Graduate School Newsblog

Reminder: Zotero Workshop

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Want to learn how to save your research time? How to better integrate citations seamlessly into your research process? Then come to the Library workshop on Zotero [Zoh-TAIR-oh], a fun, free, easy-to-use Firefox extension that helps you collect, manage and cite your research sources.

The workshop will be at 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, in Library 244.

Participants will create Zotero accounts, add information to a database, and learn how to organize material and create bibliographies, reports and references. The session will also cover a few advanced features, like creating timelines and groups and linking with HuskyFetch.

Bring your laptop, if you wish, or use one of our computers, and we’ll help get you started.

The Library now offers weekly workshops all semester on different resources that will give you an academic edge or save time. Workshops take place alternate Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1 p.m., in Library 244. Each workshop is offered twice to accommodate class schedules.

Published in Tech Today

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Nominations for the Dean’s Fellowship are Reopened

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Update: Nominations are now closed for the 2011-12 academic year.

Funds are still available to assist programs in recruiting highly talented applicants to Michigan Tech’s PhD programs.  Nominations have been reopened, and will be accepted while funds are available.

The Dean’s Fellowship is intended to contribute to the development of a diverse academic community, which includes future faculty and others who will be leaders throughout their professional careers.

Dean’s Fellowships provide partial support for the recipient’s first year in a PhD program. The support includes a stipend of $2,000 per academic-year semester (fall and spring) as well as full summer support (stipend plus minimum full-time tuition and fees).

Please see our web page for complete details on eligibility and the nomination procedure.  Direct any questions about the program to Debra Charlesworth.

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DOE Announces New Scholarships

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The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced two new postgraduate fellowship programs in clean energy technologies. DOE says the purpose of the fellowships is to “attract the country’s best and brightest scientific minds to work on advanced clean energy technologies.”

One is a postdoctoral fellowship program that will fund up to 20 fellows nationwide for two years. Selected fellows will be encouraged to pursue innovative, independent new projects that could include working with local community organizations, providing expertise to start-up companies or pursuing grant funding for new work. Applications are due by June 30, and the fellowships will begin this fall. For more information, see www.energy.gov/education/postdoctoral_fellowships/.

The second program, the SunShot Initiative Fellowships, will select recent Master’s or PhD graduates who want to focus on critical technology innovations that can help reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75 percent, making them cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies by the end of the decade. SunShot is a collaborative national energy initiative. Applications for the SunShot Initiative Fellowships Program will be accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, see www.energy.gov/education/stp_fellowships.html.

Published in Tech Today.

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What’s the (Business) Plan?

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Students participated in the second annual Business Plan Competition Tuesday night, and great ideas were flowing in Fisher 139.

Sponsored by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the School of Business and Economics, the competition featured future businessmen and women promoting their ideas in front of a panel of judges, who had previously reviewed their written plans.

The five-minute pitches covered a broad range of business ideas, and the winning plan was Books With Purpose by Jodhbir Singh, master’s student in EE, and Aman Bamra, bachelor’s student in CS. “Books With Purpose would be India’s first nonprofit online bookstore,” Singh explained. “Thirty-five percent of India’s population is illiterate, and we would help address this problem by donating one book to under-supported schools for every five we sell.”

Singh and Bamra would approach India’s middle and upper classes to support their mission and their business, especially targeting rural areas, where illiteracy is more prevalent. They took home $1,500 in cash and $2,700 worth of local consulting services: logo, accounting and legal services for their winnings. Singh planned on returning to India after graduation to pursue the business.

See Tech Today for the complete news story.

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Free Sahaja Meditation Classes

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Michigan Tech is one of a growing number of American colleges and universities to offer a Sahaja meditation program on campus. The free weekly sessions, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, in the Memorial Union, are open to everyone. This week’s meeting is in the Peninsula Room A.

Sahaja meditation can help relieve stress caused by studies or any other pressures, says Pranay Nagar, graduate student in mechanical engineering, who leads the sessions. “Are you anxious to feel more joy in life?” he asks. If so, he says, please check meditation.

No prior experience or knowledge of meditation and no special equipment or clothing are required to participate. The technique is not physically demanding, and everyone can move at his or her own pace, Nagar said.

For more information, contact Nagar at 906-281-4425 or pnagar@mtu.edu.

Published in Tech Today.

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Be the Difference, Take a Stand

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An evening with Standathon will help Bay Cliff Health Camp. The fifth annual event will be from 7 p.m., Friday, April 1, to 7 a.m., Saturday, April 2, in the SDC Gym.

Standathon has activities for everyone to enjoy, including black light mini golf, laser tag, sumo wrestling, inflatables, water polo, fencing lessons, live bands, food eating contests, kayaking and more. Food will be served all night, including breakfast at 6 a.m. Prizes will be raffled off every hour. The grand prize this year is an Xbox Kinect.

