Graduate School Newsblog

Tag: Theses and Dissertations

Graduate School Summer Seminar Series

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce its summer seminar series.  Seminars focus on topics of interest to students completing a thesis or dissertation, and some will be presented in conjunction with the Library.

The start time for all seminars will be 2:30pm.

Please register online so we can plan for your attendance and let you know the location of the seminar.  Space is limited, but all seminars will be taped to provide access to our off campus students and those unable to attend.

  • June 9, Tips and Tricks for MS Office
    Learn how to use efficiently use MS Office.  Seminar will be similar to GSG lunch and learn from spring 2010.
  • June 30, An Introduction to EndNote
    EndNote helps you organize, search, and enter citations in your documents.  Co-presented with Rhianna Williams from the Library.
  • July 14, An Introduction to Copyright
    Learn the basics about copyright and how to use materials published by others in your thesis or dissertation. Co-presented with Nora Allred from the Library.

Our first seminar this summer, “Submitting your Thesis or Dissertation to the Graduate School” is now available online.

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Thesis and Dissertation Submission Seminar

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Students planning on finishing a thesis or dissertation this semester or next semester are invited a seminar designed to help students understand current procedures and answer student questions.

Join Debra Charlesworth on May 19th at 2:30pm to learn about the submission process from start to finish.

Faculty and staff who work with students completing a thesis or dissertation are also invited to attend.

Please register online for the event.

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 will be available online shortly after the event.

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How to determine if fonts are embedded in a pdf file

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Embedding fonts in your pdf file allows anyone who opens your file to see the document as you intended.  If you don’t embed a font, the pdf viewer will substitute a font if it is not available on the computer viewing the document, and the result usually isn’t what you intended.

To determine if all of your fonts are embedded in your pdf file, open your pdf file in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

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Jennifer Heglund represents Michigan Tech for MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award

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Jennifer Heglund
Jennifer Heglund
The Graduate School is pleased to announce that Jennifer Heglund was Michigan Tech’s nominee for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award.  Ms. Heglund was nominated by her advisor, Dr. B. Barkdoll of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  Her thesis, “Effects of Climate Change Induced Heavy Precipitation Events on Sediment Transport in Lower Michigan Rivers” modeled the potential effects of climate change, particularly heavy rainfall, on sediment transport in rivers.  Increased sediment transport could have an effect on erosion along rivers, and the models Ms. Heglund developed could be used for planning and land management. Ms. Heglund is currently employed by Northeast Technical Services in Virginia, Minnesota.

Fifty-one theses in the midwest were nominated for the award, and although her work was not recognized as the award recipient, it was well received by the reviewers.  One reviewer commented, “I enjoyed reading this thesis – it’s a pleasure to see such a complete approach to a problem.”

Seth DePasqual was also nominated by his advisor, Dr. T. Scarlett, on behalf of the Social Sciences Department.  His advisor described his thesis as, “…a study of the evolution of an early 20th century mining system in Spitsbergen as applied by Boston-based Arctic Coal Company.”

The committee to evaluate the nominees consisted of graduate faculty representing a broad range of graduate programs:  M. Neuman (Biomedical Engineering), S. Martin (Social Sciences), R. Froese (School of Forestry Resources & Environmental Science), B. Davis (School of Technology) and G. Campbell (School of Business and Economics).  Next year’s competition will consider applicants who have completed their degrees between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010.  An application consists of a recommendation letter from the advisor and an electronic copy of the thesis.  Please consider nominating your MS students next year.

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New Theses and Dissertations in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations from our recent graduates in the J. R. Van Pelt Library and John and Ruanne Opie Library.  The names of our graduates, their degrees, advisors, and titles of their research are listed below.

