Welcome to SQ Online: An Editorial

Welcome to SQ Online, a site for students like you. We believe that the thinkers, believers and doers which comprise the undergraduate biology population at UCSD deserve a place to learn and be inspired by one other. We’d like to share our thoughts behind pioneering this site, and we hope you will soon come to define what SQ Online means to you.

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SQ Online as a Community

On late evenings with my roommates, we would often discuss the significance of our time here. How has UCSD affected me? Will I be different when I leave this campus? We often identify ourselves with our goals whether it be a career in health, technology, research, teaching, etc. But at the heart of it, we are biology students first. It is our passion for the science of life that drew us here. We are committed to our curiosity. All 4,841 of us. While we are diverse in our background, we share a significant attribute; our willingness to learn more.

Almost a year ago, I gathered the editors to ask one simple question: How can we better serve our readers? The answer was unanimously bold. We already had a body of students with an insatiable curiosity for biology in common, but what was missing was a way to connect them all. A year later, we produced SQ Online. Herein lies the significance of our time with each other. We are continuously influenced by our peers and as a consequence we are each a reflection of our classmates. You will learn a great deal from the 40 or so professors you will take here. Imagine what you can learn from the 4,841 biologists that are enrolled alongside you. We are a part of an exuberant community. It’s time we embrace it.

— Kevin Perez, Editor-in-Chief

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SQ Online as an Undergraduate Spotlight

Words like discovery, innovation, technology, and advances are constantly used to describe the research focused environment of UC San Diego. UC San Diego fosters a distinct legacy in research, and is recognized as one of the top 15 research universities worldwide. The university is home to top tier research institutes like Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego Health System and is also affiliated with centers like the Salk Institute, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, and The Scripps Research Institute to name a few. UC San Diego’s impressive research track record has allowed for an equally impressive student presence in the research world.

Undergraduates at UC San Diego have the opportunity to not only work with faculty researchers and conduct their own research projects, but also to present and publish their work. The achievements of undergraduates and masters students conducting biological research in campus laboratories are featured at the annual Biological Sciences Student Research Showcase. Student researchers have the power to share their discoveries with the university campus as well as the rest of the world. Thus, it is the aim of Saltman Quarterly to celebrate the amazing research that students are conducting right here at UC San Diego to a wide audience.

— Sameeha Khalid, Executive Editor

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SQ Online as a Resource

Have you ever felt lost in the massive amount of information thrown at you as a biology student? Yes? We have too, and we want to help! SQ Online will contain important information about events and services provided by UCSD that can help you to achieve your goals as a biology student.

We will try to bring to your attention to anything that could benefit you during your time at UCSD, including articles about career options and organizations to join for specific interests. We hope that you will benefit from this website and we would really like to hear any feedback you have about what you like, what you don’t like, and what you think we should write about.

— Arjun Patel, Special Sections Editor

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SQ Online as a Student Platform

Read our Media Editor’s editorial to learn more about how SQ Online gives our community a voice with student blogs and buzz sections.

An Intro to Student Blogs and Buzz