UBC Physics & Astronomy Graduate Open House

March 21-22, 2014

Information for participants

[Potential Supervisors |  Accommodations | Links | Can't Make It Mar 21-22? | Details]

Your primary contact for this event is Matt Choptuik 

E-mail:    matt@phas.ubc.ca
Cell:        778-323-4887
Office:     604-822-2412

Primary event location: Room 318 of the Hennings building (main Physics & Astronomy building)

Checklist

1. Getting to the Hennings Building from the campus bus loops:  There is currently major construction in the vicinity of Hennings which makes getting to it from the bus loops a bit more tricky than usual.  Click HERE for a map that shows schematics of recommended routes.  Note that the route from the North Loop (where the 99 bus, for example, terminates), goes through the Student Union Building. Once inside Hennings, and assuming that you have entered from East Mall, take the stairs to the 3rd floor (the ground floor is the 1st), turn left, take a few steps, turn right, and 318 is at the far end of the (long) corridor.
   
   
2. Be sure to save all boarding passes to submit with your reimbursement claim.
   
   
3. Transport to and from the airport: The most straightforward option here is to use a cab, but particularly with the Canada Line Skytrain and dependent on where you want to go when you arrive, public transport (Translink) may also be a good option.  The Translink main site is HERE, and includes a trip planner. 
   
   
4. On Friday we have scheduled time---11:45 AM-12:30 PM and 1:30 PM-5:00 PM---for you to meet prospective supervisors.  A current list of those researchers who will be available for visits can be found HERE.
   
   If you are interested in having us help you put together a schedule of visits, please contact Angela Liu, (aliu@phas.ubc.ca) and CC me.  Otherwise, you can proceed on a more informal basis, by dropping in on the various labs and offices during the times we have scheduled for that. Note, however, that some prospective supervisors would like you to e-mail them in advance, indicating that you would like to meet with them.
   
   
5. Tour sign up: There will be guided tours of the BC Cancer Agency, AMPEL (Advanced Materials  and Process Engineering Laboratory) and TRIUMF (Canada's national lab for particle and nuclear physics).  Please register your interest in taking any/all of these using this Doodle poll.  You will still be able to take the tours if you don't sign up, but participation in the poll will be greatly appreciated so that we know what numbers to expect.  (Note that the poll is anonymous so that particpants' names are known only to the poll administrator.)
   

Preliminary Schedule of Activities

Friday, March 21

Welcomes & Research Presentations: Friday March 21, 0830-1130

Saturday March 22

Accommodations

• Billeting with local Physics & Astnonomy graduate student
• Send e-mail to gsc@phas.ubc.ca requesting a billet, and supplying the details of your travel itinerary (including airlines, flights, arrival and departure times.
  
  
• Private On-Campus (Make your own reservations in all cases)
  
• Green College
  
• (Give Matt as UBC Contact: Prof MW Choptuik, Physics & Astronomy, 822-2412, choptuik@phas.ubc.ca)
  
• Carey Centre Residence
  
• (Give Matt as UBC Contact: Prof MW Choptuik, Physics & Astronomy, 822-2412, choptuik@phas.ubc.ca)
• St John's College
• (Give Matt as UBC Contact: Prof MW Choptuik, Physics & Astronomy, 822-2412, choptuik@phas.ubc.ca, and state that you are attending the Graduate Open House)
  
• TRIUMF House
• UBC Conference Center
  
  
• Private Off-Campus (Make your own reservations in all cases)
  
• Jericho Hostel
  
• Sylvia Hotel
  

Links

• Physics and Astronomy Department (PHAS) home page
• PHAS Graduate program home page
• Researchers
  
• UBC home page
• Maps etc.
• Hennings building (main astronomy/physics building)
• Brimacombe building (AMPEL)
  
• Chem/Phys building
• NEC Building
• Koerner Pavillion
  
• Faculty of Graduate Studies home page
• Information for prospective students
• Accommodation / housing information
  
• Faculty of Graduate Studies page
• AMSRentsline.com
  
• Vancouver area public transport (Translink)
• Note that the airport is now served by very convenient rapid transit (Canada Line Skytrain)
• Tourism Vancouver

Can't Make It to the Open House?

