Students line up to canoe

Eduardo Cuervo and his winning poster

Prateek Jaipuria and Hero Herodotou

This year's graduate student retreat -- a weekend event organized by students for students -- was held at the Haw River State Park in late September. "The 2008 retreat was a big success, so we've kept doing it," says retreat organizer Mac Mason, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department. "The real beauty of it is the opportunity to put all the graduate students in one place while fostering a technical atmosphere."

The weekend began with dinner and a poster session on Friday night, September 24th. The room was packed as students shared their research with peers. "The opportunity to see the spectrum of research that the older graduate students were doing was incredibly interesting and eye-opening," says first year graduate student Jannie Tan. During the poster session, students voted on their favorite posters. It was a great way for new students to identify and learn what makes a great poster, adds Tan. Eduardo Cuervo won best poster for his presentation of "MAUI: Making Smartphones Last Longer with Code Offload."

Saturday featured a student panel and talks by several faculty speakers, including new Dean of Natural Sciences, Professor Robert Calderbank, discussing his past work and current research. Department Chair Carlo Tomasi spoke about research funding and ethics, followed by a Q&A with Tomasi and Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Jun Yang, about Department administration. "We set it up to ask them questions, and they ended up asking us questions," says Mason. The exchange demonstrated positive communication between students and the administration in the Department, he adds.

Over 60 graduate students and professors attended the weekend, but it wasn't all work: students enjoyed hiking, canoeing, and playing cards, among other activities. The weekend concluded on Sunday with a talk on navigating a PhD by graduate student Christopher Painter-Wakefield and a panel on a day in the life of a faculty member, featuring Professors Ron Parr, Xiaowei Yang, and Benjamin Lee answering questions about what it's like to be a professor and how to become one.

The retreat was a great way to experience the range of research done in the Department, says Tan. "As a first year graduate student, I am grateful to hear more about the different possibilities of research here at Duke and am re-energized to push at the boundaries of research."