Pass the Torch Update University of California, Berkeley

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1 Pass the Torch Update University of California, Berkeley Summary Currently we have twenty-seven Pass the Torch (PTT) Scholars in our program. Most students are majoring in Math, however we do also have students who are majoring in Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry. Half are women and half are men, sixty percent are underrepresented minorities, and all are low-income. In addition, ninety percent are first-generation college students. In our comfortable student center our program has continued to offer PTT Scholars support through upper division academic support teams, pre-graduate school activities, advising, undergraduate science research, and science-related work opportunities. In addition, we have created a new program called PTT Teacher Training Program which is a small subset of seven of our students who share the goal of becoming math teachers once they graduate. Activities 2006 Graduate School Acceptances (so far as of March 1, 2006) Peter Koo: accepted into a PhD Physics program at Yale and UC Los Angeles Aditya Adiredja: accepted into a PhD Science and Math Education program at UC Berkeley Amanda Heiderman: accepted into a PhD Astrophysics program at the University of Texas, Austin Christian Chanco: still waiting to hear Salvador Barriga: still waiting to hear New PTT Scholar joins our UC LEADS Scholars (March 2006) Each year six new research Scholars are accepted into the UC LEADS pre-phd program and we are happy to have PTT Scholar Juan JV Vasquez (Mechanical Engineering) as one of our new members of our cohort. PTT Students from East Los Angeles Community College, who were also part of the MESA program (Luis Martinez; physics, Jesus Roman; Math, and Juan Vasquez; Mechanical Engineering) 1

Half are women and half are men, sixty percent are underrepresented minorities, and all are low-income. In addition, ninety percent are first-generation college students.

2 Pi Day (March 2006) π day (3.14), Guest Speaker Rice University Mathematician Dr. Richard Tapia Math at High Speed: Analysis of Drag Racing. Tuesday, March 14 th, 5:00 to 6:30 pm, 230-C Stephens Hall, UC Berkeley. We will be having tons of pies to eat as well. Dinner buffet is also included. Dr. Tapia was named one of the 50 most influential Hispanics in the nation. UC LEADS Research and Leadership Symposium hosted by UC Santa Cruz (March 2006) PTT Physic Scholars Salvador Barriga and Peter Koo, along with nine UC Berkeley students, attended the two-day event which included keynote speakers Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff and Dr. Millie Hughes-Fullford, a variety of graduate school and leadership related workshops, and a research poster session. PTT student Peter Koo (black sweater) explains his research poster to interested students 2006 Lois Stolks California Alliance for Minority Participation in the Sciences (CAMP) Research Symposium hosted by UC Irvine (February 2006) PTT Salvador Barriga, joined ten UC Berkeley CAMP students from various majors (Math, Physics, Biological Chemistry, and Engineering) in this year s CAMP conference and a few of them competed in the research poster competition. Group Shot of our UC Berkeley CAMP group 2

Tapia was named one of the 50 most influential Hispanics in the nation.

3 Pass the Torch Scholar Salvador Barriga (physics) wins a Poster Research Award for his work with Professor Clark entitled Performing Low Field MRI Using T1 Weighted Contrast to Distinguish Between Healthy and Cancerous Tissues American Physical Society Condensed Matter Research Conference in Baltimore, Maryland (March 2006) PTT Physics Scholars Peter Koo and Salvador Barriga are planning on presenting a joint-research poster at this event. Power Shopping at the Math Mall Workshop which was part of the Expanding Your Horizons Event in San Ramon (February 2006) Three of our PTT Math Scholars (Shari Lind Scott, Nancy Huang, and Cindy Enrigue) created a workshop to give to middle school girls to spark their interest in Math. They gave this workshop at the Expanding Your Horizons ( event. They did two back-to-back workshops, each workshop was one and a half hours long. Each workshop had twenty student participants. See the description below. o Power Shopping at the Math Mall Learn razor sharp math skills and shopping strategy at the same time by using the fundamentals of basic fractions, decimals, and percentages to become savvy at understanding and identifying the best discounts and bargains for your dollar. This is a hands-on team building workshop that helps build your math foundation. Learn from top notch UC Berkeley Math student Fashionistas who are both smart and fashion conscious! Sigma Xi Research Conference and Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington (November 2006) Many of our students, including PTT Physics Scholar Salvador Barriga, had a chance to travel to the Seattle to this conference which composed of an undergraduate research symposium, science-related workshops, and professional development. 3

presenting a joint-research poster at this event.

