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Undergraduate Research AssistantshipNIU’s Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning is currently accepting faculty proposals for the summer and fall 2014 sessions of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) program.

The program was designed to provide students additional opportunities to work under faculty mentors within their fields.

URA grants funding to approximately 15 to 20 faculty members during the fall, spring or summer semesters to allow the hiring of undergraduates to assist on research projects.

Faculty from all departments are strongly encouraged to apply. Proposals will be accepted through 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21.

Research assistants are hired by funded faculty and work for 10 hours per week for 15 weeks at the rate of $10 per hour (funding not to exceed $1,500).

The URA program is coordinated through the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning and has cooperating support from Student Employment and the university hiring departments.

For more information, call (815) 753-8154) or email ugresearch@niu.edu.

 

Date posted: February 6, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Faculty invited to propose summer, fall URAs

Categories: Faculty & Staff Research What's Going On

NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology job fair (October 2012)NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) will host engineering and technology companies from across the region from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.Thursday, Feb. 20, for a jobs and internships fair.

Companies looking for full-time and internship positions should consider attending at the NIU Engineering Building on Garden Road.

Each semester more than 300 CEET students attend the fair prepared to find positions with companies partnered with the college.

Past fairs have been successful events for engineering and technology students, as more than 95 percent of CEET undergraduates secure employment within two months of graduation.

It is estimated that companies spend close to $30,000 placing entry-level engineers, making the partnership between a company and the university particularly important. Companies that attend the fairs, sponsor student organizations or fund senior design projects gain direct access to students with sound theoretical knowledge as well as access to real-world learning opportunities.

Seven of the ten top paying jobs in 2013 were in engineeringUndergraduate students who use the fair as a way to secure internship opportunities immediately position themselves for success in their professional lives. Not only do students gain access to the challenges of the workplace, but students also secure an understanding of the workplace culture and experience an easier transition upon graduation.

Companies interested in attending the fair should visit the registration page for more information. Students wishing to prepare for the networking event can attend a series of workshops hosted by the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.

For more information, visit CEET’s career services web page or email acarrier@niu.edu.

Date posted: February 4, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Engineering job fair planned Feb. 20

Categories: Digital Signage Engineering and Engineering Technology Events On Campus Students What's Going On

Brenda McCoy

Brenda McCoy

NIU Vice Provost Anne Birberick invites faculty and staff to an upcoming workshop on Next Generation Course Redesign, also known as NextGen, presented by Brenda McCoy of the University of North Texas.

McCoy, welcomed back to the campus at the request of the faculty, will share her successful model for transforming large lecture classes into environments of experiential learning. NextGen classes are redesigned to include online learning and engaging small-group activities.

The workshop will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. RSVP is requested by noon Friday, Feb. 14, to engage@niu.edu.

Deans, department chairs, Course Transformation Project (CTP) Fellows and faculty members who teach lecture courses are especially encouraged to attend. CTP is hosting the event.

McCoy is director of the BAAS Program and chair of the Department of Community and Professional Programs at the University of North Texas. This unit is largely comprised of undergraduate faculty with a teaching focus and includes alternative dispute resolution, non-profit studies and the bachelor of applied arts and sciences degree program.

Actively involved with UNT’s Next Generation Course Redesign Project since 2009, she has redesigned three courses and has started work on the fourth. She has conducted numerous workshops and given presentations on the need for a new instructional paradigm in higher education.

Before beginning her career in higher education, McCoy worked in marketing and management for 15 years, including 11 years at IBM.

For more information on the workshop, contact the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning or Michaela Holtz at (815) 753-8152 or mholtz@niu.edu.

Date posted: February 3, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on NextGen returns Feb. 21 to NIU

Categories: Campus Highlights Engagement Events Faculty & Staff On Campus What's Going On

The Admitted Student Day event scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014, has been canceled due to impending inclement weather.

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a Winter Storm Warning from 9 p.m. Friday through 6 p.m. Saturday.

Students who were registered for the event are invited to attend the next Admitted Student Day on Monday, Feb. 17. The event features a comprehensive campus visit designed specifically for newly admitted freshmen. More in-depth than an Open House, it is an excellent opportunity to explore NIU further to learn about our programs, activities and services.

