Posted: November 7, 2016
Every year, the USC Graduate School hosts a Fall Reception for all incoming PhDs and Graduate School Fellows. Alternating between the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center, this year’s gathering was held under the Space Shuttle Endeavour, a retired orbiter from NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Years ago, when I was a sophomore at USC, Endeavour flew over our campus on its way to LAX before being carefully transported through the streets of LA and Inglewood to the museum. Now, we can all enjoy the final operational shuttle built right across the street from school!
Throughout the reception, my fellow labmates and I had the opportunity to meet other PhD students while enjoying delicious hors d’oeurvres and free drinks. I ran into one of the panelists from the 10-day Fellowship Boot Camp I participated in before the school year started, and had a chance to discuss the National Science Foundation Fellowship application with him in more detail. I really enjoy events such as this one because it provides doctorate students with another avenue to meet peers from disparate fields and come together. As a graduate student, it is often difficult to find other students to mingle with outside of my home department, so I am thankful that groups like the Graduate School makes the additional effort to coordinate social gatherings for those pursuing PhDs. I’m looking forward to hanging out at the Natural History Museum with a new group of incoming PhDs next Fall!!
Published on July 28th, 2017
Last updated on August 10th, 2017