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Search Results for "thesis and dissertations MS Office tips"

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Seminar Series – Request for Top/Competitive Students

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The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) solicitation has been published and a new website launched (http://www.nsfgrfp.org/. Michigan Tech students have historically done well with a 20% success rate (national average) of being funded through the GRFP.  With a goal of reaching 30% success rate, the Research Development Office will be sponsoring a series of workshops and seminars aimed at advising current or prospective Michigan Tech graduate students in developing competitive GRFP application packages.

NSF provides a stipend of $32,000 (potentially $34,000 for 2015) to the Fellow and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the graduate degree-granting institution for each Fellow utilizing the fellowship support in a fellowship year.

Please encourage faculty and advisors to forward me (nichopp@mtu.edu) names of your top students for our office to invite to participate in our NSF GRFP workshops/seminars.  More specifically, our office will send out a special/individual invite letting students know they have been identified by a faculty/chair/dean (name inserted) as “a competitive candidate” for the NSF GRFP.  The invite is often received as recognition in itself, as it should be.  In the past, this type of invitation has given students the confidence and motivation to put the time and effort into applying.  And of course, it is also a strategic move to maximize faculty and our office’s time in advising students most likely to succeed.  In addition, NSF has made it clear that the practice of requiring all students to apply to the NSF GRFP for the purpose of gaining proposal development experience is not a practice the agency endorses or encourages.

Note students who already have internal University/department funding are strongly encouraged to apply.  This in turn will free up internal funds for less competitive students.

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Research Opportunity Description

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Innovative Research Approaches in Climate Change, Next Generation Air Sensors, and Citizen Science
Research Participation Program
Office of Research and Development
Immediate Office
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC

EPA-ORD/IOAA-2014-01

Project Description:

A postgraduate or postdoctoral research project training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD). This appointment will be served with the Immediate Office (IO) in Washington, DC.

Joining ORD’s Chief Innovation Officer, the participant will be involved in analysis of research gaps and synthesis of new innovative research approaches to science and technical issues including next generation environmental sensors, climate change, and citizen science. The research participant may be involved in the following activities:

  • Analyzing gaps in current technology for low cost, portable air sensors for ozone, fine particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds, among others. Following the analysis phase, s/he will synthesize new research approaches for development and deployment of next generation air sensors.
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of new innovation tools, including challenges and prizes, and adapting the most effective tools for use in maximizing ORD’s climate change research.
  • Assessing citizen science approaches at the national level, focusing on the feasibility of incorporating data collected and analyzed by citizen scientists into ORD’s research programs and future projects. Research will also include identifying and quantifying gaps in application or implementation of citizen science products and conducting research directed at uncovering innovative solutions that remedy the deficiencies in the citizen science approach.

The research participant will have latitude in exercising independent initiative and judgment in conducting the research. EPA will review completed research for adherence to EPA principles and policies, quality, and soundness of scientific conclusions. S/he will have the opportunity to collaborate with peers at EPA, as well as other federal agencies and non-profit and academic institutions. S/he will collaborate with scientists in all fields of environmental sciences, but will interact heavily with climate change and air sensor scientists.

Qualifications:

Applicants must have received a master’s or doctoral degree in geosciences within five years of the desired starting date, or completion of all requirements for the degree should be expected prior to the starting date.

U.S. citizenship is required. The program is open to all qualified individuals without regard to race, sex, religion, color, age, physical or mental disability, national origin, or status as a Vietnam era or disabled veteran.

The appointment is full time for one year and may be renewed upon recommendation of EPA and contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend. The participant must show proof of health and medical insurance. Funding may be made available to reimburse a research participant’s travel expenses to support field studies and to present the results of his/her research at scientific conferences. No funding will be made available to cover travel costs for pre-appointment visits, relocation costs, tuition and fees, or a participant’s health insurance. The participant does not become an EPA employee.

Technical Questions:

The contacts for this project are Peter Preuss (preuss.peter@epa.gov) and Kevin Kuhn (kuhn.kevin@epa.gov).

How to Apply:

An application can be found at http://orise.orau.gov/epa/applicants/application.htm. Please reference Project #EPA-ORD/IOAA-2014-01 when calling or writing for information.

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$12.5 Million in Recovery Act Funding for STEM Graduate Fellowships

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US Department of Energy

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) has established the DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship ( DOE SCGF) program to support outstanding students to pursue graduate training in basic research in areas of physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computational sciences, and environmental sciences relevant to the Office of Science and to encourage the development of the next generation scientific and technical talent in the U.S.

The Fellowship award provides partial tuition support, an annual stipend for living expenses, and a research stipend for full-time graduate study and thesis/dissertation research at a U.S. academic institution for three years.

The application deadline is November 30th.

For more information on eligibility and how to apply please click here.

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New Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) Patent Law Affecting Research Commercialization

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The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ( AIA), also known as the Patent Reform Act of 2011, went into effect on March 16, bringing with it significant changes to the US Patent system.  The most important change from the AIA law moves the United States to a first-to-file system from the previous first-to-invent system.  Whereas the old system provided inventors with a mechanism to prove they were the first to invent and secure patent protection, the new system is essentially a race to the patent office.  If two independent researchers came up with the same invention at the same time, the first one to file a patent application will be awarded the patent.  In the past you could rely on dated lab notebooks and notes to prove you were the first one to invent.

