There’s no better way to spend the spookiest of seasons – the ides of midterms – than with friends and sugar. Between fatal games of mafia and the shouting of Head’s Up, we found time to de-stress and throw balloons at people (the latter of which may have contributed to the former). Also, it was Halloween, so decorations were easy to come by.

We went out to greet the incoming year of Tritons and meet some of the future physics majors (and convert some to the dark side with our cool demos).

These two event provided UWiP members to get a chance to interact with grad students and professor in a casual settings. We had lots of fun meeting new people, hearing about the view from the front of the lecture hall, and eating food!

There’s no sweeter start to a school year than an ice cream social. We got to hang out with lots of different people within the physics department on a (predictably) sunny San Diego afternoon.

At the height of the quarter, its ‘ice to zone out and trade in catching up on homework for catching up with friends. We spent a great evening sliding and chilling (and often sitting) on the ice.

On the 21st of Feb, UWIP invited a couple of the graduate students in the physics department to come over and discuss the process of applying to graduate school and what graduate school life is like. Besides feeding themselves with as much pizza as possible, many attendees had their questions answered about studying physics in grad school or just grad life in general.   For example, the graduate students answered question on how to choose the right research group and the cohorts that you actually click with, and whether getting into higher ranked institution is a good thing. They also answered questions on the physics GRE and how that contributes to the application for grad school.  Also, they gave out tips on how to get a recommendation letter, or the preparation an applicant need to make in the undergraduate years.

Overall, the graduate panel was a success!

On Thursday 16 Feb 2017, MWIP and UWIP hosted a meet up between the graduate mentors and undergraduate mentees. There were tacos offered and participants were having a good time chatting and catching up. Later on, mentors grouped up with mentees and there was a photo scavenger hunt around the campus. The scavenger hunt included places like the red chair in Revelle, the sun god statue, the anchor in Revelle and so on. It was a lot of running around because there was a time limit, but it was really fun and it was a very good chance for the mentees to bond with the mentors. In the end, the winner and the runner up received a gift card to Perks coffee shop each.

The event was really successful and all the participants had a good time hanging out.

On Nov 12th, a Saturday, UWIP hosted a road trip to Julian, a small town know for its pies. Participants camped there and enjoyed the beautiful night sky, meanwhile enjoying the food and bonding.

On November 3rd 2016, undergrad mentees and graduate mentors met up and hang out. Everyone played bingo and had a great time mixing.

On November 7th 2016, we invited the IAI founder and board of director member Ken Abeloe to come and give a talk about interview tips, types of careers post graduation, and when/how to apply to companies such as IAI. There was an informal lunch and networking after the presentation. Students not only had the opportunity to talk to Ken Abeloe himself, but also Christina Halkias who answered questions regarding internships, jobs and resume building to prepare for a career in IAI.