dear Susan:

The students are able to log into their student portals and learn their grades -- once the office certifies them as accepted.  I note that we have received them and may certify today.

Sincerely,
Michael

On 10/22/2012 12:20 PM, Susan Mazer wrote:
Dear UCSB Extension,

I just completed teaching two Extension courses (X300.36 and X300.37) and I have assigned the grades to the students, most of whom are classroom teachers in middle or high school.

How do the participants find out their grades and, more importantly, how do they obtain a formal record of the 2-units of credit that their participation earned them?

Best,

Susan



Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

cell: 805-729-3980
office: 805-893-8011
FAX: 805-893-4724
ma...@lifesci.ucsb.edu

website: http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/faculty/mazer/index.html





--
Michael T. Brown, Ph.D.
Professor, Counseling, Clinical, School Psychology and
Dean, UC Santa Barbara Extension
805-893-2944 (ELS)








Susan Mazer

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Nov 4, 2012, 12:52:59 AM11/4/12
to Undergraduates Fall 2012, Leah Dudley
Dear Mazer lab interns,

Please let me know if you've been trying to enroll in EEMB 127 for Winter quarter but haven't been able to get in (it's full already).  If you wish, I'll put your name on the waiting list and I'll do my best to see if I can give you an approval code as early in the quarter as possible.

Best,

Susan


Joseph A. Reveles

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Nov 4, 2012, 4:54:30 PM11/4/12
to clarkia...@googlegroups.com
Yes; I would like to be on the list (Joseph Reveles).

Thank you
> --
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Susan Mazer

unread,
Nov 4, 2012, 5:01:33 PM11/4/12
to clarkia...@googlegroups.com

Done!


Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

cell: 805-729-3980
office: 805-893-8011
FAX: 805-893-4724
ma...@lifesci.ucsb.edu

website: http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/faculty/mazer/index.html




> --
>
>

Jacquelyn Lee

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Nov 4, 2012, 5:23:51 PM11/4/12
to clarkia...@googlegroups.com
Hi Dr. Mazer,
I would love to get on the waitlist for EEMB 127 as well!
Thanks, Jacquelyn Lee

Sent from my iPhone
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Laura Barley

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Nov 10, 2012, 3:07:20 PM11/10/12
to clarkia...@googlegroups.com
Dr. Mazer,
After sorting out my schedule for Winter 2013, I would also love to join your EEMB 127 course. I would be greatly appreciative of an add code if any are left.
Thank you, and enjoy the weekend,
Laura Barley

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Susan Mazer

unread,
Nov 10, 2012, 3:36:36 PM11/10/12
to clarkia...@googlegroups.com
Hi Laura,

I'm so pleased!  I would love to have you in the course.   There are currently 12 students on the waiting list, and I won't be able to give out add codes until I see how many people are actually going to stay in the class.  I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to accommodate everyone, but you'll need to come to all of the lectures during the first week. With luck, by Thursday of the first week, I'll be able to give out add codes to everyone.

Best,

Susan


Susan Mazer
Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

office: 805-893-8011





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