Opening?

Current Opening

My lab periodically looks for highly motivated students. Our lab is run family-style and we typically have casual events every two to four weeks. We are very much known for our merch, including notepads, 200-piece puzzles, thank you cards, stickers, sweatshirts, and hoodies! If you are accepted into our lab, you will be getting your own piece(s) of merch.

Dr. Wang is a graduate advisor and member of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group (BMEGG).

Currently, Dr. Wang is:

  • Accepting 1 master's student on the thesis track in BME/engineering education in application cycle 2024-2025.
  • not considering serving on thesis committees (MS/PhD), unless your thesis has a significant portion of engineering education or machine learning content.
  • Accepting 1 undergraduate student, focusing on data processing and statistics of engineering educational data, at STDT 3 or 4 level, starting November 2024, and 1 undergraduate student for BIM 199 credit. focusing on general training in engineering education, starting April 2025.

Dr. Wang does not return inquiries to join the lab when the lab has no opening. However, if you want to know what we are doing or have an idea about how to improve the life of our undergraduate students, the whole lab is willing to hear from you!

Becoming a Graduate Cubicle

We rarely accept graduate students due to the funding required to sponsor a Ph.D. student and the work required to form a complete M.S. or Ph.D. thesis. However, when we are accepting M.S. or Ph.D. students, we will be looking for:

  • An undergraduate GPA of 3.00 (M.S.)/3.50 (Ph.D.) or higher, only counting your engineering and writing courses. You will be entering the biomedical engineering graduate group after all; therefore, you must demonstrate that you can survive the required courses in Biomedical Engineering.
  • A strong justification on why you would like to pursue BME as your degree while doing engineering educational research.
  • A history of excellence, demonstrated by a combination of peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and/or funding opportunities, in research. You do not have to have exactly what I need for engineering educational research; however, your previous research should demonstrate your ability to process quantitative data using statistics and your communication skills. 

Graduate students will get their independent projects and are expected to exhibit creativity, i.e., developing their own direction of research and finding their independent solutions. We expect our graduate students to put in at least 20 hours per week into research before you reach candidacy, and 40 hours per week into research after you reach candidacy. Note that if you are pursuing a pedagogical research track with me, your TA hours may count towards your research hours.

The above is only my (additional) expectations from a graduate student. You still need to meet the BMEGG requirements and get accepted by the graduate group by demonstrating enough excellence in biomedical engineering. You may find more information on how to apply here through the BMEGG website.

Becoming an Undergraduate Cubicle

We typically do not have openings until the quarter before the graduation of the current members. When we recruit members, we look for undergraduates who are highly motivated to improve the experiences of BME undergraduates. You must be:

  • In good minimal progress standing and possess a 2.8 or higher GPA at UC Davis.
  • Excited about contributing to engineering education, specifically in equity and inclusion among the BME undergraduate population. Working on projects involving course content can be challenging due to FERPA regulations on your fellow classmates' academic work.
  • Clear about why training in an engineering education-focused lab will contribute to your future endeavors.

We require the following commitment in the Cube³ lab:

  • We typically take people who have a minimum of two years left in their program of study and commit to work in the Cube³ lab for the full duration of your undergraduate studies. Engineering educational research can be inherently social. Formulating social research plans and analyzing the results often requires patience and a long-term plan that may last years.
  • We require you to join the Undergraduate Subcommittee of the Health, Equity, and Wellness (HEW) in the BME department and become an active member.
  • We expect you to put in 3-10 hours a week, depending on how many research events organized by Cube³ is going on. Most of these events will happen during the regular class quarters (Fall/Winter/Spring), so plan accordingly. If you elect BIM 199 units, you are expected to contribute 3 hours per (week times unit).

When we have openings and you are interested in working with Cube³, please contact Dr. Wang.