Department Grad Councils

Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Association

Chemistry Grad Council

Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering Graduate Student Council

Computer Science Graduate Student Association

Pilot Implementation and Assessment

Current Climate Focus Group ✔

• Graduate student participants (6-10)
• Outside consultants
• (1-1.30 h)

Council Formation Design Thinking Workshop ✔

• Graduate student body
• Faculty/staff Champion
• 3 sessions (5 h max)
• May - July

Council Activation ✔

• Grad students interested in leadership
• Faculty/staff Champion
• July - September

Support and Information ✔

• Focus group updates
• Exchange with other departments
• CSE Inclusivity Council

Council First Project ✔

• Grad students interested in leadership
• Faculty/staff Champion
• September - November

Assessment Focus Group (spring/summer 2025)

• Graduate student participants (6-10)
• Outside consultants

• (1-1.30 h)

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Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Association

Overview and timeline

MEGSA represents nearly 280 graduate students, advocating for academic, professional, and social needs.

We have several leadership chairs, including:

• Academic Chairs – Liaising with faculty on key academic issues.
• Industry & Alumni Chairs – Connecting students with professionals.
• Social Chairs – Organizing events to foster community.
• Coffee Hours Chair – Hosting departmental coffee hours for networking.
• Wellness Chair, Community Engagement Chair, and more.

Timeline of Key Events:

• Fall: Cummins Industrial Visit
• Winter: Core Course Scheduling Advocacy
• Spring: Adviser Review Discussions & Policy Recommendations
• Ongoing: Coffee Hours, Networking Events, and Student Well-being Initiatives

Successes & Achievements

Awards & Recognition:

• Won the Tony Diggs Award for Academic Excellence (2023-24)
• Received the Transition of Officers Award for seamless leadership change (2024-25)

Milestones

• Successfully Organized Cummins Industrial Visit
• Secured support on core course requirements and scheduling challenges to improve curriculum planning
• Initiated discussion Adviser-Advisee review process
• Expanded Coffee Hours & Networking Sessions

Challenges

• Student Engagement Issues
• Academic Advocacy:
  • Core Course Scheduling Issues
  • Adviser Review Process
• Lessons Learned:
  • Better Event Scheduling

  • Improved Communication Channels

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Chemistry Council Formation

Late Summer 2024: 

• Design thinking sessions

Fall Semester 2024: 

• Formed leadership team
• Established focus: robust constitution and communication plan

Current Status: 

• Ratification of constitution
• Implementing communication plan

Departmental Support

• Established student org collaborations
• Departmental stakeholders

Achievements

• Name: ChemBRIDGE
• A constitution that is more than checking boxes
• Established clear values and mission

Struggles

• Momentum when switching missions

• Participation; we’re all grad students

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Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE) Graduate Student Council

June 2024: Grad council planning sessions.

September 2024: Grad council creation and establishment. 

January 2025: Council’s Constitution approved.

Apr 2, 2025: Application to become a official Student Activity Group.

Successes

1. Successful integration of graduate students through events such as Coffee Hours, Happy Hours, and River Cleaning initiatives.
2. Establishment of communication between student representatives and faculty members.
3. Student newsletter creation
4. Development of a professional CV and interview preparation workshop.

Challenges

1. Low engagement of graduate students with the council, leading to recruitment below expectations.

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Computer Science Graduate Student Association

CSGSA Overview

• 400+ Computer Science graduate students (MS & PhD)
• Goals:
  • Increase student engagement
  • Represent graduate students
• Branches
  • Event Organization
  • Policy Council (newly formed!)

Events Overview

• Weekly Coffee Hours (30-60 students attending)
• Biweekly GRaDS (student research presentations)
• Biweekly Game Nights
• Volunteer trips (Feed My Starving Children)

Students appear to be more engaged in events as the year progresses, and we have new students signing up for event organization!

Success and Challenges

Successes

• Marked increase in student engagement via events
• Identified gaps in documentation about preliminary exams, and drafted potential changes
• Discussions with students outlined several other problems (to be dealt with!)

Challenges

• Recruiting students to work on policy issues!
• While we have increased attendance and interest in events, this remains an open problem as we need students to help work on policy

Policy Council Overview

• We introduced this Council to CSGSA around October
  • Recruitment on a per-problem basis
  • Listed problems for future CSGSA
• Preliminary Exams: Council members conducted interviews with ~20 grad students
  • Found missing information on website and student handbook
  • Worked with DGS towards increasing requirement transparency and standardization
  • Currently compiling improvements to the handbook
• Town Hall: Conducted our first major event for policy discussion on March 6th.
  • 2 hour session involving Department Head and DGS
  • Discussion surrounding department finances and policy
  • DGS spoke about planned streamlining of prelim-exam process
  • Discussion prompted further issues some students faced