Events, News & Announcements

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Welcome & Greeting to our Spring 2012 Students

The Spring semester is rapidly approaching with classes in Durham beginning on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. We trust that you are looking forward to an exciting and productive Spring at UNH. On this page you will find information which should be helpful in planning for the Spring semester.

 

Should you have any questions about your graduate status please contact our office directly.  If you have questions about the registration process please contact the Registrar's Office directly. See our welcome and greeting letter for more information.

 

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Research Assistant Job Oppurtunity

Dr. Bruce Pfeiffer, Assistant Professor of Marketing is seeking a research assistant for the spring semester to work on consumer psychology research. The work will include survey and questionnaire development and administration, data coding an entry, literature search and possibly some basic statistical analysis and webpage design. Basic computer and people skills are required. The majority of the work can be done at the convenience of the research assistant as long as require deadlines are met. Please send inquiries to Bruce.Pfeiffer@unh.edu

 

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Dissertation Defense Announcements

Doctoral students who have an upcoming dissertation oral defense will be posted on our website to help raise awareness of the research our graduate students are doing.

 

So why not take this oppurtunity to learn about the research that our graduate students are doing!

 

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Thesis & Dissertation Workshops - Register Online!

The UNH Graduate School offers free Thesis and Dissertation Workshops on a first come first serve basis at various times throughout the semester. These workshops are recommended for students who are within 1 year of completing their thesis/dissertation. The workshops last about 45 minutes and cover the basics of formatting and submitting your thesis or dissertation. We will spend the majority of time addressing the most common formatting errors that we see students make.

 

To register online, and view dates and times for the four workshops being offered, please see the Thesis & Dissertation Workshop Online Registration form.

 

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Mark Pinsky: Create Jobs & Develop Communities

In this interactive session for students using Starbucks chocolate to role-play, Mark Pinsky will discuss his Starbucks partnership, how community development really works, and "triple bottom line" careers in which young professionals can do well by doing good. This event is brought to you by The Carsey Institute, Net Impact UNH, and Starbucks Coffee.

 

Event Details: Wednesday, February 29th 3:30 - 5:00pm UNH Holloway Commons, Swampscott Room. For more information, contact Yusi Turell The Carsey Institute. For more details check out the Mark Pinsky: Create Jobs & Develop Communities flyer.

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Graduate Research Conference (GRC Online Registration Form)

The Graduate Research Conference is a two day event featuring research topics from a variety of graduate programs on the University of New Hampshire Durham’s campus.   The GRC is an opportunity for students, faculty members, and the UNH community to learn about research from different colleges and departments and develop new ideas across disciplines.

 

This years GRC will be held on April 16-17, 2012. If you wish to present at the GRC please register using the online GRC registration form.

 

Students are encouraged to inquire with their department or college regarding other talks, seminars, presentations, or colloquia that may be planned in conjunction with the GRC. If a department would like to schedule an event to coincide with the GRC we encourage them to contact us.

 

To find out more check out the news and award profile from the 2012 GRC, "Graduate Research Conference: A Noteworthy Success."

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Preparing Future Faculty Events & Workshops

The Graduate School offers these free workshops to all graduate students.  These are non-credit, extracurricular professional development workshops offered to augment your education with personal and professional skills. The following events have been finalized and are now open for online registration.

 

Check out the PFF/PFP Spring 2012 Flyer for more information on events!

 

Preparing Future Professionals (PFP) workshops generally occur on Wednesdays or Thursdays from 3-5 pm with dinner at Holloway Commons to follow.  The PFP’s are mainly geared towards masters students and focus on non-academic issues such as financial planning or resume writing.

 

Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) workshops occur on Fridays from 12:30-2 pm and a healthy lunch is provided at the event.  The PFF’s are mainly geared towards Ph.D. students and focus on issues within academia such as university job searches and dissertation writing.

 

Register Online for Upcoming PFF/PFP Events:

 

Title	Date: Time	Location
Campus Resources for TA's and Future Faculty (formerly Crisis Preparedness)	2/24/2012: 12:30-2:00pm	MUB Entr Ctr
Intellectual Property Rights (M. Sedam and M. Emmanuel)	3/7/2012: 3:15-5:00pm	MUB Entr Ctr
Scholarly Writing Productivity (K. Gillen and J. Webber)	3/30/2012: 12:30-2:00pm	MUB Entr Ctr
Marketing and Social Media (N. Soggu)	4/5/2012: 3:15-5:00pm	MUB Rm 330/332
Developing a Teaching Philosophy (M. Lee)	4/27/2012: 12:30-2:00pm	MUB Entr Ctr

 

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Building Capacity Brick by Brick, Sofyan Kurnianto

Master's student Sofyan Kurnianto is in the scientific vanguard of an effort to understand, and perhaps help save, vanishing Indonesian peat swamp forests.

