Graduate Student Profile—Sarah Vigmostad

Sarah Vigmostad is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering. Her recent research, "Hemodynamics in Stented Human Coronary Arteries with Implications to Restenosis," was among five top presentations among more than 100 students whose research and creative work was showcased at the 6th annual James F. Jakobsen Graduate Forum March 26 and 27, 2004.

Ms. Vigmostad, as President of the Graduate Student Senate, is an active advocate for graduate education. Read her recent letter to fellow graduate students:

I’ve just finished my fourth year as a graduate student, and I have been involved with GSS since my first year. In GSS, I was involved with the Social Committee, the Forum, and more recently as Treasurer, and through this involvement, I’ve become very passionate about building and improving our graduate student community. It’s all too easy as graduate students to become very isolated, but I think it’s important to have a balanced life while in graduate school. Taking your mind of your studies occasionally, finding ways to relax, and meeting people from all over campus who have similar goals, similar problems and issues, and yet diverse backgrounds and areas of interest is part of building graduate student community, and I hope to continue to do so as President of GSS.

The Graduate Student Senate offers many ways to become involved and active in the graduate community. The most obvious way is of course joining GSS. To find out more about joining, I encourage you to talk with your department or contact our Membership Officer (Jay Caldwell: jasoncaldwell@uiowa.edu) directly.

Even if you do not join GSS, feel free to join us at some of the events organized by GSS. Every year we have several social events, a graduate student conference, and brown bag lunches, all of which are great opportunities to meet graduate students from various departments across campus. These events will begin as soon as the fall semester begins, and I suggest you continue to check out our website for more information: http://www.uiowa.edu/~gss

Beginning this fall, we will be holding weekly lunches every Monday in River Room One at the IMU. This is a great chance for any graduate student to meet new people, talk about any concerns or issues they have had, and just get more familiar with GSS and The University of Iowa. These lunches are open to all graduate students, and unless we have a special guest, will not have an agenda, so that we can talk about anything graduate students want. Bring your lunch and join us from 12-1pm every Monday! I am looking forward to a great year with GSS. Please feel free to email me if you ever have any issues or concerns that you would like to see GSS get involved with, and I hope that we can work together to make graduate school as fulfilling as possible.

For more, download the latest issue of the Graduate Bulletin.