The American Society of Engineering Education recently published a short article, “Tips for a Winning Research Proposal.” This clear article gives concrete tips and additional resources for common pitfalls to avoid when preparing a research proposal. For example, did you know that for some agencies, half of the research proposals are rejected simply because they didn’t adhere to the proposal requirements? These tips could help your proposal be funded. These tips can be applied to fellowship proposals as well as research proposals.
The American Physical Society–an organization that works to advance and spread knowledge of physics through research journals, scientific meetings, education, outreach and advocacy–just issued a report listing the universities that awarded the highest percentages of PhDs in physics to women between 2010 and 2012. Michigan Tech placed 12th in the nation with 42 percent of physics PhDs earned by women.
“This is a well-deserved recognition of the physics faculty members who are committed to diversity at Michigan Tech,” said Ravindra Pandey, chair of the Department of Physics.
Michigan Tech has made increasing the numbers of women students and graduates a key part of its strategic plan. Due to a number of recruitment and retention initiatives, the percentage of women has been rising at the University, now nearing 25 percent, and Tech’s goal for 2035 is a student body that is 40 percent female.
“The Physics Department has already met and surpassed that goal, which is a great accomplishment,” said President Glenn Mroz. “This is awesome recognition of the work of Ravi and his faculty.”
The College of Engineering also has been recognized recently for its percentage of overall doctoral degrees awarded to women. In its latest Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) ranked Michigan Tech 10th in the nation in percentage of engineering doctorates earned by women. According to the ASEE, engineering doctorates received by women at Michigan Tech totaled 31.9 percent of all engineering doctoral degrees awarded by the University in 2013.
The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering a workshop, “Copyright and Your Thesis or Dissertation.” on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 2:00pm.
This workshop will examine the role U.S. Copyright law plays in the thesis or dissertation writing and publishing processes. The use of copyrighted material, publishing agreements and the role of the Digital Commons at Michigan Tech repository will be explored.
The workshop will be held in room 242 of the Van Pelt and Opie Library and is limited to 25 attendees. Visit at the library’s Workshops site and view the calendar to select and register. For questions, please contact Nora Allred, Scholarly Communications and Copyright Librarian at nsallred@mtu.edu.
The Graduate School is pleased to announce that the following students have earned the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship:
- Douglas Banyai, PhD candidate in Physics
- Rasika Kishor Gawde, PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering
- Ryan Lemmens, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
- Seyedmehdi Morazavi Zanjani, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
- Ranjeeth Naik, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
- Ruiqiang Song, PhD candidate in Civil Engineering
- Ehsan Taheri, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
- Khrupa Vijayaragavan, PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering
- Anqi Zhang, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
- Yunzhu Zhao, PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering
Photographs and details of awards and fellowships coordinated by the Graduate School can be found online.
Nominations are currently being accepted for spring 2015 finishing fellowships. Nominations are due Oct. 21 by 4 p.m. to Debra Charlesworth. Please see the website for full details.
There is still room to register for the fall 2014 Safe Place training. The Michigan Tech Safe Place program is a comprehensive resource to better prepare faculty and staff to address the needs of students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (GLBTQ).
The training program addresses a wide range of terms that GLBTQ students use to define their identities, issues that they often deal with during the coming out process, concerns that they face both in and out of the classroom, ways that faculty and staff can create inclusive classroom and office environments, and refer students who need to report harassment, and the on-and off-campus resources available to students.
View the fall 2014 training times and register online.
The Richard E. Honrath Memorial Lecture is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 6, at 4 p.m. in M&M U115.
Richard C. Flagan, Irma and Ross McCollum/William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, California Institute of Technology, will present “Much Ado About Almost Nothing—Atmospheric Nanoparticles.”
The lecture is sponsored by the Earth Planetary and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI) and the Richard E. Honrath Memorial Fund.
Honrath was a professor in the Departments of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering, and he was the founding director of the atmospheric sciences program. He tragically died in a kayaking accident in 2009.
Nominations for the graduate student teaching award as well as the outstanding scholarship award as described below should be sent to me (nspr@mtu.edu) by
FRIDAY OCTOBER 17.
All students you name will be granted the award as long as they meet the guidelines. A notation of the award will appear in the appropriate commencement program.
The scholarship award is limited to at least one and no more than 1% of enrolled students in the department/school.
For most departments/schools, this means 1 student (3-Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, 3-Electrical & Computer Engineering). The requirement that students need to be graduating in Fall remains.
The teaching award is limited to at least one and no more than 2.5% of enrolled students in the department/school.
For most departments/schools, this means 1 student (8-Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, 7-Electrical & Computer Engineering, 3-Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2-Forest Resources & Environmental Science, 2- Geological & Mining Engineering & Sciences)
Please have one person in your area contact me with the lists of nominee names following whatever decision process works best in your department/school.
For the student teaching award, the list should include the department/school and the nominee’s name, the Semester and Year, course CRN and teaching evaluation score from Question 20 for all courses which were used in assessing the nominee for the award. Remember the nominee must have essentially had sole responsibility for instruction for that course. Students do NOT have to be graduating soon to be eligible for this award.
For the outstanding scholarship award, the list should include the nominee’s name and department/school. Students should be finishing/graduating Fall 2014.
I realize that predicting who will finish/graduate will not be completely accurate but our intention is to honor as many students as you feel deserve the award, within some general limits.
NOTE – This is not the same as the “Graduate Student Recognition Award for Exceptional Graduate Student Scholar” awarded by the Graduate Student Government. That nomination process announcement will reach you separately.
I look forward to receiving the names of your outstanding graduate students.
This article from Slate discusses the hiring process in the humanities. Although targeted to the humanities, the timing of job searches and the types of materials requested are similar for most academic job searches. Read this with a bit of thick skin, as the comments are fairly harsh about the whole process.
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Michigan is planning to award $10,000+ to engineering and surveying students. To qualify for consideration for an Education Grant, an applicant must be a full or part-time student (sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student status) pursuing an engineering or surveying degree and enrolled in an ABET accredited engineering or surveying program. Applications are available from the ACEC office or online at www.acecmi.org by clicking on Awards, then Scholarship Program.
Applicants will be judged on a written essay, their work experience, employer and faculty recommendations, community involvement and their GPA.
Applications are due to ACEC by December 19, 2014.
Last year, ACEC Michigan awarded $13,000 in scholarships to deserving students.
2015 ACEC Scholarship Application
The Graduate School has recently launched improvements to our web page and MyMichiganTech that will help students, faculty and staff understand the steps required to complete a graduate degree. Join us on campus or online to learn about these improvements and have your questions answered.
The seminar will be held Thursday, Oct. 2, from 4:05 to 4:55 p.m. Register online to receive the room location or instructions on how you can participate online.
The seminar will be taped and put on the web site for people who are interested in the topic, but unable to attend at that time.