• We will reimburse up to $500 (Canadian) of your travel expenses.
• We will arrange for a billet with a graduate student, should you wish, or we can help you find private accommodations.

Details

Should you have any questions that aren't answered here, send e-mail to Matt.

1. Organized activities will commence at 8:30 AM March 21 in Hennings 318 and will conclude after lunch on March 22 (roughly 3:00 PM).   Ideally, you should plan your travel so that you can be on the UBC campus for this time period, and you may want to extend your stay, either prior to or following the open house, so that you can see more of Vancouver. 
   
   
2. As stated in your offer letter we will reimburse up to $500 (Canadian) of the travel expenses related to your attendance at the event.  Reimbursement will be done after you return home from the open house, as described below.
   
   
3. Given the limited amount of time until the open house, the most urgent matter for you to deal with is purchase of tickets for air travel to Vancouver International (YVR). We ask that you book and pay for the tickets yourself: again, we will reimburse you (up to a maximum of $500) after you return home.  Once you have booked your travel, please send the full details, including airline(s), flight numbers, and arrival and departure times to Matt Choptuik (matt@phas.ubc.ca)
   
   
4. The second most urgent matter is arranging for accommodation. Should you wish, we willl arrange for you to stay with a local graduate student.  This will minimize overall travel costs as well as give you a chance to interact informally with someone who has first-hand knowledge of the UBC PHAS grad experience.  In the past, almost all of our open house attendees have asked to be billeted with a grad student, and we encourage you to do the same. If you want to be billeted, send e-mail to gsc@phas.ubc.ca with your request.
   
   If you don't want to be billeted, see ABOVE for some on- and off-campus options. We would ask that you make your own reservations in this case. 
   
   
5. We will do our best to provide most your meals free of charge during the open house: this will include a light breakfast Friday morning at UBC, dinner at a nice restaurant Friday evening and lunch on both Friday and Saturday.
   
   
6. We will provide some transit tickets to facilitate your local travel.
   
   
7. Once you have booked your travel and have made arrangements for accommodations, we can start helping you set up a schedule of meetings with prospective research supervisors and other professors with whom you might want to speak.  A list of professors who will be available on Friday will be maintained here.  Since getting our busy faculty members organized is always a bit like herding cats, keep checking the list, since it will lengthen, probably right up to the day before the festivities begin!
   
   You are also encouraged to peruse the links available via the list of researchers in the department.  Note that this list includes postdocs, research associates and emeritus (retired) professors, so in terms of possible supervisors, you will generally want to be looking at the Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors. Also note that the individual web pages accessible through the summary page will usually tell you whether or not the faculty member is accepting new students.
   
   When you have decided on some professors that you would like to meet with, send an e-mail with your list to Angela Liu. Your list can include names of people who are of interest to you, and who are accepting students, but who have not yet provided their availability on Friday afternoon.  We will do our best to arrange meetings wherever possible.
   
   
8. On Friday morning before lunch there will be a guided tour of the UBC campus led by a PHAS grad student, and which you will be free to join.
   
   
9. On Friday afternoon there will be a guided tour of the Advanced Materials and Processs Engineering Laboratory (AMPEL). Assembly will be at 3:30 PM in Henn 318 for those who wish to participate.
    
   
10. On Saturday morning there will be a guided tour of TRIUMF (Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics). Assembly will be at 9:45 AM in Henn 318 for those who wish to participate.
    
    
11. REIMBURSEMENT PROCEDURE:  Once you have returned home from the open house, simply send us (via regular mail) your travel receipts including:
    
    
1. A copy of your airline tickets. A copy of an e-ticket is fine, but ensure that it clearly shows how much you paid for the ticket.
2. Your boarding passes (this is important, so be careful to save them).
3. Receipts for accommodations, if applicable.
4. Receipts for local transportation.  In particular, should you use the transit system to get from the airport to your billet/UBC and vice versa, save your transit tickets if they were not supplied to you.
   
5. Receipts should be mailed to
   
   Oliva dela Cruz Cordero
   Graduate Coordinator
   Dept of Physics and Astronomy
   University of British Columbia
   6224 Agricultural Road
   Vancouver BC CANADA
   V6T 1Z1