For more information, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions via e-mail at admissions@niu.edu or call 800-892-3050.

Date posted: January 31, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Feb. 1 Admitted Student Day canceled due to weather

Categories: Latest News

Huskie Service Scholars Blexendi Vixama and Keelan Wright dish up hot meals to the community at Feed’em Soup.

Huskie Service Scholars Blexendi Vixama (left) and Keelan Wright dish up
hot meals to the community at Feed’em Soup.

Students gathered during the week of Jan. 21 to attend four different events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

The week was facilitated by a committee of 11 staff and faculty who represented 10 different campus offices (Asian American Center, Center for Black Studies, Career Services, Military Student Services, Women’s and LGBT Resource Center, Latino Resource Center, Center for NGO Leadership and Development, Student Involvement and Leadership Development, Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning) and two community partners, Feed’em Soup and the NAACP.

Lucero Martinez, AmeriCorps VISTA, and Erin Holman, graduate assistant from the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning (OSEEL), headed the committee. The week’s events reached a total of approximately 150 students and 250 community members.

The kick-off for the week was a Civic Reflection discussion facilitated by OSEEL. Students discussed their opinions on hot-button social issues such as poverty and racial discrimination, and how they relate to issues on campus these students face every day. Students were able to make connections with students they might never have met otherwise.

The second event of the week was Service in Action, facilitated by the Diversity and Equity centers on campus.

MLK Week posterStudents could view presentations from the centers on how students can promote diversity and equity in their own lives. Students were able to sign a dream wall that was located in the Glass Gallery of the Holmes Student Center to write their hopes for the future of society. The dream wall was designed and built by the School of Theatre and Dance.

The third event was a service event with local community partner, Feed’em Soup. Students from various organizations including Huskie Service Scholars, Alpha Phi Omega and NGOLD volunteered to help serve students and DeKalb community members a warm meal.

The final event to end the week was a film viewing and discussion at the Center for Black Studies.

Students gathered to view the documentary “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” and then discuss their reactions to what they saw and felt. In addition, the Center for Black Studies hosted a contest for local high school students to write essays about King’s legacy. The winner – DeKalb High School freshman Kendall Hampton – read her entry and received a prize of $150.

Date posted: January 31, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on MLK Service Week impacts campus community

Categories: Campus Highlights Community Communiversity On Campus Students

Parent UniversityEducating families on the college is essential for the success of students.

That is why FAST (First-generation Aspire to Succeed Together), in collaboration with the Adela de la Torre Honor Society, is bringing Parent University to help educate parents in the local community on the high school and college experience.

FAST is the NIU student committee that assists the AmeriCorps VISTA on campus raise awareness the interests and needs of first-generation college students among the campus and local community.

Parent University is a program that aims to increase the level of knowledge regarding the necessary steps to successfully pursue a higher education among parents. The plan is to bolster existing efforts and create new ones to meet education needs among parents and students in the community.

Parent University consists of is a series of free workshops that serve to provide information to parents in the community who might lack “college readiness” information. Additionally, these workshops will help educate parents on their student’s high school and college experience.

Parent University will be offered to the DeKalb and Sycamore area residents, free of cost, with most sessions taking place at Sycamore High School and facilitated by NIU and Kishwaukee College staff.

The main goal is for parents in the local community to be well informed on essential information that is necessary for their students to succeed in their current and future educational stages. In addition, students also will be exposed to information regarding college access and success.

The first session – “Getting into College, High School Years” – will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, at Sycamore High School. Every session is free and open to the community.

For more information, contact Lucero Martinez at lmartinez4@niu.edu.

Date posted: January 30, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Parent University explains college admissions

Categories: Community Communiversity Events What's Going On

Kenton and Marlee Clymer visit with a Chin woman.

Kenton and Marlee Clymer visit with a Chin woman.

Distinguished Research Professor Kenton Clymer is back at the Department of History after spending the month of December teaching at Yangon University in Burma, known officially as Myanmar.

The first foreign visiting professor to teach at Yangon’s Department of History since 1962, Clymer was invited by department head and professor Margaret Wong following the visit of an NIU delegation last summer. Clymer taught a course on the history of U.S. relations with the Southeast Asian country since World War II.

Clymer’s visit part of Yangon University’s efforts at revitalization after years of isolation and neglect, he said.

