Just for PhD Students

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THIS SITE IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED (MARCH 2011).

Please visit our new website at researchoffice.si.umich.edu.

[edit] Current Funding Opportunities Especially for Students

THIS SITE IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED (MARCH 2011).

Please visit our new website at researchoffice.si.umich.edu.

Archive: PhD Funding Opportunities

[edit] International Association of Privacy Professionals Conference Scholarship - Deadline: January 2011

• Posted 1/7/11

The IAPP regularly offers conference scholarships to outstanding students in the field of privacy. Scholarship recipients have the opportunity to attend the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2011, network with privacy professionals and be paired with a professional mentor. Up to five students will be awarded a free main conference pass to attend the Summit, March 9-11, in Washington, DC.

All applicants must be full-time students and interested in the field of privacy. Interested candidates should send a resume and letter of interest to scholarships@privacyassociation.org.

To view complete details about this year’s Summit, please visit our web site

[edit] NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships (NSTRF) - Deadline: February 23, 2011

• Potential area of interest to SI: Telepresence in Space

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released a solicitation, entitled NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships (NSTRF) - Fall 2011 Fellowship Start, on December 29, 2010. The solicitation is available by opening the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/, selecting “Solicitations,” then selecting “Open Solicitations,” and, finally, selecting “NSTRF11.” Go directly to the NSTRF11 page on NSPIRES here.

NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate student researchers who show significant potential to contribute to NASA’s strategic goals and missions.

This call for graduate fellowship proposals solicits applications from accredited U.S. Universities on behalf of highly qualified individuals pursuing or planning to pursue Master’s (e.g., M.S.) or Doctoral (e.g., Ph.D.) degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at their respective institutions. This fellowship opportunity is open to students pursuing advanced degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The goal of NSTRF is to provide the nation with a pipeline of highly skilled engineers and technologists to improve America's technological competitiveness. NASA Space Technology Fellows will perform innovative space technology research while building the skills necessary to become future technological leaders.

OCT is interested in attracting graduate students that are committed to developing disruptive technologies for the aerospace sector and to being part of NASA’s technological future by working on high-priority technologies to sustainably explore space, and who are interested in pursuing NASA’s Grand Challenges.

Selected candidates will perform graduate student research both on their respective campuses and at NASA Centers and, in the future, also at nonprofit U.S. Research and Development (R&D) laboratories. Subsequent calls will provide a list of all labs with which NASA has negotiated agreements. In addition to his or her academic advisor, each student will be matched with a technically relevant and community engaged researcher who will serve as the student’s professional mentor. Through this experience, students will advance their STEM education, gain relevant research experience and learn the research process. Awards resulting from this competitive selection will be made in the form of training grants to the respective universities. If the student is planning to embark on a new degree program (e.g., M.S. or Ph.D.) at an academic institution different from his/her current academic institution, he/she is encouraged to work with faculty at prospective universities in assembling and submitting packages to the fellowship call.

The financial and programmatic support for NSTRF will come from the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist. NSTRF has its basis with the Graduate Student Research Program in the Office of Education and will continue NASA’s rich history of supporting students via the Office of Education and the Mission Directorates. Awards are planned to coincide with the start of the 2011 academic year and are subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

All applications must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an authorized organizational representative. Applications are due on or before February 23, 2011. Detailed submission instructions (for the faculty advisor, student and authorized organizational representative) are provided under “Other Documents” on the NSPIRES webpage associated with the NSTRF11 solicitation. Potential applicants, their advisors and proposing organizations are urged to access the electronic proposal system well in advance of the proposal due date to familiarize themselves with its structure and to enter the requested information.

Comments and questions may be addressed by e-mail to the NSTRF Point of Contact, Claudia Meyer, at hq-nstrf-call@mail.nasa.gov. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and also included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.

[edit] Facebook Fellowship - Deadline: February 28, 2011

• Posted 12/21/2010

Facebook Fellowship Information

Application Information

Eligibility Criteria

• Full-time Ph.D. students in topical areas represented by these fellowships who are currently involved in on-going research.
• Students must be studying Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, System Architecture, or a related area.
• Students must be enrolled during the academic year that the Fellowship is awarded.
• Students must be nominated by a faculty member.

