Coffee chats are coming!

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We are excited to continue to organize the online Coffee Chat-Students Driven Research Symposium to get us better connected in this 2020 Fall semester!

For current MSE graduate students, this is a great opportunity to advertise your research results, improve presentation ability, keep research social activity with other people and  enrich CV/resume to become more competitive.

For new MSE graduate Students, it is a great opportunity to have a better understanding of research in different groups, which can help you quickly know which professor you would like to work with/for and keep social!

We will send a reminder before each Symposium, so no needs to worry you may forget the date! If you are interested in presenting your research, please do not hesitate to fill out the form in the link below! If you would have interests in any specific research group that are not listed in the Google Sheet, please feel free to contact us through Changmin Shi (cshi0830@terpmail.umd.edu), or Abhishek Kalpattu (kabhi@umd.edu). We will try our best to help reach out!

Google Sheet/form link:

Zoom meeting link:

Topic: Student Driven Research Symposium
Time: Sep 25, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every 2 weeks on Fri, until Dec 4, 2020, 6 occurrence(s)
Sep 25, 2020 10:00 AM
Oct 9, 2020 10:00 AM
Oct 23, 2020 10:00 AM
Nov 6, 2020 10:00 AM
Nov 20, 2020 10:00 AM
Dec 4, 2020 10:00 AM

Words for qualifying exam

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The mock qualifying exam ends today. It makes students pretty stressful especially when they come across unfamiliar research questions.  Here are some tips of wisdom for preparing the qualifying exam in August 27th.

1. Proofread your proposal and presentation thoroughly.
2. Make sure you know what you are talking about.
3. Rehearse.
4. Have good introductory set of slides and good conclusion set of slides.
5. Make sure the details/background you are giving are relevant to your proposal.
6. Be specific.
7. Take the QE seriously, manage the schedule.
8. Relax too.
9. Don’t discuss the QE question with anyone else, except your committee.

Hope every participating MSE student can pass the incoming qualifying exam successfully.

Meeting for Qualifying Exam Preparation

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Prof. Cumings is talking about qualifying exam.

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Abhishek is talking about mock qual brief.

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Adelaide is talking her experience.

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MSGS President Changmin

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MSGS Vice president Abhishek

Today, we held a meeting for MSE students about preparation for qualifying exam that will happen in August soon. Prof. Cumings and three senior students Adelaide Nolan, Madeline Morales, and Dylan Kirsch joined our meeting and shared their suggestions and thoughts on how to prepare for the incoming qualifying exam. Thanks for their coming. This meeting includes three main parts.

First, Prof. Cumings gave an elaborate description of the whole process of qualifying exam and provide some helpful suggestions such as time management and content arrangement of proposal during the short and tense two-week research.

Later on, vice president of MSGS Abhishek made a presentation about mock qual exam that is useful for students to get familiar with qual exam in advance and helps students pass the qual exam with higher chance. MSE students who are interested in it can sign up for it before July 6th, and then the mock qual exam will start on July 7th and end on July 21st.

In the last part, three senior students talked about their experiences on qualifying exam. Adelaide Nolan reminded that knowing what you are talking about on all your slides because the committee may ask any questions when you present. Since the exam time lasts only for one hour, it is wise to specialize in your questions. Madeline mentioned that reviewing the research question constantly is important to make sure that you are not deviated from the center scope of question when reading multiple articles. Getting started as soon as possible is what Dylan suggested. And he thought that the mock qual exam benefited him for passing the real qualifying exam. They also mentioned the importance of time management and taking notes during the reading.

All MSE students are welcome and encouraged to participate in the mock qual exam. Hope every student can pass the qualifying exam in August!

Stay safe and healthy!

Coffee Chats are starting up again for the Fall Semester!

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Our next Coffee Chats event of the semester will be Monday, October 14 at 10 AM! Join us for free bagels and coffee, the opportunity to network and learn about MSE student research, and maybe spark some collaborations and fresh ideas!

Naila Al Hasan will be giving a talk on her research entitled, “SMA for elastocaloric cooling and thermal energy storage applications.”

We are still looking for student presenters this semester! It’s great practice to communicate your latest results or interesting research in an informal setting. Please sign up if you are interested:

http://bit.ly/msgs-coffee-f19

Hope to see you all there!

Fall Graduate Town Hall Recap online now!

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MSE graduate students met with the new chair, Dr. Zhao and had a really productive and open discussion. MSGS is planning to take next steps based on the meeting and concerns voiced by the students. Please check out the notes we took and feel free to add anything you think we have forgotten. You will need to login with your UMD email to edit the document.

We will meet in the following weeks to discuss the action items! Thank you so much for coming and participating in the meeting. It was great to hear from all of you and be heard by the department.

Town hall

Town Hall with Dr. JC Zhao (center) 9/25/2019.

Town Hall Meeting with New MSE Chair Dr. Zhao

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MSGS is excited to announce a Town Hall-style meeting with our new department chair, Dr. Ji-Cheng “JC” Zhao, that will take place from 12pm – 2pm this Wednesday, September 25th, 2019 in CHE 1302.

It will only be open to current graduate students. The purpose of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for Dr. Zhao to meet the current graduate students in the department, and also to open a direct line of communication to the new chair so students can voice their thoughts, opinions, and concerns.  Please brainstorm some ideas and join us on Wednesday!

 

Where: 1302 CHE (MSE Conference Room)

When: Wednesday September 25th, 12pm – 2pm

Next MSGS Coffee Chat on 3/25 @ 1pm CHE1302

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Thanks to everyone that made the first Coffee Chats a success! Per popular request, we have decided to move Coffee Chats to Monday afternoons at 1:00 pm. Hope more people will be able to make this time and join in on the discussion. Our next meeting will be Monday, March 25th – the day after we return from Spring Break – Save the Date!

Why come to Coffee Chats?

– Network with your MSE peers and learn about their research
– Great prep for upcoming conferences or group meetings
– FREE fresh Coffee and Bagels!!!

Please join us!

Where: CHE 1302
When: 3/25/19 @ 1PM