Biomedical Engineering Society

Membership

UVa Student Chapter of BMES To join the UVa chapter, simply pick up an application from one of the manila envelopes hanging on the BMES bulletin board, MR5 second floor, or you can download an application here. Complete the form and place it in any of the officers' mailboxes, also on the second floor. You may become a local member at any time, but if you plan on applying for a travel award through BMES, your local membership application must be submitted by November 15th, 2007!! Membership Benefits In direct response to student feedback and student concerns, BMES has put together a wide variety of benefits and incentives available exclusively to local members. Annual dues are only $15, but take a look at how much more it gets you! If there is something you would like to see put into place, please contact either Ankit Tejani (graduate president) or Peter Rios (undergraduate president). Travel Awards The Biomedical Engineering Society has funding reserved to assist undergraduate and graduate members traveling to meetings and conferences. In order to apply for a travel award, you must be a member in good standing of the UVa student chapter of BMES. Please submit the following materials in a packet to Ankit Tejani at least two weeks prior to the date of the conference for which the travel award is being requested. If your attendance at the conference depends on you receiving a travel award through BMES, we recommend you submit your application packet as soon as possible. Please submit: --The completed application form. --Receipts (if already paid) or expected costs (via printouts of itineraries, lodging rates, etc) for all funds requested (travel, lodging, registration fees, etc). Please place all completed applications in Ankit Tejani’s mailbox in MR-5. The student travel awards committee will meet approximately once per month to decide on the amount to be awarded to each request. Please note that we may not be able to provide funds for every applicant and you may not receive the full amount you have requested. Currently, the maximum award per member per conference is $500. Members may apply for and receive multiple travel awards as long as they are for different conferences. Networking Events Through both prior and newly-formed partnerships with other graduate student societies, colleagues at the Darden Graduate School of Business, and UVa's Graduate Schools in Medicine, Law, and Nursing, BMES is pleased to offer invitations to its members for networking events, business seminars, entrepreneurship meetings, and many more upcoming events held throughout the Charlottesville and Central Virginia area. Many of these events are closed to the public and closed to students not directly enrolled in the particular school, but they will be open to BMES members in good standing. Most of these events are also invitation-only and require registration fees upwards of $100 or more due to the vast number of resources being shared at the event. These fees can be waived for BMES members in good standing, provided they let the BMES president and treasurer know of their attendance. If you are interested in attending an event but are unsure of whether BMES can subsidize the registration costs, please send an email to the BMES president and treasurer. They will do all they can to help. Much of this would not have been possible without the help of Darden's Health Care Club and Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club, the Virginia Society of Law and Technology, our Coulter Program directors, and many others. Fee Waivers BMES members in good standing may also apply for registration fee waivers for local symposia and conferences. Many times these smaller conferences are the ideal way to start making contacts and collaborations with other students and professors at UVa and the surrounding research institutions. The fees are usually waived to attendees who have had an abstract accepted, but not for non-presenting attendees. Through working with other graduate departments in UVa's School of Medicine, BMES members may attend these events for a greatly reduced rate or even for free. Again, if you plan on attending an event like this, please email the local BMES president and treasurer before registering, so that we can make sure you pay the subsidized fee. In order to apply for a registration fee waiver, please complete and submit the same travel award application linked above. BMES will also be advertising such upcoming conferences, symposia, and colloquia so that all undergraduate and graduate students have an opportunity to attend them. Clinical Shadowing BMES is also coordinating a clinical shadowing program for undergraduate and graduate members interested in pursuing a career in medicine or investigating more of the clinical aspects to their research. We are in the process of recruiting practicing clinical professors to serve as mentors, and we should have a list of clinicians and specialties available by late 2007 or early 2008. BMES members who wish to shadow these clinicians may contact our clinical shadowing committee to set up an initial contact time. Stay tuned for all of the details about this program. Industry Tours BMES has traveled to many exciting biotechnology research parks in recent years and is planning an even bigger trip this year to the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Though this event will be open to all undergraduate and graduate students, seating will open up to BMES members first, and fees will be greatly subsidized for BMES members. Again, stay tuned for all of the details about this exciting upcoming trip! National Chapter of BMES You may also wish to join the national Biomedical Engineering Society. The national chapter forms are located on the BMES bulletin board as well, or, if you prefer, you can download an application here. We encourage you to keep a photocopy of these forms before submitting them directly to the national office. Students who chose to be a part of the National BMES Organization may also receive several benefits directly from the national offices, including scholarship opportunities, travel awards, and more. Members will also receive monthly information about new service opportunities and updates about the BME world through the national "BMES Bulletin" mailer.