4 From Left to Right UC Berkeley students Christian Chanco; math*, Francisco Ponce; math and physics, Dr. Ben Norman, Diana Lizarraga, Salvador Barriga*; physics, Ronald Page; math, Aditya Adiredja*; math, and Tiyu Wang: math at the 2005 Sigma Xi conference. This photo was published in American Scientist under the Sigma Xi today section. * = Pass the Torch Student. UC Berkeley Calculus Undergrad Teaching Assistants (Fall 2005/Spring 2006) PTT Math Scholars Victoria Angel and Syreeta Watkins are employed as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (aka UGAs). Aditya Adiredja was also a UGA. They work typically ten hours a week and are partnered with a Graduate Student Instructor to oversee a class of about twenty freshman in Calculus at UB Berkeley.. PTT Syreeta Watkins (math) with Nobel Laureate Dr. Glaser PTT Aditya Adiredja (math) and Victoria Angel (math), both have been UGAs for UC Berkeley s Calculus courses 4

This photo was published in American Scientist under the Sigma Xi today section. * = Pass the Torch Student.

5 Southern California Coalition Reception to Showcase College Opportunities to Incoming Freshman hosted by UC Berkeley at East Los Angeles MESA Community College Program (February 2006) PTT Scholar Luis Martinez (physics) took part in a student panel which explained to senior diversity science high school students and their family members why they should go to college and what his experience was like. California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education hosted by Sacramento State University (October 2005) We had a few of our students attend this one-day Saturday event which is basically a one-stop shopping opportunity for students who might like to go to graduate school. The 2005 event was hosted by Sacramento State University and over 1,000 students of color attended from over 18 northern California institutions. Students enjoy a keynote speaker, along with several workshop options (such as Demystyfing the GRE, Research Opportunities 101, Graduate School Basics, etc.), and also a graduate school recruiter fair (over 150 booths from top notch graduate programs including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.). University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School Visit (January 2006) A few of our students went to visit the graduate programs at UC Los Angeles through an event called the UCLA Edge (NSF AGEP money sponsored this event. It was formerly known as McNair day). Students got to meet key faculty from science related departments, tour the campus, network with staff and administrators, and obtain crucial insight and advice on how to approach applying to UC Los Angeles. It was a very worth while event. Seminars August: Graduate School Jeopardy & Team Building Exercises PTT Tapa Fall (math), PTT Tutor Tony Lai (stats), and UC LEADS Alumna Ale Aborieme (chem). September: Michael Sacramento, UC Berkeley Graduate Division Funding Graduate School 5

6 UC LEADS Scholars Monisha Brown (env. eng) and Franklin Dollar (eng physics) along with PTT Mathew Bernard (math). October: Dr. Joseph Brown, Assistant Dean, Graduate Studies, Stanford University Demystifying the GRE PTT Students Peter Koo (physics), Syreeta Watkins (math), and Victoria Angel (math). November: UC Berkeley Nobel Laureate Dr. Glaser Living Science Our PTT and UC LEADS Scholars with Nobel Laureate Dr. Glaser. We were celebrating our fall Graduates. PTT Christian Chanco (blue shirt) is hugging Dr. Glaser. January: Dr. Andrew Szeri, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Assistant Dean of the Graduate Division, UC Berkeley The Road to the Professoriate 6

(math). November: UC Berkeley Nobel Laureate Dr. Glaser Living Science Our PTT and UC LEADS Scholars with Nobel Laureate Dr. Glaser. We were celebrating our fall Graduates.

7 PTT Students Jesus Roman (math) and Monica Deeza (Math and Economics) February: Dr. Lester, Professor, UC Berkeley Chemistry Department and Dr. Scanlon, Professor, UC Berkeley Mathematics Department Preparing for the Graduate School Interview or Visitation Day 7

Rice-Houston Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program

Rice-Houston Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program Theresa Chatman NSF PI Meeting March 19, 2009 Project Overview AGEP History Spend a Summer with a Scientist Program: 1989-1999