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1. Award Recipients Announced for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program |
The results of the 2010 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) competition have been announced. Michigan Tech applauds six of its student applicants who received Fellow Awards this year:
Kaitlyn (Reed) Bunker (Electrical Engineering)
Nicole Colasacco-Thumm (Geosciences/Climate Dynamics)
Jared Cregg (Biomedical Engineering)
Ashley Thode (Civil Engineering)
Eli Vlaisavljevich (Bioengineering)
Samantha Wojda (Biomedical Engineering)
Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, a one-time $1,000 international travel allowance and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited US or foreign institution of graduate education they choose.
Six Michigan Tech students were recognized with honorable mention:
Sarah Gray (Biomedical)
Katherine Becker (Materials Science)
Brian Devree (Biology)
Katelyn FitzGerald (Geological Engineering)
Joseph Licavoli (Engineering – Metallurgical)
Peter Radecki (Mechanical Engineering)
As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a history and reputation of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. To be eligible for the NSF GRFP, students must:
* be a US citizen, US national or permanent resident alien
* be in a research-focused Master's or PhD program in an NSF-supported field
* be in the final year of an undergraduate program, first year graduate student or first semester of second year in graduate school (no more than 12 months of graduate courses).
An informative session on applying to the 2011 NSF GRFP will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 14, in Fisher 130. Contact Jodi Lehman with questions at jglehman@mtu.edu . |
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2. Banquet Held to Honor Women's Basketball Season |
The 2010 women's basketball championship season banquet will be held on Sunday, April 18, at the Memorial Union Building Ballroom A. A social will begin at 11 a.m. with brunch to follow at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $25 per person.
The banquet is an opportunity to congratulate the women's basketball program on an outstanding season, honor the major award winners and bid farewell to the 2010 seniors. The 2010 women's basketball seniors are Danae Danen, Tara Ferris, Maria Kasza, Sarah Stream, Katie Wysocky and Katie Zimmerman.
RSVP is required and payments can be made at the door. RSVP before Thursday, April 15, by contacting Steve Nordstrom at 487-3071 or spnordst@mtu.edu .
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3. Reminder to Complete Survey on Commuting to Campus |
submitted by Andrew McKenzie, Green Campus Enterprise copresident
President Glenn Mroz sent an email message to all Michigan Tech faculty, staff and students last Wednesday encouraging participation in a brief survey about commuting to and from campus. Thanks to those of you who have responded already. If you haven't, please do. The anonymous survey will take no more than five minutes to complete.
Members of the new Green Campus Enterprise need the survey data to finalize a greenhouse gas inventory for the University. This inventory began last year as part of the Carbon Neutral Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) project as a means to better integrate Michigan Tech's goals of sustainability with our education and research efforts.
The survey is found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K9F3WWD
Your assistance to the University and the Green Campus Enterprise with this important project is greatly appreciated. |
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4. Tech Alumni Association Has Diploma Frames for Sale |
submitted by Alumni Relations
Looking for that perfect graduation gift for your student workers?
Give your graduating student worker a gift to proudly display and treasure their Michigan Tech diploma. The Michigan Tech Alumni Association offers high-quality frames in two attractive styles: polished black metal frame or a fine classic wood frame. Both are 12 inches by 15 inches and come complete with an elegant black matte embossed with the official Michigan Tech seal. More information is at: www.mtu.edu/alumni/products/gear/frames/ .
These are being offered to University departments at a special discount price of $35 for a metal frame and $40 for the wood style. To order, contact Danielle Treadeau at danielle@mtu.edu .
Proceeds from frame sales support a variety of Alumni Association programs for alumni and students. |
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5. Portage Lake Golf Course Reminders |
Below are reminders about upcoming events at the Portage Lake Golf Course.
The Masters Party at the Par and Grill--Come and enjoy the final round of the Masters Tournament on Sunday, April 11. There will be specials on food and drinks as well as some fun games. The Clubhouse will open at 1:30 p.m.
Leagues--Open enrollment has begun for men's, women's, and junior leagues. Adult leagues begin play in mid-May. Juniors begin on June 10.
Individual Lessons--Lessons are reduced to $30, instead of the usual $40, for the month of April.
For more information, call the golf course at 487-2641.
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6. Reminder: Physics Force Circus Comes to Tech |
The Physics Force duo of former physics teachers, Hank Ryan and Jack Netland, will bring excitement and wonder to K-12 students with their educating and entertaining blend of slapstick comedy and physics at the Physics Force Circus from 7 to 8:15 p.m., Tuesday, April 13, in Fisher 135.
The visual excitement of the Physics Force show brings wonder and scientific enthusiasm to thousands each year. This program comes to the UP for the first time from the University of Minnesota's department of physics and astronomy.
Cost is $1 per person and $5 per family. The event is open to the public.
Sponsored by the Western UP Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education and the Michigan Tech Society of Physics Students.
For more information, contact Joan Chadde at 487-3341 or jchadde@mtu.edu . |
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7. Reminder: Seminar on Metal Exposure and Male Infertility Today |
Julie Wirth, assistant professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at Michigan State University, will present on "The effects of low environmentally relevant metal exposure on measures of male infertility" from 2 to 3 p.m., today, April 9, in Chem Sci 101.
