The Winter Dissertation House is coming to UMBC (January 19-22, 2016). Graduate students who plan to participate should follow the application procedures on the application webpage for the Dissertation House (below).

Open application period: December 8, 2015– January 6, 2016 

(Please note that there are only 12 to 15 slots for this event, consider applying early) 

Applications received after January 6, 2016 will be considered for the DH waiting list. More information about the DissertationHouse: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/about/

• The Dissertation House runs from 9 AM – 5PM, for four days, Tuesday, January 19 through Friday, January 22.
• Students must plan to attend the full session, for each of the 4 days. 
• Daily schedule includes 2 mini-lectures, and 5 hours of writing per day.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and a snack will be served daily.
• The Dissertation House is free for UMBC’s graduate students.
• There are 15 to 18 spaces available for the Dissertation House. 
• Details regarding eligibility can be found on the application page of the website for the Dissertation House.

Read about The Dissertation House in UMBC’s Alumni Magazine: Byrne, R.  (2011, Fall) “The Write Stuff”, UMBC Magazine. p. 12

Please login to MyUMBC (http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/36837), click “I can attend” below, *AND* follow the application procedures on the main website for the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

Dissertation House Application Procedures
Both the on-campus setting and the retreat setting provide Dissertation House participants with productive and rewarding scholastic engagement.  Students who participate in this program will spend each day thinking, writing, and sharing ideas about their doctoral dissertations.  Students will learn effective time-management skills; learn how to set small manageable goals, and will meet with a dissertation coach in one-on-one consultations to discuss and address obstacles that might prevent them completing their degrees.

The Dissertation House period can span either a Tuesday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m., non-residential) or a Friday – Sunday weekend (includes evening sessions) commitment to focus on the doctoral dissertation.  The Dissertation House activities focus on areas where students typically have difficulty: conceptualizing a topic, writing a literature review, transitioning from a proposal to a dissertation, analyzing data, writing the last chapter, and editing.
Students may apply to attend the next Dissertation House during open application enrollment, by submitting two parts of an application.

PART I:

I. Submit a brief description (maximum 2 pages, font size 11-12 point 1 inch margins) that describes the project that you wish to accomplish during the Dissertation Houseperiod.  Applications will neither be reviewed nor accepted outside of the application enrollment period.

PART II:

II. Please use the following guidelines  for the application:

(1) Summary of the project, including research question(s), data or texts, and method

(2) Amount completed on the project to date

(3) Any obstacles that you are encountering that hinder completion of the dissertation.

(4) Include the following header information with the description:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone numbers (home, office, and fax)
• E-mail address
• Academic Program and Year in the program

Dates/Location: January 19 to 22th (Tuesday – Friday), 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Dissertation House will be held in COMM 329 (for Dissertation House) and COMM 332 (for one-on-one sessions).

Application Enrollment Period: Application can be submitted within a designated 2-week period, usually scheduled 1-2 months prior to the next Dissertation House session.  Email applications to promisestaff@gmail.com.  Please use the words “Dissertation House” in the subject line of your email.

Selection Process: Eighteen participants will be selected for participation in the Dissertation House.  The following applicants will have priority:  (1) Applicants who plan to finish the Ph.D. within the next 6 months; (2) Individuals who are working on dissertations and theses rather than a proposal; (3) Applicants who submit earliest; and (4) Individuals who appear most able to benefit from the services offered at the Dissertation House.

If your application is accepted, you will receive an acceptance notice via email and additional details about the Dissertation House.  All students, including those who have not applied or those who are not selected, have the option to participate in the next online challenge, a virtual version of the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/winter-2016-challenge/

PROMISE is pleased to announce a new cycle of the PROMISE AGEP – USM STEM Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Please read all of the guidelines on

https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/about/postdocs/

prior to submitting an application.

Download the PDF: USM STEM Postdoctoral Fellowship Announcement 2016-2017

Deadline, Friday, Nov. 20, 2015

Complete applications must be submitted by January 20, 2016.

The program is divided in two sections:

• STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Health

• HSS: Humanities and Social Sciences

ELIGIBILITY

• Candidates must be currently working on their Ph.D.
• Candidates do not have to be U.S. citizens, but they must be enrolled in an American university.
• Candidates must obtain a letter of recommendation from their advisor(s) in the U.S., as well as a letter of invitation from a professor affiliated with a French university or research institution. Please contact your supervisor in France as early as possible.

