Graduate School Newsblog

Summer Seminar Series Announced

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce its Summer 2013 Professional Development Seminar Series.  Both seminars will be available on campus and online – streaming live and taped for viewing later.  Join us for one or both seminars, designed to help writers of dissertations, theses, and reports and the staff who assist them.

  • June 18 | An Office Full of Tips | 11am -noon
    Learn how to use Microsoft Office to automate many of the common tasks a writer must do, such as caption figures and tables, format text consistently and place page numbers correctly. Debra Charlesworth, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School will show you tips and tricks that will help you focus on your writing instead of your formatting.
  • July 24 | Copyright for Your Thesis or Dissertation | 11am -noon
    Who holds the copyright on your thesis?  Can you put part of journal article in your dissertation?  What if you wrote the article?  Nora Allred, Copyright Librarian from the J.R. Van Pelt and Opie Library will present the basics of U.S. Copyright and discuss the role it plays in writing and publishing a thesis or dissertation.

Please register online to attend either or both seminars on campus or online.  Once you register, you will receive an e-mail confirmation with the location or technical information needed to view the streaming video.

Past seminars offered by the Graduate School, as well as a calendar of our coming events can be found in our Seminar Archive.

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Wang Awarded China’s Top Honor for Overseas Grad Students

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PhD student Hui Wang (MSE) is the first Michigan Tech student to receive the highly prestigious China National Award for Outstanding Graduate Students Abroad.

The award honors outstanding academic achievement and is extremely competitive. All of China’s graduate students studying abroad can apply, but no more than 500 awards are granted. In 2012, 489 students were recognized.

A total of 149 graduate students in the US received the award, including four from Michigan: Wang, one from Michigan State University and two from University of Michigan.

Wang, who received $6,000, is advised by Yun Hang Hu, the Charles and Caroll McArthur Professor. Her work focuses on the use of graphene to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells.

Published in Tech Today

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2013 MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee

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Photo of Alexandria Guth
Alexandria Guth represented Michigan Tech in the MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award competition.
Alexandria Guth was selected by the Dean’s Advisory Panel to represent Michigan Tech as a nominee for the Midwestern Association of Graduate School’s Excellence in Teaching Award.  Dr. Guth was nominated by her department, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences.

Although her contributions to the teaching activities of her department are many, she is most known for developing and implementing novel teaching practices for online courses.  One course is taken primarily by schoolteachers, and as Dr. Pennington notes in his nomination letter, “The schoolteachers in her online courses say that she does a terrific job, and I believe them; they know what they are talking about, and are not easy to please.”  This semester, she is developing an online course with a set of laboratories that can be completed off campus for introductory students in Oceanography.

Dr. Guth earned her PhD in geology in spring 2013, and was advised by Dr. James Wood. Her research has taken her to Kenya for field work, and she has had the opportunity to participate as a teaching assistant with her advisor in a series of field courses for students from Michigan Tech and beyond.  Her teaching is truly global.

Nominations are accepted each year for this award.  Please consider nominating your outstanding graduate students next year.  Full details on the nomination procedure are available online.

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June First Friday Social

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There will be one last First Friday Social for this fiscal year! Faculty, staff and graduate students are invited to attend the June First Friday University Social from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., June 7, in the Memorial Union Ballroom B. A cash bar along with complimentary soda and snacks will be provided.

This month’s Social is sponsored by Information Technology. Come and meet your colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere.

The First Friday University Socials began in 2006 to provide a casual setting for members of the campus community to get together informally, share their work and get to know each other. Such informal gatherings often lead to more productive work relationships and an appreciation for diversity.

In an effort to increase the effectiveness of the initiative, this academic year featured departmental partners who sponsored each months’ events. First Friday University Socials will resume in September with the Graduate School and Graduate Student Government as the sponsor – mark your calendars for September 6th!

If your department is interested in hosting a social next academic year or would like more information, please contact Megan Ross at 7-3123 or mrross@mtu.edu.

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Intellectual Property Program for Graduate Students

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Is it original? Copyright & Patents for Graduate Students

Graduate students are encouraged to enroll in Is It Original? Copyright and Patents for Graduate Students, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Program Basics:

This program offers busy graduate students a unique opportunity to build an understanding of intellectual property that will complement their studies, research, and instructional goals. Students can:

  • Participate in a non-credit (no-cost), five-week program (July 18 – August 15)  that is guided by Michigan Tech copyright and patent experts.
  • Learn with peers in online environments, during Monday/Thursday weekly meetings with campus experts and guest speakers to develop a broad understanding of copyright and patent fundamentals in the context of academic research and publishing.
  • Engage in guided team activities to analyze IP case scenarios relevant to graduate studies and to share your informed analysis with others.

Program Benefits:

Students will gain a competitive edge for their graduate studies and with future employers. They will explore the beneficial balance of IP law that supports the continuous advancement of knowledge by protecting, rewarding, and encouraging originality in STEM research. On successful program completion, they will receive a certificate of training in intellectual property. We’ve worked on this program for several terms taking into account feedback from graduate student attendees.

To enroll, please register online.

An orientation meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 18 in the library.

For further information and any questions, please contact Jean DeClerck (jsdecler@mtu.edu).

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DeVlieg Recipients Announced

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce that two students have earned fellowships from The DeVlieg Foundation.  The DeVlieg Foundation has generously provided support for graduate students pursuing research in engineering, wildlife, and biology at Michigan Tech.

The recipients this year are:

  • Anthony D. Matthys, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences
  • Renee C. Oats, PhD candidate in Civil Engineering

Photographs and details of awards and fellowships coordinated by the Graduate School can be found online.

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Nominations Open for the 2013 Distinguished Dissertation Award

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Nominations are closed for this year’s competition.

Nominations are now open for the 2013 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, July 1, 2013, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. biological and life sciences (more details)
    Including:  biology; botany; zoology; ecology; embryology; entomology; genetics; nutrition; plant pathology; plant physiology; anatomy; biochemistry; biophysics; microbiology; pathology; pharmacology; physiology; agriculture, forestry, and related fields.
  2. humanities/fine arts (more details)
    Including: history; philosophy; language; linguistics; literature; archaeology; jurisprudence; the history, theory and criticism of the arts; ethics; comparative religion; and those aspects of the social sciences that employ historical or philosophical approaches.

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. PhD students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2013, are eligible.   Next year, the 2014 competition will accept nominations in the fields of social sciences and mathematics/physical sciences/engineering for students who have graduated between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2014.

Please direct your questions to Debra Charlesworth, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School.

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Spring 2013 Finishing Fellowship Awardees Announced

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the recipients of the spring 2013 finishing fellowships. The fellowships were made available by the support of the Graduate School.

The recipients were:

  • Xiaochu Ding, PhD candidate in Chemistry
  • Jiqing Fan, PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering
  • Kevyn J. Juneau, PhD candidate in Forest Science
  • Michael T. Kivisalu, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Hui Wang, PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering

Finishing fellowship applications for fall 2013 are due no later than 4pm on June 20, 2013. Application procedures and photographs of recent recipients can be found online.

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