The Link Lab Student Committee on Culture and Livability is a graduate student organization focused on building community through inclusivity. During a year of social distancing, the committee worked even harder to create opportunities for social gatherings in support of the well-being of students and faculty members of the Link Lab. The committee's work to keep everyone connected in the difficult time of pandemic culminated in the year-end picnic with family and friends to celebrate a successful year.Four UVA Engineering students serve in leadership of the committee:
o Lauren Bouchard, 2021 master's degree recipient in mechanical and aerospace engineering
o Ruchir Shah, computer engineering graduate student
o Lahiru Nuwan WIjayasingha, computer science Ph.D. student
o Wenqiang Chen, computer science Ph.D. student
The committee is mentored by Link Lab faculty member Brad Campbell, assistant professor with joint appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Jennifer Burman, Link Lab operations coordinator, provides event planning and communications support to the committee.
“As things were totally remote for most of the past academic year, we organized online meetups and gaming events,” said Shah. “Because community is so important to the culture of the Link Lab, as soon as COVID restrictions were relaxed, we felt it was important to create face-to-face opportunities for fun and camaraderie outdoors.”
The committee pivoted from virtual meetups to weekly disc golf events at the end of March, with 6 total outings so far and more planned.