http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml News, Events, Tips and more Dick Corten - corten@berkeley.edu en-US http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml Some good news — potentially — is on the horizon. The UC Office of the President has revised its fee proposal to the UC Board of Regents. The mid-year fee increase has been greatly reduced for the majority of students. This is another example of the University doing everything it can to protect graduate students in the current period of budgetary difficulty, including exempting GSIs and GSRs from furloughs, and increasing the fellowships budget. The Regents will vote on the proposal in mid-November. Best wishes as you finish up your work for fall semester. Andrew J. Szeri Dean of the Graduate Division http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#1 Eighteen UC Berkeley students have been selected as Fulbright grantees for the 2009-2010 academic year, making this campus again one of the top producers of Fulbright students among research institutions in this country. The Fulbright is America’s flagship educational and cultural exchange program. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which sponsors the Fulbright Program, also commended this campus for hosting 46 international Fulbright students who’ve come to the U.S. for graduate study and for having 36 international Fulbright Scholars teaching or conducting research on this campus. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 The New York-based American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) runs an extensive competition each year for fellowships and grants in the humanities and related social sciences. In its 2008-2009 cycle, ACLS awarded over $10.2 million to 336 scholars in the U.S. and abroad. Deadlines for the competitions began in mid-September 2009 and run through late January 2010, with most of the dates clustered in the fall. Well over a dozen different competitions are open through the ACLS; the menu includes ACLS’s own fellowships, and the Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowships, Andrew W. Mellon/ACLS Early Career Fellowships, the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art, American Research in the Humanities in China, a number of East European Studies Program fellowships and grants, and more. Application information for all is available at the ACLS website. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 Funded by the U.S. State Department’s Title VIII, the Individual Advanced Research Opportunities Program (IARO) provides students, scholars and professionals with support to perform policy relevant field research, in more than two dozen countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. In addition to engaging in research in the region, the IARO fellowship affords scholars the opportunity to increase their understanding of critical, policy relevant issues, develop and sustain international networks, and collaborate with foreign scholars on topics vital to both the academic and policy-making communities. Applicants to the IARO program can apply to do research in up to three countries for up to nine months. All applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The application deadline is November 17, 2009. IARO program information and the application may be found online. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 Announced by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, up to $12.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be awarded in early 2010 to support at least 80 graduate fellowships to U.S. students pursuing advanced degrees in science, mathematics, and engineering through the newly created Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship program. The goal of the fellowship program is to encourage outstanding students to pursue graduate degrees in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering, and environmental and computer sciences — fields that will prepare students for careers that can make significant contributions in the discovery-driven science that’s critical to future U.S. energy security and economic competitiveness. To be eligible for the Fellowship, an applicant must be U.S. citizen and currently a first- or second-year graduate student enrolled at a U.S. academic institution, or an undergraduate senior who will be enrolled as a first-year graduate student by the fall of 2010. Applicants must be pursuing graduate study and research in the physical, biological, engineering, and computational sciences. Interested students can apply online. Each fellowship award will be $50,500 per year for three years to provide support for tuition, living expenses, research materials and travel to research conferences. Completed applications are due November 30, 2009. Secretary Chu, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 and until recently was a professor here and directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, earned his physics Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1976. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) is a new program intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education for students, faculty, and institutions by establishing innovative new models for education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. To facilitate such collaborations, UC Berkeley has created the new Center for Interdisciplinary Biological Inspiration in Education and Research (CiBER) as the home for the IGERT program. The thematic basis for the CiBER-IGERT program involves biologically-inspired engineering and engineering-inspired biology. The program is supported by the National Science Foundation. To participate, incoming students must apply to the Ph.D. program in one of the following departments or groups: Integrative Biology; Molecular and Cell Biology; Bioengineering; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Mechanical Engineering; Civil Engineering; Psychology; or Biophysics Graduate Group. The program application is available online. CiBER-IGERT traineeship applications for Fall 2010 are due November 30, 2009. