Fall · Q1
Recruiting and industry kickoff
Onboarding for new core members. Industry partners arrive on campus for talks, sponsored hackathons, and direct recruiting interactions.
RAIN runs on recurring, institutionalized actions: research and innovation cycles each quarter, industry integration programs, an exclusive fellowship, an always-on founder pipeline, and a signature spring demo day where the entire network ships at once.
A Friday afternoon on the trail with founders from across San Diego, anchored by Neal Bloom. The conversation goes where classrooms can't. Hosted by SEN × RAIN × Rising Tide Ventures.
Bring water, decent shoes, and one project worth discussing. UCSD students get priority; the broader San Diego founder community is welcome based on capacity.
Coverage, recordings, and recaps from rooms RAIN has already run.
Six investors and operators on entrepreneurship in the age of AI, what it means to be a founder right now, and what they actually look for at the seed stage. Hosted by SCIL × SDSC with CSE Society and RAIN.
Media links are placeholders until the recap is published. Send the recording URL to rain@ucsd.edu and we'll wire them up.
Themed quarters anchor research, industry, and community programming. Spring closes the loop with the network-wide demo day.
Onboarding for new core members. Industry partners arrive on campus for talks, sponsored hackathons, and direct recruiting interactions.
Faculty-guided project tracks launch. The quarterly hackathon ships in the middle of the cycle, with a networking meetup hosted in collaboration with a partner student org.
The full RAIN network presents and showcases student work (research, products, ventures) alongside The Basement and other partners. The biggest event of the year.
The RAIN Fellowship cohort runs deep work and founder development; the incubator pipeline hosts demo cycles for investors.
SEN, EIEC, SDxUCSD, CSES Innovate, The Basement, DS3, and TBS: co-hosted events at least once a quarter. A platform for student entrepreneurs to find one another.
Three months. One theme. Faculty-guided initiatives that ship.
Sponsored challenges, recruiting access, and applied work for real companies.
A selective cohort of top builders. One year. Concentrated mentorship, compute, and capital.
Talent identified across partner organizations and faculty referrals.
Direct lines to faculty, industry partners, and investors.
Recruited annually, with a culminating spring showcase.
Reserved fellowship-only events, retreats, and partner programming.
An always-on pathway from a half-formed idea to a venture-backed company.
Founder development training, problem-discovery sessions, and matchmaking with co-founders inside the network.
Internal incubator support (compute, prototyping funds, and faculty mentorship) in collaboration with The Basement.
Investor-facing demo days, IP frameworks via the UCSD Office of Innovation and Commercialization, and an active student founder network.
Marquee gatherings that bring faculty, industry, and students into one room.
Intimate, high-signal conversations with faculty and industry leaders.
Hands-on deep dives into the architectures, systems, and tools shaping applied AI.
The capstone event: the entire network ships, presents, and showcases at once.