Committee chairs
BGSA Committees are an opportunity for students to get involved in special projects within the organization
Puja Halder
Community building committee
Description of the committee:
Nishant Panicker
Alex Vanhelene
first year ambassador
Description of committee:
The first-year ambassador is responsible for facilitating interactions between incoming students and established graduate students. BGSA student volunteers act as an informal peer resource for small groups of first year students. These mentors check in with the incoming students throughout their first year, answering questions about living in Pittsburgh, passing along university resources, discussing rotations and courses, and encouraging attendance at BGSA and other university-run events. The chair coordinates additional program-wide events designed to give first year students advice about their time in graduate school or introduce them to activities around the city of Pittsburgh. If you are interested in serving as a mentor in this program, applications for volunteers are available each spring. Check your email for more information or reach out to the current buddy program chair.
joshua Montano
Newsletter Committee
Description of committee:
The Newsletter Committee is responsible for creating the bi-monthly BGSA Newsletter. You do not have to be an active member of the BGSA to serve on the committee. In each newsletter, we highlight the achievements of a student nominated by their peers and mentors and allow them to use the platform to explain their research and experiences while bolstering their science writing and communication skills. We also spotlight an alumnus from the School of Medicine Graduate Programs. This is a great opportunity to learn of various career paths that are available to students after graduating and to begin networking with alumni. Finally, we also recognize those that have won monthly travel awards to attend conferences outside of Pittsburgh.
Payal ghosh
Mental Health Liaison
Description of committee:
The Mental Health Liasion will be formally trained in University Counseling Center (UCC) policies and procedures, active listening, training to help point students to crisis resources, and self-care. It is aimed to help better the mental health literacy in the BGSA. This will also allow the liaison to provide feedback for the BGSA to the UCC and administration to make meaningful change by attending a monthly meeting with the UCC to provide updates. We also offer mental health activities per semester.
Josh Holloway
Community Outreach Committee
Description of committee:
The Community Outreach Committee aims to provide programming to graduate students that promotes community engagement and outreach within the greater Pittsburgh area. The committee will development and organize BGSA Sponsored outreach events and build and maintain partnerships with local community organizations to generate leads for outreach opportunities. The four main goals of the Community Outreach Committee are to: (1) promote careers in STEM, (2) dispel misconceptions about research and educate on the scientific methods (3) engage in volunteering opportunities with patient serving groups connected to graduate student research and (4) lift up the Pittsburgh community.
Josh Holloway
Nathan Schneider
sustainability commitTee
Description of committee:
We are committed to advancing sustainability within the BGSA community to make our reaearch and professional development better for the planet. This includes implementing and promoting green initiatives in labs and offices and informing BGSA members of ways to reduce their individual carbon footprints. In addition, we will collaborate with BGSA board members and other sustainability groups at the University of Pittsburgh to maximize our impact across the entire campus.
