Service and Administration
Experiences
Service and Administration
Experiences
I have held administration and service roles since my undergraduate days at UA on a department-level, and have occupied various positions at the department-level at MSU in CMSE, as well as branching out to committees on the college- and university-level in various aspects of academic governance.
My primary focus has always been fostering a lively, engaged, inclusive environment and developing a sense of departmental identity and community. The organization and intentionality that accompany success in this respect play to my strengths. Success is of course subjective in this regard and an ongoing effort, but hopefully you'll agree by my experiences described below.
As a general note regarding academic administration, I believe student liaisons on committees are incredibly vital when the decisions affect that student body, and I will advocate as such. Furthermore, the relationship of the student representative to the committee is two-fold: the representative providing valued input and perspective from their constituents, and the committee teaching the student the business and nuances of the committee.
I have held the following positions and/or served on the following committees:
Graduate Advisory Committee for Research Regulation and Support
Advisory Committee to the Chair
Council of Graduate Students
Engineering Graduate Studies Committee
Graduate Admissions Committee
Peer Mentorship Program
President, Graduate Student Organization
Vice President, Graduate Student Organization
ACREs REU Program
President, Society of Physics Students
President, Sigma Pi Sigma
Graduate Representative to Advisory Committee to the Chair
I was the first graduate representative to the department's advisory committee, and served on that role for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic years. During that time, I served an important role in the committee's business, including increasing transparency within the department and emphasizing the role of the graduate student in CMSE. Other accomplishments included:
Stressing the important of increasing visibility and recruitment activities for CMSE's graduate program.
The introduction of firmer, quantitative expectations for graduate teaching assistants to protect both parties.
Overseeing the appointment processes and requests of internal university faculty.
Encouraging better oversight of other departmental committees to ensure more established institutional knowledge.
Coordinating with the faculty representatives of the committee and senior faculty within the department to develop the long term plan for the department.
Mandating graduate student representation on faculty search committees.
Assisting in the amending of departmental bylaws.
Proposing a restructuring of the departmental colloquia series.
Leadership in the CMSE Graduate Student Organization
President, AY 2024/2025
Led the only graduate student organization for the department.
Oversaw a cabinet of ten officers.
Developed a strong sense of community within the graduate students of CMSE.
Organized informal events, monthly socials, several professional development events and DEI events.
Saw a drastic increase in attendance to official GSO events.
Initiated and oversaw the development of the CMSE-GSO Website.
Created and maintained three resource documents:
CMSE Grad Student Resources
First Year Survival Guide
International Student Survival Guide
Vice President, AY 2023/2024
Assisted the president
Developed a sense of community
Implemented an increase in officers and representatives in GSO
Created the CMSE Grad Student Resources document
Assisted with the creation of the graduate student weekly newsletter
Created the Weekly Lunch Space.
Graduate Representative to the Graduate Admissions Committee
I served as the graduate representative to the admissions committee for the CMSE PhD program from December 2025 to May 2026. Upon receiving training on the best practices of admissions, I assisted on devising a framework and creating a holistic rubric to evaluate a historic number of applications.
Furthermore, with this position, I helped organize the prospective student visit day in March, managing logistics, presentations, and grad student involvement.
Graduate Advisory Committee for Research Regulation and Support
I worked directly with the Associate Vice President for Research Regulatory Support, Dr. Laura McCabe.
MSU's Office of Research Regulation and Support is responsible for ensuring university research is safe, legal, and fair.
My primary responsibility was to ensure this was applicable to graduate students at the university, as well as visible and accessible to graduate students.
I provided input regarding a system for compartmentalization of compliance, oversight, and facility management into budget requests to replace the old indirect cost system following the executive order limiting indirect costs.
I also gathered feedback from fellow graduate students regarding indirect cost structures, IRB processes, modifications, and resources.
Council of Graduate Students
Attended monthly meetings regarding the business of the Council of Graduate Students (COGS), which include funding opportunities, events, and general advocacy for graduate students at MSU.
Served on the COGS DEI Student Award Committee.
Served on the University Curriculum Committee for a semester.
Served on the COGS Finance Committee.
Revised bylaws and parameters of qualifications for COGS funding proposals.
Engineering Graduate Studies Committee
Advised and assisted in graduate studies proposals for courses and programs.
Assisted on the selection of the Fitch H. Beach Award.
Gathered data on graduate student perspective of AI in education.
Advanced Computational Research Experience REU Program
Mentored and guided undergraduates participating in the REU to ease their transition to the CMSE community and the greater Lansing area
Helped manage and set expectations of graduate life.
Encouraged the students to partake in the graduate student community.
Assisted with strategies and timeline of applying to graduate school while mitigating stress.
Society of Physics Students
Served as president for the University of Alabama's chapter for two years.
Figurehead of the undergraduate physics program.
Led the rest of the executive committee.
Set and planned chapter meetings, executive committee meetings, and other events.
Created the SPS Tutor Program.
Increased participation from roughly 10% of the undergraduate physics majors to ~45% through targeted recruitment and interaction.
Sigma Pi Sigma
Served as the president for the chapter's Sigma Pi Sigma national honor society.
Rebooted the local chapter for first time in several years.