ESSM News September 2012

Happenings in ESSM Graduate Programs

By Sara Eliason

New students arriving in August

Corrections:

  • Yang Zhang, a new graduate student working with Drs. West and Vogel is a doctoral not a master’s student.
  • Michele Clark will be working with Dr. Rogers. She was listed in the September newsletter as a student of Dr. Kreuter’s.

Graduate student awards

Please join us in congratulating Nicole Ortiz, who received a top-off scholarship from the U.S. Forest Service.

Degree plan notice

Remind and work with your students to file degree plans by early October if they are master’s students in their second long semester or doctoral students in their fourth long semester. Failure to do so will result in a registration hold, which will block the student from signing up for spring 2013 classes until the degree plan is filed. (Of course, every student also is welcome to file a degree plan before this deadline!)

Thesis/dissertation format changes

The Thesis Office has implemented several changes to the format for theses and dissertations. They also have revamped the review process and services in order to manage the volume of theses and dissertations they receive with fewer staff. These new guidelines are in effect for students graduating in December 2012 and after. Please see the summary of format and service changes.

Upcoming fellowship opportunities

  • Tom Slick Graduate Research Fellowship: Encourage your qualified doctoral students to apply for either the spring 2013 or fall 2013 Tom Slick Graduate Fellowship. The announcement for the spring round of awards will be out very soon. Doctoral students who are eligible:
    • are conducting research relevant to Southwest Texas and doing the research in the State of Texas,
    • have at least a 3.5 GPA,
    • have essentially completed coursework,
    • are primarily engaged in the research for his/her degree, and
    • have or will soon complete his/her preliminary exams.
  • NSF LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship: If you have a top diversity prospective student who will/could start in spring semester 2013, we encourage you to nominate this student for the NSF Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship. We will circulate the official announcement when it comes out (soon!).
    • Eligible applicants:
      • US citizen or permanent resident
      • Accepted into master’s (thesis option) or direct to PhD in a STEM major to start spring 2013.  Students that already have a master’s or are currently pursuing a master’s are not eligible.
      • Completed undergraduate degree at a LSAMP institution.
    • Details:
      • $30,000 stipend plus $9,000 for educational expenses (tuition, fees, insurance, travel, publication costs, research supplies, etc.) for 2 years.
      • The department or advisor is responsible for a 3rd year funding if needed, but it can be an assistantship at the department rate.
  • Graduate Merit and Diversity Fellowships: As you interact with prospective graduate students this fall, be considering whether they are qualified candidates for the Graduate Merit or Graduate Diversity fellowships. The deadlines for those nominations are mid-January and early-February, respectively.

Office of Graduate Studies changes

OGS forms: Changes to the submission process for certain Office of Graduate Studies forms and petitions are on the horizon for this fall. Namely, some—but not all—of these will be electronic. When that happens, Dr. Boutton or Sara Eliason will let you know.