World Usability Day Returns to Campus

World Usability Day is returning for the third consecutive year. The event celebrates usability, when technologies or procedures make sense to us and when we can learn–and remember–how to use them, make few errors and feel satisfied with our experiences.

Last year, the annual, international celebration involved 150 events held in more than 43 countries around the world.

World Usability Day in the UP (WUDUP) takes place on campus, Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 10 to 12. This year’s theme is communication, and, according to the World Usability Day website, the hope is to create “greater awareness for designs, products and services that improve and facilitate communication.”

Three official events are planned at Michigan Tech.

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, Nov. 10, noon to 1 p.m.
Memorial Union Ballroom B

“Does Sustainable Design Make Us Behave More Sustainably?”
Speaker: Professor Christa Walck (School of Business and Economics)
In this interactive session, Walck will discuss how sustainable design of the things we use in our lives can change our behavior, but can also lead to increased consumption and waste. The participants will look at the thinking behind a series of sustainably designed items and then try to design something that they would want to use and make them act more sustainably.

A Library2Go Demonstration
Thursday, Nov. 11, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Van Pelt and Opie Library lobby, in front of the information wall

Library2Go, a new, easy and fast way to find library information using mobile devices and smart phones, is now available. Users can quickly search the library’s catalog, view floor plans, find out what services the library’s staff offers, identify contact info, and more. During the session, library staff will demonstrate the new technology and help participants add the Library2Go service to their iPhone, iPod Touch or Android.

Interactive Webinar
Friday, Nov. 12, 4:30 p.m.
Walker 134
Sponsored by the Michigan Tech Chapter of the Society for Technical Communicators

Tim Kauffold, director of operations at Oneupweb, will discuss how attention to usability helps him in fraud detection, trademark monitoring, ad testing and keyword permutation. Kauffold’s ability to speak “techie” to clients and the public has made him a valuable asset to the client management team, working with some of the world’s leading brands. He is also a critical player in Oneupweb’s successful strategic partnership program and a sought-after speaker.

Some events are still in the planning stages, so, for late-breaking news, check the WUDUP website: www.mtu.edu/usability .

Or, for more information, contact Karla Kitalong at 487-3254 or at kitalong@mtu.edu .

Published in Tech Today.

New Theses and Dissertations Available

The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:

  • Applied Ecology
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Engineering Physics
  • Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Geophysics
  • Industrial Archaeology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Indian and Turkish Food Featured at Khana Khazana

The international lunch called Khana Khazana (food treasure) will feature the cuisines of Turkey and India Friday in the Memorial Union Food Court.

International students Nassim Sabahfar and Komal Tayal will cook. Sabahfar, a graduate student in civil engineering from Iran, will make Turkish lamb kebobs, barley mushroom soup and jellied ice cream with fruit, a dish that is her specialty. Tayal, a graduate student in mechanical engineering from India, will make vegetable pulao, a traditional northern Indian vegetarian rice dish.

Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A full meal costs $6, and a la carte dishes costs $2.

Khana Khazana is a collaborative effort of international students and Dining Services.

A (Graduate) Family Affair

The rigors of graduate education are daunting enough, and adding a new child into the mix can raise the stress level into the stratosphere.

Now the Graduate School has helped ease the burden for Lihui Hu, a PhD student in computer science who has just given birth to her first baby, a boy named Alex. The Graduate School recently adopted policies to help graduate students transition to parenthood by offering excused absences and paid leave for new mothers or fathers of biological or adopted children, providing they are already supported full-time by the University.

Hu is the first beneficiary of the new policy. “I’m very grateful to my department and all the people who helped,” she says. “I was able to come home one week before my delivery. It has really helped. At the end of the leave, I’ll be ready to return to campus to work and do my research.”

The timing was perfect, too. Hu’s husband, Linjia Hu, had a job offer that just fell through, and the couple would have been without any income.

“We are among only 13 percent of universities nationally who offer six weeks guaranteed, paid leave,” says Kristi Isaacson, assistant director of marketing for the Graduate School.

The support system within academic departments and administrative offices also includes extension time for the degree programs, subsidies for campus child care and local resources to help new parents, Isaacson adds.

Central to the new benefit is the Graduate Student Parental Accommodation Policy, which applies to the mother or father. Under the policy, the graduate student-parent is excused from courses, research, teaching assignments or other responsibilities at Tech for up to six weeks.

“For many women and men, the best time to begin to raise a family is when you are in graduate school,” says Jackie Huntoon, Graduate School dean. “This policy makes it easier for our students and faculty to manage a birth or adoption in a positive way.”

“The excused absence can actually begin three weeks prior to the birth or placement,” Isaacson adds.

The policy also provides a one-semester extension to the time-to-degree limit, as well as extensions to deadlines for completing the qualifying exam or proposal defense.

The academic departments receive funding from the Graduate School to hire temporary replacements for the students on parental leave.

“It’s great that we are able to support her and still cover her duties,” says Steve Carr, chair and professor of computer science, who sits on Hu’s dissertation committee. “With tight budgets, we can still afford a TA. We don’t want to discourage graduate students from starting families, but this type of support is necessary,” Carr adds.

Isaacson agrees. “We don’t want the program to be a burden on the academic department, and we want the grad students to know that we are family supportive,” she says.

