This writing retreat will ensure completion of my Ph.D. degree within the program deadline of December 2021. I am a 6th year Ph.D. Candidate in the Quantitative and Systems Biology Program at UC Merced and am defending my dissertation no later than December 2021. I am near completion of my program requirements and this writing retreat is designed to help me complete the final writing tasks without distractions. Laboratory responsibilities will frequently overcome my isolated writing time. This retreat will remove that variable and allow for focused and isolated time to complete these projects. The title of my dissertation is “Characterizing the transcriptomic landscape of DNA damage.” By the end of the retreat I will have completed the tasks below according to the scheduled timeline. 1) 8/17-8/24: Complete my dissertation draft a. Complete edits for the introduction, background and literature review section b. Complete edits for my dissertation figures and results c. Write my future directions section 2) 8/25-8/28: Complete first-author publication draft a. Write the results section b. Edit figures for first-author publication c. Complete edits for the introduction d. Complete edits for the discussion section 3) 8/29-8/30: Complete co-author publication sections. a. Complete results figure edits and data analysis b. Write methods section

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