 

Kurnianto came to the University of New Hampshire from his native Indonesia as part of a nascent effort to build the scientific capacity to help save the island archipelago's carbon-rich peat swamps. The forested peat swamps are increasingly under siege and their ultimate fate is termed "bleak" by some in the scientific community.

 

As northern peatlands and their permafrost regions evolve under the warming temperatures of climate change, their very nature will change, but they likely won't disappear altogether. The same cannot be said of their tropical counterparts, which are being logged, drained, burned, and converted into oil palm plantations, agricultural fields, mining operations, and the like. To learn more, see our profile story, Building Capacity Brick by Brick with Sofyan Kurnianto.

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From Soup to (GRAPE) Nuts, Grads: Ertley, Connor, & Julien

The Gamma Ray Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE), has largely defined Ph.D. student Taylor Connor's graduate school experience. In various capacities, he's been working on several iterations of the Space Science Center (SSC) balloon-based project since 2006.

 

He participated in work leading up to the successful 2007 engineering test flight of GRAPE from Palestine, Texas and, after helping in the design, construction, calibration, and testing of the latest version of the experiment, Connor was out in New Mexico for GRAPE's recent 26-hour flight up to 130,000 feet where it aimed its detectors at the Crab Pulsar, the Sun, and the Cygnus X-1 black hole in search of its quarry – celestial gamma rays.

 

And, as testament to just how hands-on science-by-balloon is compared to the rigid, quality-controlled world of satellite-based space science, Connor duct taped a rabbit's foot to GRAPE's instrument payload in hopes that all the years of time and effort he and others had invested would pay off. See our profile story, From Soup to (GRAPE) Nuts, with graduate students Ertley, Connor, & Julien.

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Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Awardees, Walsh & Lee

DURHAM, N.H. – University of New Hampshire graduate students Wan-Jean Lee and Michelle Walsh have each been awarded a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship for 2012. Sponsored by the National Sea Grant College Program, the year-long fellowship matches current and recent graduate students with hosts in the legislative and executive branches of government.

 

Beginning in February, Lee will spend one year in Washington, D.C., working in the National Sea Grant Office as the coordinator for natural resource focus areas. Walsh will have an opportunity to examine fisheries bycatch reduction measures at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the Office of Sustainable Fisheries — Domestic Fisheries Division.

 

Lee, who is originally from Singapore, received both her undergraduate degree in biology and her master's degree in marine ecology from the National University of Singapore. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in zoology at UNH with advisor Jeb Byers (Byers is now at University of Georgia) and focusing on the impacts of horseshoe crabs on the soft sediment invertebrate communities in Great Bay. To learn more, see our profile story, Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Awardees, Walsh & Lee.

 

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New Ideas Welcome, Jim Webber

Jim Webber's doctoral dissertation promises to infuse energy into the debate about educational reform Jim Webber is a former high school English teacher who's come back to UNH to earn his second graduate degree, a doctorate in composition. "As an experienced teacher, I had to acknowledge that I had a lot to learn," Webber says.

 

His return to graduate school has coincided with major reforms in K-12 education, namely the recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by 44 states, including New Hampshire. The standards aim to raise achievement in math and literacy for students in K-12. Progress will be measured by standardized tests processed through centralized testing organizations, and results will be benchmarked internationally against high-performing countries.

 

Webber's dissertation proposal, which earned him a 2011-12 graduate fellowship, has some great ideas on how to further the public discussion about these educational reforms in regards to literacy—measures of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. His approach draws on composition studies, literacy research, and rhetorical theory. To learn more, see our profile story, New Ideas Welcome, with Jim Webber.

 

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J. W. Harris, Faculty Mentor Award

Writing a doctoral dissertation can be a long, lonely process, with years passing between the dissertation's start and its completion. For some graduate students in the UNH History Department, the process is made a little easier by having Bill Harris in their corner. The author of four critically acclaimed books that examine the history of the South, Harris knows well the rigors of crafting a lengthy work, and the difference a good mentor can make to a project's success.

 

"The adviser-student relationship has to be a personal one," Harris says. "When you're working with someone on a project of the magnitude of a dissertation or a master's thesis, it's critical to be on the same page with them—in every sense." For complete details, read our profile story on J. W. Harris, Faculty Mentor Award.

 

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