Logistics

Your primary contact for the open house is Stefan Reinsberg.

Email: stefan@phas.ubc.ca
Office: +1 604 822 2925
Cell/WhatsApp: +1 778 917 2925

Most of the activities will be held in Hennings 318.  This is the main physics and astronomy building and is adjacent to the Student Union Building.

Checklist

1. Be sure to save all boarding passes to submit with your reimbursement claim. 

2. Transport to and from the airport: The most straightforward option here is to use a cab, but particularly with the Canada Line Skytrain and dependent on where you want to go when you arrive, public transport (Translink) may also be a good option. You can buy a CompassCard ($6 to start and reloadable with discounted fares) at the Canada Line station at the airport, or use a credit card to pay with tap.

3. If you attend the open house, you will be staying at a hotel downtown with the other attendees, unless you want to arrange alternative accommodation. The department will pay for two nights at the hotel but you can ask for three, and the third night will also be at the negotiated rate but the cost will be subtracted from your reimbursement.  We will send you details about your accommodation about two weeks before the open house.

4. On Friday we have scheduled time ---12 noon until 5:00 PM for you to meet prospective supervisors.  A current list of those researchers who will be available for visits can be found on the Researcher Availability page.

5. If you are interested in having us help you put together a schedule of visits, or to visit with people on Thursday March 7th, please contact me (stefan@phas.ubc.ca).  Otherwise, you can proceed on a more informal basis, by dropping in on the various labs and offices during the times we have scheduled. Note, however, that some prospective supervisors would like you to e-mail them in advance, indicating that you would like to meet with them.

6. Tour sign up: There will be guided tours of the BC Cancer Agency, Stewart Blusson Quantum Materials Institute and TRIUMF (Canada's particle accelerator and national lab for particle and nuclear physics). Please indicate your interest in these tours on the open house registration form.

Can't Make It to the Open House?

If you are unable to make it to the open house we still encourage you to come check out the department, UBC and Vancouver.  

The same basic ground rules apply for individual visits as for open-house visits:

• We will reimburse up to $500 (Canadian) of your travel expenses.

• We will arrange for a billet with a graduate student, should you wish, or we can help you find private accommodations.

To arrange an individual visit, send a message to Stefan with your preferred visit dates. It is recommended that you plan for a full day at UBC. We would arrange for you to speak with prospective supervisors during that day, take a campus tour with a graduate student, and dependent on your interests and availability of guides, for a tour of TRIUMF and/or SBQMI.  

Please also indicate whether you would like to be billeted with a grad, and if possible, supply a list of professors with whom you would like to meet and/or the areas of research of which are particular interest to you. You may also want to stay an additional day so that you have a chance to see some of Vancouver. If you wish to be billeted, we will make every attempt to make sure that a grad student can accommodate you for the duration of your stay (two or three nights total).

Alternative Accommodation near UBC

If you aren't coming to the open house and would rather not stay with a student, here are some options.

If you want to stay near campus, there are several options that all run about $150/night:

Suites are available for a wide range of prices through the UBC housing website.

• https://suitesatubc.com/

Other on-campus options are available at:

• Triumf House

• St. John's Collage

• Carey Center

Details

1. Should you have any questions that aren't answered here, send an e-mail to Stefan (stefan@phas.ubc.ca).

2. Formal, organized activities will commence at 9:00 AM Friday March 8th In Hennings 318 and will conclude in the afternoon on March 9 (if you would like to go on the TRIUMF tour and Dim Sum).  Ideally, you should plan your travel so that you can be on the UBC campus for this time period, and you may want to extend your stay, either prior to or following the open house, so that you can see more of Vancouver or meet faculty in our department.  

3. As stated in your offer letter, we will reimburse up to $500 (Canadian) of the travel expenses related to your attendance at the event.  Reimbursement will be done after you return home from the open house, as described below.

4. Given the limited amount of time until the open house, the most urgent matter for you to deal with is purchase of tickets for air travel to Vancouver International airport (YVR). We ask that you book and pay for the tickets yourself: again, we will reimburse you (up to a maximum of $500) after you return home. 

5. The second most urgent matter is to complete the registration form so that we can arrange accommodation for you if you wish.

6. We will do our best to provide most of your meals free of charge during the open house: this will include a light breakfast and lunch as well as dinner on Friday and a dim sum brunch on Saturday.

7. Once you have booked your travel and have made arrangements for accommodations, we can start helping you set up a schedule of meetings with prospective research supervisors and other professors with whom you might want to speak. A list of professors who will be available on Friday is on the researcher availability page. If you wish to speak with someone on another day, please either contact them directly or contact me (stefan@phas.ubc.ca)

8. Since getting our busy faculty members organized is always a bit like herding cats, keep checking the list, since it will lengthen probably right up to the day before the festivities begin!

9. You are also encouraged to peruse the links available via the list of researchers in the department. Note that this list includes postdocs, research associates and emeritus (retired) professors, so in terms of possible supervisors, you will generally want to be looking at the Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors. Also note that the individual web pages accessible through the summary page will usually tell you whether or not the faculty member is accepting new students.

10. When you have decided on some professors that you would like to meet with, send an e-mail with your list to Stefan Reinsberg (stefan@phas.ubc.ca). Your list can include names of people who are of interest to you, and who are accepting students, but who have not yet provided their availability on Friday afternoon. We will do our best to arrange meetings wherever possible.

11. On Saturday morning there will be a guided tour of TRIUMF (Canada's particle accelerator and national Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics). Assembly will be at 9:30 AM at TRIUMF.

12. REIMBURSEMENT PROCEDURE:  Once you have returned home from the open house, simply send us (via regular mail) your travel receipts including:

• A copy of your airline tickets. A copy of an e-ticket is fine, but ensure that it clearly shows how much you paid for the ticket.

• Your boarding passes (this is important, so be careful to save them).

• Receipts for local transportation.  In particular, should you use the transit system to get from the airport to your hotel/UBC and vice versa, save your transit receipts.

Please complete the following form: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~heyl/expense_claim_worksheet.pdf.  You can leave the fields, PG Manager, Speedchart and Employee Number, blank.

Receipts should be mailed to:

John Ho

Finance Clerk: Open House Receipts

Dept of Physics and Astronomy

University of British Columbia

6224 Agricultural Road

Vancouver BC CANADA

V6T 1Z1

If you are splitting your expenses among several institutions or several students and cannot send an original, please note with whom you are splitting the expenses and how much you would like reimbursed by UBC on the copy of the receipt.

We will mail your cheque to the address that you supplied with your application, unless you give us an alternative mailing address. You should expect your reimbursement about four to six weeks after we receive your receipts.