Application Checklist

• 1-2 page research summary which clearly identifies the area of focus and applicability to Facebook. Please reference the topical areas above.
• Student's CV (with email, phone and mailing address). Please include applicable coursework.
• Minimum of 2 letters of recommendation (one must be from the faculty sponsor).
• The name and website/short bio of the faculty sponsor.

[edit] Graham Institute sponsors Dow Student Innovation Challenge - Deadline: March 5,2011

In an effort to encourage graduate students to pursue multi-disciplinary, breakthrough ideas for environmental sustainability, the Graham Institute sponsors the "Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge," through which students or student teams with the top three submissions are awarded with $10,000 courtesy of the Dow Chemical Company. Online student submissions are being accepted until the March 5th deadline.

Dow Challenge Website

Dow Challenge RFP

[edit] Yahoo! Key Scientific Challenges Program - Deadline: March 11, 2011

• Posted 1/6/2011

This is your chance to get an inside look at the big challenges Yahoo! research scientists are working on while driving your research forward. Learn more about the real-world problems facing our industry, then focus on and solve these fundamental challenges alongside the top minds in the field.

PhD students working in each of the core research areas are invited to review the challenges listed. Submit an application between January 24th - March 11th, 2011 to be considered for the Key Scientific Challenges Program.

Key Scientific Challenges Program Homepage

Program FAQs

How to Apply

[edit] Rackham Research Grant

• Posted 12/2/10

The Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant is designed to support Rackham graduate students who need assistance to carry out research that advances their progress toward their degree.

A doctoral student is eligible for two Rackham Graduate Student Research Grants during his or her graduate program, one before candidacy and one as a candidate.

• Pre-candidates are eligible for an award up to $1,500
• Candidates are eligible for an award up to $3,000

Students must apply online

[edit] Internships at Microsoft Research New England-Summer 2011 - Opens Nov 19th - Deadline: until filled

• Posted 11/12/10

Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to join the social media collective for Spring and Summer 2011. For these positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students (including communications, sociology, anthropology, media studies, information studies, etc.). The social media collective is a collection of scholars at MSRNE who focus on socio-technical questions, primarily from a social science perspective. We are not an applied program; rather, we work on critical research questions that are important to the future of social science scholarship.

MSRNE internships are 12-week paid internships in Cambridge, Massachusetts. PhD interns at MSRNE are expected to devise and execute a research project during their internships. The expected outcome of an internship at MSRNE is a publishable scholarly paper for an academic journal or conference of the intern's choosing. The goal of the internship is to help the intern advance their own career; interns are strongly encouraged to work towards a publication outcome that will help them on the academic job market. Interns are also expected to collaborate with full-time researchers and visitors, give short presentations, and contribute to the life of the community. While this is not an applied program, MSRNE encourages interdisciplinary collaboration with computer scientists, economists, and mathematicians. There are also opportunities to engage with product groups at Microsoft, although this is not a requirement.

Topics that are currently of interest to the social media collective include: privacy & publicity, online safety (from sexting to bullying to gang activities), transparency & surveillance, conspicuous consumption & brand culture, news & information flow, and locative media. That said, we are open to other interesting topics, particularly those that may have significant societal impact. While most of the researchers in the collective are ethnographers, we welcome social scientists of all methodological persuasions.

Applicants should have advanced to candidacy in their PhD program or be close to advancing to candidacy. (Unfortunately, there are no opportunities for Master's students at this time.) While this internship opportunity is not strictly limited to social scientists, preference will be given to social scientists and humanists making socio-technical inquiries. (Note: While other branches of Microsoft Research focus primarily on traditional computer science research, this collective does no development-driven research and is not looking for people who are focused solely on building systems at this time. We welcome social scientists with technical skills and strongly encourage social scientists to collaborate with computer scientists at MSRNE.) Preference will be given to intern candidates who work to make public and/or policy interventions with their research. Interns will benefit most from this opportunity if there are natural opportunities for collaboration with other researchers or visitors currently working at MSRNE.

