Hello again everyone. The 2020-2021 election is officially underway, and we’ve received 8 self-nominations this year! The only position with multiple nominees is the Social Chair, so I will post those bios first for those of you voting now. The election form is here, and you will have until Thursday night (Sept 17) to fill it out! Please note you must be signed into your UD email account to access the form!
Social Chair Nominees: Rebecca Davis, Aditya Dave, and Jan Calalo.
Rebecca’s Statement:
MEGA social events allow us all to connect with our peers and have fun doing so! It is important to me that we can all enjoy ourselves by having new and exciting events to look forward to regularly (even through zoom). I am running for social chair because I love planning events, as well as bringing everyone together to have an outlet and support system in this department.
Aditya’s Statement:
I would like to contribute the perspective of an international student to the MEGA board while aiding in the running of the student body during these socially distanced times.
Jan’s Statement:
I believe one of the most important things in surviving a difficult period, like grad school, is a community. In this role, I want to host regular events (online and eventually in person) that would get everyone involved. I want to grow and foster the community and connections we’ve built as MEGA.
My overall goal is to make sure we don’t forget how to enjoy ourselves in our busy lives.
President Candidate Jack Williams:
As Vice President of the MEGA board over the last year I have worked with several members of the ME community to advocate for a better graduate experience for all. While we have had some success, such as advocating for the creation of a ME diversity committee, there are still a number of concerns being worked on with the department. These include (but are not limited to) getting a MS along the way to a PhD, generating formal guidelines for rotations, improving advisor-advisee relationships, helping facilitate conversations about funding between advisors and students, and the continued push to identify and prevent discrimination and bias in our department. I hope to have the opportunity as President to continue these discussions and to help push for ways to keep our community connected despite these challenging times.
Vice-President Candidate Kleio Baxevani:
Hi, I am Kleio and I am a 3rd year PhD student. As a member of the MEGA executive board this past academic year, I worked with the rest of the board to organize social events like the coffee hours, and those before and after the quals. We also worked towards advocating for some of our concerns like not getting an MS along the way to the PhD, and issues with our rotation program, to the chair and faculty. However, there is still more to be done, and I hope to strive towards doing so as the Vice President of MEGA this coming year.
Secretary Candidate Behdad Chalaki:
I am Behdad Chalaki, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate working under the supervision of Andreas Malikopoulos. My research is on using Connected and Automated Vehicles to improve the efficiency of the transportation network using various techniques from optimal control to reinforcement learning. In my opinion, MEGA is a unique structure in our department that acts as a medium between students and the department in a friendly manner, which lets students’ concerns be heard and valued. Indeed, this could not be achieved without its previous members’ efforts, but as it goes without saying, there is always room for improvement. This year, I am running for the position of Secretary at MEGA Board 2020-2021, and I firmly believe that being disciplined and passionate, along with having a deliverable personality, would help me to give back to this organization and department. I am going to conclude my statement with a great quote from Aristotle, “What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.”
Treasurer Candidate Kayla Pariser:
My name is Kayla Pariser and I am a 3rd year ME PhD student. I had the honor of serving as the Treasurer for MEGA this past year (2019-2020). In this role I worked with the executive committee to plan events around our budget, created a new method for keeping track of spending, and led the charge on ordering the department polos. Although we are unsure what our budget will look like this upcoming year due to the pandemic, it is my hope that in this role I can continue to work with the entire graduate community to improve the graduate experience in any way we can. Whether that be finding new/creative/safe/inexpensive ways to come together as a community or continuing to advocate to improve the culture and experience for everyone, it would be a true honor to serve the UD ME graduate community as treasurer on the MEGA committee.
Intramural Sports Coordinator Candidate Kaleb Burch:
In working on the MEGA executive board the past year, I have enjoyed finding ways to bring our community together and to address challenges faced by our students. I particularly enjoyed working as the intramural sports coordinator since I enjoy playing sports and building community through sports! While intramural sports have not been available much due to COVID, I am hopeful that in the next year they will resume! Whenever intramurals return, I would like to make it easy for students to get involved with their favorite sports and with the MEGA community. I would also like to work with the MEGA executive board and our department to identify problems faced by students and work towards solutions for those problems.
As always, you can check out our year in review prezi here, subscribe to the MEGA event google calendar here, and join our graduate student slack here. I hope you have all had a great summer and are prepared to start this very unique semester.
Logan Beaver
2019 – 2020 MEGA President