University of Texas at Austin

Student Life

Our graduate students have the opportunity to get involved in a number of student organizations and leadership groups within the Oden Institute and UT Austin. This participation is an important aspect of students’ social and professional development, providing opportunities to make and strengthen connections with their peers, faculty, alumni, and employers; develop individual interests, skills and abilities; and have a positive impact on the CSEM Program, the Oden Institute, the University of Texas, and the greater Austin community.

2019 Oden Institute CSEM students

CSEM Student Activities

CSEM Student Leadership

The CSEM Student Representatives are responsible for serving as the official avenue for bringing students concerns to the Graduate Studies Committee, arranging student social events, fostering faculty-student engagement, and assisting with graduate recruitment. Elections are held in the spring for the upcoming academic year.

Representatives for the 2023-24 academic year:

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

The Austin Student Chapter of SIAM works to broaden and strengthen the applied mathematics family at UT Austin and promote the exchange of ideas and information.

2018 SIAM summer school

Graduate and Postdoctoral Women of the Oden Institute

This organization provides a community to support and advance women graduate students and postdocs within the Oden Institute. It is open to all graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the Institute who share an interest in issues relevant to women pursuing research and teaching careers in the fields related to computational science, engineering, and mathematics.

Co-Chairs: Nicole Aretz and Ally Richardson

If you are interested in joining, please complete the Qualtrics Survey to be added to the mailing list to receive notifications of future activities and events.

Babuška Forum

The Babuška Forum is a seminar series started by Professor Ivo Babuška to expose students to interesting and curious topics relevant to computational engineering and science with technical content at the graduate student level (i.e. the focus of the series is on main ideas with some technical content). Seminar Credit will be given to those students who attend.

Visit latest events to view seminar and forum events.

CSEM Student Forum

The Student Forum is a seminar series given by current CSEM graduate students to their peers. The aim of the forum is to expose students to each other's research, encourage collaboration, and provide opportunities to practice presentation skills. First- and second-year CSEM students receive seminar credit for attending. There are two types of Student Forums: 1) Blitz presentations of 10-15 min given by 2-3 students or 2) Work/Research presentation given by single student for 50 minutes.

Visit latest events to view seminar and forum events.

Other Activities Around Campus

Graduate Student Assembly (GSA)

The GSA serves as the official voice of graduate students at UT Austin to administrators, staff, and faculty, as well as to the Texas Legislature and UT Board of Regents. Each graduate department at the university may elect a delegate to the GSA. The CSEM GSA representatives for the 2023–24 academic year are Bassel Saleh and Ivana Escobar Casterlin.

2018 Oden Institute CSEM students

UT Graduate Women in Computing (GWC)

The GWC is a graduate student organization with the mission of supporting women involved in computing research. The GWC welcomes membership by both women and men in any computing related field.

Cockrell School of Engineering Student Organizations

Links to organizations within various Cockrell School of Engineering academic departments: https://www.engr.utexas.edu/student-life/student-organizations

UT Austin Student Organizations

HornsLink is a private social network for students to connect with student organizations, university departments, activities and events on campus