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 Each year, the Dan David Prize, a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation, awards 20 scholarships (10 to students from all over the world and 10 to students from Tel Aviv University, where the foundation is headquartered). The scholarship amount is $15,000. Advanced doctoral and postdoctoral students of excellent achievement and promise studying topics related to the fields chosen for this year are invited to apply for scholarships for 2010. The fields are broken into three time dimensions. For the Past category, the field is March Toward Democracy; for the Present category, Literature – Renditon of the 20th Century; and for the Future category, Computers and Telecommunications. The application deadline for the scholarships is March 31, 2010. More information is available online. The nomination deadline for the Dan David Prize itself (three given, one for each category, $1 million per) is November 30, 2009. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 The Canadian Government, through its Embassy and Consulates in the United States, supports research, conferences, teaching, and program activity related to Canada and/or Canada-U.S. relations. Its Canadian Studies grant program, with applications due in early November and early December, encourages comparative research and teaching, faculty exchanges, student mobility, and collaboration between American and Canadian researchers. The Doctoral Student Research Award offers doctoral students an opportunity to conduct part of their dissertation research in Canada. The program is intended for students whose dissertations are related in substantial part to the study of Canada. Applications are due December 1, 2009. Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss their interest in the grant program with a Canadian government officer in their area. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 To be considered, applicants must be: African American; enrolled full time in a doctoral program in the life or physical sciences; engaged in and within one to three years of completing dissertation research; and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Postdoctoral Science Research Fellowships are also available. Applications and further information are available online.The application deadline is December 1, 2009. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 This program, which recognizes the contributions of a past director of the California Redevelopment Association, was established to encourage individuals currently working toward graduate degrees to pursue careers in the public sector in the field of redevelopment. These fellowships enable students to attend the California Redevelopment Association Annual Conference or Redevelopment Institute. Applicants must be interested in a career in the public sector in redevelopment, community development, economic development, planning, housing, or a related field. More information about the fellowship program and on submitting an application is available online. The deadline to submit an application is December 11, 2009. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 Applications are now being accepted for the Willis W. and Ethel M. Clark Foundation Investment in Community Graduate Fellowship for 2010-2011. Up to $10,000 per academic year is awarded to students currently enrolled full time in a graduate program who have demonstrated a commitment to community service. Applicants must be directly connected to the Monterey Peninsula and intend to return to or remain connected through work and/or residence and community service. The Clark Foundation was incorporated in 1953 and has provided community service for more than half a century. Its founders were pioneers in the field of educational testing and research who started the California Test Bureau (now known as CTB/McGraw-Hill) in 1926. The fellowship may be renewed annually, but subsequent awards may be smaller than the initial award. Applications are due January 31, 2010. More information is available online. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 The Udall Foundation awards two one-year Environmental Public Policy and Conflict Resolution Dissertation Fellowships of up to $24,000 to doctoral candidates whose research concerns U.S. environmental public policy and/or U.S. environmental conflict resolution and who are entering their final year of writing the dissertation. Fellows must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or U.S. permanent residents, and their dissertation research must be relevant to U.S. environmental policy. Program details, additional information, profiles of previous fellows, and applications are available online. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Jane Curlin by email. The application deadline is February 24, 2010. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 The Alpha California Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will grant a limited number of graduate fellowships to UC Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa members who will be currently enrolled as doctoral students during the 2009-2010 academic year. Application form are available by email. Completed applications are due, with supporting materials, in M14 Wheeler Hall (the College Writing Program suite of offices on the lower mezzanine) no later than 3 p.m. on March 17, 2010. