U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Summer 2012 Research Experiences

Undergraduates, Graduate Students, and Faculty

http://www.orau.gov/dhseducationprograms

DHS HS-STEM Summer Internship Program

Undergraduate students
10 week research experience
$5,000 stipend plus travel expenses
Areas of research:

Engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological/life sciences, environmental science, emergency and incident management, social sciences

Projects offered at:
National research laboratories: Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Sandia, Savannah River
DHS laboratories: Transportation Security Laboratory
Other research facilities, including Air Force Research Laboratory, Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Locations include CA, CO, ID, IL, MD, NM, NJ, OH, SC, TN, WA, VA
U.S. citizenship required
Application deadline: January 5, 2012

DHS Summer Research Team Program for Minority Serving Institutions

Early career faculty teamed with undergraduate and graduate students
10-week summer research experiences at university-based DHS Centers of Excellence nationwide
Faculty and student stipends, housing allowances, travel expenses
Areas of research:

Homeland security related science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Faculty apply for up to $50,000 in follow-on funding at end of summer
U.S. citizenship required
Faculty application deadline: January 8, 2012

Questions regarding DHS Education Programs can be sent via e-mail to dhsed@orau.org.

Your assistance in distributing this email to students and colleagues is greatly appreciated.

Portland State University’s Ecosystem Services for Urbanizing Regions (ESUR) program, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program (IGERT), is seeking prospective PhD applicants for Fall 2012. The substantive focus of this program is on ecosystem services (terrestrial and marine) to support urbanizing regions. They aim to recruit up to six PhD students for their second cohort. Of particular interest are underrepresented or minority candidates who are permanent residents or US citizens. For information about this IGERT program, please visit the ESUR-IGERT website.

Participants in the IGERT PhD program will receive multiple benefits, including an annual stipend of $30,000 for the duration of the two-year traineeship, tuition remission at PSU, up to $10,500 in research funding, national and international conference travel, and more. The IGERT program offers extensive opportunities for PhD trainees to engage faculty from a broad array of disciplines, community partners in local, national, and international organizations and agencies, and involvement in team-based research in an emerging area of scholarship.

A printable program brochure can be found HERE .

Are you an Honors College first year student who is interested in attending the WVU School of Medicine? Then come to an information session for MedBound, a program that provides for medical school admission to highly qualified, extremely motivated first year students from the Honors College!

Now in its 5th year, the MedBound program offers a curriculum designed to produce well-rounded, compassionate and scientifically advanced physicians. The linked undergraduate and professional school experience promotes excellence not only in the sciences but also in the humanities and social sciences.

An information session is being held on Wednesday, November 30 at 5:30 in the Media Room in Honors Hall. Representatives from the WVU School of Medicine will be there to answer all of your questions. Please also see the attached application , which is due by 4:00 pm Friday, January 13, 2012. If you have any questions, please contact Amy Cyphert at amy.cyphert@mail.wvu.edu.

Applications for the new Scribe program are now open!

The program will be hiring a minimum of 4 new scribes at this time and will hire another 4 scribes in early February. Scribes need to be interested in emergency medicine and are required to work a minimum of 2 shifts per week in the ED. Applications will be accepted until Wednesday, October 26, 2011 and candidate interviews will be conducted November 2-4 at WVU. Return the attached application form via fax (757.221.8085) or email (kim.campbell@md-scribes.com) to Kim Campbell.

Questions can also be directed to Kim at (757.941.0660).

NOTE: The following list is TENTATIVE; therefore it is subject to change. As more information becomes available, these descriptions will be updated and a new post made to the blog outlining the changes made. If you have any questions, please contact the Honors College.

Key

M = Monday, T = Tuesday, W = Wednesday, R = Thursday, F = Friday
Times are given in 24-hour (“military”) time
To convert from 24-hour to 12-hour time, take the time given and subtract 12 from the hour. To convert from 12-hour to 24-hour time, add 12 to the hour. E.g., 15:00 – 12:00 = 3:00 PM. 5:00 PM + 12:00 = 17:00.

Helpful Links

University Course Schedule: http://courses.wvu.edu
General Education Curriculum (GEC): http://registrar.wvu.edu/current_students/general_education_curriculum
Course Catalogs: http://coursecatalog.wvu.edu/

Add-On Courses:

Some Honors course offerings are classified as “Add-On” courses. These are 1-credit courses that supplement the materials taught in specific regular course sessions. Students must register and complete the coursework for the regular course as well as the Honors Add-On section. Upon successful completion, the amount of Honors credit awarded is equal to the amount of credit granted by the regular course taken.

For example, a student may register for BIOL 298, which is the Add-On course to BIOL 101 and 103. A total of 5 credit hours will be registered: 1 for the Honors section, 3 for the BIOL 101 Lecture, and 1 for the BIOL 103 Lab. At the end of the semester, the student will earn 4 Honors credit hours (3 for BIOL 101 plus 1 for BIOL 103).

Please note that some Add-On courses require that you register for specific sections of regular courses. These are noted in the course description.

Course List

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program is seeking student applicants who exhibit a strong commitment to a career in mathematics, the natural sciences, and eligible engineering disciplines. Students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree and who show the potential for a significant future contribution in their field of study are encouraged to apply.

Established by Congress in 1986, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation seeks to alleviate a critical current and future shortage of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who will foster excellence in those fields.

In April 2012, the Foundation will award scholarships to students who will be college juniors or seniors during the 2012-2013 academic year. (Juniors are defined as students who plan two more years of full-time undergraduate study beginning September 2012 and Seniors are defined as students who plan one more year of full-time undergraduate study beginning September 2012.)

