• Annual student satisfaction survey

• Ongoing TA improvement work

• Peer Mentoring 

• Other ideas? Let us know! 

• Open Meetings (once each semester) 

• SESE Alumni Panel

• NASA FINESST Panel

• Qualifying Exam Panel

• Graduate Student Recruitment Weekend

• Grad Student Socials

• International Movie Nights

• Queer/Trans Coffee Hour

• Other ideas? Let us know!

Check out the SESE Housing Spreadsheet! You can add to this if you have a room or are looking for one. Just know you need to be signed into your ASU email to access it.

• Chris Groppi (Grad AD): cgroppi@asu.edu 

  • For general questions about being a grad student, or if you're struggling with specific committee members or your advisor

• Becca Dial: Rebecca.Escobar@asu.edu

  • For personnel questions, or questions about the logistics of grad school/course requirements, etc. 

• Becky Polley: rebecca.polley@asu.edu

  • For room reservations and miscellaneous logistics

• SESE Grad Council: sesegrad@asu.edu

  • If you have questions that you would rather ask other grad students. Please note that some faculty (like the ADs) do have access to this email address, so if desired you can email someone on GC directly or use the anonymous comment form. 

• Pretty much every grad council event!

• SESE Tea

• QT Coffee

• Snacks before Colloquium

• Lunch with Colloquium speaker (usually Hungry Howie's pizza)

• Lunch with Beus Center speaker (usually Engrained)

• Snacks after Beus lecture

• Extragalactic Journal club (has pizza)

This depends on your degree program! Best practice is to look in the guidebook, which will have the most detailed/up-to-date requirements. As a general rule of thumb, everyone needs to take SES 501 and SES 502, and PhD students will need 12 credits of SES 799, which is the "dissertation research class" (not really a class, just know you need to enroll in these during your last year). Most masters programs require some sort of culminating experience/research/capstone class, again check the guidebook for the specifics of your degree!

Each semester, you need to be enrolled in at least six 500-level or above credits. But be warned-when go above six, your student fees will increase by ~$250 so typically right at 6 is the sweet spot. If you're on a fellowship, those rules may change (i.e. on the NSF GRFP you need to be enrolled in at least 9 credits, so be sure you know the rules if you're in a unique situation!). You can't take more than 12 credits in the fall/spring semesters, and no more than six in the summer. See the guidebook for detailed requirements for your degree!

There are a wide variety of journal clubs hosted at SESE! From Extragalactic Journal Club, to Engineering Coffee Hour, to Meteorite Cookie Hour, there are plentiful opportunities to talk shop with your colleagues. For more information, see our Getting Involved page.

Absolutely! As long as you meet the prerequisites you can enroll in any ASU classes. Just be aware that student fees go up once you enroll in more than 6 credits, and of course make sure you prioritize the courses you need to graduate. 

While SESE itself does not, the Graduate Student Government (as of January 13th, 2025) offers free printing for grad students at the Graduate Student Center (GSC)! The GSC is located on Tempe campus at 851 S Forest Mall and is open Monday thru Friday from 8am to 5pm. 

Your stipend will depend somewhat on your position, and if you are on a fellowship this value will be different. But, as of Spring 2025, your academic year stipend is ~$26,500. Your summer salary depends on what your advisor has budgeted but typically ranges from 0.5-1.0 FTE, corresponding to between approximately $8,800 - $17,600. In total you should expect to make somewhere between $35,000 and $42,000 pre-tax per year.

RA stands for Research Associate and means that you are a part-time university employee whose primary responsibilities are related to research. RA funds can come through your advisor's grants, startup, and/or external funding, but the expectation is that you will be working for whoever pays it.

TA stands for Teaching Associate and means that you are a part-time university employee whose primary responsibilities are (you guessed it) teaching related. The work load varies based on the class you are TA-ing and how part-time your position is (it goes up to 0.5 FTE, so in theory you shouldn't be spending more than 20 hours a week on it). If you are a PhD student on a TA, you are still expected to work on your research, it's just not where your money is coming from. 

You will receive offer letters ~3 weeks (this can vary a lot!) before the start of each semester, but you should discuss your funding options with your advisor well before that so there aren't any surprises! If you're a TA, you might not learn what class you're TA-ing for until ~a week before the semester starts. 

In most cases, no! If you have an TA/RA position, this will come with a tuition remission, and most major graduate fellowships cover tuition as well. Just note this does not cover student fees, which are typically ~$273 a semester if you register for six credits or less, and ~$546 if you register for more than six credits. Note also that you need to register for AT LEAST six credits to maintain the tuition waiver provided by your TA/RA-ship if not on an external fellowship.

Hopefully your advisor has budgeted some travel support to help you get to conferences and workshops. To supplement it, the ASU Graduate student government (GSA) has travel grants that can offer additional support. 

Travel reimbursements are managed through Concur/MyASU Trip, which you can access here. 

Unfortunately, no. The current grad student healthcare plan does not cover dependents, spouses, vision or dental. >:/

We do! The United Campus Workers, which you can learn more about here.