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 If you are a researcher with above average-qualifications, at the beginning of your academic career, and completed your doctorate during the last four years, consider applying for a Humboldt Research Fellowship. This fellowship for postdoctoral researchers allows you to carry out a long-term research project (six to 24 months) you have selected yourself in cooperation with an academic host at a research institution in Germany. Scientists and scholars of all nationalities and disciplines may apply to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation directly at any time. The foundation grants approximately 600 Humboldt Research Fellowships for postdoctoral researchers and experienced researchers annually. Deadline: Open. This is a continuous application opportunity. Applications are considered in the order received. More information is available on the Humboldt Foundation website. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#2 A nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization, Asia Society Northern California offers approximately 70 programs each year on Asian and Asian-American affairs. The society is looking for qualified recent graduates, graduate students, and upper-division students who can commit a minimum of 12 to 16 hours per week for eight or more weeks as interns to help in a variety of areas, including research and planning, newsletter writing and design, proposal writing, fundraising, and administration. Of particular interest this fall are applicants with marketing and/or journalism experience to prepare multimedia content for the society’s new website. The positions are unpaid, but provide useful experience. Further information is available by email (sanfrancisco@asiasoc.org or mjung@asiasoc.org). http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#3 See eGrad online for more information. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#4 After serving as CEO of the San Diego Museum of Man for five years, Mari Lyn Salvador is coming home to where she was minted as a scholar. The two-degree Berkeley alumna — B.A. ’71, Ph.D. ’75 — is returning here to become director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. In taking on the challenge, Salvador said, “Now more than ever, people are interested in the culture of others around the world and in understanding human history. There is no better place than the Hearst for this.” Her goal, she said, is to “support and facilitate research in its priceless collections so that we better understand our culture and the culture of others, and to also make these objects and scholarly research more accessible to the general public.” Salvador studied art at San Francisco State University, earned her Ph.D. here in cultural anthropology, then worked in Panama with the Peace Corps. She taught at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and was chief curator at UNM’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology before joining the Museum of Man in 2004. At Berkeley, she succeeds former provost C. Judson King, who held the Hearst directorship on an interim basis after the retirement of Doug Sharon — who was Salvador’s predecessor in San Diego at the Museum of Man. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#5 The Graduate Division has helped make a multifaceted jewel available to multitudes of people for decades: the Graduate Council Lectures. For most of their years, that availability was the traditional kind where the speaker and the audience met in a campus room, sagacious words were spoken, and questions were asked and answered. Technology has been changing that dynamic in the classroom, and for these lectures as well. The more recent events have gradually been making their way on TV and online. But this month a lengthy behind-the-scenes effort came to fruition and the Grad Division and several campus partners opened a cornucopia of lectures to the world, in all sorts of formats. Here’s the way the campus NewsCenter’s Cathy Cockrell described the unveiling. “For more than a century, UC Berkeley's Graduate Council has hosted free public lectures by prominent scholars, scientists, and public intellectuals — from renowned French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss to Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent Linda Greenhouse and Nobelists Linus Pauling and Steven Chu. Now the public can revisit a growing number of those events, thanks to an ambitious digitization project and a new and improved website. “The Graduate Council's renovated site offers video webcasts and downloadable audio podcasts of talks offered through its seven endowed lectureships, dating back to the early 20th century. “Those who missed this fall's lectures — Leon Lederman on science education, Steven Usselman on technology and democracy, Caroline Walker Bynum on "material miracles" in Medieval Europe — can download MP3s of those talks and listen to them at the gym. “One can also travel back in time via recordings ‘from the vault.’ These include lecture videos recorded digitally, beginning in 2001 — many of them linked to an interview with the speaker, conducted by Harry Kreisler as part of his “Conversations with History” interview series. The public can also access digitized versions of a sampling of older audio files, originally recorded on 10-inch tape reels and archived at the Berkeley Language Center (BLC), in the Dwinelle Hall basement.” There are six partners involved in making the lectures accessible — the Graduate Division, the Graduate Council (a committee of the Academic Senate), the UC system’s UCTV channel, the Berkeley campus Educational Technology Services office, the Berkeley Language Center, and the “Conversations with History” interview series. The Graduate Division owes a special debt to the language center’s late recording technician Gina Hotta, who died suddenly of a heart attack at the end of September. Hotta was a meticulous professional who respected all the material she recorded, optimized, and transferred to a wide variety of media. Her patience and technical magic restored dozens of lectures from archaic and ignored original recordings to the easily accessed modern MP3 files now available on the Graduate Council Lectures site. Sample some audio from the past. The name Aldous Huxley still rings bells 46 years after his death. His enduring novel Brave New World, short