For more specific eligibility criteria please visit our websites.

BENEFITS

• A monthly stipend
• Health insurance for the entire duration of the fellowship
• A round-trip ticket to France

SELECTION CRITERIA

• Academic relevance of the research project
• Student’s command of the subject
• Benefits of a research trip to France for the future of the collaboration
• Background of the research collaboration
• Contribution of the project to France/U.S. academic exchange

CONTACTS

• STEM Chateaubriand Program: stem.coordinator@chateaubriand-fellowship.org
• HSS Chateaubriand Program : hss.coordinator@chateaubriand-fellowship.org

WEBSITE & APPLICATION

PROMISE Alumna, Dr. Mileidy Gonzalez-Delgado (Ph.D., UMBC) of NIH’s Statistical Computational Biology Group is inviting you to attend this seminar at The Gaylord Hotel, on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.  Dr. Gonzalez said in her invitation to the PROMISE audience, ” … the NIH office of Intramural training and Education (OITE) will be conducting a pre-event on management skills. Their seminars are some of the best I’ve heard.”  We thank Dr. Gonzalez for sharing this information.

Management Training for Scientists

(a pre-conference event at the SACNAS meeting)

Management of people and resources is a key component to being successful as you move forward in your career. Staff from the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE) have developed an introductory course to give PhD-level scientists and senior-level graduate students an overview of common management concepts that are not often taught in a research environment. The topics covered will be applicable to all sectors (academics, industry, non-profits, government, etc.).  While best to attend the whole day, participants can come for the morning or afternoon sessions as a stand-alone topic.

October 28, 2015 – National Harbor

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

 Please register to attend

REGISTRATION:

https://www.training.nih.gov/sas/_20/847/2015_SACNAS_Pre-event_Management_training?

Morning

Self-awareness: The Key to Professional Success

Conflict, Feedback and Difficult Conversations

Afternoon

Supervisory, Mentoring and Advocacy Relationships in Work Environments

Participants will also be invited to participate in a few follow-up webinars to increase their management skills.  These webinars will be scheduled in November and December and will discuss how to hire staff and also more on motivating your staff.

Dr. Renetta Garrison Tull is an educator, mentor, advocate, and scholar. She is trained as an Electrical Engineer, who received both her B.S. and M.S., from Howard University and Northwestern University, respectively. In addition, Dr. Tull received her Ph.D. in Speech Science from Northwestern, and completed a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, prior to joining the faculty at Wisconsin with speech technology research ties to the departments of Communicative Disorders and Industrial Engineering. She is a highly sought after speaker who travels both nationally and internationally in an attempt to increase the numbers of underrepresented students in STEM.

Dr. Tull has been nominated to receive the 2015 GEDC AIRBUS Diversity in Engineering Education Award, and she is one of the three finalists! This prestigious award was “launched to promote a more diverse engineering workforce globally and recognizes initiatives and people behind them who facilitate and encourage students from all backgrounds and profiles to pursue and finish a career in Engineering and to help them develop as successful engineers for the workforce through initiatives that have the potential to be replicated elsewhere.”

Dr. Tull exemplifies these characteristics, and during her 12-year tenure as the Director of the PROMISE Program, Maryland’s AGEP, a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, she has implemented a holistic approach for student development. PROMISE has created several modules of workshops and seminars that have been replicated in several institutions of higher education across the country.

Currently, in her role as Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and as Co-PI for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate, Dr. Tull proves that when you love what you do and are good at it, the possibility to positively impact and change lives is inevitable.

This particular award is extra special because it has brought candidates from 13 countries totalling 29 diverse candidates, and Dr. Tull has been listed amongst them! Similarly, not only did Dr. Tull make it to the semi-finals, she was selected as one of the top three finalist to receive the 2015 GEDC AIRBUS Diversity in Engineering Education Award! On November 30, 2015, Dr. Tull and the other two finalists will have the opportunity to present their ideas to a jury led by Charles Champion, Airbus’ Executive Vice President Engineering at the annual GEDC conference in Adelaide, Australia, where the final selection will be made!

Dr. Tull, we wish you all the best of luck!

PROMISE AGEP Team

For more information:

• Award page: http://diversityinengineering.com/
• Dr. Tull’s GEDC application video – https://youtu.be/A8xFZv9dPSw
• Dr. Tull’s professional blog: https://renettatull.wordpress.com/professional/