Meet the class of 2015's new GSC reps!

The Gemstone Student Counsel, GSC, is a committee made up of representatives from each Gemstone cohort year. Usually GSC elections are held earlier in the year, but GSC has recently been graced by the new addition of two sophomore class representatives, Christina Winkler and Emily Brode. Emily and Christina are both members of GSC as well as the PR (public relations) committee. They were both kind enough to share some of their excitement and motivation behind joining GSC and getting even more involved with Gems than they already were... 

Christina and Emily

Christina: For me, I really enjoy student leadership, so I was eager to be a part GSC. Outside of GSC, I am very involved in Gemstone as a section leader, camp leader, and a member of the Gems100 Steering Committee. Since I am so involved in the program, I am always interested in finding new ways to make it even better. I thought that GSC was a great way for me to be even more involved, especially with planning events and fun activities for our students. While on GSC, I hope to plan events that both bring back upperclassmen who are no longer as involved in the program as well increase the number of freshmen and sophomores participating in gemstone extracurricular activities.

Emily: The obvious answer for why I wanted to be a part of GSC is because of the love I have for Gemstone. I fell in love with the program at Gems Camp my freshman year and was immediately sure that I wanted to become as involved as possible. As a result, I became a section leader, camp leader, and a member of the Gems Camp Planning Committee. When the opportunity arose to apply for a spot on GSC I knew I had to apply. As a sophomore representative on GSC, I plan to keep interest and help plan events that every student in the Gemstone Program wants to attend. I would love to get more sophomore and other upperclassmen to come to all the wonderful events and share the love for Gemstone that I do!

Christina Winkler: Class of 2015: Team VIRTUAL

Emily Brode: Class of 2015: Team SILVER

Student Activities Committee Fun!

Contrary to popular belief, Gemstone isn’t all about research—there are also many leadership opportunities and ways to get involved in the program. Within the Gemstone Student Council, the student activities committee (SAC) works hard to plan social events for the Gemstone-Ellicott community throughout the year. For Valentine’s Day, SAC and Ellicott Residence Hall Association (RHA) worked together to host a valentine-decorating event. Students were able to come down to the first floor lobby to decorate valentines. Residents wrote the name of their friend, significant other, etc. on the back of the valentine along with his or her room number. At the end of the event, SAC and Ellicott RHA delivered the valentines to their rooms!

Valentine decorating was just one of the events that SAC planned. Each month, SAC works to provide at least one small event for the Gemstone-Ellicott community. Other events have included Fall Food Olympics, a trip to a Washington Nationals baseball game, and restaurant fundraisers. In addition, SAC hosts a formal at the end of the fall semester. Currently, SAC is working towards planning their first spring semi-formal and “Maryland’s Next Top Gem,” which consists of a series of competitive events to determine the next “Top Gem.” Unlike other events, some proceeds from this event will be donated to Relay for Life, an event that fundraises thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society. Whether it’s being involved in the planning process or just attending the events, the Gemstone program provides lots of opportunities for leadership and fun! 

-Jessica Lee:  Team RITALIN: Class of 2014

Academic Affairs Committee: Study Abroad Forum

The Academic Affairs Committee is one of the Gemstone Program's student-run committees that offer help to Gemstone students in many different aspects of their academic carriers.

The committee held a "Study-Abroad forum" in which Gemstone students offered their own personal experiences with studying abroad...

We would like to express our thanks to everyone who came to the Gemstone Academic Affair Committee's Study-Abroad forum!  Our hosts: Kelly Shih, Kevin Fries, and Christy Tsui each discussed their experiences overseas.  Kelly, a peer mentor at the study abroad office, shared some of her adventures from her time spent in Chile.  Christy, an active member of Maryland's alternative breaks program, discussed some of the differences within the program.  Kevin shared with the forum some of the life-changing experiences he encountered through Engineers Without Borders.

Alexa Cohen: Class of 2016 

Busting Gems Myths!

1.) Gemstone students are not involved in other organizations on campus.
BUSTED! On the contrary, Gemstone students are some of the most actively involved students on campus! Many students participate in Greek life, intramural sports, musical and artistic groups, and service organizations. Some popular groups among Gemstone students are Marching Band, Engineers without Borders, and Omicron Delta Kappa (a co-ed honors fraternity).  
2.) Gemstone students cannot study abroad.
BUSTED! Not true! Gemstone students are allowed to study abroad during the spring semester of their sophomore year, or either semester of junior year. Additionally, students can opt to study abroad during any winter/summer term.
3.) Gemstone requirements will not allow me to double major or graduate in three years.
          BUSTED! Gemstone students frequently double major or add minors to their coursework!  Additionally, students are allowed to graduate early as long as they make an agreement with their team to help finish the project after they graduate.
4.) Gemstone is only for engineers.
BUSTED! Absolutely not!  Gemstone is INTERDISCIPLINARY, and is open to any and all students who are accepted into the Honors College.  There are many Gemstone projects that focus on topics relating to the humanities.  
For example, Team POLITIC is researching the relationship between literature and foreign policy: http://teams.gemstone.umd.edu/classof2014/politic/.
5.) Four-year programs have fewer benefits than two-year programs.
BUSTED! While both types of programs have plenty of benefits, the fact that the Gemstone Program is a four-year program actually enables students to complete entire projects and gain experience in all aspects of research since thorough research requires long periods of time. Gemstone students are able to have hands on experience from literature review and grant writing to thesis defense and, in some cases, publication and attending conferences across the country.
6.) Gemstone students cannot participate in any other research on campus.
BUSTED! Also not true! Gemstone students can work on other research projects with teaching assistants and professors. Students have held research positions during winter and summer positions.  Many Gemstone students are also recipients of research grants and achieve departmental honors awards for their individual research.  