The money raised at Standathon will be donated to Bay Cliff Health Camp, a therapy camp for children and adults with disabilities located in Big Bay. The Standathon 2011 goal is to raise $7,000. The entrance fee is $10; entrance fee and T-shirt are $15; and entrance fee, T-shirt and drawing for Xbox Kinect are $20.

For more information, contact Hilary Cadeau, president, at 201-2707 or at hscadeau@mtu.edu , or visit the Standathon website.

Published in Tech Today.

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World Water Day: Michigan Tech Helps Make a Difference

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World Water Day was recently observed at Michigan Tech with a variety of events including a poster session.  Several graduate students were honored with awards including:

  • Ellis Adams, Environmental Policy
  • Jessica Billings, Environmental Engineering Science
  • Aleta Daniels, Forest Ecology and Managements
  • Jonathan Ebel, Biological Sciences
  • Danielle Haak, Biological Sciences
  • Laura Kangas, Applied Ecology
  • Mariah Maggio, Environmental Policy

Read more about the events and see photographs of the award recipients online.

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Peace Corps Master’s International Volunteers Try Changing the World–One Step at a Time

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When graduate students Kristina Denison, Callie Bertsch and Michelle Cisz left the wooded hills of the Michigan Tech campus to serve as Peace Corps volunteers, they headed to countries that couldn’t be more diverse: Zambia, Bulgaria and Paraguay. But the lessons they learned in Michigan Tech’s Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) program were remarkably similar.

“I was going to Africa to change the world,” says Denison, who spent three years in Zambia, a landlocked little country in southern Africa, between Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I learned that you have to count the small steps, to be satisfied with planting a seed.”

Bertsch expected to bring “some great innovation” to the village of Gurmen in Bulgaria. But she soon realized she was having her greatest impact in a more subjective arena: people’s attitudes. “We’re so glad you came to live with us because you’re not at all like we thought Americans were,” the Bulgarian villagers kept telling her.

Halfway around the world, in the small South American country of Paraguay, Cisz was busy readjusting her expectations too. “I had big goals, but I had to take small steps,” she says. “It was a very humbling experience.”

All three women are working toward their Master of Science in Forest Ecology and Management. They wanted to travel, to serve and to learn by doing–the Michigan Tech way–so they joined a program that lets graduate students combine course work with volunteer service overseas in the Peace Corps. With eight PCMI programs in four different colleges and schools, Michigan Tech has more active Peace Corps volunteers than any other university in the nation.

See Tech Today for the complete news story.

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Keweenaw Pride Hosts 2011 Pride Week

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Keweenaw Pride, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and ally (GLBTA) organization on campus, kicked off its annual Pride Week celebration last week. This week has been a work in progress for the organization since September, and it is a celebration of diversity, bringing together many people of many different origins and orientations in a week full of discussions and panels meant to open minds and break stereotypes.

The week began with a film about the controversial California Proposition 8 that was passed and put into effect in November 2008, and it was followed by a discussion panel that allowed attendees to share their opinions.

Following are the events for the week:

Tuesday, March 29
The annual event, “Guess the Straight Person,” will be at 7:30 p.m., in the DHH Ballroom. This event is meant to prove that not all stereotypes indicate a person’s sexual orientation. Come meet the panel and guess their orientation.

Wednesday, March 30
A presentation by activist JAC Stringer will be at 7:30 p.m., in the Memorial Union Ballroom. JAC is well known for his educational and entertaining presentations.

Thursday, March 31
Taboo Talk will be at 7 p.m., in the DHH Ballroom. Got a topic that is taboo in your community that you want to know more about? Come to this event.

Friday, April 1
The 11th Annual Michigan Tech Drag Show will be at 8 p.m., in the Rozsa Center. This year the show will feature the extraordinary talents of Joey Black, Tabitha Stevens, Cass Marie Domino, and, coming all the way from Las Vegas, DuWanna Moore. Seats fill up fast, so get there early.

For more information, see the Keweenaw Pride website, www.keweenawpride.org, or the Michigan Tech Calendar.

Published in Tech Today.

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Summer Internship with the Director of National Intelligence

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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) National Security Analysis & Intelligence Summer Seminar (NSAISS) is now accepting applications through APRIL 3, 2011 for a two-week residential summer program in Washington, D.C., July 10-22, 2011.

NSAISS participants will be introduced to the business of intelligence and will interact with senior officials, current intelligence analysts, and private sector experts to explore intelligence disciplines, methodologies, and substantive topics through a curriculum of lectures, panels, case studies, simulations, and site visits to agencies.   Program participants will receive accommodations, living expenses, and transportation to/from Washington D.C. and to all program activities.

Program participants must be US citizens, interested in intelligence careers, and currently enrolled university graduate students or exceptional graduating seniors with proven plans for ongoing graduate study in Fall 2011.

For more information about the program, eligibility and application visit: www.orau.org/nsaiss.

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