Brian Beachy
Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Science
Advisor: Andrew J Storer
Dissertation title: Impacts of the Exotic Beech Bark Disease Complex in Michigan

Jessica Beachy
Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Science
Advisor: Andrew John Storer
Dissertation title: The Development of Trapping, Survey and Educational Tools for the Exotic Invasive Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilusplanipennis Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

Luke Bowman
Master of Science in Geology
Advisor: William I Rose
Thesis title: Community Perceptions of an NGO’s Impact on Disaster Preparedness in Los Planes de La Laguna, Santa Ana Volcano, El Salvador

Venkat Donuru
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
Advisor: Haiying Liu
Dissertation title: Design and Synthesis of Novel BODIPY Polymeric Dyes, and Redox-active Tetrathiafulvalene-Carbohydrate Conjugates for Potential Biosensing Applications

Chad Fortin
Master of Science in Applied Ecology
Coadvisors: Christopher Raymond Webster and David James Flaspohler
Thesis title: Floristic Quality as a Potential Driver of Vegetative Diversity-Productivity Relationships and Arthropod Habitat in Restored Grasslands

Bryan Franklin
Master of Science in Computer Science
Advisor: Steven R Seidel
Thesis title: Analysis and Performance of a UPC Implementation of a Parallel Longest Common Subsequence Algorithm

Valerie Fuchs
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering
Coadvisors: John S Gierke and James R Mihelcic
Dissertation title: Nitrogen Removal and Sustainability of Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands for Small Scale Wastewater Treatment

Alex Joseph Varghese
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Paul L Bergstrom
Thesis title: Fabrication of Piezo Resistive Strain Sensor for Orthopedic Fracture Implant System

Jodi Lehman
Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Advisor: Patricia J Sotirin
Dissertation title: International Teachers in the American Classroom: Deposing the Myth of Monolingualism

Ruben Otoniel Matias Gomez
Master of Science in Geology
Advisor: William I Rose
Thesis title: Volcanological Map of the 1961-2009 Eruption of Volcande Pacaya, Guatemala

Julian Mills-Beale
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Advisor: Zhanping You
Thesis title: New Test Procedures for Aggregate Specific Gravities and Absorption

Srichand Pendyala
Master of Science in Computer Science
Advisor: Robert Louis Pastel
Thesis title: Sketch Recognition through Shape Based Interaction

Ratul Saha
Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences
Advisor: Susan T Bagley
Dissertation title: UV Disinfection of Metalworking Fluids: Analysis Using Molecular Tools

Steven Vormwald
Master of Science in Computer Science
Advisor: Steven M Carr
Thesis title: Predicting Remote Reuse Distance Patterns in Unified Parallel C Applications

Fuyu Xu
Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
Advisor: Chandrashekhar Pralhad Joshi
Dissertation title: Molecular Mechanism of Cellulose Biosynthesis in Plants

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Nominations open for the 2010 Distinguished Dissertation Award

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Nominations are now closed for the 2010 competition.

Nominations are now open for the 2010 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/University Microfilms International (UMI) Distinguished Dissertation Award. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering
  2. social sciences

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. PhD students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2010, are eligible.

A nomination packet must include the following:

  1. a completed nomination form.
  2. a 10-page abstract of the dissertation, double spaced on white letter-sized paper. (pdf preferred)
  3. optional: abstract appendices containing non-textual material such as charts, tables or figures. (pdf preferred)
  4. a letter of reference from the dissertation advisor.
  5. a letter of reference from a member of the nominee’s dissertation committee.
  6. a letter of reference from a person chosen by the nominee.

The letters of reference should address the significance and quality of the dissertation work.

Nominations should be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on June 30.  Contact Debra (ddc@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.  See also the Council for Graduate School’s announcement page.

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New Theses and Dissertations in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations from our recent graduates in the J. R. Van Pelt Library and John and Ruanne Opie Library.  The names of our graduates, their degrees, advisors, and titles of their research are listed below.

Himanshu Bahirat
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Bruce Mork
Thesis title: Transient Recovery Voltages in Shunt Capacitor Bank Installations

Shu Wei Goh
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Advisor: Zhanping You
Thesis title: Development of Specifications for the Superpave Simple Performance Tests

Nicholas Peterson
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Michael C Roggemann
Thesis title: Pulse Polarization Radar for Determining Spatial and Material Information about a Target in Orbit

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