Announcements Archives | Page 9 of 51 | Graduate School Newsblog

Nominations open for KCP Future Faculty Fellowships

Published May 14, 2020

Applications are being sought for KCP Future Faculty Fellowships, a program funded by the State of Michigan. The purpose of the King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship Program is to increase the pool of academically and economically disadvantaged candidates pursuing faculty teaching or administrative careers in post-secondary education.

Applications are due no later than 4pm on June 10, 2020 for funding starting in Fall 2020 or later. KCP fellowships provide students up to $20,000 (MS students) or $35,000 (PhD students) to pursue their degrees. Funds may be used to support students, including faculty and staff, pursuing degrees at Michigan Tech. For Michigan Tech students, the Graduate School and nominating department must also contribute matching funds to help support the student.

Complete information about eligibility criteria and materials needed for an application is available on our web page.

Nominations open for the 2020 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Published May 13, 2020

By Debra Charlesworth

Announcements

Nominations are now open for the 2020 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, June 2, 2020, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
Social Sciences (note: history is classed within the humanities and is not a field of competition in 2020)

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. PhD students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020, are eligible. The fields of competition for 2021 will be humanities/fine arts and biological and life sciences.

Nominations must be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on June 2, 2020; e-mail nominations to gradschool@mtu.edu are preferred. Contact Debra Charlesworth (gradschool@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.

Fall 2020 Finishing Fellowship Nominations Open

Published May 11, 2020

By

Applications for fall 2020 finishing fellowships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, July 1, 2020 to the Graduate School. Please email applications to gradschool@mtu.edu.

Instructions on the application and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

Must be a PhD student.
Must expect to finish during the semester supported as a finishing fellow.
Must have submitted no more than one previous application for a finishing fellowship.
Must be eligible for candidacy (tuition charged at Research Mode rate) at the time of application.
Must not hold a final oral examination (“defense”) prior to the start of the award semester.

Finishing Fellowships provide support to PhD candidates who are close to completing their degrees. These fellowships are available through the generosity of alumni and friends of the University. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD candidates who are in need of financial support to finish their degrees and are also contributing to the attainment of goals outlined in The Michigan Tech Plan. The Graduate School anticipates funding up to ten fellowships with support ranging from $2000 to full support (stipend + tuition). Students who receive full support through a Finishing Fellowship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a Finishing Fellowship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

Submission 101 and Formatting 101-103 for Summer 2020

Published May 6, 2020

By Debra Charlesworth

Announcements

Students who are completing a dissertation, thesis, or report are invited to join the Graduate School to learn about the resources available to them to assist in scheduling their defense, formatting their documents, and submitting their documents. In one afternoon, you can learn everything you need to be successful and complete your degree in a timely fashion! Faculty and staff who assist students with submissions are also welcome to attend. Attend the entire event, or stop in for the seminar that interests you.

When: Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 2 – 4pm (see detailed schedule below)
Who: Students completing a dissertation, thesis or report; faculty and staff who assist students with submission
Where: Attend online; please register to receive reminders and the Zoom URL. The seminar will be available online as well as on campus.

If you are unable to join us, the event will be taped and available online after the event. The previous semester’s seminars are always available online.

Information on submitting, formatting, and more can be found online for dissertations and theses or reports.

Detailed schedule

2 – 3pm – Submission 101
Learn what is required to submit your document to the Graduate School and the deadlines for the upcoming semester. Best for students who are completing their degree this semester or next semester.
3 – 4pm – Formatting 101-103
Learn about templates, checking your document with Adobe Acrobat, and how to use copyrighted materials. You’ll also learn where resources are on the web page so you can learn more about the topics that interest you.

Adjustments to dissertation, thesis, and report deadlines for spring 2020

Published March 26, 2020

By Debra Charlesworth

Announcements

Dear faculty, staff, and students,

In response to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Graduate School will be adjusting deadlines for completing a dissertation, thesis, or report for spring semester.

To successfully complete a research degree, students must complete the following items by deadlines established by the Graduate School:

Pass their final oral examination (“defense”)
Submit the Approval of a Dissertation, Thesis, or Report form
Submit a committee-approved dissertation, thesis, or report to Digital Commons
Submit a committee-approved dissertation or thesis to ProQuest (reports do not submit to ProQuest)

For the spring semester, the following deadlines will apply for the above items:

To complete a degree in spring, the deadline is 4pm on April 27, 2020. This is a one week extension from the normal deadline.
To complete a degree in summer – at no additional cost – the deadline is 4pm on May 27, 2020. This is a three week extension of the regular “grace” period. For students with a terminal degree who submit by this deadline:
1. The Graduate School will enroll them in UN5951 – a 0 credit, no fee, no tuition course
2. The Graduate School will request that students are coded as “off campus”
3. No fees – for this semester – will be due when the document is accepted
4. A provisional certification indicating degree completion can be provided. Students request this on the Approval form.

