Mexican cuisine was on the menu for the Graduate Engineering Student Council’s most recent International Food Friday — along with friendly chatter and laughs as the line for chow snaked around the Wilsdorf lobby.
About 80 Ph.D. and master’s students from across the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science feasted on rotisserie chicken and an array of tasty sides like guacamole and plantains — all on the GESC’s nickel. The council hosts the event monthly, featuring foods of different nations from local restaurants. The Mexican spread came from Al Carbón.
The meal was a respite from crammed end-of-semester schedules and a chance to connect with kindred spirits. The food wasn’t bad either, said electrical and computer engineering researcher Jyothi Rikhab Chand.
“My plate was full, so it was good,” said Chand, who is vegan.
International Food Friday was started in 2021 by Liron Shvilberg, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. student as part of his yearlong International Student Citizen Leaders Fellowship.
I hoped to build a community of students where it doesn’t matter where you are from.
“I intended to make friends and hoped to build a community of students where it doesn’t matter where you are originally from,” Shvilberg said, noting the events grew quickly beyond his expectations, drawing 80 or more people.
The GESC began hosting in the 2022-2023 academic year, and as the photos here attest, the dinners remain popular.
GESC’s Special Status Serves Students
UVA Engineering’s Graduate Engineering Student Council is a student-run “special status” organization, meaning the University delegates to the group specific functions it would otherwise provide itself. Among other things, GESC’s elected leaders and volunteers host social and networking events including academic and professional seminars throughout the year.
UVERS, the University of Virginia Engineering Research Symposium, is the GESC’s signature event. This annual research showcase allows teams to share and cross-pollinate ideas, learn from critiques of their work and gain experience communicating their research to others both in and outside of their fields. The 2024-2025 symposium will be held March 20.
Encouraging exchange and communication across academic departments is one of the council’s chief goals, said Amy Clobes, assistant dean for graduate affairs.
“Our students do an excellent job with these events. It’s exciting to have such great grad students leading the community in this way,” said Clobes, noting that graduate engineering student activity fees fund much of the GESC’s calendar.
“This is our students’ fees hard at work creating opportunities for the student body,” Clobes said.
