New graduate students at UC Santa Barbara are on a path to new adventures. This group of new students met up recently for a tour of the campus. Credit: Torrey Trust
We’ll soon have 809 new people on campus. Stateside, they’re coming from Alaska and Arizona, Minnesota and Michigan, Colorado and Connecticut, Tennessee and Texas. Elsewhere across the globe, they’re traveling from Pakistan and Poland, Mexico and Mongolia, China and Chile, India and Israel. They are aspiring engineers, environmentalists, educators, fine artists, and social scientists. Some are still in their teens and others are in their mid-60s.
This diverse group of individuals is the newest crop of graduate students we are welcoming to UC Santa Barbara.
Men outnumber the women among this group, but not by much. There are 441 men and 368 women beginning their graduate studies here. Two 18-year-olds are the youngest new grad students, and the oldest is 66, proving there is no age limit to pursuing the dream of a graduate degree.
Electrical and Computer Engineering will see the highest number of new students, 116. The Teacher Education Program will welcome 80 new students, and Environmental Science and Management follows closely on its heels with 76 students. By division, the most new grad students are in Engineering (235), followed by Mathematical, Life, and Physical Science (215), and Education (121). The majority of new grad students are pursuing Ph.Ds (420). Master of Science degrees are being sought by 132; MAs, 82; Master of Education, 74; and Master of Environmental Science and Management, 73.
New UCSB grad students got acquainted recently through a speed-dating type of icebreaker activity. Credit: Torrey TrustThere are 553 U.S. citizens born in 42 states or District of Columbia; and 256 non-U.S. citizens from 29 countries. It's no surprise that among U.S. citizens, most of the new students were born in California (274). Other states of birth with high numbers of incoming students are New York, 21; Massachusetts, 19; and Texas, 16. Among non-U.S. citizens, 90 are citizens of China; 55 are from India; and 16 are from Taiwan. Also represented are Mexico, 11; Iran, 10; Canada, 10; Korea, 9; and Turkey, 6. UCSB’s grad students are truly global, with citizenship from these additional nations: Austria, Australia, Brazil, Côte d'Ivoire, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Egypt, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Israel, Jordan, Japan, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Some of these new students had a chance to get acquainted recently through social activity meetups – a campus tour, a visit to the university's touch tanks, and a Happy Hour at Woodstock's.
We interviewed several new grad students and asked them to tell us what degree programs they will be pursuing, their first impressions of UCSB, and what they are looking forward to most both on campus and off. Read on to find out what we learned about them. …
Colin Stewart from Illinois is jumping for joy to be at UC Santa Barbara. "Everything about UCSB is my best-case scenario," he says.
Derek Haddad of Massachusetts won't have much need for heavy clothing now that he's in Santa Barbara. DEREK HADDAD grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and started taking Latin and Greek in high school. After graduating from Boston University with a B.A. in Classical Languages, he taught Latin in secondary education for three years. He then earned his M.A. in Classics from Tufts University. Derek is starting his Ph.D. program here in Classics with a focus in Ancient History and Historiography. His research interest is in the ancient middle and lower classes of the Roman Empire, party politics, trade, and how Greeks and other foreign subjects viewed the Roman Empire.
“Having spent my whole life in the Northeast, I am excited to be living on the West Coast,” Derek told us. “I'll try not to send too many pictures of sunny Santa Barbara this winter to friends and relatives around Boston.”
Derek says “everyone around UCSB is as warm and friendly as the weather. I look forward to spending the next few years here, taking an interdisciplinary approach to the ancient world of the multicultural Mediterranean basin.”
AUBRIE ADAMS participated in the ARC/Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral program this summer, so she got a head-start in becoming acclimated to campus life here. (Read our Summer Research Scholar in the Spotlight article on her.) This Sacramento native earned a B.A. in Psychology from Sonoma State University; and an MA in Communication Studies from Cal State Sacramento. At UCSB, she will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication.
“I’m in love with UCSB!” Aubrie tells us. “All of the students, faculty, and staff I have encountered have gone above and beyond in helping to enable a smooth transition to grad school. I’ve been impressed by the Web resources and the online ‘GradSpace: New Graduate Student Community’ in particular. This website [created and run by the Graduate Division’s Academic Peer Advisor Torrey Trust] allows new students to network with each other, watch videos, create an academic plan, join a book club, and participate in discussions. It’s a great use of technology and it has helped me to feel better connected to UCSB.”
Aubrie Adams visited Lotusland.Aubrie is excited about starting her studies here. “I am looking forward to growing academically, professionally, and socially. The faculty in the Communication department are phenomenal and I’m thrilled to work with them. UCSB has a great research reputation and I’m also looking forward to working with faculty and students from other departments to build and share knowledge between disciplines.”
