Science Council 2018

 

The Science Council Executive Board with Science Council President Jai Lee (front, third from the right).

 

The Science Council is an umbrella organization that oversees student clubs within the College of Science. They promote club events, participate in community service events, and collaborate with other councils on campus.

The Science Council’s current president is Jai Lee who was last year’s treasurer. The council meets every two weeks with club representatives. Lee said, “Clubs report on what they’re doing. The meetings make club collaboration possible because everyone knows what’s going on. We’re all science majors and support each other. You gain a lot of experience, make good friends, and have fun. It’s all volunteer so it should be fun.”

Lee is a microbiology major graduating in May, 2019. She said, “I really enjoyed my research experience working with Professor Wei-Jen Lin studying bacteria that can survive the cleaning process for the Mars Exploration Rover space craft. The bacteria produce spores as a defense against hostile environments and we took pictures of them with a scanning electron microscope.”

Lee is bound for dental school after graduation. “It may sound weird because I know most people hate it but as a child I always liked going to the dentist,” she said.

One of the major events Science Council does is Science Week which was the week of February 4-8, 2019. The goal of Science Week is to show how fun science can be which is why it includes activities like tie-dying shirts and making ice cream with dry ice.

Some students aren’t aware of all the science clubs that exist but there are currently 24 active clubs that cover a broad range of science interests from math to medicine.

There’s a process that students can go through if they’re interested in starting a club and it all starts with the Office of Student Life and Cultural Centers. Every club also has to have a faculty advisor.

Clubs submit budgets to the Science Council and they make recommendations to ASI about funding. Clubs receive a budget allocation from ASI funds and are required to raise 20% of their budget through fundraising.

Participating in a campus club can be a great experience. Lee said, “I’ve met people through this experience that I never would’ve met otherwise. I’ve made some really good friends.”

Visit the clubs page on MyBAR to find out more about science clubs.