Ph.D. Program in Biological Sciences in Public Health
July-December 2024 Schedule
Subject to change and will be updated on a rolling basis
*All times = EST via Zoom
Tuesday, July 2
Pick-up HUID cards at 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur Room 133 (NRB building across from Aliqouts Cafe) from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m
9:45am – Arrive and check-in at HSPH FXB Security Desk, FXB Lobby
10:00am– 11:30pm – BPH Student Welcome Meeting and Review of BPH Guidelines
with Program Director, Flaminia Catteruccia and Associate Director, Tatevik Holmgren
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room
11:30 – 12:30pm – Welcome Lunch
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room
1:00 – 3:45pm – Rising G2 Science Talks
HMS/Goldenson 122
4:00 – 6:00pm – DBS BBQ with BPH community
HMS Quad (rain location: Courtyard Café)
Wednesday, July 3
12:30pm – 2:00pm – G1 Faculty Talks with Flaminia Catteruccia (IID) and Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire (IID) – HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (lunch will be served)
2:30pm – 3:30pm – Lab Orientation with Jaimie Sixsmith (IID)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room
4:00pm – 5:00pm – Therapeutics Graduate Program info session
HMS/TMEC 144
Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5
University Holiday: Independence Day
Monday, July 8
Deadline: Rotation 1 registration forms due to program office. See lab rotation schedule and guidelines.
Tuesday, July 9
7:00pm – 10:30pm
Red Sox vs. Oakland Athletics outing for all BPH students and summer interns
Fenway Park, Boston
(RSVP details to be announced on Slack)
Thursday, July 11
BPH Retreat – All day
Wylie Inn and Convention Center, Beverly, MA
Friday, July 12
BPH Retreat – All day
Wylie Inn and Convention Center, Beverly, MA
Monday, July 15
Rotation 1 start date
Wednesday, July 17
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Brendan Manning (MET) and Jeff Dvorin (IID)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
Saturday, July 20
9:30AM – 12:00pm
Kayaking on the Charles River Outing for all BPH students and summer interns
(RSVP details to be announced)
Meet the group at Charles River Canoe & Kayak’s Boston rental facility by 10:00AM
at 1071 Soldier’s Field Road, Boston
Wednesday, July 24
11:00 pm – 12:30 pm
BPH Mentoring Up Workshop (mandatory for all G1s)
with Deepali Ravel, Director of Education, Infectious Diseases Consortium and
Graduate Program in Bacteriology (GPiB) and Lauren Essler,
Curriculum Fellow for the Graduate Program in Bacteriology (GPiB)
(lunch will be served)
FXB 301
1:00 pm – 3:30 pm
BPH Community & Culture Workshop (mandatory for all G1s)
with Xavier du Maine, HILS Assistant Director of Diversity and Inclusion
FXB 301
Thursday, July 25
12:00pm – 1:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Phyllis Kanki (IID) and Wendy Garrett (IID)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (lunch will be served)
4:00pm – 6:00pm
BPH Summer Intern Research Presentations (optional)
FXB Atrium, HSPH
Thursday, August 1
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Sheng (Tony) Hui (MET) and Sudha Biddinger (MET)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
Wednesday, August 7
Crimson Cart opens for HSPH courses
“Check-In” is Open (Required at the start of every academic year for all FAS students) – During online check-in, you will be asked to acknowledge critical university documents and update your personal information in my.harvard. You cannot register for courses until you complete check-in.
(Fall 2024 check-in deadline for all FAS students is Tuesday, September 3rd at 11:59pm ET)
Thursday, August 8
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Zac Nagel (EH) and Bryan Bryson (IID)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
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Monday, August 12 – Friday, August 23
NEUROBIO 306QC Quantitative Methods for Biologists (August bootcamp)– (Optional, but highly recommended)
The goal of this camp is to introduce you to programming in the PYTHON environment and to show you the power this provides for analyzing data and for gaining intuition about the behavior of complex systems through the use of numerical simulations. Some of you, upon encountering in the previous sentence words like “programming” and “numerical simulations,” will feel the cold hand of fear grip your stomach, because you have never done any programming and, in fact, have tried to avoid math as much as possible. If so, YOU ARE PRECISELY THE PERSON WE HAD IN MIND as we were planning the course. We are aiming to help you break through this barrier of darkness and fear into the radiant sunshine of quantitative enlightenment. The true beauty of PYTHON, as we will personally demonstrate, is that it allows people who are not mathematically adept (e.g. some of the instructors of this course) to use powerful numerical methods and visualization tools to gain an understanding of concepts that are very difficult to grasp analytically.
