The American Society for Microbiology has recently inaugurated a STUDENT CHAPTER with five students under the supervision of ASM Ambassador to Indian Ocean Region, Prof. The objective of the student chapter is to Propagate Microbiology under the aegis of ASM amongst undergraduate students especially through social media, workshops and training programs. The Five students who are the part of the St
udent Chapter are:
CO-PRESIDENTS
1. ROSHAN KUMAR
SECRETARY
4. UDITA MUKHERJEE
TREASURER
5. NAMITA NAYYAR
The First Meeting of the Student Chapter took place on 19th November 2013 in the 54th Annual AMI Conference held at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The Meeting was presided by Todd Peterson, Senior Programme Manager ASM and Prof. Victor DiRita, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School. The main agenda of the meeting was to discuss the goals of the student chapter for the first year. What are the benefits that ASM provides to undergraduate students was a common question raised in the meeting. The following points were discussed in the meeting:
First and Foremost it was decided that a Webinar will be made elucidating the benefits of becoming an ASM member. The webinar will aim at giving an introduction of ASM and explaining the benefits of becoming a member. This short webinar will be played in the beginning or in the end of the main webinars. This will help in attracting students towards ASM. It was decided that the Student Chapter Members will create a Student Chapter page that will help in the publicity of ASM. Eventually the page will consist of a link to these webinars, exclusively for members. However this point still needs more discussion. No doubt that the webinars are very informative and detailed, however hands on training in microbiology will be equally beneficial for the students. It was decided that workshops on the basic experiments in microbiology will be conducted from time to time in various colleges for the benefit of the students. It was proposed by the ASM leadership that a quarterly magazine may be published by the ASM where the students will be able to publish their reviews. Again, this point needs further discussion and clarifications! Many undergraduate and postgraduate students are keen to apply abroad for their higher studies. What are the advantages that they receive on becoming ASM members was the common question. To this, the ASM leadership proposed that a derailed procedure of the application process will be provided to them to facilitate their interests. Or maybe a webinar describing the procedure can be made. A database can be made providing the students a link to the Universities and courses of their interest.
28/11/2013
