Sanford-Burnham Science Blog
Giuseppina Claps, a student in the Sanford-Burnham Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, wins 2013...
Philip McQuary, a student of Dr. Malene Hansen in the Institute’s Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging...
Giuseppina Claps received her JMNMF award at a special recognition ceremony. She is pictured here with her mentor Ze'ev Ronai (left) and Robert Rickert (right), associate dean of the Sanford-Burnham Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Congratulations to Giuseppina Claps, a student in the Sanford-Burnham Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, on receiving one of ten nationally competitive 2013 Research Scholar Awards from the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation (JMNMF)! These $10,000 grants support exceptional graduate student research in melanoma.
Judith Scheliga (far right) with the interns and other teaching assistants
Scientists sometimes say that the ability to explain their work is as valuable a skill as the ability to do great science. They need to explain their research plans in grant applications, describe their findings for scientific journals, and share their knowledge with collaborators. Teaching is one way that many scientists find to exercise and develop this skill.
Judith Scheliga is one of six graduate students who spent the last six weeks as a teaching assistant for a “science boot camp” held at Sanford-Burnham. This internship program, called the Summer Science Enrichment Session, is offered through Sanford-Burnham’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, as part of its efforts to build a pipeline of culturally diverse future scientists. Seven “rising star” seniors from The Preuss School UCSD—which provides a college preparatory program to deserving students from underserved San Diego communities— took part in the program, working from nine to five each day in the lab.
Graduate student Philip McQuary with his mentor Dr. Malene Hansen. (Photo by Nadia Borowski Scott)
Becoming an excellent scientist requires not only top-notch intelligence and strong scientific skills, but the tools for supporting a career—namely, the ability to secure funding. A researcher may have a brilliant idea, but with no way to pay for it, that idea may die before reaching fruition. Students in Sanford-Burnham’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences learn the skills they need to succeed, which are ever more important in a time when competition for grant funding is more intense than ever.
Even though a large portion of the research work at Sanford-Burnham historically has been carried out by postdoctoral trainees, graduate students have always had a presence at the Institute. In the past, these individuals were officially enrolled at UC San Diego or other universities and carried out their research in a lab at Sanford-Burnham because of its particular expertise. Although this type of arrangement still continues, the situation changed in 2006 when the Institute founded its own graduate training program designed to confer Ph.D. degrees. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Sanford-Burnham was recently recognized by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) as a Candidate for Accreditation.*
According to the Dean of the program, Dr. Guy Salvesen, “Our eventual goal of full accreditation will serve as proof of what we already know; namely, that a Ph.D. degree from the Institute is a rigorous one of high quality that stacks up well against a degree from any of the other outstanding institutions that students might choose.”