PEOPLE AT MSRNE SOCIAL MEDIA COLLECTIVE - The collective is organized by danah boyd (http://www.danah.org) and includes postdocs Alice Marwick (http://www.tiara.org/) and Mike Ananny (http://www.stanford.edu/~mja/). Full-time spring faculty visitors will include Nicole Ellison of MSU (https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/) and Mary Gray of Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~qcentral/). Summer full-time faculty visitors are TBD.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

To apply for a PhD internship with the social media collective:

• Fill out the online application form: https://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/jobs/intern.aspx Make sure to indicate that you prefer Microsoft Research New England and "social media" or "social computing." You will need to list two recommenders through this form.
• Send an email to dmb@microsoft.com with the subject "PhD Intern Application" that includes the following four things:

1. A brief description of your dissertation project.
2. An academic article you have written (published or unpublished) that shows your writing skills.
3. A pointer to your website or other online presence (if available).
4. A short description of 1-3 projects that you might imagine doing as an intern at MSRNE.

We will begin considering internship applications on November 19 and consider applications until all social media internship positions are filled.

[edit] Chateaubriand Fellowship Scienc Program - Deadline: January 31, 2011

The Embassy of France in the United States (Office for Science and Technology - OST) launches the Chateaubriand Fellowship Program which is intended for young American scientists at the doctorate level, wishing to conduct their research in a French laboratory for a 4 to 10 month period.

The Chateaubriand grants aim to initiate or to reinforce collaborations, partnerships or joint projects (for example PUF, MIT-France, France-Chicago, France-Berkeley, France-Stanford, etc …) by encouraging exchange at the doctoral level. The OST will support American PhD students (or PhD students registered in an American university) who engage in a co-supervised PhD, or seek in a double degree (“cotutelle”) with France.

The OST will provide a stipend (1,400 Euros a month) and cover the cost of travel and student health insurance. Knowledge of French is not mandatory. The level of French required is at the host institution’s discretion. Courses of French can be found on site. All disciplines in Sciences, Technology and Health are eligible. The deadline to apply is January 31st, 2011, and the fellowship can begin on any date from September 1st, 2011, to April 1st, 2012.

The application is available on the Chateaubriand website

For more information, candidates and American/French research teams can contact Ms Pham at the Scientific Office in Washington

• Phuong.Pham@diplomatie.gouv.fr
• Phone : 1 202 944 62 20 / 62 50

[edit] Human Subjects

[edit] Payments to Subjects

[edit] New Human Subject Incentives Program (HSIP)

HSIP Home Page

What is the purpose of HSIP?

• Human Subject Incentives Program (HSIP) has developed a new process and a Web-based support system to accommodate the electronic routing, approval, and submission of subject fee payment requests. It is being developed by U-M to:
• Help eliminate redundant forms and information gathering.
• Facilitate internal routing and electronic approval, simplifying the process of moving the HSIP request from the PI, through the relevant campus units, and on to the Research Incentive Business Office (RIBO).
• Create a secure holding area for retention of subject information. Personal information will be kept in a secure central repository with highly restricted access. This greatly reduces the responsibility on the part of PI’s and unit staff for protecting confidential subject information.
• Give clear guidance for compliance with IRS and other regulatory guidelines.
• Offer several payment options that give flexibility to the researcher without putting them in a non-compliance situation.
• Reduce the need for SLA’s by connecting to eResearch for IRB waiver information.
• Have one central office for processing incentive requests, resolving incentive-related issues and answering questions that may involve a number of Finance areas. Many offices are involved in the incentive payment process, and it can be difficult to know where to go to get questions answered.
• Enhance subject payment coupons with tracking numbers for stronger security and reduction in theft of research funds.

What changes will I notice as I start to use the HSIP system?

