Senior Team Update: Team RITALIN

This past November, seven members of senior Team RITALIN (Brian Barnett, Valerie Cohen, Taylor Hearn, Emily Jones, Alice Kunin, Jessica Lee, and Gautam Rao) attended Neuroscience 2013, the 43rd annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. This conference gathered over 30,000 neuroscientists from across the globe in San Diego to share ideas and interests about current and future projects. Held over a span of five days, the conference is In addition to viewing dozens of posters and attending several lectures, Brian, Taylor, Jessica, and Gautam presented their team's project, Impact of Prenatal Nicotine Exposure on Impulsivity and Neural Activity in Medial Prefrontal Cortex. 
"It was amazing to see almost every neuroscientist in the country in one place. It was an extraordinary example of how collaborative the scientific process can be" -Taylor Hearn

Somehow, team RITALIN managed to leave the bliss of sunny San Diego and return to College Park, where they are now fully concentrated on finishing their thesis.
They hope that some of their newly-made connections will add unique insights to their final product and are excited to finish senior year strong!

-Taylor Hearn: Team RITALIN: Class of 2014

Missed out on GSC's November Events?...

Don't worry! Here's a run-down of what the GSC committees have been up to the past month...

Stay tuned for our upcoming events and don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter! 

The Academic Affairs Committee hosted a Pre-Med & Health Professions Advising event presented by Wendy Loughlin. Wendy is the Director of the Health Professions Advising Office, and gave an insight overview on how to prepare for the medical school application process. She discussed what makes a competitive applicant, questions about the new MCAT, and mostly importantly the significance of patient empathy. Wendy specifically talked about Maryland’s medical school and their push for patient interaction as well as unique and diverse experiences.

Students were full of curiosity and questions to which Wendy provided detailed and informative answers for. Everyone that attended also received super awesome syringe pens to prepare for their medical futures!

The Student Activities Committee hosted its annual Fall Food Olympics were held on November 15th in front of Ellicott Hall. As tradition entails, two students pair up to compete in an obstacle course involving food: this year's challenges included feeding pudding while blindfolded, eating apple slices while crab-walking, and balancing candy corn while doing a three-legged race. With our previous 3-year champions graduated and gone, new challengers were eager to win the title and our grand prize: Gems Formal tickets! Sophomores Zeke Gonzalez and Yvette Mann stepped up and snatched away those tickets – congratulations to this duo for becoming the 2013 Fall Food Olympics Champions! Come back next fall and see if they'll maintain their title and prowess – for now, let's get ready for Gems Formal 2013!

The Gemstone Student Council enhanced their monthly GBM this month with the first annual Gemsgiving!  Students brought food to contribute to the potluck ranging from pizza to baked chicken.  Though all members of GSC brought food to the event, the other generous students who brought food were entered into a raffle for an amazon gift card.  Additionally, GSC surprised everyone with three other gift cards hidden under chairs.  As for the GBM, each cohort shared recent events and milestones in their Gemstone process.  Turnout was one of the greatest all year second only to the first GBM! 

The Community Engagement Committee hosted Gemstone’s First SHABAM.  SHABAM stands for Shabbat Across Maryland, and is an annual Friday night dinner provided by the Maryland Hillel, made possible by donations from the Gorlin family.  Gemstone’s SHABAM was one of 75 meals across campus feeding over 1,000 UMD students.  Some students came for the free food and others to learn a little about what Shabbat is all about, but everyone got the chance to have a sit down dinner together in the Gemstone suite.  Junior Steph Gross and senior Jenn Rottenberg explained some of the customary practices that are done before a typical Shabbat friday night dinner, reciting customary prayers in Hebrew before explaining their English meaning and significance.  SHABAM was one of the first events of CEC’s goal to provide the Gemstone community with first hand experiences of different cultures that represent the diverse program.

We cannot wait to see you at Gems Formal 2013!

-Alexa Cohen: Team HAPTIC : Class of 2016

-Edward Lin: Team AWE: Class of 2015

-Tom Schmitt: Class of 2017
-Shivani Patel: Team BASS: Class of 2015

Gems Formal 2013

Getting ready for Gems Formal, Saturday December 7th?  We are too!  

Junior Christina Winkler gives her own perspective looking back at her experiences at Gems Formal 

Looking back at my past two (almost two and a half!) years in Gemstone, I have been to a lot of Gemstone events. While GSC hosts awesome events all year long, Gems Formal is the event I look forward to all year long! I have been a part of SAC since my freshman year, so I am always very active in the planning and execution process of Gems Formal. Excitement begins months before the event, when we sit down as a committee to seriously debate the theme of the year. A few weeks later, we'll move on to decorations. The day of, we make the balloon arch and decorate the ballroom in Stamp, and, finally, formal is here!

I don't know if I can pick one single favorite formal memory. I always really enjoy socializing with and listening to the DJ with my former students and friends across cohorts. Somewhere in between finding the perfect dress, socializing with my friends and students across cohorts, and dancing to the DJ, Gems Formal is always a fantastic night! 

This year is no exception - I cannot wait and I hope that you are all as excited as I am for Gems Formal! And remember - a little party never hurt nobody.

Still need tickets? visit :Gems Formal Tickets !

Can't wait to see you there!

-Christina Winkler: Team VIRTUAL : Class of 2015