As I wrap up my time as the ASB Student Rep, I’d like to thank everyone who has made this such a great experience. Thank you to the other members of the Executive Board for always looking out for the students and making ASB such a student-friendly society. Thank you to the Student Committee for all your feedback, ideas, and work to organize some great events! Finally, thank you to the ASB student chapters for bringing your leadership and love of biomechanics to your institutions. It has been an honor to serve the ASB community over the past two years, and I hope you have felt supported as a trainee. Keep sharing your ideas and hopes for the future! After the conference in Madison, Paula Kramer will take over as your new Student Rep. I look forward to seeing what Paula brings to the students of ASB.

We have hosted many great events since the last annual meeting, and we hope you have found them useful. This winter, we wrapped up our AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) series with our tenth episode. Our AMA series featured recently-published students who shared their research and experience with the publishing process. Be sure to check out the recordings of our AMA events. In the past year, we have also continued to host regular professional development workshops and seminars virtually, including a career panel and resume workshop.

We cannot wait to share with you the many events we have planned for trainees at the upcoming annual conference in Madison. See below for a list of trainee-focused events in Madison:

1. Student Welcome Event and Student Night Out

Don’t forget to stop by the Student Welcome Event right before the Opening Reception to get to know fellow students before heading to the larger reception. Then, join us after the Opening Reception for this year’s Student Night Out, which will be held at High Noon Saloon. Meet other students and check out this cool local venue to start the conference off right. Appetizers will be provided, with additional food and drink available for purchase.

2. Mentor Match

Take advantage of one of our most popular events, the mentor/mentee match! A survey will be sent out in July to gather information regarding your interests to fit you with a suitable mentor. We are grateful to always have a large number of mentors from academia, industry, and government. Many students report lasting relationships with their mentors even after the meeting.

3. Professional Development Roundtables

The student committee has been hard at work preparing an excellent event for career and professional development. We will have a series of groups addressing topics in both academia and industry. Some academic topics will include the preparation of scholarship/fellowship applications for national funding agencies (e.g., NIH, NSF), manuscript writing and reviewing, and teaching. Non-academic topics will include, but are not limited to: government and industry career paths, technology development and entrepreneurship, as well as equity, diversity and inclusion in academia. There will also be roundtables dedicated specifically to postdoctoral fellows seeking next steps and undergraduate/masters students looking to apply to graduate school.

4. ASB Student Chapter Meeting

We will hold our annual summer Student Chapter Meeting over lunch. The purpose of this event is for members of ASB Student Chapters to come together to exchange ideas and ask questions about what their chapters have been doing over the past year, as well as provide a space for students interested in starting an ASB chapter to ask any questions they have about the process.

I am looking forward to meeting some of you in person in August and continuing to build connections with others virtually. As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or ideas.