May 2008

Purdue Student Council taking bigger role

Purdue Science Student Council is hoping to take a step forward in their involvement with the College of Science. New events are underway to help improve the student experience at the University and in the College. Two new events are currently being planned, a revamped New Student Orientation Program and Science Week.

At the start of every school year, PSSC helps freshman get introduced to the College of Science by
holding an orientation before classes begin. The next orientation, however, will be slightly different
from previous years. After the orientation, a picnic will be set up for students to “meet and greet” with others in their department while enjoying food and sunshine. We are integrating a faculty‐senior panel so that freshman can ask questions about academic life, extracurricular activities, and research
opportunities. We will be hosting all science‐interested clubs so that students can see what activities
are available for them to join.

Science Week is being established as well, with the biggest event being the first ever Science
Roundtable. The Science Roundtable is aimed at helping science students get jobs, internships, and coops through a job fair. A lot of work is currently underway by the committee and will continue over the summer to get this going, and we are very excited about the event. In addition to the job fair, we hope to bring in speakers and have various events throughout the week, like a Planet Earth Marathon, to get students involved. If any alumni are interested in having their company/school represented at the job fair, please contact Hoang Doan at hqdoan@purdue.edu for more information.

The established programs are still present and much effort has been put into them as well. Science
Discovery is still underway. The Programs committee continues to go to local elementary schools to
perform science experiments for the kids. During Spring Fest, PSSC had a table showing off the EAS department with homemade volcanoes and tornadoes.

The Undergraduate Research and Poster Symposium was an immense success. Our very own, John Colletti, the committee head for Career and Development, took home the top prize, the College of Science Dean's Choice Award. Another first for the council this year were the picnic games designed as a fundraiser and tool to help with interaction between faculty and student. The picnic games brought together students, administration, and teachers to compete in various fun family‐style picnic games with great prizes like the year’s supply of Chick‐fil‐A.

Although another fundraiser took the place of the annual Spring Science Scramble this semester, we will be sponsoring a 5k run/walk in the fall during Science Week on Peace Day. For more information about PSSC, please go to www.pssc.science.purdue.edu.

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