Clara Posner is a 6^th year, MS to PhD graduate student in bioengineering. She is working in the Jin Zhang lab to study the dysregulation of cell signaling associated with different cancers using genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors. Outside of the lab, she is heavily involved in BEGS, serving as Vice President Internal, President, and Mentorship Chair in successive years – the last position is one that she has held for the last two years. “With BEGS, I get a lot of satisfaction seeing what I do help my peers.”

Clara’s work within BEGS have been focused on both helping to establish new programs to help graduate student and to help the organization run more smoothly. “Ever since I became involved with the Bioengineering Graduate Society, I’ve been a part of org restructuring and creating ways to better train leadership and facilitate leadership transitions from year to year,” said Posner. This has included changing how leadership positions are filled within the organization and helping to recruit new student leaders as the current leaders begin to graduate. This is something that has been made more difficult with the pandemic, as many of the new students do not have the experience of seeing the many BEGS events in person. “It’s going to be tough… but the good news is that we have some really well-trained people from [before the pandemic].” Clara believes that the current veteran leaders within BEGS can help navigate the new generation of leadership through the transition back to in person event. Thanks to the systems that Clara and her fellow leaders within BEGS have established, “we can be running just as strong or stronger than we have before.”

Outside of establishing these internal structures, Clara also looks to see how BEGS can continue to expand on its work. “One of the biggest things about BEGS for me as well is not only the community, but growth.” When thinking about her role within BEGS, Clara will ask “What are we missing? What can we do more for students? …I like to be the front runner trying to push stuff out like that.” One big way that Clara has been able to grow the organization is through her work with the Mentorship Program. In this program, a first-year graduate student is paired with a more senior student, who can help them with the transition to this new phase of their education. While things had to look different because of the virtual format, Clara was able to hold popular events, such as the Mentor-Mentee Mixer, by taking advantage of digital platforms, like Remo. As she is entering her third year as the chair of this committee, she is looking to increase interdepartmental mentorship and to work with BMES to include senior undergraduates who might be interested in graduate school. She hopes to find ways for alumni from local industry to get involved as well.

Through her work in previous years to establish a strong foundation and her work in the past year to maintain continuity through online resources, Clara has helped to set BEGS up for continued success going into the future. Her work and that of her fellow leaders will help to ensure that the important resources and support that BEGS provides to other graduate students can continue to grow as we move back to hybrid and in-person life.