The chemical and biomolecular engineering Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC), a representative body of graduate students that facilitates relationships among graduate students and department administration, has announced its members for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Ben Chiu and Alison Kim are co-presidents of this year’s board. They will lead the new group of officers, which consists of seven ChBE graduate students.
These members include: Parsa Mashayekh, Treasurer; Princy Kaitharan Chacko, Symposium and Professional Development Co-Chair; Harita Vasamsetti, Symposium and Outreach Co-Chair; Akshay Gurumoorthi, Professional Development Co-Chair; Rashi Sultania, Symposium Co-Chair and Communications Chair; Sahand Shafeei, Community Engagement Co-Chair; Ryan C. Chow, Academic Networking Co-Chair.
To continue building on the work of previous GSAC members, the board will aim to foster a welcoming and collaborative community through the increased use of receptions following seminars.
Through their role as co-presidents, Chiu and Kim are eager to improve the lives of grad students through small, but real, impacts. They hope to provide opportunities for students to get to know one another from different groups.
One way they plan to do this is by prioritizing research discussions and encouraging graduate students to spend more time with others outside of their research field. They also hope to strengthen the graduate student community by hosting a student-invited speaker and holding GSAC led workshops for fellowship applications.
The GSAC board is also working towards building more of a united community across SCS, collaborating with the Chemistry GSAC to increase the number of social events on campus.
Overall, they are excited to familiarize themselves with students, faculty, and staff through planning various events.
Learn more about GSAC on the ChBE Illinois website