The scholarship award covers eligible expenses (tuition, fees, books, room and board) up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. Junior scholarship recipients can expect to receive a maximum of two years of support. Senior scholarship recipients are eligible for a maximum of one year of support.

Each nominee’s field of study and career objectives, as well as his or her commitment and potential to make a significant contribution to his or her field, will be considered during the selection process. To be eligible, you must:

• Be a current full-time sophomore or junior, pursuing a baccalaureate degree
• Have at least a 3.8 college grade-point average
• Stand in the upper fourth of your class
• Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or U.S. national

Application materials can be found at http://aspire.wvu.edu, under the “Prestigious Scholarships” tab. Interested students should contact Amy Cyphert in the ASPIRE Office (amy.cyphert@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-2100) as soon as possible in order to learn more about the process. The university’s deadline for applications is October 28, 2011. A committee will then select four applications to be submitted by West Virginia University to the national review committee.

*Study Abroad in the Czech Republic! *
West Virginia University is offering ECON 453, Transitional Economies of Europe, during Spring, 2012. The course will be taught by Professor Bill Trumbull (along with Professor Robert Blobaum of the Department of History and Professor Lisa DiBartolomeo of the Department of Foreign Languages) and by faculty of the Prague School of Economics. Participants will spend ten days in Prague and other cities in the Czech Republic during the Spring Break as part of this course. For more information, please contact Professor Trumbull at william.trumbull@mail.wvu.edu.
The course Web page is http://www.be.wvu.edu/divecon/econ/trumbull/czech/

Kevin Clash and Elmo from Sesame Street to present WVU’s Brown lecture April 15

Kevin Clash, the master puppeteer from “Sesame Street,” whose characters include “Elmo,” “Hoots the Owl,” and “Baby Natasha,” will visit Morgantown Friday (April 15) where he will appear with Elmo to present the annual Dan and Betsy Brown Lecture at West Virginia University.

Clash will speak at 7:30 p.m. at The Metropolitan Theatre on High Street in downtown Morgantown. Titled “My Life as a Red Furry Monster,” his lecture will share what he has learned about love, joy, creativity, friends and more from this most unlikely of teachers—and how all of us can benefit from acting a little more like Elmo.

The Robert F. Munn Library Scholars Award for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Administered by West Virginia University Libraries and the Honors College of WVU

The Award

The Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award is presented annually to a graduating Honors student for outstanding research contributions in the humanities or social sciences that have culminated in the production of an exceptional thesis.

The award will be presented during a dinner and ceremony held at the downtown campus library on Saturday, May 14, 2011. In addition, there is a monetary award of $1,000.

The Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award was established during the fall of 2008 in honor of Dr. Robert F. Munn, Dean of Library Services from 1957 – 1986. Dean Munn nurtured the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, the Appalachian Collection, and a unique East Africa collection. He maintained strong collections in the humanities, especially American history and literature. The Libraries’ collections in these areas today are remarkably complete and are a legacy of Dean Munn’s consistent care.

Munn was born in Seattle and grew up in Pittsburgh, where his father was director of the Carnegie Library. He received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin, his master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and his doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Eligibility

To be eligible to win, applicants must:
• Be an Honors student enrolled at West Virginia University as a full-time undergraduate student in good academic standing who graduated in December 2010 or will graduate in May 2011
• Have conducted original research using resources from the West Virginia University Libraries and used this research to produce a written thesis that reflects individual work, not that of a group or class project
• Have completed the research project for a credit course at West Virginia University fall semester 2010 or spring semester 2011
• Have submitted a letter of intent by or before the deadline
• Have a cumulative GPA of no less than a 3.4 and have met the additional requirements for graduation as described by the Honors College of West Virginia University
• Agree to permit West Virginia University Libraries and the Honors College to use their name, photographs, video images, etc., to promote The Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award to future participants.
• Agree to attend the dinner and award ceremony
• Agree to have his/her work published in the Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

Deadlines

LETTER OF INTENT: February 14, 2011

Seniors should notify the committee of their intention to submit a thesis no later than –Monday, February 14, 2011. The letter of intention to submit should include:
• The title of their research project
• A 300-500 word abstract describing the research
• And a signature page including the signatures of the student, supervising faculty advisor, and appropriate department chairpersons

COMPLETED THESIS: April 25, 2011

The completed thesis must be submitted no later than 4:00 p.m. on Monday, April 25, 2011. Applicants should submit one clean original copy and four additional photocopies.

Subject

The research topic must be in the realms of the humanities or social sciences.

Criteria

Judges will read the theses for:
• Potential impact/contribution to the academic field
• Significance of thesis
• Quality of thesis/theoretical value
• Development of the subject/topic
• Technical merit
• Novelty/generation of new knowledge
• Use of West Virginia University Libraries resources

Work that is attributed to a student’s own initiative, rather than to assist a faculty member’s current research interests, will be considered more favorably by judges.

The Laurel Chapter of Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society is hosting a spelling bee to support literacy. This event is open to the WVU community. To register for the Spelling Bee please send your Name, Major/Title, and Sponsoring Organization (if applicable) to westvirginia@mortarboard.org and attend the Spelling Bee at Ming Hsieh Hall Room G21 on March 31 at 7:00 PM. The winner will receive a NOOK. The registration fee is $5 at the door and the three participants with the most donations (monetary and books- each book counts as $1) will receive help spelling one word during the spelling bee. You can encourage friends to donate at the door for you and all the proceeds will be donated to organizations in the Morgantown community that promote literacy. Any type of book will be accepted (textbooks, novels, children’s books, etc.). We hope to see you there!