For Aubrie, many extracurricular activities will center on food. “I’m a foodie and I love to cook, bake, and visit new restaurants. It’s an added bonus that many Santa Barbara restaurants promote local and organic food. I am crazy about McConnell’s Ice Cream on State Street so far! They are a local company and they have a variety of delicious flavors, including Churros con Leche, Dark Chocolate Orange, and Summer Peach, just to name a few. … So good!"
"The climate here is also amazing and great for growing plants," Aubrie said. "I’ve got my own passion fruit tree growing in a pot on my deck that has produced a number of fruits so far. Overall, I’m excited to continue to explore Santa Barbara and to learn more about events, festivals, and opportunities to try new food.”
Colin Stewart embraces Gaucho Pride with his UCSB T-shirt.COLIN STEWART comes to UCSB from Arlington Heights, Ill. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here he will pursue a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering.
“When I told friends back home I was going to UCSB, the first thing they said would always be, ‘It's beautiful there,’” Colin told us. “This is undeniable, but UCSB is also so much more: a community of friends, a way of life, a home.”
Colin expects that graduate school will change him, and that’s not something he fears. “When my friends ask whether they should also pursue a graduate degree, I say ‘I can't tell because I'm not you, and you're not the you you will be after a graduate program.’ At UCSB, I'm looking forward to the me I become once I'm done.”
He intends to maintain a work-life balance, and plans to enjoy “all the fun things to do with friends: hiking, kayaking, surfing, just about any sport you can dream of.”
In summing up his positive outlook, Colin says: “Everything about UCSB is my best-case scenario.”
Crystal Bae bicycled to UCSB from Washington, D.C. She's happy that downtown Santa Barbara is "an easy bike ride away."CRYSTAL BAE came to UC Santa Barbara from Washington, D.C., but she didn’t travel here the conventional way (by car, bus, plane, or train). Crystal bicycled here, part of a summer bicycle tour with her partner in which she cycled 4,651 miles, with 88 days on the road riding a daily average of 61 miles. Over the summer, the couple consumed 11 jars of peanut butter, 43 scoops of ice cream, and countless pancakes. They applied 32 ounces of sunblock and experienced four thunderstorms, all in Montana. … But we digress. For more information on her awesome adventure, read her blog. We also featured Crystal in a Graduate Student Spotlight.
Crystal, who holds a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Geography from George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., plans to pursue an M.A./Ph.D. in Geography here. “The faculty and graduate students seem receptive to interdisciplinary work,” Crystal says about UCSB, “so I expect to hear and learn a lot about collaborative research between different UCSB departments. It's also a shift being on a more traditional college campus, since GWU was nestled right into the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of D.C. and fairly integrated into the city.”
She’s excited about the new avenues and opportunities that await her. “I'm looking forward to exploring potential research ideas here with supportive faculty members who have a huge variety of focus areas, including some exciting new areas of geographic study that I'm less familiar with. I also look forward to working as a Teaching Assistant for the first time this fall.”
Crystal will be putting her bicycle to good use here. “I like that downtown Santa Barbara is an easy bike ride away, and that there's a huge range of opportunities for enjoying the outdoors around here: hiking, bird-watching, surfing, and just picnicking amongst gorgeous vistas. Getting outside is a great way to take a break from sitting at your desk all day.”
A new graduate student meetup included a campus tour and a visit to the REEF Touch Tanks. Credit: Torrey Trust
Laura UrbisciSan Jose, Calif., native LAURA URBISCI earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Management with an emphasis in Ecology, Biodiversity, and Conservation and a minor in Spanish from UC Davis. She will pursue her Ph.D. studies at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.
“My general impression of UCSB has been a positive one,” says Laura, who attended the recent “New Grad Meetup” that included a campus tour and a visit to the REEF Touch Tanks. What she looks forward to most about living in the Santa Barbara area are “the delicious French pastries, hipster coffee, and the beach."
Mohit Hingorani looks forward to exploring new ideas in Media Arts at UCSB.MOHIT HINGORANI is one of the 55 new graduate students coming to UCSB from India. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi, India, and will work toward a Master of Science in Media Arts & Technology (MAT) Graduate Program here.
He described his experience thus far at UCSB as “incredible.” Mohit praised the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Graduate Division for being helpful and efficient.
Mohit is excited to start his studies here, where he looks forward to “exploring new ideas in the field of Media Arts and creating multimedia installations at MAT. I shall also be working with Dr. Pradeep Sen in the field of HDR Photography at the Mirage Lab.”
Studying amid the beauty of the Santa Barbara area is a definite plus for Mohit. “The campus is gorgeous, the beaches are magnificent, and the sunset here is amazing!” said Mohit. He plans to make time to explore the Central Coast, hike, and learn to surf and scuba-dive.
The GradPost welcomes all 809 new graduate students
to UC Santa Barbara!
New UCSB master's student Mohit Hingorani captured this lovely view of the UCSB Lagoon during the campus tour meetup.