Graduate School Newsblog

US Department of Homeland Security Summer 2012 Research Experiences

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers a variety of summer research opportunities.  See their web site for more information:

http://www.orau.gov/dhseducationprograms

DHS HS-STEM Summer Internship Program

  • Undergraduate students
  • 10 week research experience
  • $5,000 stipend plus travel expenses
  • Areas of research:
    • Engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological/life sciences, environmental science, emergency and incident management, social sciences
  • Projects offered at:
    • National research laboratories: Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Sandia, Savannah River
    • DHS laboratories: Transportation Security Laboratory
    • Other research facilities, including Air Force Research Laboratory, Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Locations include CA, CO, ID, IL, MD, NM, NJ, OH, SC, TN, WA, VA
  • U.S. citizenship required
  • Application deadline: January 5, 2012

DHS Summer Research Team Program for Minority Serving Institutions

  • Early career faculty teamed with undergraduate and graduate students
  • 10-week summer research experiences at university-based DHS Centers of Excellence nationwide
  • Faculty and student stipends, housing allowances, travel expenses
  • Areas of research:
    • Homeland security related science, technology, engineering and mathematics
  • Faculty apply for up to $50,000 in follow-on funding at end of summer
  • US citizenship required
  • Faculty application deadline: January 8, 2012

Questions regarding DHS Education Programs can be sent via e-mail to
dhsed@orau.org.

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Chateaubriand Fellowship program

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Applications are being accepted for the Chateaubriand Fellowship program offered by the Embassy of France. The program offers 10 months of support for Ph.D. students from U.S. institutions to conduct research in France. There are two programs: one is a STEM fellowship program and the other focuses on Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). Recipients receive a stipend, health insurance, and funds for roundtrip travel to France. The deadline for the HSS program is December 31, 2011; STEM Fellowship applications are due February 1, 2012. According to the announcement, “Candidates do not have to be US citizens, but French citizens are not eligible to apply. Students must be enrolled in at an American university.”

More information is available at: chateaubriand-fellowship.org.

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2012 NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is accepting applications for the 2012 NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships which “seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate student researchers who show significant potential to contribute to NASA’s strategic goals and missions.”  The applications must be submitted by institutions of higher education “on behalf of highly qualified individuals pursuing or planning to pursue Master’s (e.g., MS) or Doctoral (e.g., PhD) degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at their respective institutions.”  Applications are due January 11, 2012.  Awards may be up to 4 years in length and the program is contingent upon appropriation of the necessary funds.

More information is available at:

nasa.gov/offices/oct/early_stage_innovation/grants/2012

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New theses and dissertations available in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:

  • Applied Ecology
  • Applied Natural Resource Economics
  • Biological Sciences
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Forest Ecology and Management
  • Forest Science
  • Geophysics
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Physics
  • Rhetoric and Technical Communication
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DOE Graduate Fellowship Program NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

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The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) established the DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE SCGF) Program (http://scgf.orau.gov/overview.html) in 2009 to support outstanding students to pursue graduate training in basic research in areas of physics, biology (non-medical), chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computer and computational sciences, and environmental sciences relevant to the Office of Science and to encourage the development of the next generation of scientific and technical talent in the U.S who will pursue careers in research critical to the Office of Science mission at DOE laboratories and in academia.

The fellowship award provides partial tuition support, an annual stipend for living expenses, and a research allowance for full-time graduate study and thesis/dissertation research at an accredited college or university in the United States or its territories for three years.

DOE Fellows receive a yearly stipend (for up to 3 years) of $35,000.  Additional benefits are listed here: http://scgf.orau.gov/benefits.html

You are eligible to apply if one of the following circumstances applies to you at the time of applying:

  • You are an undergraduate senior, planning to apply to qualified graduate programs (see below) this year and be enrolled by Fall 2012.
  • You are a first year or second year Master’s or Ph.D. student in a qualified graduate program.
  • You are in your last year of a BS/MS program and plan to be enrolled in a qualified Ph.D. program by Fall 2012.
  • You are not currently enrolled in a graduate program, but have been accepted into a qualified graduate program that will begin in the Spring or Fall of 2012.
  • You have completed your undergraduate degree and are not currently enrolled in a graduate program, but plan to apply to qualified graduate programs and be enrolled in Fall 2012.