In 1962 Prime Minister Ne Win began closing the country to foreign influences, and after the revolution of Aug. 8, 1988 (8/8/88), he closed Yangon University to undergraduate students because of students’ prominent role in the uprising that year. After 1988, only limited numbers of graduate students were enrolled. Not until December 2013 were undergraduate students allowed back in.

NIU has been actively involved in the revitalization effort.

Clymer’s teaching stint follows that of NIU English professor Amy Levin, who taught in the university’s Literature Department last February under a Fulbright appointment.

Other U.S. educational institutions were also present on campus. Lillian Handlin of Harvard University, current editor of the Journal of Burma Studies (published at NIU), was there teaching a course in Burmese archaeology. Representatives from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), which has been running an international relations certificate program there for the past several months, were also present, Clymer said.

Clymer poses with a pedicab driver in Sittwe during a short trip to Rakhine State in Burma.

Clymer poses with a pedicab driver in Sittwe
during a short trip to Rakhine State in Burma.

As it turned out, most of the 20 to 50 students in Clymer’s class were history faculty members.

While Clymer conducted his 90-minute classes in English, he said that he found that the English skill level of the students varied considerably.

To even the language levels, Clymer used more detailed PowerPoint presentations than usual, he said, and allotted plenty of time for discussion of the material presented. “Students frequently came to my office after class to continue the discussion,” he said.

Clymer said he particularly enjoyed the opportunity to teach this class in Yangon because he has just completed a manuscript for a forthcoming book on the history of U.S. relations with Burma/Myanmar since World War II.

“It was an honor to be able to present my findings to Burmese students and to get their reactions to what I had to say,” said Clymer, a faculty associate with NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

During his time at Yangon, Clymer also spoke to one class of new undergraduate International Relations students, who he found to be “smart, inquisitive and fluent in English.”

Although most of his time was spent teaching, Clymer and his wife, Marlee, took a short trip to Rakhine State, where they visited the towns of Sittwe and Mrauk U. The latter is home to a 15th- to 18th-century temple complex.

“The complex is not as old as Pagan in Burma (12th- to 14th-century) or Angkor in Cambodia (ninth- to 14th-century), nor it is as extensive,” Clymer said. “There are villages and farms within the temple context. But it was quite lovely, and with almost no tourists – a real advantage.”

Date posted: January 23, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Back from Burma

Categories: Faculty & Staff Global Humanities Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences On Campus Research

Students in OMIS 259 work in groups to create skill videos.

Students in OMIS 259 work in groups to create skill videos.

The Course Transformation Project (CTP) invites faculty interested in finding ways to make large lecture-based introductory classes more interactive and engaging to attend one of three CTP informational sessions this month.

Sessions will be offered in Altgeld Hall 225:

  • 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8
  • 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14
  • 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 24

Faculty selected to participate could receive up to $12,000 to incorporate multimedia-rich online learning, small group projects and experiential learning into eligible courses.

Informational sessions will provide an overview of the project expectations, timeline, allowable uses for funding and support available from the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning and others.

The Course Transformation Project is a Vision 2020 initiative to enhance student attainment of NIU baccalaureate student learning outcomes and to increase student opportunities for experiential learning through academic enrichment.

For more information, contact Michaela Holtz at (815) 753-8155 or mholtz@niu.edu.

Date posted: January 3, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Faculty: Transform your large lecture courses

Categories: Centerpiece Events Faculty & Staff Latest News On Campus

MLK Week posterNIU’s 2014 MLK Service Week will take place the week of Jan. 21.

The week will promote civic reflection, community service, equality and diversity awareness throughout campus and in the community.

Members of NIU’s MLK Week of Service planning committee were awarded the MLK Day of Service Collegiate Challenge grant for $1,200 from Illinois Campus Compact.

In preparation: Week of Jan. 13

NIU students will have the opportunity to write down their dreams for diversity and equity in society on a “Dream Wall.”

Made up of seven separate pieces placed at various campus locations, the wall will be reconnected the following week to make one large structure where students can come together and reflect.

Technical Director Jake Harbour, designer Jaclyn Zimmerman and students from the School of Theatre and Dance participated in the construction of the wall.

