• Consumer Science and Retailing Students Examine Graduate Student Life
• IndyRobotics President to Speak on Unmanned Vehicles
• Creator of PHD Comics Coming to Purdue
• Four Graduate School Employees to be Honored
• Graduate Student, Professor Win Judge's Award at Microsoft Competition
• Purdue Begins Program to Recuit, Retain Native American Students
• Purdue Student Finalist in Contest that Looks to Future of Wireless Information and Communication
• Announcements for Students
• Announcements for Faculty/Staff
• Important Dates

Students in Professor Sharon DeVaney's CSR 600 seminar, "Introduction to Research in Consumer Sciences and Retailing," conducted qualitative research focused on important aspects of graduate student life.   Graduate School deans Tom Atkinson and John Contreni attended the end of the semester presentations of the students' results.   Click on the titles of their projects below to view the Powerpoints.

Eklou Amendah and Fan Xiaomeng studied "The Importance of Being a Teaching or Research Assistant in Getting a MS/PhD."

Kavitha Rabindran and Mi Jung Park focused their work on the "Plan of Study and Selection of Committee."

Patryk Babiarz, Jania Bell, and Marina Hsu explored the importance of friendship groups in their project, "Birds of a Feather Flock Together?"

"Time Management of CSR Graduate Students at Purdue University" was studied by En-Chung Chang, Karen Kuo, and Yun Jung Lee--a topic that has obvious applications for all grad students.

Scott Jones, president and CEO of IndyRobotics, will present a lecture to Purdue students on Tuesday, January 24, in Fowler Hall, 2:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

IndyRobotics, with the support of the Graduate School and other University units, recently sponsored its Indiana Robotic Vehicle (IRV) in the DARPA Grand Challenge National Qualification Event in the Mojave Desert.

View the flyer.

Eta Kappa Nu, the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering honorary society, with the support of the Graduate School, is bringing Dr. Jorge Cham, the creator of PHD Comics to Purdue.

His talk is scheduled for February 28, 2006, at 5:30 p.m. in Forney (FRNY) G140. The first hour will be a presentation and the second hour will be a Q & A.

Jorge Cham graduated from Stanford University with his doctorate in engineering. He started the comic strip while a grad student and it has evolved into PHD Comics, now in its seventh season. The story revolves around the lives of four graduate students and records the humor of their grad experience. For the current comic, click on this link:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/comics.php

Congratulations to Cyndi Lynch, Marcia Fritzlen, Dwight Lewis, and Pat Springer who will be recognized at the Provost Recognition Program on January 18, 2006. The program honors University employees who have served at least 10 years at Purdue.

Two Purdue University industrial designers won a grand prize at an international competition co-sponsored by Microsoft Corp. for a new personal computer design that may change the way people watch movies, listen to music, play games and read magazines.

The concept computer, called Bookshelf, eliminates the most common problems – digital copyrights and inconvenient accessibility – in the multimedia entertainment business today, says graduate student Sungho "Oho" Son.

He teamed with Scott Shim, a professor of visual and performing arts, to design a new personal computer that won the $50,000 Judge's Award at Microsoft's Next Generation Windows PC Design Competition. The competition was sponsored by Microsoft and the Industrial Designers Society of America, and the winners were announced at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 5-8.

Read More

A program in Purdue University's Graduate School will help give Native American students a home away from home while they continue their educations.

Through a cooperative agreement with a mentoring program at Northern Arizona University, the Native American Cohort at Purdue program, nicknamed the Tecumseh Project, will offer support to Native American graduate students in ways that have not been formally available before.

"There are cultural differences that are reflected in body language, mannerisms and eye contact that both the students and faculty need to be aware of for Native American students to transition smoothly to academic life," said Aleeah Livengood of Mulberry, Ind., a Native American who will receive a master's degree in special education next semester. "We have a deep affiliation with community and family that makes it difficult for us to leave them and go to college. Also, because college educations usually require one to leave that environment, it has never been a priority within that community structure. However, the acquisition of an education is the only way that we can improve our lives, the lives of our children and our people."

Read More

A Purdue College of Technology student is a finalist in a national competition that focuses on the future of information and wireless technology.

Andrew Davidson, a master's student from Crawfordsville, Ind., is one of 10 finalists in the national MOTOFWRD College Competition. His entry titled "Hey, That Would be Nice!" is a movie that explains the possibilities of emerging seamless mobility technology.

Read More

PGSG Sponsored Events for January:

EndNote Classes - Want to learn an efficient way to manage your references? Come and learn how to use EndNote. Classes are still available for:

Mac users: Jan. 17, 9:00-11:00 am, Location TBA

Register online at: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/cfsl/inst/endnote/

Proposal Writing Workshop for Graduate Students
Date: January 25, 2006
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Location: STEW 214 A-D

Almost every graduate student will need to write a proposal sometime, come and improve your skills in this important area.

12-week Married & Couples Support Group
Date: Begins in February
Contact: Tara Holstein, 494-6995

A discussion group for long-term and married couples. Sponsored by CAPS.