The presentation is sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Biological Sciences. |
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8. Teaching at Tech: Plagiarism and Culture |
by William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development
Some ESL and writing instructors say that there is evidence to support the contention that students from some Asian countries, particularly Chinese students, arrive in America with a grossly inadequate understanding of the Western interpretation of the concept of plagiarism. Although proponents of this view admit that the situation may be changing as Chinese universities interact more broadly with universities in the West, they say that Chinese students have had little or no experience putting others' ideas into their own words and have been routinely encouraged, instead, to master the insights of the scholars they study under by copying, verbatim, the words of their teachers and other expert thinkers.
"Chinese schools have not traditionally taught students to avoid plagiarism," writes Paul Mooney in a recent article in the Chronicle. "High school students, who spend much of their time memorizing, are not required to produce papers that require research."
A college graduate whose thesis was found to contain word-for-word plagiarism observed, "Our teacher told us to copy.... She said we don't know enough to express our own ideas."*
At more-advanced levels of student writing, Chinese students are expected to learn to skillfully weave together a patchwork of passages from various influential thinkers without any expectation that the student-writers need to document the original author or recast another's ideas into one's own words.
Where we in the West see paraphrasing as a very useful academic writing skill, students from China and some other Asian countries, it appears, are often much more likely to be encouraged to compose their papers using extended passages of the more precise words of the originating scholars without sensing any need for attribution.
Writing and ESL instructors who make these claims say that simply telling Chinese students studying in America that original work and proper attribution are required doesn’t mean that an instructor can reasonably expect those students to have the skills or knowledge to instantly and seamlessly comply with these practices.
Issuing a pointed word of warning during orientation, or giving students a pamphlet to read to give them a heads-up, will not provide students with the tools or the practical experience to successfully adjust their writing to comply with Western expectations or enable them to compete with their American peers on an even playing field.
Some educators who help Chinese students make the transition to Western academic practices suggest that effectively addressing this challenge requires an extensive course of study which involves, in part, intensively examining papers exemplifying other students' attempts to make the desired transition from creative scribe stringing together aphorisms of the wise to budding American-style scholars becoming masters of attribution, restatement and synthesis.
A less-hopeful analysis of the situation comes from critics who suggest that the Chinese academy, at all levels, is riddled with instances of academic dishonesty, cheating and plagiarism.
Centuries of high-stakes testing and corruption--and more recent waves of unimaginably intense competition for precious few positions and opportunities--have created a system where doing whatever is necessary to succeed is quietly tolerated and only occasionally seriously punished.
An insanely intensified version of publish or perish is said to be currently pushing Chinese academics wanting to gain and maintain positions in the rapidly expanding Chinese university system. Mooney cites a Newsweek story saying that clearly stated publishing requirements of the existing Chinese academics exceed available journal capacity by 50 percent.
Change is occurring at prestigious institutions. Over the last several years, some high profile institutions, like Tsinghua and Peking Universities, have adopted zero-tolerance policies for academic integrity violations on the part of faculty and students. But, old habits and practices die hard.
With surveys showing that upwards of 80 percent of American high school students admit that they cheated in high school, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that students from other countries feel the need to cheat in the face of incredibly more challenging circumstances.
In some ways, some observers say, our personal outrage that international students would engage in cheating and plagiarism while studying in America may be driven by the stereotypical view of ever-diligent Asian students dutifully mastering their lessons under the watchful eyes of their vigilant parents.
For me, a more important challenge than figuring out why Asian students cheat is figuring out why so many students everywhere see cheating as an acceptable way of getting ahead in life.
Until we get our heads around that, I fear that we'll be fighting a losing battle of trying to stay just one little step ahead of them.
*P. Mooney, "Plagued by Plagiarsim," Chronicle, May 19, 2008 |
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9. On the Road |
ECE and SBE graduate student Nils Markus Stenvig presented a paper titled "Determination of High-Frequency Current Distribution Using EMTP-Based Transmission Line Models with Resulting Radiated Electromagnetic Fields" at the 14th IEEE International Symposium on Power Line Communications and its Applications held March 28-30 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Professor Bruce Mork (ECE), was a coauthor.
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10. New Funding |
Jennifer Becker (CEE/MTCWS) has received $9,353 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled "PECASE: Integrated Modeling and Experimental Evaluations of Competition Between PCE-Dehalogenating Populations: Implications for In Situ Bioremediation."
Victoria Bergvall (Humanities) has received $20,000 from the National Science Foundation for a project, "International Gender and Language Association Group Travel to Japan."
Michael Gibson (Biological Sciences/BRC) has received $181,644 from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, for a project titled, "Murine Knockout Model of 4-Hydroxybutyric Aciduria." |
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11. Job Postings |
Staff job descriptions are available in Human Resources or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings . For more information regarding staff positions, call 487-2280 or email jobs@mtu.edu .
Faculty job descriptions can be found at www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/facpers/facvac.htm . For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.
4/09/2010
Staff Job Postings
Coordinator, Residence Life
Housing and Residential Life
Academic Advisor
Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics
Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer. |
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