Cornell University: Biomed students mark milestone with first-ever lab coat ceremony

In the first ceremony of its kind for the Biomedical and Biological Sciences (BBS) Ph.D. Program, 16 graduate students received lab coats during their annual symposium Aug. 16 at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

“This event marked a new chapter for our biomedical graduate students as they move into more focused lab work. I look forward to seeing their research successes and wish them well as they enter this important new stage of training,” said Dr. Robert Weiss, associate dean for research and graduate education.

Coating ceremonies have long been part of a veterinary and medical student’s path to graduation, marking their transition from classroom learning to in-hospital training. Students in the BBS Ph.D. Program embark on basic, clinical and translational life sciences research while earning a Ph.D. For them, the lab coat comes at the end of the first year of study, after concluding three lab rotations and the bulk of their classwork. They will then join a lab and begin a thesis project.