Applications are open for the EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Program for the 2014-2015 school year.
The deadline for application is TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17th, 11:59pm EASTERN TIME.
Official Request for Applications and instructions on how to apply here: 11th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability
For general program information, visit: www.epa.gov/p3
Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine convene annually in Lindau, Germany, to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers. These students will travel to Lindau to participate in discussions with the Nobel Laureates, as well as other graduate students and junior researchers from around the world.
The 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to physiology or medicine will be held June 29 through July 4, 2014. Nomination deadline is Friday, November 1, 2013 4:00 pm, Eastern Time..
The 5th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences will be held August 19 through August 23, 2014. Nomination deadline is Friday, November 15, 2013 4:00 pm, Eastern Time.
Transportation, lodging and registration expenses are arranged and paid for by the sponsoring agencies. Participants meet in Washington, D.C., for an orientation meeting and travel as a group to Germany. A student awardee will be committed to travel from June 27 or 28, 2014 until July 5 or 6, 2014. The final dates will be determined at a later date.
Federal budget uncertainties prohibit a formal announcement of an internal due date for applications. ORAU member institutions may nominate one student per university. Your institution will also be invited to nominate additional students by our partnering organizations.
Further information about the program, and the web site for submission of nominations, can be found online at http://www.orau.org/lindau/.
The meetings will feature recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology and Economics.
Eligibility:
We are especially interested in receiving nominations from a diverse group of students, including women, minorities and people with disabilities.
If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Sam Held (sam.held@orau.org) or me (ann.farler@orau.org).
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:
Moreover, competitive students should have:
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.
Michigan Tech is one of 12 universities across the nation that are the initial signers of the Green Chemistry Commitment (www.greenchemistrycommitment.org), making them part of the first national effort to make university chemistry education greener. The Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) is a consortium of universities and industry partners that is bringing green chemistry into undergraduate curriculum to increase the number of green chemists and scientists in the US and the opportunities available to them in the field.
The Green Chemistry Commitment is organized by Beyond Benign (www.beyondbenign.com), a non profit foundation dedicated to providing future and current scientists, educators, and citizens with the tools to teach and learn about green chemistry in order to create a sustainable future. Beyond Benign and the Green Chemistry Commitment will be presenting a session at the 17th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference this month, sponsored by the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute.
As an academic and industrial field, green chemistry encourages chemists and scientists to develop safer, non toxic, renewable chemistry and materials. Supporting green chemistry education gives chemical companies a competitive advantage by:
“When we modify our teaching labs by substituting drugstore-variety hydrogen peroxide and other greatly reduced toxicity chemicals instead of hazardous solvents and suspected cancer-causing agents, we show the principles of green chemistry in action,” says Irv Levy, chemistry department chair at Gordon College. “Students learn the same concepts and principles of chemistry they need, but they also learn how to achieve results in a way that’s safer for them, the community, and the environment. It’s just the right thing to do.”
By signing the Green Chemistry Commitment, colleges and universities agree that, upon graduation, all chemistry majors will have proficiency in the essential green chemistry competencies of theory, toxicology, lab skills, and practical application. using resources and courses of other departments or institutions.
More information about the Green Chemistry Commitment, including information about becoming a signer, can be found at www.greenchemistrycommitment.org.
Published in Tech Today.
The Graduate School is pleased to announce that the following students earned a finishing fellowship for summer 2013.
Profiles of current recipients can be found online.
Nominations for fall 2013 fellowships are due no later than 4pm June 20, 2013 to the Graduate School. See our webpage for nomination information.
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:
The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:
The Graduate School is pleased to announce the recipients of the spring 2013 finishing fellowships. The fellowships were made available by the support of the Graduate School.
The recipients were:
Finishing fellowship applications for fall 2013 are due no later than 4pm on June 20, 2013. Application procedures and photographs of recent recipients can be found online.
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
Douglas Smith will be traveling to Beijing this summer, courtesy of the National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes.
Smith, who is earning his MS in Chemistry, received the EAPSI fellowship to conduct research at Beijing Technological University. The fellowships support research in several countries around the Pacific Rim, but Smith was drawn to China in particular.
“Since my adviser and most of my lab mates are from China, I thought, if they are making the effort to be here in the US, I should try and go over there and walk a mile in their shoes,” he said.
EAPSI fellowships give graduate students first-hand research experience outside the US; an introduction to the host nation’s science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure; and an orientation to the culture and language. NSF’s aim is to prepare researchers for international collaborations early in their careers, thus ensuring a globally aware US scientific workforce.
Smith started his research career as an undergraduate, working with Assistant Professor Lanrong Bi (Chemistry). After he completed his BS in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, she continued as his advisor.
In China, Smith will be furthering studies on a series of new fluorescent dyes that can detect changes in the pH of organelles–minute structures within cells involved many physiological processes. Changes in pH can serve as an early warning system for disease, and the dyes can also help scientists understand the inner workings of cells.
Smith’s research has been expedited by the confocal microscope the University acquired in December. It uses lasers and high-end optics to take 3D images of cells, tissue and nanomaterials without destroying samples. “I feel that the Olympus confocal microscope was key to generate the important preliminary results for applying the EAPSI fellowship,” he said.
Bi agreed. “Doug has done excellent work, and he is highly deserving of this fellowship,” said Bi. “Having access to this equipment has helped him–and our entire team–to be much more productive. All the members of our team are grateful to each of the units that helped fund the microscope, especially the College of Sciences and Arts, which spearheaded the purchase.”
Published in Tech Today