Category: Announcements

Items that are time sensitive and require action

Talk on OSM/VISTA Tech Partnership Monday

Allan Comp of the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), Department of the Interior will give a presentation, “The OSM/VISTA–Michigan Tech Partnership” on Monday, March 24, at 5 p.m. in Dow 642.

Comp will discuss how OSM/VISTA partners with local organizations to provide VISTA volunteers working in economic rejuvenation and environmental restoration in legacy mining communities and watersheds. Comp directs the Western Hardrock Watershed and Appalachian Coal Country teams, the two primary organizations linking OSM to rural communities. Michigan Tech has partnered with OSM to enable students to earn a graduate degree while participating in the OSM/VISTA program.

Comp’s presentation will be directed toward Michigan Tech students and faculty with an interest in details of how the program works. The talk is free and open to the public. Pizza will be provided. More information about the program can be obtained at the Michigan Tech Graduate School web site.

Published in Tech Today.

Library Offering Patent and Trademark Searching Workshops in April

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering three patent and trademark searching workshops in April. Each will be offered twice; click the date and time or your preferred session to register. All workshops will take place in Library 242.

Basic Patent Searching
This workshop will cover basic patent searching in the USPTO website database using the recommended “Seven Step Strategy.” We will discuss why keyword searching of patents must be supplemented with a classification search, how to identify relevant patent classes and search within them and how to cross-reference related classes.
Tuesday, April 1, 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 3, 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Advanced Patent Searching
This workshop will cover other database options aside from the USPTO website to search for patents, including patents issued in countries other than the US. We will explore Espacenet, PatentScope and Google Patents and discuss some advanced searching strategies.
Thursday, April 10, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 15, 12 to 1:30 p.m.

Trademark Searching
This workshop will cover the basics of trademarking a product or service, as well as searching both word and image trademarks to ensure your trademark is unique.
Tuesday, April 22, 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 24, 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Published in Tech Today.

Research Forum Wednesday

All interested faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the 10th Annual ESC/BRC Student Research Forum, held from 3 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, in the atrium of  U. J. Noblet Forestry Building.

Undergraduate and graduate students working in ecosystem science and biotechnology will present their research posters in separate competitions. Awards and pizza will follow.  Please join us.

For more information, contact Jill Fisher, program manager for the ESC, at jhfisher@mtu.edu, or Mary Tassava, staff assistant for the BRC, at mltassav@mtu.edu.

Published in Tech Today.

Intensive English as a Second Language Forum Today

The campus community is invited to a forum on the Intensive English as a Second Language program on March 17 from 3 to 5 p.m. in Walker 102A. The forum is an important part of the IESL program’s ongoing self-study process for accreditation. IESL is seeking independent accreditation from the Commission on English Language Accreditation. A draft of the self-study report is available at the following offices:

*International Programs and Services
*The Graduate School
*The Waino Wahtera Center for Student Success
*The office of the College of Sciences and Arts
*The office of the chair, Department of Humanities

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.

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.”

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