-Christy Tsui: Team EPIDEMICS: Class of 2015

-Daniel Atlas: Team Gene Therapy: Class of 2013

A Student's Account of "Spring Into Action: Internships 101"

On February 7, I attended the Gemstone Academic Affairs Committee’s first event of their Spring Into Action series, Internships 101. Spring Into Action consists of multiple workshops throughout the semester that will help you with a wide variety of things, whether it’s academics or extracurriculars. Internships 101 covered just about everything you need to know about getting an internship and how to be successful at it.

There were two main parts to Internships 101. The first part consisted of six juniors and seniors discussing internship positions that they’ve held in the past. These ranged from research done for professors on campus to positions with companies across the country. They talked about many things that most people would not know of immediately. For example, there are plenty of places you can get an internship position. One option is to apply to numerous amounts of positions online and pick from the ones that accept you. Another is to look up the research that professors are doing on campus, and see if there are any that interest you. A good place to start is googling “UMD undergraduate research.” Professors are very willing to take students because we’re practically a free source of helping hands around their lab.

In the second half of the workshop, we broke into groups depending on our majors. Here, we mostly talked about how to get our resume to look its best. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my resume to the event, but for those who did, they were able to get quality feedback. You may think that your own resume is good as it is, but I looked over at those who were getting their resumes critiqued, and there were so many little details throughout the entire document that you would never expect would be important. If you weren’t at the event, then the good news is that you can still get resume help from the Career Center at the university.

Be on the lookout for Gemstone Academic Affair’s next event, where there will be food from around the world and information about studying abroad.

Felix Lee: Class of 2016

Precious Gem: Ramita Dewan

Throughout her time at UMD, Ramita was a typical Gemstone student involved in a variety of extracurricular activities and commitments.  A neurobiology and physiology major, Ramita worked in neurobiology research for 3 years, founded the spiritual discussion group Chinmaya Yuvakendra, and even competed 3 times at the National Collegiate Table Tennis Competition as a member of UMD Club Table Tennis.  Ramita Dewan has the typical concerns of a senior in the Gemstone program – editing Team SWAMP’s thesis, preparing for the thesis conference this spring, and balancing her busy schedule involving work and having a social life.  But instead of having a 16 credit semester, Ramita has a 40 hour work week. 

Having graduated in May 2012, Ramita is currently working at NIH at the surgical neurology branch at the national institute of neurological disorders and stroke (NINDS).  Her research involves investigating the progression and treatment options for a genetic CNS tumor predisposition syndrome called Neurofibromatosis 2.  A student passionate about research, Ramita made the decision to continue with the Gemstone program and see it through until completion.  “I felt like a part of the team and didn't want to just give up on it since I was graduating,” said Ramita.  From applying to medical school, completing Gemstone, teaching at her spiritual center on the weekends, and just going to the gym or trying out new recipes in the kitchen, it’s definitely a challenge to balance everything together, Ramita says.  But the key to managing for her is to just enjoy everything she is a part of.  Fulfilling her commitments can be difficult, but being passionate about them definitely helps and is what sets Ramita apart from so many.

            “The most fulfilling aspect of Gemstone was getting to know my team better and going through this journey with them, whether it was working through our challenges or enjoying our time together.”  As Ramita continues to work toward the next chapter of her life – she hopes to attend medical school in 2014 – she is definitely satisfied with her choice to stay with the program.  As a fellow teammate, I can say that we’re so glad she did!

Raevathi Ramadorai :Team SWAMP: Class of 2013

Four Years in the Making: A Senior Perspective

Looking back on her four years at UMD, GSC president, Jaishri Shankar, shares her thoughts on her time in the Gemstone Program...

           As freshmen, we all listened to our GEMS100 section leaders and the program staff talk about the end – the end of our Gemstone careers, when we would present our projects and theses to a panel of experts as well as a public audience. Of course, as freshmen in August 2009, that day was pretty far off and unfathomable – we were all more concerned with how we would wake up for our 8am classes or manage to finish our homework AND watch all of Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. But four years seems to have sped past us, and here we are, less than one month from that fateful day when we will hand our thesis drafts over to our discussants. March 1, 2013.

            I don’t think anyone could have ever estimated how much work and detail goes into creating a thesis, let alone an undergraduate interdisciplinary team research thesis in addition to our full-time schedules/classes and extra-curriculars! So, here’s a quick summary. For the last few months, my team has been writing, editing, re-writing, re-editing, crying, frantically emailing, writing, re-writing, looking up sources, crying because some of our sources don’t exist anymore, looking up more sources, compiling sources, writing, editing, re-writing…are you getting the picture? And if you think I’m exaggerating, I’m really not. I’m sure you got the general theme of writing, editing, researching, and procuring sources. But that’s JUST for the first three chapters – the Introduction, the Literature Review, and the Methodology. And those three chapters are not even the bulk of the thesis! Here’s what the other half of that process looks like: data analysis, data re-analysis, data analysis synthesis, graphs, charts, tables, looking up sources for results discussion, data analysis, data re-analysis…do I need to keep going?

                In short, I’m here to tell you that this is no easy task. Not that we were expecting it to be a walk in the park, but I don’t think I quite anticipated the Everest that this thesis would present. March 1 is fast-approaching, and I know my fellow Gemstone seniors and I are hard at work compiling our theses and preparing them for our discussants, friends, and family. Now that you know how hard we’ve been working (and if you didn’t read the first half of this post, here’s a summary: we’ve been working pretty darn hard!), I hope you’ll consider attending the thesis conference on April 5 & 6, 2013 and cheering us on! Check out www.gemstone.umd.edu for more details, and in the meantime, send some positive vibes and maybe a few Starbucks gift cards our way – we have long nights ahead of us!

-Jaishri Shankar, Team SWAMP, Class of 2013