DAC Professional Development Fund offers more than $165,000 in new funding!

Design Automation Conference Professional Development Fund to Award More than $165,000

Design Automation Conference 2006

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2006--This just published! Red Hot News!

The Design Automation Conference (DAC), the electronic design automation (EDA) industry's premier event, today announced that together with several sponsoring societies it is awarding more than $165,000 in professional development funds to students and professionals in the EDA field. These funds, which bring the total amount awarded during the past twelve years to more than $3.57 million, will be presented at the 43rd DAC, July 24-28, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The DAC Professional Development Fund supports a range of programs, including the Engineering Scholarship Program, the P.O. Pistilli Advancement in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Program, the University Booth Program, the Young Student Support Program, the DAC Graduate Scholarships and the Student Design Contest. DAC also supports the Workshop for Women in Design Automation, the Integrated Design Systems Workshop, and the ACM/Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) Ph.D. Forum.

"DAC has a strong commitment to supporting continuing education through the professional development fund," said William Joyner, the 2005 DAC chair, who oversees the DAC Professional Development Fund. "It has a tremendous impact on the EDA community and helps contribute to the future success of the industry."

To read the entire article (and to find out if you qualify for funding or to get more information) go here:

Noted inventor, author and futurist to speak on the St. Paul Campus of the U of St. Thomas on Wed July 12

Ray Kurzweil, an inventor, futurist and author who has been recognized by three U.S. presidents for his contributions to science and technology, will speak at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, in the auditorium of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 12.

The talk, and a 7 p.m. reception, are part of a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Graduate Programs in Software, which now is part of the College of Business.

Kurzweil, called the “greatest thinker on artificial intelligence” by Bill Gates, will discuss virtual technology, molecular computing, cybernetics, nanorobots and other developments in technology.

Kurzweil was the first to invent such devices at the flatbed scanner, omni-font optical character recognition, print-to-speech reading machine, and text-to-speech synthesizer.

Don't Be a Victim of Scholarship Scams

Remember those old sayings - "if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is?" or "There's no such thing as a free lunch?" or how about "There's a sucker born every minute!"

According to the National Association of Student Financial Aid (NASFA), more than 350,000 people fall victim to scholarship scams every single year. Want to know how to protect yourself?

The Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection says to watch out if:

• You're told the "scholarship is guaranteed or your money back." (Not possible, unless the organization you're dealing with is the one actually giving you the money - otherwise, who gets scholarships is completely OUT of their control!)

• You're told "this information isn't available anywhere else." (Uh huh. What about all the free resources available online, at your local library, college or university?)

• You're told that they "just need your credit card or bank account number to hold the scholarship for you." (Right...and you've also won a million dollars in the lottery, someone you've never heard of in Nigeria has 20 million dollars they want to put into your bank account and the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale again!)

• You're told "This is a great investment, plus, we'll do all the work for you. (And the check is in the mail, and your blind date is really going to call you, and...well, you know!)

• You're told "Congratulations! You've been selected as a finalist in the national/regional scholarship program, or some foundation has chosen you to receive a scholarship, or you're the winner in a contest" - only you didn't enter one. (Since this is one of the biggest scams going, make sure you always do a little background research. Contact the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, your state's Attorney General. Also check into the online scambuster sites.)

• You're told "You have the opportunity to attend this once-in-a-lifetime financial aid seminar." (Only it's really just a big sales pitch to get you to spend your money on high priced products, or lists that you could find somewhere else for free.)

• You're told that "there is a small processing fee in order for you to receive your scholarship." (Wrong answer! Free money is just that - FREE! If someone wants to charge you, run away!)

• You're told "we have a matching scholarship program and we guarantee success" (big scam!) or that a company will give you the money upfront - and you can pay it back when your scholarship arrives (advance payday loan scheme - with huge interest rates), or any type of "processing or application fees" are involved (why not just throw your money out the window - at least you've got a better chance that whoever finds it will need it more than you do!)
  

The Value of continuing your education

"In 2003, the average full-time worker with a four-year college degree earned $49,900. That's 62% more than the $30,800 earned by the average full-time worker who only has a high school diploma."

Source: Education Pays 2005, College Board

Minority Graduate Scholarship and Educational Resources Site Opens

Why do fewer minority students attend graduate school? It's certainly not their scores, their ability or their determination.

In many cases, it's because they're not aware of the all the educational and financial aid opportunities. According to Mark Shay, President and CEO of GradSchools.com, that's about to change.

Chester, PA (PRWEB) July 9, 2006 -- GradPortal.org is a free directory of graduate school programs geared directly toward minority students. The minority graduate scholarship and school resource directory also offers information on financial aid as well as advice on preparing for and surviving graduate school.

"There are hundreds of thousands of students out there who could add so much to this society but are never given the chance," says Mark Shay, president and CEO of GradSchools.com. "Our hope is that this new minority graduate scholarship and school resource directory will reveal opportunities that these students never realized were open to them, and will help them attend the school of their dreams and further their education."

This sounds like something worth checking out!

technorati tags:minority, graduate, programs, financial, aid, resources

Learn the Lingo and show you're part of the "secret club"

I just read an interesting article in the "Chronicle of Higher Education" that you might find interesting. It talked about how every field of study has its own slang - or, as I like to call it, "secret code". If you're a graduate student or new Ph.D., it's very important for you to "Learn the Lingo" of the academic world.