Location of wall panels:

Martin Luther King Jr.Week of Jan. 21 to 24

Huskie Service Scholars are creating biographies on courageous civil rights leaders or individuals who created a positive impact on society. The biographies will be displayed in the HSC.

The Martin Luther King Jr. March, held in observance of his birthday, will step off outside of Stevenson North at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21. The march is sponsored by the NAACP.

Later, a Civic Reflection Discussion will encourage participants to reflect upon the King legacy. Sponsored by OSEEL, the discussion takes place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Holmes Student Center.

On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Diversity and Equity centers on campus will unite from noon to 3 p.m. in the HSC Glass Gallery to provide information to students on services available on campus to them.

From 5 to 7 p.m. that evening, NIU students will volunteer at Feed’em Soup, 122 S. First St. in DeKalb, on the MLK-themed evening. They will assist in the preparation of the meal and serve community members. NIU student musicians will provide the entertainment for the evening. NGOLD is the sponsor.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service logoOn Thursday, Jan. 23, the campus community is invited to enjoy part of the PBS documentary, “The March,” from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Center for Black Studies.

Meanwhile, winners of MLK Art Project and essay contest from high schools and middle schools in DeKalb and Sycamore will present their winning pieces. Both contests focus on the 1963 March on Washington and/or the fight for freedom and justice.

Interested in participating in any of these events? Contact Lucero Martinez at lmartinez4@niu.edu for more information.

Date posted: December 16, 2013 | Author: | Comments Off on Celebrating the MLK legacy

Categories: Community Communiversity Engagement Events Faculty & Staff On Campus Students What's Going On

Jorge Rodas

Jorge Rodas

NIU student Jorge Rodas made history Sunday.

A journalism major in the Department of Communication, Rodas is the first NIU student to win a Student Production Award from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organization that produces the annual Emmy® awards.

Rodas won his award in the category of General Assignment TV Reporting for “Pension Games,” an investigative feature on the State of Illinois pension system.

“Winning this award means the world to me,” Rodas said. “I looked over at Mr. May when they announced my story as the winner and the look on his face was priceless. I’ll never forget seeing him like that. This award is just as much his as it is mine.”

Along with NIU student Candice Beasley and alumna Lauren Scott, Rodas was one of three NIU students nominated for awards, which were presented at the annual NATAS Regional Emmy® Awards event in Chicago.

Candice Beasley, Jorge Rodas (winner) and Lauren Scott

Candice Beasley, Jorge Rodas (winner) and Lauren Scott

Date posted: November 5, 2013 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU Journalism major wins Emmy

Categories: Alumni Awards Did You Know? Faculty & Staff Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Students

Milivoje M. Kostic

Milivoje M. Kostic

NIU is looking to gain international students and encourage current students to study abroad to expand the university’s global influence and better prepare students for an international economy.

For example, the university has “emerging and important partnerships” with China.

“In the last two months, we have had delegations from potential Chinese partner universities visit us and vice versa,” NIU President Doug Baker wrote Oct. 11 in an email to the university community.

“Given the significant economic and political role China will continue to hold in coming decades, we need to provide opportunities for NIU students, faculty and staff to have strong cross-cultural experiences. In turn, we have sizable opportunities to bring international students to NIU and enrich our educational environment.”

Faculty also are seeking greater exposure to to help grow programs abroad.

“Engineering by virtue of its technical portability is well-suited to be a global profession. Our efforts to connect with engineers and students across the world are becoming fruitful and realistic,” said Promod Vohra, dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. “I am very optimistic on continuing the global nature of our college and its partnership. We are lucky to have globally recognized faculty and programs.”

Flag of ChinaOne of the forerunners of this international expansion is Milivoje M. Kostic, professor of mechanical engineering.

Kostic’s work on new fundamental concept-theories in thermal sciences, including the Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, draw attention of the Tsinghau University’s renowned Heat Transfer group led by Academician Z.Y. Guo.

He was invited to present a keynote lecture at the “International Forum on Frontier Theories of Thermal Science” in Beijing, China in December 2011, and this summer received individual invitation to give a series of presentations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan regarding his recent innovative work in thermal sciences.

“The International Forum has been a unique group of invited speakers to present innovative ideas and frontier theories in thermal science. Among distinguished invites were five keynote speakers from China (four academicians) and seven international keynote speakers: three from the USA and one each from Japan, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Spain. It was a great honor to be part of such distinguished gathering,” Kostic said.