stories, plays, poetry, essays, and unconventional life still impress people. But few in the generations now alive have heard his voice. Listen to it now in his May 10, 1960, Foerster lecture “Matter, Mind, and the Question of Survival”, when, as his introducer said that night, “The platitude that a lecturer worth listening to needs no introduction has never had more force than it has this evening.” Huxley was the 22nd Foerster Lecturer, in a series that began in 1928. Hear and see Jefferson Lecturer Elizabeth Warren (who, since her lecture, has become chair of the congressional oversight panel created to oversee the U.S. banking bailout (formally known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program) in her prescient and unsettling 2007 address, “The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class: Higher Risks, Lower Rewards, and a Shrinking Safety Net.” It’s great information, still useful as a survival guide and action plan for the times she saw coming. (At last count, this lecture had been viewed online more than 241,000 times.) http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#6 Both grad students and undergrads are welcome to try out for Cal’s ice hockey team. Ice hockey is a club sport at Berkeley, and the team participates in the PAC-8 Division II League with seven other teams — Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona State, Oregon, Washington, and Washington State. Whether you’ve played hockey most of your life or are newly interested in playing for Cal, contact either Keisuke Teeple or Peter Tartaglia. For more information see the team’s website, which includes a game schedule for players and fans alike. (Note that there are four “Big Freeze” matches against Stanford in November and February — two at Stanford and two at the Bears’ home rink in Oakland.) http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#7 “Today’s photo” is a standing feature of UC Berkeley’s homepage. A wide variety of pictures rotate in day by day, each giving a different visual slice of life on campus. Students are not-infrequent stars of these images, and grad students and grad alumni have randomly cycled in three times while this month got rolling. Juan Parra, shown displaying a file drawer of sunbird specimens in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, is a recent alumnus who earned his Ph.D. in 2008. (His integrative biology dissertation was on color evolution in Andean hummingbirds.). Parra is now a postdoc at SUNY-Stony Brook in the department of ecology and evolution. He found it easy to become interested in small, rapid-flying birds in his home country, Colombia, since it has more hummingbird species than any other country. A few days later two unidentified math grad students and a postdoc dueled with brains and chalk over the much-discussed Langlands program, a web of mathematical conjectures that cannot even be summarized in this space. A photo that ran even more recently focused on a gecko walking straight up a slab of glass, monitored by Anne Peattie and Simon Sponberg in Professor Robert Full’s Poly-PEDAL lab. Both have now completed their Ph.D.s — Peattie in 2007 and Sponberg in 2008. Sponberg’s path since has taken him to the University of Washington’s department of biology and research into hawkmoth flight, while Peattie has moved to England, where she is a postdoc at Cambridge and her research has shifted from the adhesive feet of geckos to those of spiders Keep your eyes peeled. Someone you know could pop up in “Today’s photo” any day now. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#7 Former Graduate Dean Mary Ann Mason asked a verbless question in the October 21 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Why So Few Doctoral Student Parents?” She supplied some of the answers she had already received face to face and in a doctoral-student survey. Despite some built-in advantages during grad school, like relatively flexible schedules and a community of other young parents, only about 13 percent of UC students seeking Ph.D.s become parents before getting the degree. Lack of money and lack of time are factors, and so is the worry that professors, mentors, and future employers won’t take them seriously if they are, for instance, pregnant. Mason, who now co-directs the Center for Economics and Family Security at the School of Law, is still gathering personal experiences and opinions on this aspect of the graduate student experience. http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/egrad/1109.shtml#7 The founding editor of eGrad, Lisa Harrington, also turned The Graduate from a useful newsletter into a community-building full-color magazine. As director of the Graduate Division’s Communications and Events office, she pulled us into cyberspace and the 21st century, spearheading the Division’s earliest web presence and the revamps and enhancements since. She worked in the tenures of three Deans of the Graduate Division — Joseph Cerny, Mary Ann Mason, and Andrew Szeri — helping translate sometimes arcane matters of policy and procedure in a variety of publications so students, faculty, and staff could actually use them in daily life. She introduced organized fundraising to the Division, at what turned out to be a pivotal point in the need for private support, with the eventual result that we now have an office and staff dedicated to bringing in money that will fund many graduate fellowships in generations to come. All the while, in whatever media, she depicted the people of the Graduate Division as the interesting human beings they are, neither faceless nor any more bureaucratic than they have to be. In a three-decade career mainly working on and around the Berkeley campus, Lisa devoted half of that time to the Grad Division — and at the end of October retired from the University. Of all the skills she employed here, she has always been fondest of writing, and that’s what she’ll be emphasizing professionally in this new chapter of her life. We’ll miss her — a lot.