Graduate School Newsblog

Tag: Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors

2014 James Smithson Fellowship Program

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The Smithsonian Office of Fellowships and Internships (OFI) is currently accepting applications for the 2014 James Smithson Fellowship Program.

Named after our founder and funded through the generosity of past Smithsonian National Board Chair Paul Neely, this premier fellowship offers post-doctoral scholars in the fields of science, the humanities and the arts an opportunity to study the intersection between research and public policy in our nation’s capital.

This program combines the best of the Smithsonian’s vast scholarship and collections with its unparalleled access to leading thought leaders and policy-makers.

Fellowships last one year and include a stipend of $50,000.

Application deadline for the 2014 cycle is January 15, 2014.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and not more than five years beyond receipt of their Ph.D. degree by December 31, 2013.  Candidates with professional degrees are also eligible to apply.

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Breaking Digital Barriers to Present an Online Seminar

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Michigan Tech’s Breaking Digital Barriers Group to present an Online Seminar for People Who Help Older Adults Use Technology.

The one-week online seminar, Digital Literacy and the Older Adults, is for anybody who:

  • helps older adults use technology,
  • wants to help people in their community cope with the rapid change in technology that has become part of our everyday life, and
  • or anyone who has ever tried to debug their parents’ computer problems over the phone.

The seminar will run Nov. 18 to 22, with a time commitment of 1-2 hours a day.

The seminar will take place online.  Registration is at www.mtu.edu/bdbmooc.  

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Accepting applications for 2014 Ford Foundation Fellowships Programs

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Applications are being accepted for the 2014 Ford Foundation Fellowships Programs for Achieving Excellence in College and University Teaching.  Full eligibility information and online applications are available on our website at: http://nationalacademies.org/ford

Eligibility Requirements:

  • U.S. citizens, nationals, permanent residents, or individuals granted deferred action status under the DACA program
  • Planning a career in teaching and research at the college or university level in a research-based filed of science, social science or humanities

Stipends and Allowances:

  • Predoctoral–$20,000 to the fellow, institutional allowance of $2,000 for three years
  • Dissertation–$21,000 for one year
  • Postdoctoral–$40,000 for one year, $1,500 employing institution allowance, to be matched by employing institution

Awardees have expenses paid to attend one Conference of Ford Fellows.

Approximately 60 predoctoral, 35 dissertation, and 24 postdoctoral fellowships sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by the National Research Council of the National Academies.

Application Deadline Dates:

  • Predoctoral: November 20, 2013
  • Dissertation: November 15, 2013
  • Postdoctoral: November 15, 2013

For Further information please contact:

Fellowships Office, Keck 576
National Research Council of the National Academies
500 Fifth Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202.334.2872
Fax: 202.334.3419

infofell@nas.edu

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2014 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

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The 2014 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Solicitation has been posted.  Faculty play a critical role in encouraging our most competitive students to apply for fellowship opportunities like the NSF GRFP.  Michigan Tech’s Research Development Office has for the previous three years offered a seminar for all interested applicants.  Based on an internal screening process recommended by the NSF GRFP office, this year the seminar series will only be open to students identified by faculty as competitive applicants.

As you identify students, please keep in mind that competitive applicants are often students who have or will most likely be awarded university teaching or research assistantships. Students who have internal graduate support should still be encouraged to apply.  While fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $32,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), which in turn frees up internal funding for other graduate students, the fellowship is more about prestige.  As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers.  The reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching.  Likewise, students who receive the GRFP call attention to the high-quality graduate education and research ongoing at Michigan Tech.

Names and emails of faculty-identified students should be emailed to Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu) by Wednesday, September 11th.

Eligibility for the GRFP:

  • be a US citizen, US national, or permanent resident
  • be planning to pursue a research-focused Master’s or Ph.D. program in an NSF-supported field
  • be enrolled in an eligible program at an accredited United States graduate institution by Fall 2014
  • have completed no more than twelve months of full-time graduate study (or the equivalent) as of August 1, 2013.

Moreover, competitive students should have:

  • a strong academic record of 3.5 GPA or higher
  • the ability to obtain 3 exceptional reference letters– due November 14th
  • previous professional (e.g., internship/enterprise), research (e.g., SURF),  and educational outreach (e.g., K-12, international, community) experiences
  • future research, professional and outreach goals that will potentially benefit society

Michigan Tech’s Research Development Office will formally invite faculty-identified students to participate in a NSF GRFP seminar series.  This eight-week series will help applicants develop submission material (Personal Statement, Relevant Background and Future Goals and Graduate Research Statement) and request letters of reference in a timely and helpful manner.  Speakers include experienced NSF GRFP reviewers and panel chairs, Dr. Pushpathala Murthy who is currently serving as program officer for the NSF GRFP, and previous NSF fellows.

