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Welcome To Cañada College MESA

Congratulations!   Many MESA students were very busy during the winter break!! 

Omar Arriaga and Sagar Singh were selected as NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars and are working on a variety of NASA-related projects on-line this semester and they will have the chance to spend 3 days at NASA in Houston, TX or the Jet Propulsion Lab.   Marty Martinez spent two weeks during winter break at the UC Davis Center for Biophotonics.  Alex Meza spent a week in Seattle at Microsoft in an internship! Jose Covarrubias, Amanda Pitts, Michael Murphy and Christina Arenas spent 5 days in Boston with Professor Hoffman at the National Mathematics Conference.  Last weekend, Cañada College won a prize for the highest number of students (second only to UCLA and Berkeley!) at the Undergraduate Women in Physics Conference – attendees were Lourdes Perez, Mayra Rios, Adriana Fernandez, Fatima Fernandez, Amanda Pitts, Jacqueline Cortez, Geovanna Figueroa, Esther Chan. Maria Hernandez and Andrea Guzman.  
Welcome!  Physics students will be thrilled to meet Polin Yakak who is our new Physics 220 instructor and Physics Instructional Aide offering help with Physics in the MESA Center.

Where are YOU going with MESA?   There are two deadlines this Friday and now is the time to come to club meetings, field trips, conferences and workshops that will help you explore new opportunities!  

TO DO this week

  • Deadline FRIDAY the 27th  -- NASA/SFSU/Cañada Summer Internships - "Creating Opportunities for Minorities in Engineering, Technology, and Science" (COMETS) program -- a collaboration between Cañada College's Engineering Department and San Francisco State University School of Engineering.  If you have completed Math 251 and Physics 250 check it out -- Part-time and full-time, paid internships this summer!  http://www.canadacollege.edu/comets/
  • Deadline FRIDAY 27th!  Travel – Infinite Possibilities Math Conference – Interested in going to a math conference in Baltimore, March 30-31st?  Apply now for a travel grant.  Also, submit a proposal to present a poster or paper – come ask me or math professors for ideas.  Estimated cost for travel will be $550.  http://ipcmath.org/conference.html#TravelSupport
  • Tues & Thurs  @ 3pm with Norma - Need a Laptop?  Be a MESA Community Connects Ambassador – attend an info session to sign up and learn how you can qualify to earn a free laptop in exchange for doing community outreach.   Norma will also be checking out new laptops to students who have signed up to be a MESA Community Connects Ambassador on Mon, Tues or Thurs 1pm-4:30pm.
  • Tues @ 2-3:30pm – Workshop: Managing your Math Class – encore workshop offered by TRiO’s Pat Sehl @ Learning Center/TRiO (open to all)
  • Tues 3:30pm –  Club Meeting -- BHMS “Bridging Hispanic Minds to Success”  –  get involved to encourage ESL students and former ESL students to pursue further education.  Note to MESA California Connects Ambassadors – join the club to find opportunities to do outreach @ MESA Center room 9-257
  • Tues, 3:30pm – Robotics Club Meeting – Get involved designing a robot to enter into a competition this June!  To join canadaroboticsclub@googlegroups.com @ Engineering room 16-106
  • Wed @ 1-2:30pm – Workshop: Understanding Degree Works –offered by TRiO’s Melissa Alforja & Michell Foguet-Mendoza @ TRiO (open to all)
  • Wed 3:30pm – Club Meeting – Computer Club  – taking computer programming or interested in developing software?  Find out about Microsoft’s interest in sponsoring this club!   @ 9-251B
  • Thurs @ 2-3:30pm – Workshop: Getting the Most out of your Tutoring Session – encore workshop offered by TRiO’s Che Rodriguez & TRiO Teatro Popular!   @ Learning Center/TRiO (open to all)
  • Thurs @ 3:30pm – Field Trip!  Engineering Speaker “Choose Your Own Adventure” Trae Vassallo, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (venture capital).  Check out her bio at: http://kpcb.com/partner/trae-vassallo  talks about life decisions and technical careers from an inspiring group of women.  Leave from MESA at 3:30pm or meet at Stanford Thornton 110 at 4:10pm http://www.stanford.edu/group/mewomen/
  • Sign up now!  Pre-Med SUMMA Conference @ Stanford Med School (Sat. Feb 11th) - Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance (SUMMA) student organization hosts one of the largest pre-medical conferences on the west coast.  The goal of the conference is to increase diversity in health professions to care for underserved communities.  http://summa.stanford.edu/conference/    Conference is sold out, but MESA has 10 spots for MESA students to attend for free.  Fill out a “Yes, I want to go to SUMMA” form posted outside Cathy’s office 9-251A – California Connects participants MUST complete their 12 hours working with 7 people in order to go to the SUMMA conference.
  • TBD – Club Meeting – SHPE/Engineering Club  – majoring in engineering or want to learn more about it?  Learn about SHPE Regional Conference and other spring events.  @ 9-257
  • TBD – Club Meeting – WISE “Women in Science & Engineering”  – if you’re a woman interested in math, science or engineering (or learning about those fields) Go to Stanford for the Women in Engineering seminars!  @ 9-257  wisecanada2011@gmail.com
  • TBD – Club Meeting – Pre-Med/Health Club – interested in a career in a medical field?  Come sign up to attend Stanford SUMMA Pre-Med Conference.  @ 9-257

