Tag: Theses and Dissertations

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:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Environmental Policy
  • Forestry
  • Geology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Rhetoric and Technical Communication

How to turn off image compression in Word

Microsoft Word has a “feature” that compresses your images to 220ppi after saving.  This saves file space for your documents, but images at this resolution do not meet Graduate School requirements for printing.  This tutorial will show you how to turn off this feature for a single document.

We recommend doing all image editing in a program dedicated to that purpose, such as Photoshop, before inserting images into your Word document.  Images must be at least 300ppi unless they are screenshots.  Screenshots are only allowed when absolutely necessary to convey the information.  All images must also be clear and readable.  Increasing the resolution of a low resolution image to 300ppi will not be acceptable.

First, click on the File Button and select “Options” from the left hand menu.

Click on File option at the top left corner.
Click on File option at the top left corner
Select Options from the pop up menu.

New Theses and Dissertations Available in the Library

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the following programs have new theses and dissertations available in the J.R. Van Pelt and Opie Library:

  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Industrial Archaeology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Rhetoric and Technical Communication

How to use a preflight profile

Preflight profiles in Adobe Acrobat® Pro can be used to check properties of a PDF document, as well as make some automatic fixes to them.  In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use preflight profiles developed by the Graduate School to check the image quality in a PDF file.

To begin, download a preflight profile and save it to your computer. Depending on your browser settings, you might need to right click on the link to save the file to your computer as a *.kfp (or*.xml) file. The Graduate School has created the four below:

  1. Graduate School All Items will show you all items that have errors (red “x”) or should be examined (yellow exclamation point).  It includes checking page size (red “x”), embedded fonts (red “x”), type 3 fonts (red “x”), image quality (yellow exclamation point), and color images (only important if saving printing costs is a concern for you).  This is the same checker that the Graduate School uses.
  2. Graduate School Embedded Fonts will show you all of the fonts that aren’t embedded and where type 3 fonts are used.
  3. Graduate School Images will show you which images have a resolution below 300ppi.
  4. Graduate School Color Pages will show you which pages are in color.

First, you need to open the preflight tool.  In Adobe Acrobat® XI Pro, the preflight tool is located in the “Print Production” section of the “Tools.”

Thesis and Dissertation Seminars Scheduled

The Graduate School is pleased to announce two seminars to assist students with submitting and formatting their thesis or dissertation.

Submitting a thesis or dissertation

Students planning on finishing a thesis or dissertation spring or summer 2011 are invited a seminar designed to help students understand the submission process and answer questions about it.

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation with the location and a reminder of the date and time.

If you are unable to join us, a taped version of this seminar is available online from our May 18th presentation.

Formatting a thesis or dissertation

Beginning with defenses scheduled January 10, 2011 or later, new formatting requirements are in effect for theses and dissertations.  Students, faculty, and staff are invited to learn the highlights of these new requirements and have an opportunity to ask questions about the new requirements.

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation with the location and a reminder of the date and time.  Space is limited, so register early.

If you are unable to join us, this seminar will be taped and made available for viewing online.

Andrew Willemsen to represent Michigan Tech in MAGS competition

Andrew Willemsen
Andrew Willemsen, Michigan Tech’s representative for the 2011 MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award
The Graduate School is pleased to announce that Andrew Willemsen is Michigan Tech’s nominee for the 2011 Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award.  Mr. Willemsen was nominated by his advisor, Dr. M. Rao of the Department of Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics.

His thesis, “Objective Metric for Assessing the Perceived Annoyance of Impulsive Sounds” developed a new method to objectively quantify the overall sound quality of electro-mechanical devices.  This method could improve the design process for these devices by replacing current subjective sound evaluation methods, which are typically expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to quantify.

Multi-Country Research Fellowship Program

Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC)

This fellowship program supports advanced regional or trans-regional research. The program is open to United States doctoral candidates and scholars who have already earned their Ph.D. in fields in the humanities, social sciences, or allied natural sciences and wish to conduct research of regional or trans-regional significance. Fellowships require scholars to conduct research in more than one country, at least one of which hosts a participating American overseas research center.

Fellowship awards will not exceed $12,000 for doctoral candidates and post-doctoral scholars and $8,000 for master’s students.

Eligibility requirements apply at the time of application. Applicants must meet all of the following requirements and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin and/or disability.

  • Must be a U.S. citizen. Proof of citizenship (photocopy of passport) must be shown upon award notification.
  • Must have a Ph.D., be a U.S. doctoral candidate who has completed all Ph.D. requirements with the exception of the dissertation, or be enrolled in a Master’s degree granting program.
  • Must be engaged in the study of and research in the humanities, social sciences, and allied natural sciences.
  • Must wish to conduct research of regional or trans-regional significance in two or more countries outside the United States, one of which must host a participating American overseas research center (ORC).

Fellowships require scholars to conduct research in more than one country, at least one of which hosts a participating American overseas research center. CAORC member centers to which fellows may affiliate include
– the American Academy in Rome,
– the American Center of Oriental Research (Amman, Jordan),
– the American Center for Mongolian Studies,
– the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia),
– the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies,
– the American Institute for Yemeni Studies,
– the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies,
– the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies,
– the American Institute of Indian Studies,
– the American Institute of Iranian Studies,
– the American Institute of Pakistan Studies,
– the American Research Center in Egypt,
– the American Research Center in Sofia,
– the American Research Institute in Turkey,
– the American School of Classical Studies at Athens,
– the Center for Khmer Studies,
– the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute,
– the Mexico-North Research Network,
– the Palestinian American Research Center,
– the American Academic Research Institute in Iraq,
– the West African Research Association (Senegal), and
– the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (Jerusalem).