BMCDB Academic Advisors
Academic advisors are essential in providing graduate students with a well-rounded educational experience; advisors consult with students applying for admission, provide coursework and research mentor guidance for students prior to candidacy, and maintain contact with students after candidacy to ensure good progress and a working relationship with the research mentor.
In the BMCDB Graduate Group, advisors are assigned to students the summer prior to their first year of study, and required to meet with their advisees prior to the start of the academic year; they are an especially vital resource for students during rotations, when the student does not yet have an established thesis lab. Advisors are primarily assigned on the basis of shared research interests and experience; students are allowed to switch advisors at any time, with the consent of the new advisor.
View a list of academic advisors at the UC Davis Graduate Studies website
BMCDB Graduate Program Coordinator
Alyssa Parsons, M.S.
[email protected]
(530) 752-9091
227D Green Hall
A graduate program coordinator serves as a resource liaison to students, faculty, and staff from other administrative units. They can help answer questions about program milestones, academics, employment and many other topics.
The graduate program coordinator is a resource for students currently enrolled in the program; interested applicants are encouraged to review our How to Apply page, as well as the Graduate Studies website.
Alyssa Parsons started her journey to BMCDB as a first-generation college student from Rohnert Park, California. It took a matter of minutes for her to fall in love with UC Davis, where she graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in 2012. From 2014 to 2021, she was a member of the Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she was the 2017 recipient of the Joseph Pleck Outstanding Graduate Student Award and the 2020 recipient of the Louis V. Logeman Graduate Student Teaching Award. As Alyssa’s interests transitioned toward advising, student advocacy, and equity and inclusion, she made the decision to graduate with a master’s degree and return to California. Alyssa is thrilled to be back at her alma mater and will not hesitate to wax poetic about it at length. She may be found around Davis performing in musicals at the Woodland Opera House, making tremendous quantities of pickles, or tending to local chickens. Alyssa is the 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award, the Graduate Student Association Outstanding Staff Award, and the Outstanding New Advisor Award.