Students unable to submit by May 27 who wish to complete their degree in the summer must register for at least one credit. They will have until 4pm on August 10, 2020 to complete their defense and submit their document and associated paperwork.

Defenses should still be scheduled two weeks in advance and must include a public presentation. These presentations may be held using an online platform of the committee’s choice and the URL provided for public access will be publicized by the Graduate School. Based on feedback we have received, we offer the following suggestions for your defense using Zoom:

The IT Knowledge Base on Conferencing includes answers to many of your questions. Contact IT if you need additional assistance (906-487-1111, it-help@mtu.edu)
Set up your meeting to have a co-host so that a second person can start the meeting, mute participants with audio issues, or act as a moderator.
Set up your meeting to mute participants automatically when they join.
Set up your meeting to turn off video for participants to preserve bandwidth.
Share your slides and present as usual.
There are several options for asking questions during a Zoom webinar:
- Participants can be encouraged to type questions in the chat window. These can be answered in real-time or saved for the end.
- Participants can “raise your hand” and then ask via chat, audio, or video. It is helpful to have a friend or committee member be a moderator for this.
- Participants can “unmute” themselves and simply ask their question. This is easier with a smaller group.
The “on-hold” feature may be used to exclude a participant from the audio and video feed, for example, while the committee is deliberating about the defense.

We hope that these adjustments will allow all students to complete their degree in a timely manner with less stress about registration and fee payment.

We are here to help. Please let us know how we can assist you.

Sincerely,

Graduate School

Information on digitally signing Graduate School forms, an email to students

Published March 20, 2020

By

Dear students,

The Graduate School recognizes that signing paper forms will be difficult or impossible for the coming weeks. Many staff, faculty, and students will be working remotely, and since the University does not have a secure way to sign PDF forms and validate that the signatures are from the person shown, we will be suggesting the following process for submitting forms that require signatures.

Students should download the form, complete the form, and email to the first person who needs to sign. That person can forward the form to the Graduate School (gradschool@mtu.edu) or to the next person to sign the form, indicating their approval in the email. Many forms only require one signature. When emailing forms, it is best to email one form per student per email so the forms can be appropriately routed to the correct staff member. If forms are emailed directly from faculty, then the Graduate School will be able to verify that faculty have appropriately approved the forms. Digital signatures are not necessary, and some of our forms will not allow them to be added.

An alternative way would be to print and sign the form as usual and either photograph or scan using a phone. There are many excellent scanning programs for iPhones and Android devices. The free version of Genius Scan is one such app you might use. Students can submit scans to Canvas, or scans can be emailed to gradschool@mtu.edu.

Whatever method you select, please submit the form only once. Multiple submissions delays processing.
We are here to help. Please let us know what questions or suggestions you might have.

Sincerely,
Graduate School

—
This email account is monitored by staff in the Graduate School. Please reply to this email with any questions you have.
Michigan Tech Graduate School
gradschool@mtu.edu
906-487-2327 (voice)
906-487-2284 (fax)

Resources for current students:
http://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/resources-for/students/

Data Incubator’s Summer 2020 Data Science Fellowship application is open

Published March 17, 2020

By Debra Charlesworth

The Data Incubator’s Summer 2020 Data Science Fellowship application is open!

Program: The Data Incubator is an intensive 8 week fellowship that prepares masters students, PhDs, and postdocs in STEM and social science fields seeking industry careers as data scientists. The program is free for Fellows and supported by sponsorships from hundreds of employers across multiple industries. In response to the overwhelming interest in our earlier sessions, we will be holding another fellowship.

Who Should Apply: Anyone who has already obtained a masters or PhD degree or who is within one year of graduating with a masters or PhD is welcome to apply. Applications from international students are welcome.

Locations: You can attend our program in:

New York City
San Francisco Bay Area
Washington, DC.
Online

Application Link: https://www.thedataincubator.com/fellowship/apply.html

Session Dates: 2020-06-29 – 2020-08-21
Early Deadline: 2020-04-03
Regular Deadline: 2020-05-02
We are assessing and interviewing candidates who apply for the Early Deadline first and then based on remaining availability, will take candidates who applied for the Regular Deadline on a first-come first-serve basis.

Data Science in 30 minutes: Learn how to build a data-science project in our upcoming free Data Science in 30-minutes webcast. Signup soon as space is limited.

Learn More: You can learn about our fellows at The New York Times, LinkedIn, Amazon, Capital One, or Palantir. To read about our latest fellow alumni, check out our blog. To learn more about The Data Incubator, check us out on Venture Beat, The Next Web, or Harvard Business Review.

