UC Riverside

[Timshel]

I have not heard back from all of my schools, but I have been accepted to UCR, and I will most likely accept the offer. Anyone else contemplating UCR or have already decided?

I am moving from the east coast, and I will not know anyone but my husband.

[tenorcervantes]

I have not heard back from all of my schools, but I have been accepted to UCR, and I will most likely accept the offer. Anyone else contemplating UCR or have already decided?

I am moving from the east coast, and I will not know anyone but my husband.

UCR is my alma mater and I will say that they have quite the impressive English department. My department was Religious Studies, but every time discussions of critical theory and cutting edge work in literary studies came up, UCR's English department somehow ended up being an important voice in the conversation. What are your research areas?

[APalacios]

Ill be starting the english grad program at UCR Fall 2012. I did my undergrad there as well.

[OldGrad2012]

I will be attending UCR as well in the Fall 2012. I think they have a good science program.

[DStory247]

2013 Revival!

 

I have tentatively decided to accept the offer from UC Riverside for Fall 2013 in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. By tentative, I mean I decided this yesterday and am sleeping on it for a few days to make sure I feel comfortable with the decision.

 

Anyone else coming to UCR this fall for engineering, or any program for that matter?

[BerenErchamion]

I'm coming for history.

[DStory247]

Anyone else coming to UCR this fall, or just me and BerenErchamion???

[AKL]

I'm coming to UCR for Chemical & Environmental Engineering as well

[DStory247]

Glad to hear it, AKL!

Tell us about yourself...

[AKL]

I am a biotechnology major from Germany so my area of interest is also in biotechnology. What is your area of interest? Where are you planning to move? Do you know any other people that are going to be in our class?

[DStory247]

Both Air Quality systems and Water Quality systems are my areas of interest. I am ecstatic about both the breadth and depth of both of these areas at UCR.
I do not know anyone else who will be in our cohort, but I met several current UCR students on my visit to the department in March.
I will be looking for housing off campus, but something relatively close. When will you be arriving?

[AKL]

What is the campus like?  Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to visit. I'm actually currently in St. Louis for an internship and will go back to Germany by the end of the month. I don't know when I'll be arriving in California because I didn't get any visa forms yet. I am planing on mid- end of august. When are you going to move there? I think I'll be living a little ways away from Riverside. I know traffic is terrible but my boyfriend is going to work in LA so we'll be living somewhere in the middle of Riverside and where he is going to work. 

[DStory247]

Ah! I love St. Louis... I almost chose WashU over UCR! Where are you doing your internship?
Anyways, I don't know what you are used to in terms of college campuses (where did you do your undergrad?), but I consider UCR's campus fairly large. It's not so spread out that there is vast amounts of wasted space between buildings, but neither is it crammed into a small geographical area. What land there is between buildings is well kept and can be used for studying or having a picnic, whatever floats your boat. It is fairly flat for California, but still has more hills than what I'm used to in Northeast Texas. There are small mountains right near the edge of campus that you can see anytime a building is not between you and them. There is a large amount of vegetation, which I enjoy, ranging from grasses to shrubs and plenty of trees. I was worried about moving from the lush region I have lived in my entire life to a desert, but UCR really doesn't seem that way. There are multiple libraries, an older general one, and a newer "science" library. The recreation center is nice, and is being added onto in a major way as we speak. I did not eat any meals on campus, but there were plenty of cafes and restaurants around and at the HUB (Highlander Union Building).

I will most likely move around September 7th-ish. Give me a week to move in, and then be there for orientations. I think you, as an intl. student have your orientation sooner than that, correct?

My girlfriend is looking for jobs in the area, so that will play a role in our location, but if I have my preference, we'll live within 15 minutes of the campus.

[AKL]

I finished my internship at WashU Med School last month. It was fun but I am sooo ready to leave the midwest. I did my undergrad on a little university in Germany so I guess every american university campus seems large to me Your description of the campus seems nice though I am actually not really sure when the orientation is.. I was planning to arrive a month earlier because I want to give myself some time to find a car. Did you do your undergrad in chemical engineering? If not, do you have to make up for some undergrad classes? I think I'll have to take 2 or 3 undergrad classes...

Do you have any hobbies? My boyfriend and I like to do all kinds of outdoor stuff and I saw that the recreation center offers several outdoor trips, so I think we will be participating in that for sure. What does your girlfriend do? 

