A Day in the Life - Part 1

Wondering what it's like to be an MSI student at UMSI? Follow our "Day in the Life" series in our prospective student Facebook group or on our blog. This series can give you insight into what it's like to be an MSI student, and what your life could look like here at UMSI as well.

Stay tuned through the spring for views into different students and snapshots of their lives at UMSI.

Take a look at our first "Day in the Life" posts.... (copied directly from Facebook, with permission of course!)


Hi everyone! My name is Lavanya, and I am a second year masters student here at SI! Besides specializing in HCI, I'm also a graduate student instructor, an officer of our school's human computer interaction club, and an avid volunteer for several of SI's projects and events. Needless to say, there are tons of opportunities outside of the classroom that help make one's experience a lot of fun smile emoticon

So, today I will be sharing moments from my day for all of you to get a taste of life here at SI! Please feel free to comment on the posts if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to answer them.



Post 1/5: Starting the morning off with my discussion section for SI 622 (Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation). Being a GSI (graduate student instructor) is a wonderful learning opportunity and helps build public speaking, organizational, and project management skills. It also tests your knowledge of the field and helps reiterate subject matter that you may have forgotten since taking the class!

(Below are some of the discussion rooms in North Quad, where the School of Information is located!)




Post 2/5: Alright, moving along. Now that class is over, it's time for some portfolio reviews! As an officer for SOCHI (student organization for computer human interaction) along with Mayank Khanna, Sidharath 'Sid' Chhatani, and Prakruthi Shetty, conducting events that help the SI community build their design and research skills is important! We often hold design jams with companies such as Amazon, GE, Facebook, and many others! These are great networking opportunities and wonderful ways to practice your design skills. This week however, SOCHI is helping with portfolio reviews. So each of us sits with one student from the SI cohort who needs help with his or her online portfolio, which is basically a personal webpage to showcase your work. Portfolios complement your resumes nicely and are important if you're looking for a job coming out of SI.


A typical study room in SI (only for masters students!!)



The beautiful North Quad.


Post 3/5: While I love assisting others, I could use some help with my work also. Time to head to the 3rd and 4th floors of North Quad where majority of the faculty and staff work! This is a great place to meet the masterminds behind the School of Information including professors, admin, and Phd students. If you have any questions about classes, this is where you'd go to meet your professors for office hours or just say hi



Taking elevators up to the 3rd and 4th floors!


Cool furniture up on the 4th floor!


Post 4/5: Next stop - Engagement Center. A recent addition to SI, this building is conveniently located above Panera and is just one block down from North Quad. Of course I stopped at Panera to get something to eat. The Engagement Center is where our career development office sits and is an excellent place to study as well as talk to our staff about internship and full-time opportunities. A lot of companies come to this building to recruit and hold information sessions. Personally, I'm here to discuss a project called ASB (alternative spring break) where students take a trip to another city and help other organizations with design, data, research, and information problems. It's a great way to network (I'm headed to DC!) and take a week off to really bond with your fellow SI-ers!


Engagement Center... This picture does not do it justice... It's huge! And awesome.

Post 5/5: Finally ended the day with an Agile project management session back in North Quad! This was a brief but very informative workshop on this methodology and is yet another great resource provided by SI to complement your work in the classroom. What's also awesome about SI events is that there is almost always free food.

Alright everyone, that's all from me! I hope you found my posts informative and helpful. Please comment on any of the posts if you have any questions and best of luck. Hope to see you at SI!