• Completion of the HSIP request will be accomplished through an online worksheet.
  • HSIP questions give options for incentive type, date needed, and delivery method.
  • Several incentive requests can be done at one time, thus reducing the level of effort required to get multiple incentive distributions over an extended period of time.
• Electronic Routing
  • Requests are quickly routed from PI to Approver to Central Administration for processing and request fulfillment.
  • Turnaround time from request to fulfillment is dramatically reduced; can be as quick as same day to no more than 2 business days depending on incentive type.
• HSIP Request Tracking
  • View the progress of your request at any time by checking your home page.
• Communications
  • Receive email notifications from the system when the status changes on your HSIP request or action is required, e.g., make changes to a request, or submit evidence of distribution.
  • Receive email notification when payment is due to be released to you. xs
  • Receive notification when the request has been closed and expensed to the Project/Grant.

More FAQs about the new HSIP

New HSIP Subject Fee Form (Tier 1)

HSIP Requester Reference Card

How to Submit Request Tricks & Tips

[edit] Employee Subjects - change in process as of July 1, 2009

• Beginning July 1st, all human subjects will be paid as non-employees of the University of Michigan. This means that the last payments made to employees in the payroll system will be in the June monthly payroll and the first biweekly payroll in July (paydate 7/2/09).

• The Subject Fee Payment Form for Employees will not be accepted for processing in the payroll system after 6/25/09. Forms received in the Payroll Office prior to 8/1/09 will be forwarded to Accounts Payable for processing. Forms received in the Payroll Office after 8/1/09 will be returned to the department.

[edit] IRB Info

[edit] IRB Applications

Start at Regulatory Management (IRB, IBC, etc.) here

• If this is for a study with a Faculty member as the PI - the PI needs to create the application and add you as part of the project team. You will then have access to fill out the application. Note: the PI must also be the one to submit the application.
• If you have questions regarding the process please contact Elaine Kanka (see contact info below in the IRB on the road section)

IRB Umbrella Application

Purpose:

The purpose of the Umbrella application is when you need IRB approval for a pending proposal or if you have a project where the human subjects part of the project is later in the grant. This application is to approve the basic concept of the research and then give you more time to develop the detailed documents (such as informed consent forms) when you are closer to actually implementing the human subjects piece(s) of the project. Please note this umbrella is just preliminary approval. You must go back to the IRB with the detailed documentation for full approval before you can do any research involving human subjects.

Instructions:

1. Go to eResearch and log in to the Regulatory Management System
2. Create a new study (tab is on the left navigation bar)
3. Fill out the first part of the application as normal
4. When you get to question 1-1.2 which asks about the application type, select "not for immediate use of human subjects"
5. Proceed from there

Items Needed:

• PAF (Proposal Approval Form)
  • You can find this in the eResearch Proposal Management System or contact the research office for an electronic copy.
• Submitted Proposal
• DRDA number
  • This number will be on the PAF, but you can always contact the research office for this number.

[edit] Upcoming IRB On-the-Road Dates

Elaine Kanka, our IRB representative visits North Quad the second Wednesday of the month during the Fall 2010 term from noon-2pm in conference room 4352 (small room near the 4th floor elevators). The visit is an informal opportunity for researchers to ask questions about specific projects, get general information, or simply meet the IRB staff face-to-face.

The “IRB On the Road” visit will be open on a first-come, first-serve basis.

You can contact Elaine at any time with IRB related questions:

• mekanka@umich.edu
• Phone: 734 615-8427

[edit] PEERS Certification

PEERRS consists of educational modules and short tests covering basic rules, procedures and professional norms for the responsible conduct of research by anyone involved in research and scholarship at the University of Michigan. PEERRS Overview and FAQs

To start the PEERRS modules: Click on “START PEERRS” in the top left corner.

[edit] Qualtrics

[edit] What is Qualtrics?

Qualtrics is a generalized survey service permitting the creation of survey instruments, distribution of the surveys, data storage and analysis.

[edit] SI Qualtrics Policies

SI Policy Document coming soon.

These accounts are for School of Information business only. If you leave SI, your SI account will be terminated. If you join another unit at UM, you may be able to create an account under that unit’s brand. To find out who you should contact at your new unit, go to the UM Qualtrics webpage.