Course Notes: The camp is primarily designed for those of you with no prior programming experience. If you fit this description, you should definitely plan to take the course. It is critical to be familiar with a scientific programming language with which to improve your quantitative literacy throughout graduate school.
Please note: you can enroll in the boot camp for 2 course credits. The course name is “Neurobiology 306qc”
Meeting Dates/Times:
- Week of August 12
- meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in Cambridge from 10:00am-4:00pm each day (one-hour break from 2pm-3pm)
- meets on Tuesday and Thursday in Longwood from 1:00pm-5:00pm each day (drop-in/homework)
- Week of August 19
- meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in Cambridge at TBA from 10:00am-4:00pm each day
- meets on Tuesday and Thursday in Longwood at TBA from 1:00pm- 5:00pm each day
If you have any questions about the boot camp, please feel free to contact Jennie_Epp@hms.harvard.edu.
Course instructors: Rick Born, Mike Springer, or Ella Batty
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Thursday, August 15
11:00am – HSPH course registration begins
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Jean Schaffer (MET) and Nora Kory (MET)
MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
Friday, August 19
FAS Course registration for incoming students begins
FAS Crimson Cart opens – read more about Crimson Cart and course enrollment
Thursday, August 22
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Dyann Wirth (IID) and Curtis Huttenhower (Biostastistics)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
Monday, August 26
First Day of HSPH classes
Tuesday, August 27
Harvard Griffin GSAS Welcomes events:
Convocation, 1pm to 3pm, Sanders Theatre
Resource Fair, 3pm to 5pm, GSAS Student Center at Lehman Hall (inside)
Social Hour, 4pm to 6pm, sponsored by the Graduate School Alumni Association, Griffin GSAS Student Center, Lehman Hall Patio
Wednesday, August 28
August 28-30 – HSPH Orientation (details TBA)
Harvard Griffin GSAS Welcomes events:
Families Brunch, 10:00 a.m. to noon, Student Center at Harvard Griffin GSAS at Lehman Hall
International Student Orientation, 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m., Emerson Hall
International Student Reception, 4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m., Student Center at Harvard Griffin GSAS at Lehman Hall
Thursday, August 29
4:00pm – 5:30pm
G1 Faculty Talks: Kris Sarosiek (EH) and Dan Neafsey (IID)
HSPH Building 2, MET 102 conference room – (dinner will be served)
Harvard Griffin GSAS Welcomes events:
Student Involvement Fair, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m., Lehman Hall Patio (SCC 10th floor, rain location)
Student Center Open House Party, Lehman Hall, 8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. (no entry after 10:00 p.m.)
Monday, September 2
University Holiday: Labor Day
Tuesday, September 3
FAS course registration deadline for full-term courses
First Day of FAS classes
Fall 2024 check-in deadline for all FAS students at 11:59pm ET
Saturday, September 7
Harvard Griffin GSAS Welcomes event:
Lunch on the Lawn, noon–3:00 p.m., Natural History Museum Lawn
Monday, September 16
Rotation 1 end date
Friday, September 20
Deadline: Rotation 2 registration forms due to program office
Monday, September 23
Rotation 2 start date
Monday, October 14
University Holiday: Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Monday, November 11
Veteran’s Day – classes are held
Wednesday, November 27 – Sunday, December 1st
Thanksgiving Recess
Monday, December 2nd
Rotation 2 end date
Academic or Personal Support
No matter what kind of support you need during your time at Harvard, the Harvard Griffin GSAS Office of Student Services is there to help. To schedule a virtual or in-person appointment with Katie Mulroy, Director of Student Services, you can use this link: https://gsasstuserv.youcanbookme.com/, call: 617-495-5005, or email: stuserv@fas.harvard.edu. Katie and the office’s staff are there to assist and support students in any way possible, directing you to the Harvard resources that would be most helpful for your situation.
