Training Activities

"Open Labs, Open Doors" Quarterly Methods Training Sessions

Faculty Mentor laboratories will rotate to host open-house sessions introducing their research and methods. Each Open Lab will include a 30-45 minute talk that introduces the lab’s research in the context of a major topic in mechanobiology, followed by a short hands-on demonstration of a technique or analysis commonly used in that lab. These sessions will expose trainees to a breadth of biological techniques that will be useful to their research projects and/or their future independent research programs. During his or her third or fourth year, each trainee will be asked to lead an “open doors, open labs” methods training session for junior trainees.

Progress and Experiences in Emerging Research Seminars (PEERS)

The PEERS series will feature mechanobiology-interested trainees presenting their most recent results within a confidential peer group setting. Each monthly seminar will include two talks from PhD students or postdocs working in mechanobiology. In addition, trainees will be asked to include a slide on either a conference they attended, or an informational interview/career profile they have investigated. Trainees will be expected to participate in PEERS sessions throughout their Ph.D. program.

Annual Mechanobiology Retreat / Symposium

An Annual Mechanobiology Retreat and Research Symposium will unite the community of mechanobiology researchers at UCSB. The aims of the event are to foster new collaborations and to aid in the development of a sense of camaraderie among the UCSB mechanobiology community. The symposium will be attended by researchers working on problems related to mechanobiology.

Fellowship and Grant Writing Workshop

Trainees will participate in this professional development workshop in year 2 or 3 as a building block in professional writing and communication, and as a means for securing independent funding either during or after their graduate training.

Career Pathways Exploration

Career exploration and planning are critical components of predoctoral training and our trainees will be exposed to diverse careers inside and outside of academia. We will encourage trainees to participate in at least one of the annual workshops and programs at UCSB that support career exploration.

Responsible Conduct of Research Training

Trainees in the Program will be required to take a course in Rigor and Reproducibility and Responsible Conduct of Research (BIOE 201). All members of the UCSB community are expected to follow the Standards of Ethical Conduct, as defined by the Regents of the University of California.

Conference Attendance

The program will support trainees to attend domestic conferences to present a poster or give an oral presentation. Trainees are encouraged to choose conferences that are interdisciplinary in nature and relate to mechanobiology. Trainees will be asked to discuss their conference experience when they next present at the PEERS seminar series. Funding is available to those currently supported by the T32.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experiences are important to mastering and transferring knowledge, to enhancing mechanobiology understanding and intuition, and to developing communication skills important across career paths. Trainees can gain teaching experience by serving as a teaching assistant for the Mechanobiology Methods, Quantitative Experiments, or a course relevant to the underpinnings of mechanobiology in their home department.