Applicants to the DOE SCGF program must meet all of the requirements in the following areas to be eligible to apply:

  • Minimum age and U.S. citizenship
  • Academic Status
  • Enrollment in a Qualified Graduate Program
  • Other Federal Graduate Fellowships

You are NOT eligible to apply if one or any combination of the following describe your graduate education status:

  • You will be in your third year of a Master’s program in Fall 2012.
  • You have completed more than 6 semesters/9 quarters (*) of cumulative graduate work at the time of applying.
  • You have completed more than 3 semesters/5 quarters (*) of cumulative graduate work in a Ph.D. program at the time of applying.
  • You seek to pursue a second Ph.D. degree.
  • You are currently in your second Master’s degree program and will not be in a qualified Ph.D. program by Fall 2012.

*Full or part-time

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Creating a Veteran-friendly Campus

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When Jillian Richards came to Michigan Tech from the military, she traded discipline for self-discipline, regimen for free time, camaraderie for aloneness. The changes have been “a culture shock,” she says.

A native of Stevensville, Richards, 26, served eight years in the Army. Now she is a junior in civil engineering, and the transition from military to civilian life has been difficult. So much so, she sought counseling for insomnia and questioned whether getting out of the military was the right thing to do. Civilian life is a different world for her.

Consider: In the military, she was told, “This is what you have to learn, and this is how you’re going to learn it.” In college, she must be more self-directed. “We have to relearn how to learn,” she says.

Consider, too: In the military, there is a tight buddy system. “We looked out for each other. We trusted each other. We were brothers and sisters. Here I’m on my own. It’s frustrating.”

Then she stumbled on a fellow veteran at a birthday party. They started talking. “We were both frustrated with classes and other students,” she says. “I vented to him. He was someone who understood.”  The company of a compatriot buoyed her. She’s sleeping better these days and is now the president of the Student Veterans Organization.  The primary goal of the group, which has about 20 regulars, is to find a resource room where veterans can gather to meet, hang out and do homework together. “It would be good for our well-being,” Richards says. “Reaffirm we’re all doing the right thing.”

An estimated 200,000 soldiers a year are leaving the military, some returning home from war. Many will go to college on the GI Bill, which covers eight semesters of tuition, fees and books. (Veterans can transfer these benefits to their children.)  Against this backdrop, efforts are underway to make Michigan Tech a veteran-friendly campus.

It’s a distinct mission: veterans are older, more experienced, more mature, and often are married with families; as well, some are saddled with combat experience and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Rob Bishop, who is an advisor to the campus veterans group, says he would never have made it through college without a veteran-mentor. He hosted a webinar in late October for the campus; it addressed the needs of student-veterans.

The message: Veterans make good employees, but they don’t know it. They’re focused, reliable, good leaders and adept at teamwork, but they struggle to market themselves. They need to be confident that a leader in Iraq makes a leader in a corporation, that it’s not a big jump to go from being an artillery spotter to a student of physics.

Kathy Pintar, registration coordinator, is the point person who certifies benefits for veterans and monitors their academic progress.  “We, as a campus, have a lot more to learn and do to embrace these veterans,” she says.  She reports that there were 44 veterans on campus in spring 2009; now there are 86, ranging in age from 20 to 50.

Since 2008, Michigan Tech offers in-state tuition to out-of-state students who are the offspring or spouse of a person on active US military duty. Tech is also a “yellow-ribbon school”—a federal designation for a program where Tech commits $2,500, which the government matches, to help offset the tuition of nonresident students. Tech also provides veterans and current military personnel with a National Service Graduate Fellowship—a program initiated by the Graduate School to provide a tuition award to those who have provided service to our country.

Other initiatives are planned:

  • Holding a special session at Orientation to direct veterans to Tech’s wide array of student services, as well as their GI Bill benefits.
  • Steering them to the Veterans Hospital in Iron Mountain and local mental health providers.
  • Encouraging veterans in the larger community to connect with student-veterans.
  • Helping faculty learn to spot veterans who are suffering from PTSD.

Some plans are substantive; some are symbolic: In January, there will be a military appreciation night at a hockey game to recognize all veterans and ROTC cadets. Starting in December, veterans will sport red, white and blue honor cords at commencement, a salute to their service to the country. All of it is not only helpful, it’s good business. Says Bishop: “If we can create a network and an opportunity, we can become a destination for vets.”

Published in Tech Today.

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Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

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The Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship program awards $330,000 annually to 56 Fellowship recipients: 51 Fellowships at $5,000 each and 5 Fellowships at $15,000 each. The Fellowship program is designed to provide support to active Phi Kappa Phi members as they prepare to enter their first year of graduate or professional studies in the upcoming 2012-2013 academic year. Eligible applicants cannot have earned more than nine (9) semester hours of graduate/professional school credits by the deadline date of April 15, 2012.