The old system also provided a one-year grace period to file a US patent from the time the invention was publicly disclosed. Until the new patent laws are clarified through future court case rulings, researchers should consider any public disclosure a patent-barring event.

The increasingly stringent requirements for patents to include a complete and enabling written description, compounded with the effective loss of the one year grace period, makes it more important than ever to prepare and submit invention disclosure documents to the Office of Innovation and Industry Engagement well in advance of any planned public disclosures.  Early submission of invention disclosure documents will assist in the timely development of strategies related to technology validation and related patent-filing activities before conference presentations, manuscript publications, thesis/dissertation defenses, or other events.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Michigan Tech’s Innovation and Industry Engagement Office at 487-2228.

Published in Tech Today

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Formatting Assistance Sessions for Spring 2016

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Are you working on formatting corrections for your dissertation, thesis, or report? Do you need help? Join Harriet King (gscap@mtu.edu), coordinator of the Graduate School Communications Assistance Program for group work hours. These workshops are provided at no charge to students working on a dissertation, thesis, or report. Harriet is skilled with MS Office, Open Office, and Adobe Acrobat Pro. These rooms are equipped with PCs with University software, or you may bring your own laptop. If you need additional help or prefer one-on-one assistance, please contact Harriet to arrange for times and inquire about the services available.

All workshops will be held in Dillman 213 at the following times:

  • Friday, April 8, 2016: 9am – noon
  • Sunday, April 10, 2016: 2-5pm
  • **cancelled** Thursday, April 21, 2016
  • **added** Sunday, April 24, 2016: 2-5pm
  • Thursday, April 28, 2016: 9am – noon
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Formatting Assistance for Summer 2016

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Are you working on formatting corrections for your dissertation, thesis, or report? Do you need help? Join Harriet King (gscap@mtu.edu), coordinator of the Graduate School Communications Assistance Program for group work hours. These workshops are provided at no charge to students working on a dissertation, thesis, or report. Harriet is skilled with MS Office, Open Office, and Adobe Acrobat Pro. These rooms are equipped with PCs with University software, or you may bring your own laptop. Distance students may contact Harriet about remote assistance during these times via web conferencing.  If you need additional help outside of these times or prefer one-on-one assistance, please contact Harriet to arrange for times and pricing for the services available.

All workshops will be held in Dillman 213 from 1-4pm on the following dates:

  • Wednesday, July 27, 2016
  • Wednesday, August 3, 2016
  • Wednesday, August 10, 2016
  • Wednesday, August 17, 2016
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How to create bookmarks using Word and Adobe Acrobat

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Having bookmarks that replicate the table of contents (TOC) is a helpful feature to navigate a thesis or dissertation.  Bookmarks allow the reader to see a TOC wherever they are in the document, and navigate easily to that section of the document.  This tutorial will show you how to create bookmarks using Word and Adobe Acrobat on the PC. This tutorial assumes that you are using the Graduate School’s template to create your dissertation or thesis.

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Checking Your Margins Using Double-Side Formatting

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Welcome back to the Michigan Tech Graduate School Newsblog. Since Thesis, Dissertation, and Report writing season is in full swing now we thought it might be helpful to give you a brief reminder on how you can check your margins before submitting your document to the Graduate School.

There are two ways described in “The Guide” to format your dissertation, thesis, or report: Single Side and Double Side formatting. In the post below we will walk you through how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro to check your margins in a Double Side formatted document. If you’re using Single Side formatting, click here to access our previous post on that topic.!

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Checking Your Margins Using Single Side Formatting

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Welcome back to the Michigan Tech Graduate School Newsblog. Since Thesis, Dissertation, and Report writing season is in full swing now we thought it might be helpful to give you a brief reminder on how you can check your margins before submitting your document to the Graduate School.

There are two ways described in “The Guide” to format your dissertation, thesis, or report: Single Side and Double Side formatting. In the post below we will walk you through how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro to check your margins in a Single Side formatted document. If you’re using Double Side formatting, check out our post on that here!

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Formatting and submission help sessions for spring 2017

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Are you working on formatting corrections for your dissertation, thesis, or report? Do you need help? Are you unsure where to submit your dissertation, thesis, or report?

Join the Graduate School (gradschool@mtu.edu) for group work hours. These workshops are provided at no charge to students working on a dissertation, thesis, or report. Staff will able to help with the changes required by the Graduate School for these documents in MS Office.  Assistance will also be available for converting documents to PDF from Word and how to make simple corrections and check your document in Adobe Acrobat. The workshops will be in rooms with PCs with University software, or you may bring your own laptop. Distance students may contact gradschool@mtu.edu about remote assistance during these times via web conferencing.  If you need additional help outside of these times, please contact the Graduate School.  On a limited basis, one-on-one assistance may be available. Please contact the Graduate School for more information.

All workshops will be held from 1-3pm on the following dates in Dillman 101 unless otherwise noted:

  • Wednesday, April 5, 2017 | 9 – 11am | EERC 723
  • Thursday, April 6, 2017 | 9 – 11am | EERC 723
  • Monday, April 10, 2017 | 11am – 1pm | MEEM 202 – Deadline for spring 2017 is 4pm on April 10th
  • Tuesday, April 18, 2017 | 2 – 4pm | Dillman 208
  • Wednesday, April 26, 2017 | 12:45 – 2:45 pm | MEEM 202
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