Why?

For one thing, just like a secret handshake, knowing the language shows that you're a part of the club, that you belong.

Do you understand phrases like "chalk talk," "faculty lines," or "NRSA?" If not, (or even if you do), you're going to want to read this article to see what's new in the Lingo of your world...To see if you get to be part of the "club", just click the link (and give me the secret handshake!)

There's a New "Club Med" in town...

Here's something that might help you in your search for the best universities, funding programs and career building efforts. (Of course, always use your due dilligence before spending any money on any type of program...)

There's a new "Club Med" in town - at least, in the digital community. Launched by "Dream Advisors Ltd.", "MyCareerClub.com" is an online membership program that "researches, evaluates, categorizes, summarizes and publishes the top internet-related career resources" all around the world.

According to their recent press release (you can find it on Newswire today), applicants save time and effort of doing all the research themselves which makes career progress more efficient and successful.

Their core service is an exclusive online global database with approximately 1,000 of the top qualified Web resources. They say it's easy to access, searchable and can give you information in the following modules:

• Career Exploration
• Higher Education (bachelors, masters, doctoral and post doctoral programs)
• Funds Searching (awards, fellowships, grants, scholarships, assistantships and loans)
  
• Employment (finding potential employers, employees and contractors, internships, temp positions, entry, middle, senior and executive-level positions)
  
• Immigration (temporary, business, long-term, permanent visas, green cards and citizenship)

They say they offer information in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, with more information being added daily.

Because the site is new, they're hoping to spread the word virally, and are inviting people to check it out, bookmark it and then tell their friends...social bookmarking at it's best! If you want to check out the site, click here:

After you check it out - come back here and let us know what you think of it!

If your head is in the clouds and your eyes on the stars, check out Utah...

The Willard L. Eccles Foundation just donated $600,000 to the University of Utah, so that they can build a 32-inch, research-class, optical telescope in southern Utah. What's the big attraction? The University of Utah wants to establish a full-fledged astronomy program (and maybe create a high-altitude observatory to attract other new telescopes to the state.

The physicists' online proposal for the new telescope says: "Additional telescopes will be attracted to the facility due to its large area, dark sky, excellent weather, high altitude and relatively centralized location within the United States."

University of Utah physicists already have formed a collaboration with other institutions to develop the observatory. They include Utah State University, Weber State University, Dixie State College, Southern Utah University, Brigham Young University, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City, the University of Chicago, Chicago's Adler Planetarium, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

According to the proposal, the new telescope "will greatly enhance the ability of our department to train graduate students in astronomy,"

The Department of Physics has researchers in gamma ray astronomy and cosmic ray physics, and theoreticians who study black holes, dark matter and planet formation, but it lacks observational astronomers, Gondolo says.

You can read the entire article by clicking this link.

I for one think this sounds like a stellar idea...

technorati tags:new, graduate, programs, astronomy

Looking for a generous graduate fellowship? Check out IU

Here's an interesting tidbit...According to a press released recently issued by Indiana University, there are a record number of IU international centers that have been awarded $16 million in Title VI funding!

What does that mean to you? Well, in addition to the money being used for effectively using technology to teach courses from Bloomington to students in places as divergent as Thailand, South Africa, Spain and Scandinavia, they have also created and placed online teaching materials and dictionaries for less-frequently taught languages of Inner Asia and Africa. "We've got the infrastructure to do this because of what we've established here," O'Meara said.

Seven centers at IU Bloomington were designated as National Resource Centers (NRCs) and will receive funding for programs, faculty research, curriculum development, national conferences and outreach.

But it also means that some of that funding will be used to award more generous graduate fellowships to study any of the more than 50 foreign languages offered at IU.

Want to find out more? Check out the article here:

technorati tags:doctoral, degree, programs, fellowship, funding

Is Singapore Really America's Next "College Town?"

I found this really interesting article about MIT and the National Research Foundation of Singapore - they're opening a brand new major research center that is the first of its kind. The article, written by By Michael Kanellos - Staff Writer, CNET News.com, says that the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Centerwill be MIT's first such research center of its kind outside ofCambridge, Mass.

Mr. Kanellos goes on to say "The center will let MIT faculty and graduate students conduct researchwith their counterparts in Singaporean universities and companies.Scientists at the center will primarily concentrate on biomedicalscience, water and environmental technology, and digital media.Cooperation between MIT and Singapore first began in 1998.

MIT won't be the lone export in the island nation. Duke University ishelping Singapore set up a medical school, while several companies andacademics are participating in Biopolis, a multimillion-dollar program to establish the nation as a biotech hub." To find out more, click here:

There are actually many really good graduate and doctoral programs available overseas, including in Europe and Asia. If you're looking for a program, you might want to consider looking in "American" Campuses overseas!

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Welcome to Doctoral Degrees Information - Where you can find the latest information, resources and news about getting your doctoral degree.

If you need information about getting a doctoral degree - whether through an online program, continuing your education abroad, or going to your local university, you'll find all the latest news here.

Sincerely,

Cheryl