SuperGroup

Should we join SuperGroup or not?

(answers below are from Brenda in Sauer lab)

All labs that join SuperGroup have a common interest in? -
- As I understand it the common interests are chemical and quantitative approaches to the biological sciences.

SuperGroup meets every - ?
- Supergroup usually meets 8 times an academic year - The fall dates are 9/26, 10/17, 11/21 and 12/12 from approximately 5:30-7:30 p.m. (depending upon the number of speakers, etc.) All meetings are in 68-181.

You might be expected to speak once every - ?
- This you (DE) would determine. Some smaller labs might have only 1 presentation for the year. Larger labs may, for example, have no presentations in the fall, if the students are not ready. You would determine when the student(s) were ready. Bob tells me that it is good experience for the job search and the feedback from the audience is good to hear for the writing component.
- As an aside, the groups also rotate on the the beverage/refreshment duties. I usually ask for volunteers and then coordinate with the faculty member or graduate student when their turn in the rotation comes up on this process.

The supergroups I have attended are useful in that they are good practice for speaking in front of a large, knowledgeable audience. Second, it brings us closer to others in the department. I think it would be a good idea to join. That being said, not everybody in the lab would necessarily be interested. --Sri Kosuri 10:00, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT)

I have been going to this supergroup for 2 years now, and think it is a really great group. The primary focus is on protein work: protein biochemistry, structural biology, protein modeling and structural prediciton algorythms, protein engineering, etc. Over these two years, quite a few Endyites have attended on-and-off... even if the research isn't directly related to what most people in the lab are researching, I think those who have gone have found it interesting. I personally would like to present at some point, but I don't know how many others would be interested (Reshma?). As for the snack rotation, I think we have freeloaded long enough that it's high time we start to pitch in financially. -- Samantha

Sounds useful. As long as the snacks are filling, I'm in.--BC 14:42, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT)

Words from across the hall: good idea for you guys to join. Definitely a great way to learn new stuff and make contacts with people who know stuff you want to know. Also, the more practice you get at giving talks the better.kathmc 18:54, 15 Jul 2005 (EDT)