[DStory247]

I did not do my undergrad in Chem Engineering. I did my undergrad in Physical Sciences.

From talking with the graduate student advisor, Sharon Walker, I am under the impression that I do not have to make up for undergrad courses. Howver, if I wish to take the undergrad courses before taking the graduate level engineering courses, I am welcome to do so. This would mean I may be taking courses in my 2nd year, which most BS Engineers do not do. I will probably go that route, to ensure I am prepared for the qualifying exams at the end of Year 1, which I heard were undergraduate level in content. According to one professor, Dr. David Jassby, roughly 25% of UCR's CEE grad students came from a non-engineering major, so we won't be the first, nor the last, to go this route. With your biotechnology degree, you will undoubtedly fit right in. I don't know how much research you've done into the PIs at UCR, but I imagine Dr. David Kisailus' work may spark your interests. He does a lot of work with biomimetics. Fascinating stuff, just not my cup of tea.

 

I enjoy riding my motorcycle, playing sports at a recreational/competitive level, and spending time outdoors. I, too, want to engage in the rec center activities!

 

My girlfriend has her degree in Fine Arts, and is looking for graphic design jobs and teaching jobs.

What does your boyfriend do?

Edited May 16, 2013 by DStory247

[AKL]

It seems you're a lot more informed than I am The system of choosing classes is completely new to me since at my university in Germany there was a fixed schedule for all the classes. I looked at the research interest of all the PI's and I am pretty sure that I am going to join Professor Wheeldon's lab. Have you talked to any PI's about joining their lab yet?

 

I have a motorcycle in Germany, too. Unfortunately I will have to sell it to afford a car in California My boyfriend is a Mechanical Engineer with Boeing. Do you have a Facebook page?

[DStory247]

Well, I went to a small liberal arts school for my undergrad degree, and the naturals sciences department was very small. So much so, that many of the classes I needed were only offered in one section, so I, too, was bound by a fixed schedule for most of my classes.

But at UCR, if you take the undergraduate engineering courses first, you will most likely have more flexibility. But, when it comes to the graduate level courses, we may again be bound by one or two sections of each course, simply because the number of graduate students will be small compared to the undergrads.

Overall, it is in the best interest of us and the department to make sure we have the knowledge we need to be successful researchers, so I fully believe we will be supported if we choose to take the undergrad offerings first, and the graduate level offerings afterwards.

 

As far as PIs go, I've talked to many; Walker, Jassby, Mark Matsumoto, Akua Asa-Awuku, David Cocker, Haizhou Liu.

The first quarter we are there we are required to sit in on the weekly group meeting of 1-3 PIs in order to find our potential matches. Fortunately, all of the water PIs have their group meetings together, as do all of the air PIs. So I will get to spend time with everyone I want! Right now, Cocker and Walker are my top choices.

 

I grieve for you having to sell your motorcycle What do you have?

 

I do have a facebook page, you can befriend me at  https://www.facebook.com/drew.story.52

Edited May 17, 2013 by DStory247

[AKL]

I didn't know about the PI group meetings. Professor Wheeldon said he wants to talk to me about how I would fit into the group research wise. I thought that he meant into HIS group but now I'm not sure anymore  

 

I have a Yamaha R6. It's my baby In about a month I'll go on one last bigger tour through the German Alps... Maybe I'll find the money to buy a motorcycle in the US... in a few years.. First of all I need to get an American license though

 

I friended you on Facebook. My name is Ann-Kathrin... 

[DStory247]

I bet he was talking about HIS group- One of Sharon Walker's students told me that the water PIs started meeting together just recently, and it's simply to keep everyone up to speed on what's happening in the world of water, but they all still maintain their own group identities. Sorry if that's confusing...

 

That would be very hard for me; I want to keep my Ninja650 forever. I want to buy more bikes in the future, but I never want to have to sell her.

My dad and uncles and cousins and I are all taking a 3000 mile trip in Colorado in June, so that may be my last big hoorah for a while, but CA is very motorcycle friendly, and I'm glad to have it to get around on and play with.  Are you absolutely sure you can't keep it? I'll need a riding buddy!

 

Glad to meet you on FB, I look forward to meeting you and the other members of our cohort in person in September!