[edit] Types of accounts

Trial Account

• Self-created
• Ability to access all of the features to create surveys, but NOT to activate (and thus distribute) any survey. The trial account would need to be upgraded to one of the account types below by brand administrator (Becky O’Brien/Todd Raeker) in order to activate.

Masters Student Account (for Class Project Use Only)

• Upgraded from Trial Account
• Instructor for class needs to email list of students in class to be upgraded to this account to the brand administrator (Becky O'Brien/Todd Raeker).
• Account automatically expires at the end of the academic year (May 1st)

Doctoral Student Account

• Upgraded from Trial Account
• Email brand administrator (Becky O’Brien/Todd Raeker) to request upgrade
• Account will be terminated once the student graduates (or otherwise leaves SI).

Faculty Account

• Upgraded from Trial Account
• Email brand administrator (Becky O’Brien/Todd Raeker) to request upgrade
• Account will be terminated if/when the faculty member is no longer with the School of Information

Staff Account

• Upgraded from Trial Account
• Email brand administrator (Becky O’Brien/Todd Raeker) to request upgrade
• Account will be terminated if/when the staff member is no longer with the School of Information

[edit] Creating a Qualtrics Account

1. Go to SI Qualtrics Brand Site
2. Click on “Please click here to create an account”
3. Create a user name and password (Use your Umich email address as your user name)
4. Follow the instructions on getting started

Note: This will create a “Trail Account” for you. To upgrade, please look above under types of accounts. Then follow the directions on how to request an upgrade to the appropriate type.

[edit] Creating/Editing a Survey

Qualtrics Quick Start Guide

The Quick Start Guide includes:

• Creating a Survey
• Editing a Survey
• Distributing a Survey
• Viewing Survey Results
• Tasks Toolbar
• Survey Editor

[edit] Additional Resources

• Advance Qualtrics Topics
• Qualtrics Video Tutorials
• Join the Qualtrics users ListServ – qualtricsusers@umich.edu
• Qualtrics support
  • Email: support@qualtrics.com
  • Phone: 1-800-340-9194

[edit] Qualtrics Training

SAND winter workshop series (part 1)

• Qualtrics: Survey Creation
• Qualtrics: Survey Output Options and Formats

Find and register for a workshop

Additional workshops will be scheduled for the post-break part of the term

SAND (Spatial and Numeric Data Services) is a libray unit housed in the Graduate Library

[edit] Concur System and New Travel Policy

The new Travel and Expense policy became effective on October 15th, 2009. This completes work that University administrators had started last year to update the policy in a manner that would increase consistency and compliance across the University.

Central Finance is also implementing Concur, a new software application that will facilitate the Travel & Expense policy changes, and automate the expense reporting and travel booking processes. SI will be participating in the pilot, which also goes live October 15th.

Overview of Changes:

1. Expense reports must be submitted within 45 calendar days from the end of the trip or the hosted event, or within 45 calendar days from the transaction date for purchase of supplies or other out of pocket expenses. Expenses submitted in excess of 45 calendar days will not be reimbursed. Expenses will be submitted by the traveler in the Concur system.
2. The implementation of per diem rates for travel meals and incidentals. Travelers are limited to federal per diem amounts, currently ranging between $64 for high cost cities and $39 for other cities (www.gsa.gov).
3. Only Hosted meal limits will remain at $25 Breakfast, $25 Lunch, and $55 Dinner.
4. Flights must be booked at least 14 days in advance unless an acceptable business purpose justification for the booking delay is provided.
5. Travelers should select the least expensive lodging option available taking into consideration proximity to the business destination and safety. They (or their designee) must inquire about the government rate, Big 10 consortium rate or the conference lodging rate and select the lowest.
6. The University generally does not reimburse local in-town mileage (i.e., travel between university buildings on the same campus for meetings), parking/tolls or commuting costs (i.e., the costs associated with driving a car between home and the normal place of work or business)

Travel and Expense Policy FAQs

Concur Travel and Expense System FAQs

UM Procurement Travel and Expense Website

Simulation: How to Create an Expense Report in Concur