August 17, 2015, marks matriculation at the Watson School, the annual time of year when we have to remind ourselves what 鈥渕atriculation鈥� entails. This year, our research (about thirty seconds of googling) took us to its etymology: Latin matriculare 鈥渢o register鈥�, from matricula 鈥減ublic register鈥�, from matrix 鈥渓ist, roll鈥�. There鈥檚 also some confusing and perhaps confused, connection with 鈥渨omb鈥� and 鈥渕other鈥� (Greek metra and meter, respectively). So it turns out, that pretty well sums up matriculation at the Watson School鈥攖he Latin origin, at least鈥攖he annual registration of our students. And especially our new first-year students, starting out on their graduate school adventure at 黑料吃瓜资源.
This year, we welcome seven students to the School: Ben, Kristina, Matt, Katie, Ally, Sofya, and Tumi. They come with a range of research interests, from chromosome segregation to cognitive neuroscience. We again have a very international class, with six nationalities represented. In contrast to last year鈥檚 heavy dose of the University of Cambridge, this year we have students from the Universities of York, Bristol, and Edinburgh (in the UK) as well as one student who did, indeed, spend time at the University of Cambridge. We can鈥檛 seem to avoid it. The other first-years come from San Jose State, UMass Amherst, and Saint Anselm College (in the US) and Lomonosov Moscow State University (in Russia).
This year, matriculation is taking place in 95掳F temperatures with what feels like 95% humidity. Urey Cottage, home of the Watson School and thus hallowed site of the matriculation process, is being painted—with pungently fumey oil paint. It was also sprayed for hornets. The last time our incoming first-years were here, during the interview weeks in January and February, about six feet of snow covered the ground with more on the way. The students from the northeast ended up with cancelled flights and ersatz buses and any mess of trouble getting back home. The students from the UK found the snow fascinating and managed to construct a snowman. Our Russian student didn鈥檛 seem to notice anything was amiss.
And despite all that, here they are, matriculating.
So what鈥檚 next for our matriculated first-years? A lot of Blackford apples and brownies. The Eukaryotic mRNA Processing meeting wine and cheese. WSBS t-shirts. MacBooks and textbooks. Photo shoot. And as always, Watson School pens. Molecular and cell biology bootcamp. Python programming. Quantitative biology bootcamp. More pens? Then the start of the SRL, SEE, and SD courses, even if the students have long since forgotten what those initials stand for. (It鈥檚 Scientific Reasoning & Logic, Scientific Exposition & Ethics, and Specialized Disciplines.)
It鈥檚 the start of another year. Another great year. Another great class.
Salve discipuli! Enjoy the first year.