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New Theses and Dissertations Available in the Library

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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 Cognitive Science and Human Factors
  • Biological Sciences
  • Chemistry
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computer Science
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Forest Ecology and Management
  • Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Geology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Physics
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Spring 2013 BRC Travel Awards

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The Biotechnology Research Center announced its Spring 2013 Travel Grants. Recipients include:

Post-doctoral Research Scientist Presentation:
*Kaela Leonard (ECM) Advances in Microfluidics and Nanofluidics (podium)

Graduate Student Presentations:
*Patrick Bowen (EMSE) 2013 Minerals, Metals and Materials Society Meeting (podium)
*Katrina Bugielski (SCH) 245th ACS National Meeting and Exposition (poster)
*Weilue He (EBE) Gordon Research Conference-Nitric Oxide (poster)
*Na Hu (SCH) American Geophysical Union 2012 (poster)
*Robert Larson (SBL) Experimental Biology (poster)
*Yiping Mao (SBL) Keystone Symposia on Molecular & Cellular Biology (poster)
*Sandra Owusu (FMGB) ASPB: 2013 Midwestern Section Annual Meeting (poster)
*Alison Regal (SACS) North American Society for the Psychology of Sport & Physical Activity (poster)
*Rafi Shaik (SBL) Plant and Animal Genome XXI (poster)
*Ashley Shortz (SACS) IEE Annual Conference and Expo (podium)
*Amy Sieloff (ECM) AIChE 2012 Annual Meeting (poster)
*Srinivasa Rao Sripathi (SBL) Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (poster)
*Huan Yang (SBL) Experimental Biology (poster)
*Nazmiye Yapici (SCH) 245th ACS National Meeting and Exposition (podium)

Published in Tech Today

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Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Defense Scholarship

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The Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program has been established by the Department of Defense (DoD) to support undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The program aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DoD laboratories. Learn More >

Application deadline: December 14, 2012

To apply online, https://smart.asee.org/apply

Graduate applicants can be either currently enrolled in a regionally accredited U.S. college or university or awaiting notification of admission to such. If awaiting admission, you must be accepted for entrance in the fall 2013 term.  For more on eligibility, https://smart.asee.org/about/eligibility.

Participants in the SMART Scholarship for Service Program receive:

  • Full tuition and education related fees (does not include items such as meal plans, housing, or parking)
  • Stipend paid at a rate of $25,000 – $38,000 depending on degree pursuing (may be prorated depending on award length)
  • Paid summer internships
  • Health Insurance allowance up to $1,200 per calendar year
  • Book allowance of $1,000 per academic year
  • Mentoring
  • Employment placement after graduation
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Tech Celebrates World Usability Day

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Thursday was Usability Day around the world, and this was the fifth year Michigan Tech was involved. 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.

We caught up with a couple of projects taking place at Tech.

The Human Interface Design Enterprise was showing off their driver simulator in Rekhi Hall.

It was one of a couple of major projects the group has taken on, according to Margo Woller-Carter, a PhD student in applied cognitive science and human factors.

“We are using a Uconnect system from Chrysler to test for driver distraction,” she said. “We designed this driver simulator to use with it, and we will also be doing some eye-tracking for them.” Uconnect was a multimedia system on steroids: entertainment, phone, navigation, voice command, controls, and wifi: perfect for testing for distractions. The Enterprise was in the second year of a three-year contract with Chrysler.

And on this day, there was plenty of distraction going on: radio playing, Uconnect with lots of buttons to play with, a road ahead on the computer screen, and many people walking in and out of the room. Students took turns behind the wheel of the 60 mph simulation. Some did a little off-roading and even off-globing.

Woller-Carter said they also have some work with the HVAC folks at Chrysler, including a smartphone app for adjusting temperature from anywhere in the car.

One key to all their app work is to keep them user friendly. “There are so many bad apps today,” said second-year computer engineering major Andrew Timmerman. He, too, took a turn on the simulator, exploring some of the features of the Uconnect: estimated time to complete the required number of laps at 60, various gauge settings, including temperature, etc.

The eye-tracking will be an interesting undertaking, the assembled students thought. Eye-tracking is a method employed in usability studies where sensors record where humans’ eyes are focused. Currently, eye-tracking uses six sensor points on the face and it loses accuracy when you move your head. That has important ramifications when you are analyzing distractions.

The HIDE plan might include adding more sensor points to prevent data loss, Woller-Carter said.

“Or we might just come up with a whole new system,” she said.

She also said it was important for the two teams (design and evaluation) to see the whole design process, to not just design or test.

Read more in Tech Today
by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor

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