Programs like Michigan Tech’s could help stop the “female brain drain in science,” where women are more likely to abandon their academic careers in favor of raising their families, according to research by the Council of Graduate Schools.

“I am proud that our policy is among the best in the nation,” Huntoon says. “This certainly will help us attract and retain more female students, which is one of the University’s strategic goals.”

Isaacson says that help for graduate student-parents, new and old, extends beyond campus resources, such as Little Huskies Child Development Center and the Michigan Tech Preschool.

“The Keweenaw Family Resource Center has the new tree house indoor play area, maternity closet of “gently used clothing” and other programs, and Community Coordinated Child Care (4Cs) also has many ways to help parents.”

“Everyone benefits, and students are not burdened with any additional stress from their academic lives,” Huntoon adds. “They truly can take the time to enjoy the new addition to their family.”

by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations
Published in Tech Today and Michigan Tech News (by
Dennis Walikainen)

Fall 2010 Finishing Fellowships Awarded

The Graduate School is proud to announce the following students are recipients of a one-time Fall 2010 Finishing Fellowship:

  • Alexandru Herescu, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Megan L Killian, Biomedical Engineering
  • Chee Huei Lee, Physics
  • Cho Hui Lim, Chemical Engineering
  • Yu Liu, Civil Engineering
  • Jiang Lu, Physics
  • Cory P. McDonald, Environmental Engineering
  • Louis R. Pignotti, Chemistry

The fellowships are made possible by the Charles L. Lawton Endowed Fellowship, Neil V. Hakala Endowed Fellowship, Doctoral Finishing Fellowship, and the Graduate School.

Pictures of our recent awardees are available online.

Science Education Programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Whether you are a recent graduate, a graduate student, and
undergraduate, a K-12 teacher, or a faculty member, ORNL has a program
that will engage you in a scientific learning experience. Please browse
and apply to our educational opportunities at http://www.orau.org/ornl

Please browse through the Research Profiles on the different
participants and their research experiences at the right hand side of
the bottom of the web site.

YouTube at http://ow.ly/2EQLz.

Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship

The Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE
CSGF) application is now available online at
https://www.krellinst.org/doecsgf/application/ .

Students must be planning full-time, uninterrupted study toward a Ph.D. degree at a U.S. university.  Students in their first or second year of graduate study in engineering, mathematics, or the physical, computer, or life sciences are eligible to apply for the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF).  Exceptional senior undergraduates who can meet all the requirements listed in this application may also apply.

The deadline to apply is January 11th, 2011.

NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program

NASA announces a call for graduate fellowship proposals to the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) program for the 2011-2012 academic year.  This call for fellowship proposals solicits applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing Master of Science (M.Sc.) or Doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines.  The purpose of NESSF is to ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s scientific goals.  Awards resulting from the competitive selection will be made in the form of training grants to the respective universities.

The deadline for NEW applications is February 1, 2011, and the deadline for RENEWAL applications is March 15, 2011.

All proposals must be submitted in electronic format only through the NASA NSPIRES system.  Your advisor will have an active role in the submission of the fellowship proposal.  To use the NSPIRES system, the advisor, the student, and the university must all register. You can register in NSPIRES at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/.

For further information contact Ming-Ying Wei, Program Administrator for NESSF Earth Science Research, Telephone: (202) 358-0771, E-mail: mwei@nasa.gov or Dolores Holland, Program Administrator for NESSF Heliophysics Research, Planetary Science Research, and Astrophysics Research, Telephone: (202) 358-0734, E-mail: hq-nessf-Space@nasa.gov.

Please contact Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu) for coordination of proposal submission.

Just in Time for Halloween: Tech Students Solve Paulding Light Mystery

Cue the bats and spooky music. We are about to delve into one of Michigan’s most alluring mysteries. It’s so alluring, in fact, that it draws a steady stream of pilgrims of the paranormal to the dot-in-the-road town of Paulding all summer long, and into the winter too, just to hang out on the edge of the woods and watch and wait.

They come to catch a glimpse of the Paulding Light, and they are rarely disappointed. The light (or lights; sometimes they come in groups) appears in a valley near Robins Pond Road. It was even featured this year on the SyFy television show “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.”

Led by Jeremy Bos, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering, Michigan Tech’s student chapter of SPIE has undertaken a scientific study to determine exactly what the Paulding Light really is.

But will anyone believe them?

To find out more, see Paulding Lights.

Published in Tech Today.

Diwali Night

The Indian Student Association (ISA) is sponsoring its annual Diwali Night this Saturday, Oct. 30. Activities begin with an Indian dinner from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., in the Memorial Union Commons. After dinner, there will be a show in the Rozsa Center at 8 p.m., featuring traditional Indian dance and songs.

Diwali is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in India. It marks the victory of good over evil and light over darkness for the Indian people.  ISA President, Sachin Joshi (Mechanical Engineering, Graduate Student) has invited everyone to, “be a part of the biggest Indian festival and join us to celebrate this gracious night of delicious authentic Indian dinner, skits, drama, music, dance and lots of fun!”

The ISA is selling tickets in the Memorial Union Commons from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., today and Friday, Oct. 29. Dinner and the show costs $19 for the general public, $16 for Michigan Tech students, $13 for ISA members. Tickets for the performance only are $9. Children under the age of 8 are free.

The celebration is open to the community.