[Image above] Student bloggers from PACRIM12-GOMD. Surojit Gupta (center) arranged NSF travel grant funding for these students. Credit: ACerS
University of North Dakota assistant professor, Surojit Gupta, has made it his mission to smooth the way for graduate students to attend ACerS conferences. Last year he helped about eight students attend the International Conference on High Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites conference in Toronto. This year he helped fund travel for six students to PACRIM12–GOMD last week in Hawaii. The grants are funded through an NSF program to help support students presenting their work at conferences.
And the number in Hawaii that were his students? Zero.
Obviously, this is not about him; it’s about helping students enter the profession, network, learn, and become known. In return he requires the students to attend the Young Investigators Forum, which introduces them and their work to the colleagues with whom they will work and cross paths for the next 30–40 years. He also asks them to report on their experiences.
The students—often strangers to each other and Gupta—have a quick briefing at the start of the conference. Having to report on the event helps students sharpen their focus and adds to the value of the conference. Gupta is pleased with what he sees. “These reports are treasures,” he says, and about the overall interaction, “It is really cool,” he writes in an email.
We say all the time “young people are our future.” It’s true, of course, but these young people serve as indicators that the future is bright! We’re proud here at Ceramic Tech Today to share their reports with you.
PACRIM12 with GOMD feeds attendees in mind and body, by Mustafa Ahmadzadeh, Washington State University
Future responsibilities and the road ahead for new graduates, by Yin Liu, Alfred University
PacRim Young Investigator Forum explores big ideas in nano, by Dereck Nills Ferreira Muche; University of California, Davis
PacRim forum takes mystery out of journal publishing, by Hui Li; University of California, Davis
Workshop tips for gaining the competitive edge in publishing, by Ambar Deshkar; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
PacRim12 Publishing Workshop—A student’s perspective, by Christopher Shaver, University of Tennessee at Knoxville