140 Love of Learning awards at $500 each are funded each year. Love of Learning Awards help fund post-baccalaureate studies and/or career development for active Phi Kappa Phi members to include (but not be limited to): Graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development, travel related to teaching/studies, etc. Past recipients of the Fellowship award are not eligible to apply.

Applications cab be downloaded from our website, http://www.phikappaphi.org/Web/Awards/Fellowship.html and http://www.phikappaphi.org/Web/Awards/Love_of_Learning.html

For any additional information, please contact Society Headquarters at 1-800-804-9880 ext 35 or via email at fellows@phikappaphi.org

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Spring Orientation – January 6th

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Spring orientation for new graduate students, and students unable to attend fall orientation is quickly approaching.  Our session will be on January 6, 2012 from 8:30am – 1pm in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

Register now to reserve your seat and help us plan this event.  Registration will close on December 21, 2011 – after that date, student will only be accommodated if space is available.

All graduate students are required to either attend orientation or complete an online training course.  See the linked sites for more information about each program.

Questions about orientation?  Contact Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School.

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Carbon Foam: The Key Ingredient of a Better Battery?

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A lighter, greener, cheaper, longer-lasting battery. Who wouldn’t want that?

Tech researchers are working on it. Actually, their design is a twist on what’s called an asymmetric capacitor, a new type of electrical storage device that’s half capacitor, half battery. It may be a marriage made in heaven.

Capacitors store an electrical charge physically and have important advantages: they are lightweight and can be recharged (and discharged) rapidly and almost indefinitely. Plus, they generate very little heat, an important issue for electronic devices. However, they can only make use of about half of their stored charge.

Batteries, on the other hand, store electrical energy chemically and can release it over longer periods at a steady voltage. And they can usually store more energy than a capacitor. But batteries are heavy and take time to charge, and even the best can’t be recharged forever.

Enter asymmetric capacitors, which bring together the best of both worlds. On the capacitor side, energy is stored by electrolyte ions that are physically attracted to the charged surface of a carbon anode. Combined with a battery-style cathode, this design delivers nearly double the energy of a standard capacitor.

Now, Tech researchers have incorporated a novel material on the battery side to make an even better asymmetric capacitor.

Their cathode relies on nickel oxyhydroxide, the same material used in rechargeable nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal hydride batteries. “In most batteries that contain nickel oxyhydroxide, metallic nickel serves as a mechanical support and a current collector,” said chemistry professor Bahne Cornilsen, who has studied nickel electrodes for a number of years, initially with NASA support. A few years ago, the team had a chance to experiment with something different: Cornilsen suggested replacing the nickel with carbon foam.

Carbon foam has advantages over nickel. “It’s lighter and cheaper, so we thought maybe we could use it as a scaffold, filling its holes with nickel oxyhydroxide,” said Tony Rogers, associate professor of chemical engineering.

Carbon foam has a lot of holes to fill. “The carbon foam we are using has 72 percent porosity,” Rogers said. “That means 72 percent of its volume is empty space, so there’s plenty of room for the nickel oxyhydroxide. The carbon foam could also be made of renewable biomass, and that’s attractive.”

But how many times can you recharge their novel asymmetric capacitor? Nobody knows; so far, they haven’t been able to wear it out. “We’ve achieved over 127,000 cycles,” Rogers said.

Other asymmetric capacitors have similar numbers, but none have the carbon-foam edge that could make them even more desirable to consumers.

“Being lighter would give it a real advantage in handheld power tools and consumer electronics,” said Rogers. Hybrid electric vehicles are another potential market, since an asymmetric capacitor can charge and discharge more rapidly than a normal battery, making it useful for regenerative braking.

The group has applied for a patent on its new technology. Chemical engineering professor Michael Mullins is also a member of the research team. Graduate students contributing to the project are PhD graduate Matthew Chye and PhD student Wen Nee Yeo of the chemical engineering department and MS student Padmanaban Sasthan Kuttipillai and PhD student Jinjin Wang of the chemistry department.

The research is funded by the US Department of Energy, the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative, the Michigan Tech Research Excellence Fund and the Michigan Space Grant Consortium.

by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
Published in Tech Today

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US Department of Energy Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowships

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U.S. Department of Energy Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowships

The U.S. Department of Energy provides funding for students in their first or second year of graduate study in the fields of physical, engineering, computers, mathematics and life sciences. The fellowships are renewable up to four years. Students receive about $31,000 a year, as well as a $1,000 annual academic allowance for travel, research activities and attending conferences. Some students may also get matched funds for computer support up to $2,475.

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