California Connects Opportunities
Copies of the California Connects tracking form are posted outside my office.  You need to fill out one form for each individual you train.  One page is info about the person you’re working with and the other page is info about yourself and the time you spent with that person. 
Your goal:  train at least 7 individual people and spend at least 12 hours (total -- not per person)

  • ESL Students Need Help Using the Internet–  Thurs 7:30-8:30pm  -Feb 6 & 8th Sequoia Adult School on Middlefield ESL 901
  • Help Mountain View Senior Citizens – the senior services in Mountain View would love your help in their Tech Center to lend a hand and help seniors learn how to do new things on the internet Mon to Friday 8:30am-5pm.  
    Contact:  Diane Atienza 650-903-6448 Diane.atienza@mountainview.gov
  • Contact Alex Meza for many places and times that you can complete your California Connects outreach/training commitment by helping ESL students – email Alex - matter2chief@yahoo.com
  • Here’s an idea – contact your Math Jam students offer to help them apply for Cañada Scholarship online

Upcoming Scholarship Deadlines

  • due 2/1 - Silicon Valley Engineering Education Award $1,000 for future engineers (part-time and full-time students can apply) http://www.svec.org/scholarship-awards.html
  • DUE at NOON FRIDAY 2/3!  - Karl S. Pister Leadership Scholarship – if you have applied to UC Santa Cruz for fall 2012 -- application available at the Transfer Center and due to the Transfer Center– contact Soraya Sohrabi (9-142) – Sohrabi@smccd.edu
  • due 2/15  Silicon Valley Community Foundation –multiple scholarships for local students -
    http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/content/scholarship-key-dates deadline Feb 15th3pm @ Cathy’s office  (Cathy will drop them off for you)
  • due 2/16  Cañada College Scholarship application is now open. Apply online at https://starsonline.smccd.edu/Stars   (open to ALL majors, all immigration status) for students both returning to and/or transferring from Cañada in the Fall, deadline Feb 16th
  • American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholarships – up to $5000, open to majors in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering or related majors. apply online, deadline Mar 1st www.acs.org/scholars Past recipients: Jeremy Morales, Xochi Rios
  • due 3/30  NSF Scholarship for $3,000-$4,000.  Get your FAFSA done now and apply if you are in Math 120 or above. http://canadacollege.edu/nsfscholar/



More Scholarships - lots of $ for you www.smccd.edu/accounts/canmesa/scholarships.html

Internships – TONS more (many with deadlines approaching soon) www.smccd.edu/accounts/canmesa/internships.html

  • deadline Feb 15th -  Berkeley – Transfer-To-Excellence (all MESA majors) summer internship & summer course at UC Berkeley.  For students who have only one year left at Cañada (transferring in fall 2013), plus 3.25 GPA in math, science & engineering classes.  Application:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X6FX93Q
  • SMDEP (Summer Medical & Dental Education Program) – free housing, food and travel plus stipend to spend 6 weeks in a med/dental school and get experience in a hospital – rolling admissions so apply ASAP (open to all Canada pre-med/dental students) www.smdep.org
  • Stanford Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP)– spend 6 weeks at Stanford’s Med School in partnership with UC Berkeley School of Public Health and UCSF.  Open to Canada students in their FINAL year at Canada.  Apply on-line http://coe.stanford.edu/sshcop/
  • LOFT Internships -partnership http://loftnetwork.org 
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internships – work for the summer with the EPA!  There are also opportunities to volunteer on-campus this spring as an EPA ecoAmbassador – www.epa.gov/careers/stuopp.html

MentorNet -- Get a mentor who studied your major and is now working in industry in your chosen field.  As long as you use your my.smccd.edu email address and are majoring in science, engineering or math you are eligible.  Sign up at www.mentornet.net and hit JOIN NOW or FIND A MENTOR. Come to the WISE meeting on Tuesday to find out more.


The UCSF Osher Mini Medical School is designed to provide members of the community the opportunity to see and hear what goes on every day in UCSF’s classrooms and research labs with lectures from the same faculty who are on the front lines, teaching students in the health professions.  http://www.ucsfcme.com.whsites.net/minimedicalschool/


Get Connected via Facebook – search for these groups and get connected:

  • MESA Cañada College
  • California MESA Program – updates on internships & resources in California
  • Cañada Honors Program

Where’s Cathy?  .  Monday afternoon I have meetings off-campus.  Otherwise, I’m in and around the MESA office getting lots of new students signed up.  I will also be working away from my office sometimes to get the MESA grant reports completed this week.

         Cathy – Cathy Lipe, MESA Program Coordinator, office 9-251A  lipec@smccd.edu

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