Special Research Training Activities

Annual CMB Symposium and Poster Session

A centerpiece of the CMB Program is the Annual Symposium and Poster Session at the start of each academic year. The Symposium opens with a keynote address by a prominent scientist whose work represents landmark contributions in cellular and molecular biology. Recent speakers have included Stan McKnight (Univ Washington), Joan Steitz (Yale), John Scott (Vollum Inst), and David Botstein ( Princeton). In Sept 2000, the CMB Program honored former CMB Director Myron Levine, now an emeritus professor of Human Genetics, by naming the keynote address "The Myron Levine Lectureship." This lecture draws a large crowd to the elegant Rackham Amphitheatre, in the center of the University campus. It also provides a community atmosphere in which new CMB students and faculty are introduced to the Program as a whole. Immediately following the lecture, faculty and students participate in an exciting and dynamic poster session. The Rackham Graduate School provides awards for the top three poster presentations. The CMB poster session provides an opportunity for incoming students and others in the University community to find out about research in the laboratories of CMB faculty. Click here for information on this year's Symposium.

CMB Spring Research Forum

The CMB Program recently established the Spring Research Forum, giving students the opportunity to present short formal talks as they would at a national meeting. Student abstracts are selected for presentation as polished formal talks to the entire Program. The Forum also features a poster session for new faculty to present their work to the Program, and a reception at which new students and new faculty in the Program are welcomed and recent recipients of the PhD and of Student Awards are congratulated. This event brings students and faculty of the Program together at the end of the academic year. Click here for information on this year's Spring Research Forum.

Career Development Workshops

During the Fall semester, two workshops on “the basics” are presented: “How to present a research seminar” is demonstrated at the first session of the CMB student seminar (CMB 850) each year by the Course Directors, and “How to write a research grant” is presented just prior to the time when students are preparing prelim proposals and writing fellowship applications. During the winter term, special topics of relevance to graduate students have been presented, such as “Preparing an effective CV,” “ How to apply for a postdoc,” “How to get the most out of a scientific meeting,” and “Critical preparation and review of manuscripts.” These informal sessions complement Career Workshops organized by PIBS and by Rackham, and are appreciated by students for their smaller size, allowing for open discussion.

Student to Student Mentoring

The CMB Program sponsors “Students Mentoring Students,” an informal mechanism for senior CMB students to mentor students entering CMB from PIBS or MSTP. In this way, students in different labs and different parts of the campus get to know one another better. The mentoring student and incoming student have opportunities for informal and self-directed interactions such as discussion of academic issues, administrative issues, lab issues or other topics of interest. The mentoring program is inaugurated at an informal reception for all CMB students early in the academic year, and the Program subsidizes a lunch or coffee get-together for mentor-student pairs later in the year.