2002 Annual UPG Retreat, Atlantic Beach, NC

  The first annual UPG student retreat was held on Saurday and Sunday, April 13th and 14th, at the Sheraton Atlantic Beach Oceanfront Hotel. We reserved Sandcastles, the hotel's oceanfront private beach house, which has both meeting facilities and a large deck for socalilzing between sessions. 

The itinerary for the retreat included: student talks; a student panel made up of students from various years to serve as a forum for advising and mentoring amongst students; and a faculty panel of three faculty members who shared a little bit about their science and also provided an opportunity for students to ask them about their career paths, their philosophies, their advice for graduate students today, etc. The student talks were on a variety of topics and were all very well presented. We even stayed on schedule, thanks to Verietta and her stop watch! The student panel was a big hit, where students shared advice on selecting committee members, hours per week spent in the lab, and how to prepare for the prelim. And the faculty panel was fun and informative, thanks to Marcy Speer, Doug Marchuk, and Greg Riggans and their willingness to share with us a little about their lives and careers.

There was also plenty of free time on Saturday afternoon to take in the beach or the indoor pool, or just relax with fellow UPGers. While the weather was gray and a bit rainy that afternoon, many students walked on the beach, or played volleyball or frisbee, while others swam in the pool or visited the nearby NC Aquarium. Jack McNulty even discovered a pufferfish that had washed up in the beach! The skies cleared for Sunday, however, and we spent much of our time between sessions on the beach or the deck outside the meeting rooms. We enjoyed a catered dinner Saturday evening, and spent some time that night hanging out on the deck after the sessions, talking, listening to music, and getting to know our fellow classmates.

The committee is grateful to our Director, Joe Heitman, and to the several departments at Duke that have pledged funds to pay for this retreat. We would also like to thank Marcy Speer, Greg Riggans, and Doug Marchuk for joining us for this weekend and participating in the activities. And I, Alice Tanner, would like to say a special thank you to the others members of the Retreat Committee for all of their hard work -- Carrie Blanchette, Abee Boyles, Priyanka Bhattacharya, and Verietta Williams. We would like to thank the students who participated by joining us for the weekend, giving talks, or being on the student panel, and invite all UPG students to join us next year for our second annual UPG retreat! 
 

Pictures from the weekend:

Alice prepares for our arrival.
Verietta, our AV guru...don't you dare go over 10 minutes
Eating lunch.  Mmm....pizza.
Checking into the Sheraton - Taking over the lobby
Chilling on the Steps - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The Indoor Pool, yes!
Jack and his Pufferfish
A few talks - Charlie, Daniel, Dave
Having Dinner
Our knowledgable Student Panel
Relaxing in the evening
The Faculty Panel - Marcy, Doug, Greg
Frisbee on the beach
Volleyball on the beach
Heather with her baby girl
By the waves