Author: smcrisma

Graduate Student Government Travel Grant Award Winners for Spring 2014

Travel grants for spring 2014 have been awarded. The full list of graduate recipients can be accessed online.

Travel grants are awards that help subsidize cost of attending and presenting at conferences. These awards are sponsored by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) and the Graduate School. For more information on travel grants, please visit the webpage.

Should you have any questions, contact the GSG treasurer Jennifer Winikus (jawiniku@mtu.edu).

Published in Tech Today.

Workshops and Certificates for Instructors Available

The Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers a comprehensive curriculum for Michigan Tech faculty and graduate teaching assistants.  Consider attending a workshop that interests you or complete a block of three workshops to earn a certificate.

Several professional development workshops are scheduled for the upcoming weeks.  Pedagogy-focused workshops (which meet for two, 2-hour sessions) include Grading and Learner-Centered Classroom. In addition, several 1-hour workshops are scheduled that focus on in-class (e.g., iClickers) and out-of-class (Canvas and more) education technologies to deliver instructional content.  Please refer to the CTL website to register for a workshop.  If you don’t find what you are looking for, you can request a workshop for yourself or a group or contact us at 7-2046 to request a private consultation.

Published in Tech Today.

International Summer School 2014 on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from institutions in Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States are invited to apply for the fifth International Summer School on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences, to be held June 1-6, 2014, in Budapest, Hungary.

The summer school is sponsored by the European Union Seventh Framework Program’s Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe Implementation Phase project (PRACE-3IP), U.S. National Science Foundation’s Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project, RIKEN Advanced Insti­tute for Computational Science (RIKEN AICS), and Compute/Calcul Canada.

Leading American, Canadian, European and Japanese computational scientists and HPC technologists will offer instruction on a variety of topics, including:

  • Access to EU, U.S., Japanese and Canadian HPC-infrastructures
  • HPC challenges by discipline (e.g., bioinformatics, computer science, chemistry, and physics)
  • HPC programming proficiencies
  • Performance analysis & profiling
  • Algorithmic approaches & numerical libraries
  • Data-intensive computing
  • Scientific visualization

Application deadline: March 9, 2014.

International Programs and Services Workshop

The International Programs and Services Office will be offering a workshop entitled, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Optional Practical Training (OPT): Before, During, and After” on Tuesday, March 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Seating is limited, and registration is required.

International students may receive up to 12 months of work authorization from the US government to gain practical experience in their field of studies.  The workshop is designed for students who are graduating this spring and wish to learn more about how they can obtain this benefit with the assistance from IPS.  Although the session is geared towards students, anyone interested in learning more about the topic is invited to attend. Seating is limited and registration is required.  Please register online.

For more information about Optional Practical Training and other employment related benefits for F-1 and J-1 students, see the link.

For more information about the workshop content, contact Thy Yang at thyy@mtu.edu

Published in Tech Today.

Scholarship Opportunity for Junior and Senior Engineering Students and Prospective Engineering Graduate Students

The Michigan Tech SSEED program (funded by NSF S-STEM) will award 35 undergraduate scholarships of $1,000-$5,000 to junior and senior engineering students and five graduate fellowships of $8,000 to engineering students in 2014-15. Please share this information with qualified students.

The purpose of the undergraduate scholarships is to improve the retention of upper-division engineering students who have financial need and other risk factors that make it difficult to complete their undergraduate degree.  The purpose of the graduate fellowships is to improve the recruitment of women and minorities to graduate school in engineering. The program also features mentoring and professional development opportunities.  Additional information and applications can be found at www.doe.mtu.edu/sseed/.  Spring application deadlines are Mar. 17 for undergraduate scholarships and May 1 for graduate fellowships.  For questions, contact Michele Miller (mhmiller@mtu.edu, 7-3025).

Published in Tech Today.

Graduate Research Colloquium Set for this Wednesday and Thursday

It’s a chance for Michigan Tech graduate students to shine. The Graduate Research Colloquium, slated for Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 19 and 20, showcases the work of current grad students, as they present their findings to judges and visitors alike.

The event coincides with the University’s Career Fair, held Tuesday, Feb. 18 and the timing is great, according to Jackie Huntoon, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School.

“It will give prospective employers a chance to learn more about the types of research being conducted here,” she says. “Michigan Tech has long been known for conducting research that has direct benefit to society and is of interest to industry. In fact, 46 percent of our PhD students who have definite employment offers at the time of graduation are going to work in industry.”

A Better Way to Purify Peptide-Based Drugs

Members of Shiyue Fang's research team in his lab at Michigan Tech, where they developed a better process to purify peptides and other biomolecules.
Peptides are an intriguing class of drugs. They are made of amino acids, just as humans are, and because of their intimate relationship with our own biological molecules, they have the potential to fight some of the most intractable diseases, including cancer.

But they can be difficult and expensive to make. A year’s worth of the anti-HIV peptide drug enfuvirtide costs $25,000. Now a chemist at Michigan Tech has overcome an important hurdle in the manufacturing process by developing a quicker, simpler purification method. As a bonus, his technique also works on DNA.

Read the full story.

Published in Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, magazine editor

CTL Module: Incorporating Information Literacy into Instruction

The Van Pelt and Opie Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) invite faculty and graduate students to attend a module, consisting of three one-hour sequential workshops, Incorporating Information Literacy into Instruction.

Instruction and Learning Librarian Sarah Lucchesi is delivering the module through the CTL’s University Teaching and Learning (UTL) Seminars program. In this module, using the framework of Michigan Tech information literacy rubric for undergraduate students (learning goal #6), we will explore the library’s information resources, options for assistance with additional instruction and assignment elements that allow students to practice each of the information literacy skills.

Faculty and graduate students are welcome to register only for this three-workshop series, or as a part of the complete UTL Course Design program.

The workshop sessions are scheduled for Monday, March 4, 18, and 25 from 11 a.m., to 12 p.m., in Library 244.

Register by 12 p.m., Friday, March 1.

For questions, contac tinstrlib@mtu.edu

Published in Tech Today.

Corporate Information Sessions Reimagined

Information sessions are held on campus to help students learn more about companies and their employment opportunities.  However, with so many occurring the night before the career fairs, students are limited in the number they can attend, and companies are also limited in the number of students they can meet.

After listening to feedback from students and employers, Career Services has reimagined the usual informational session into a one stop, informal, open house event where 13 companies are gathered all in one place and all on one night.  The new “Employer Information Expo” is being held on Sunday, Feb. 16, in Fisher Hall.  Students will be able to visit as many information sessions as they’d like from 5 to 7 p.m., and then enjoy open networking from 7 to 8 p.m.  This new event will connect more students with more companies and their representatives for a robust evening of recruiting.

Published in Tech Today