Kostic’s teaching, research and scholarly interests are in fundamental laws of nature; thermodynamics and heat transfer fundamentals; the second law of thermodynamics and entropy; energy efficiency; conservation and sustainability; fluids-thermal-energy components and systems; and nanotechnology and nanofluids. He has presented a number of invited plenary lectures and seminars at international conferences and several institutions.

“The sky may be the limit if having this information reach worldwide,” he said. “I am working on my new concept-theories and trying to get them established, and the fact that Chinese colleagues are interested in my work, is helping me to finalize what I have conceptualized here at Northern Illinois University.”

Date posted: November 5, 2013 | Author: | Comments Off on Engineering’s Kostic helps expand NIU to China

Categories: Campus Highlights Engineering Engineering and Engineering Technology Faculty & Staff Global Research

NIU Robotics logoFor an aspiring engineer, building a successful project is one of the greatest things in the world. Meeting a team of engineers who can teach, articulate and demonstrate how to be an engineer is a close second.

Members of Fox Valley Robotics & Batavia Robotics got the best of both worlds when the NIU Robotics Club helped mentor them inside College of Engineering and Engineering Technologies (CEET) facilities.

The NIU team spent several hours with the club members reviewing last year’s robot designs and this year’s design progress.

“We want to get them thinking like engineers by getting them exposure to real engineering facilities as well as being able to be around other engineers that have more experience and can teach them a few things,” said Kevin McNary, president of the NIU Robotics Club. “It helps them realize what they could be doing down the road.”

NIU Robotics Club members are planning another meeting with the Fox Valley youth, this time in Batavia.

Parent coach and supporter Rob Koska, senior consultant at Koska & Associates, LLC, echoed the importance of building young students into engineers and allowing an outlet for creativity at a young age. “The NIU team was also able to discuss motor configurations, six bar designs and crank rockers, among other design elements. They also discussed how the Fox Valley team will need to step up and move to CAD to enhance their concepts.”

Lego graphicFounded in 2002, Fox Valley Robotics and Batavia Robotics provides robotic programs for first- through 12th-graders.

The club is divided into three different groups: the LegoWolves, which is first- through third-grades; the LegoDogs for fourth- through eighth-graders; and the Coyotes for high school ages.

Each division has different skill levels; projects are age-appropriate.

LegoWolves build robotic models and researches current worldwide topics. The hands-on program encourages the young minds to be creative and to look at life around them through new experiences.

LegoDogs use Lego pieces, paired with electro-mechanical parts to design, build, program and compete with robots in yearly events designed around a current world topic.

Lastly, the Coyotes Division presents the next challenge with two different robotic platforms using steel and/or aluminum pieces with a variety of sensors and motors to create a robot not to exceed 18-inches-by-18-inches-by-18-inches in a competition that combines autonomy and skilled operator control.

The club is also part of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) organization that helps encourage students to stick with those fields by awarding scholarships, much of which goes unclaimed.

The NIU Robotics Club is helping them in other ways, such as building a new website and looking for corporate sponsorships.

“It is important to help build that pipeline because, many times in high school, they have problems keeping the students interested in those areas excited and involved. This allows them an outlet for their creativity,” Koska said. “Overall, this was an extremely positive experience and everyone left more enlightened and highly enthusiastic.”

NIU Robotics robotIn its second year as a CEET club, NIU Robotics already achieved high levels of success.

Last March, NIU Robotics won “Most Innovative” at the 26th annual Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition. The club’s entry was the first successfully flying robot in the history of the competition.

Members also have reached out to DeKalb middle school students to educate the young engineering hopefuls in their areas of interest and exposing them to career paths.

“It is exciting that the newly created Robotics Club has joined the other student organizations in reaching out to other schools to promote engineering and technology and is helping to get students excited about careers in both areas,” said Omar Ghrayeb, associate dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. “The impact of their outreach is crucial and needed to recruit future engineers to help fill the high amount of graduates needed from engineering and technology programs.”

Date posted: November 5, 2013 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU Robotics Club mentors young engineers

Categories: Communiversity Engagement Faculty & Staff On Campus Students