IN THIS EDITION
• Graduate Student Research Days 2007
• New Graduate Student Online Orientation
• Doctoral Hooding Ceremony
• NEW: Graduate School Web Site
• Theses and Dissertations
• Responsible Conduct of Research
Graduate Student Research Days 2007
UAB's Graduate Student Research Days is a two-day competition in which degree-seeking UAB graduate students come together to present their research in a public forum. Read more.
New Graduate Student Online Orientation
After careful consideration, the Graduate School will no longer require newly admitted graduate students to complete the Graduate School's online orientation. However, we realize that the information contained in the orientation is a great resource for all students, so we are keeping the orientation on our Web site. Read more.
Doctoral Hooding Ceremony
UAB's doctoral students have their own ceremony. Each May and December, graduating doctoral students and their families and friends come together for the Doctoral Hooding and Commencement Ceremony held at the Alys Stephens Centre. Read more.
NEW: Graduate School Web Site
Navigating the Graduate School's new Web site can seem daunting because it is a repository of so much information. Therefore, we have put together some tips to help make navigation easier. Read more.
Theses and Dissertations
The pilot project for the electronic submission of theses and dissertations (ETD), which was introduced in the fall of 2006, was a success. Read more.
Responsible Conduct of Research
In September, 2006, the Graduate School was awarded a grant to enhance education for graduate students in NSM and in Engineering in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). Read more.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
UAB's Graduate Student Research Days is a two-day competition in which degree-seeking UAB graduate students come together to present their research in a public forum.
This year's competition will be held on Thursday, March 1st and Friday, March 2nd in the HUC Great Hall.
To enter, the graduate student must fill out the abstract form located at www.uab.edu/graduate/researchday and submit it electronically by 9:00 p.m. on Friday, February 2nd.
The winners will be announced at the Graduate School Awards Luncheon on Friday, March 9.
CALL FOR JUDGES
Graduate faculty are encouraged to volunteer as judges for this event. Any interested faculty should contact Laura Burchfiel at lburchfiel@uab.edu.
After careful consideration, the Graduate School will no longer require newly admitted graduate students to complete the Graduate School's online orientation. However, we realize that the information contained in the orientation is a great resource for all students, so we are keeping the orientation on our Web site.
To access the online orientation, go to http://main.uab.edu/sites/gradschool/students/7543/.
UAB's doctoral students have their own ceremony. Each May and December, graduating doctoral students and their families and friends come together for the Doctoral Hooding and Commencement Ceremony held at the Alys Stephens Centre.
This May, the ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 5, at 10:30 a.m., while the master's and bachelor's graduates take part in the commencement ceremony held at Bartow Arena at 2:00 p.m.
All graduating doctoral students who plan on attending the May ceremony must fill out the commencement form located at http://main.uab.edu/sites/gradschool/students/currentstudent/7327/ in order to hold their place in the ceremony.
Navigating the Graduate School's new Web site can seem daunting because it is a repository of so much information. Therefore, we have put together some tips to help make navigation easier.
The homepage of the site is comprised of links across the top of the screen and Quick Links in a column on the left side of the screen. The links located along the top of the screen include:
- Students (Information that is important to current and prospective students)
- Programs (Graduate Program Directory, Professional Development, McNair Undergraduate Program, and 5th Year Master of Science Program in Biology)
- Research (Graduate Student Research Days, Summer Research Programs for Undergraduates, Southern Research Institute, and Research at UAB)
- Faculty (Information to help graduate faculty, including a current list of graduate faculty)
- Alumni & Development (UAB Alumni Association and Alumni Affairs Services)
- News & Events (Current and archived articles regarding events in the Graduate School in a list view format)
Quick Links include:
- Message from the Dean
- UAB Graduate Catalog
- Calendar of Events (In a monthly, weekly, daily, and list view format)
- Apply for Graduate School Online (Takes you to the Web site to fill out an admissions application online)
- Deadline Dates
- Online Forms
- Publications (UAB Graduate School Catalog, Graduate Student Handbook, Theses and Dissertations Manual, and Graduate Student Newsletters)
At the upper right corner of all Graduate School pages is a Search function (which will search Graduate School pages only) and links for Contact Us (Graduate School employees), UAB Graduate School Home, and UAB Home. If you would like to search the entire UAB Web site, you must go to the main page, www.main.uab.edu, and use the search function located there.
These links represent important topics and remain on all Graduate School Web site pages so that getting back to these important topics will take just one click.
Of course, if you need to return to the Graduate School's main page, simply click the logo located at the top of the screen and you will return to the homepage.
The pilot project for the electronic submission of theses and dissertations (ETD), which was introduced in the fall of 2006, was a success. Thirty-five students chose to submit their document electronically rather than on paper and found this method to be not only less time consuming, but also considerably less expensive. A much higher percentage of spring 2007 graduates are expected to choose this route. During the spring and summer semesters of 2007, students may continue to choose either paper or electronic submission; however, beginning in the fall of 2007, all theses and dissertations will be submitted electronically.
Visit the new Graduate School Web site for information concerning submitting and publishing your thesis or dissertation. http://main.uab.edu/sites/gradschool/students/currentstudent/7283/
In September, 2006, the Graduate School was awarded a grant to enhance education for graduate students in NSM and in Engineering in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). These funds were awarded by the Council of Graduate Schools and the National Science Foundation through a competitive process, based on the institutions’ capability to develop and implement interdisciplinary interventions to advance broad-based ethics training for graduate students. Each program will be designed to equip students with the ethical sensitivity, reasoning skills, and conceptual tools needed to resolve unexpected problems in the conduct of research.
Dr. Harold Kincaid and Dr. Sara Vollmer of the Center for Ethics and Values in the Sciences are leading focus groups of faculty and graduate students from NSM and from Engineering to discuss the research and ethical values important in the these fields. The first meeting centered on the problem of plagiarism in theses and dissertations. As a starting point, the focus groups discussed a recent report concerning the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio University, which alleges that 39 out of 100 Master’s degree theses contained plagiarized materials. The allegations created substantial turmoil on the Ohio University campus, causing students’ Master’s degree awards to be questioned and faculty to be demoted or terminated. If you want more information about UAB’s rules concerning plagiarism, the UAB Graduate School provides more information on its web site, http://main.uab.edu/sites/gradschool/students/95560/.
The students and faculty in the focus groups will help Vollmer, Kincaid, Engler, and a script writer to prepare new case studies for student discussion illustrating some of the issues that can arise for students in NSM and in Engineering during their research studies. Our long term goal is to provide opportunities for students and faculty across the UAB campus to discuss the means by which research can be done in an ethical and responsible manner.