Email from the Graduate School

Published March 16, 2020

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Dear students,

To promote social distancing and minimize the spread of COVID-19, we are asking that all students email gradschool@mtu.edu with any questions you have for Graduate School staff.

If an email is not appropriate to resolve your question, you may use Google Calendar to schedule a 15-minute appointment (tutorial) with a staff member or call our front desk (906-487-2327). Please indicate whether you would like to conduct the meeting as a phone call, video conference, or in person. If you will meet in person, we ask that you arrive at your appointment time to reduce the number of people on our floor at any given time.

Please visit the University’s web site for the most current information regarding COVID-19 and how campus is affected.

We are here to help,
Graduate School

—
This email account is monitored by staff in the Graduate School. Please reply to this email with any questions you have.
Michigan Tech Graduate School
gradschool@mtu.edu
906-487-2327 (voice)
906-487-2284 (fax)

Resources for current students:
http://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/resources-for/students/

Email from the Dean to Graduate Students

Published March 13, 2020

By

Dear Colleagues,

As you have heard from the President Koubek, the health, safety, and security of our campus and our community is most important to us. We need to make substantial changes in how we go about our daily lives in response to the evolving COVID-19 threat. This is a rapidly changing situation so we will, no doubt, need to continuously adjust our responses as we learn more. For comprehensive and up-to-date information please see the University’s COVID-19 web page.

In response to the evolving COVID-19 situation, the Graduate School is committed to doing all we can to make the rest of the semester as healthy and productive as possible. Here are some issues the Graduate School is asking faculty to consider.

I. Research progress

Per the President’s memo, all instruction at Michigan Tech must be delivered virtually till 17 April 2020. I am sure you are wondering how this will impact progress in your research group. How should ongoing research involving graduate students be handled? This will undoubtedly vary with research group and depend on the nature of research, the need for physical presence in the laboratory, and the individual group members comfort, attitude and tolerance in this rapidly evolving situation. The Vice President for Research’s Office will be posting guidelines to help clarify general expectations soon. Please see the email from Kathleen Halverson, VPR, for additional information regarding research labs.

The University campus is not closed. Students, faculty, and staff can be on campus, and people can interact in small groups (less than 25). Under those guidelines, research and interactions among advisors, students, and staff may continue.

However, appropriate precautions should be taken and the option to continue research and research-related meetings remotely must be accommodated. In particular, remote attendance (e.g. via Zoom or Google Hangout) for group meetings among students, advisors, and staff is strongly advised. For research requiring physical presence in a laboratory, lab schedules and social distancing practices should minimize interpersonal exposure.

Please communicate with your graduate students about how you plan to organize your research group, no later than March 18. Clearly communicate your expectations and timelines with your students. Be creative with regards to how to accomplish research work, meetings, writing projects and other activities so that students make research progress in a positive educational experience.

If you have students returning from travel, please follow the university guidelines University guidelines and ask anyone who has traveled in the past 14 days to fill out the University’s Returning Travelers form. Social-distancing, self-isolation, and self-monitoring are the best ways to contain the spread of COVID-19 (Sections IV and V).

II. Defenses, research proposal examinations, and qualifying examinations

Spring (and especially mid to late spring) is a time when many graduate students schedule dissertation/thesis/report defenses, research proposal examinations and qualifying examinations. These milestones typically include a public presentation followed by an in-depth examination by the advisory committee members. Commensurate with the current policy of virtual instruction until April 17, all oral examinations and defenses must be conducted virtually (for example, via Zoom) to allow all interested to participate. Please make arrangements well in advance to accommodate this need. The student should contact IT (it-help@mtu.edu, 906-487-1111) for assistance at least 5 business days in advance to appropriately schedule staffing and potential equipment usage. The in-depth examination with some or all of the advisory committee members can be conducted face-to-face if it is agreeable to those participating.

Michigan Technological University IT Department offers Zoom (log in with Michigan Tech ID and password) for Web conferencing support. Zoom will allow you to share your screen, webcam and microphone with up to 100 participants. The IT Knowledge Base on Conferencing includes helpful information on web conferencing options and support.

III. Graduate School Emergency Fund

Funds from the Graduate School Emergency Fund is available to assist graduate students with emergencies and financial hardships.

Stay healthy and follow the guidance from the university and CDC. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me or Will Cantrell (cantrell@mtu.edu) or Jacque Smith (jacque@mtui.edu). The Graduate School and the University will do our best to keep you apprised as new developments occur at University’s COVID-19 web page.

With best wishes,

Dean Pushpa Murthy

Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI-49931
—
This email account is monitored by staff in the Graduate School. Please reply to this email with any questions you have.
Michigan Tech Graduate School
gradschool@mtu.edu
906-487-2327 (voice)
906-487-2284 (fax)

Resources for current students:
http://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/resources-for/students/