Service & Administration at the
university- and college-level
Service & Administration at the
university- and college-level
I worked directly with the Associate Vice President for Research Regulatory Support, Dr. Laura McCabe.
In its first iteration, I serve as one of four representatives on this committee.
MSU's Office of Research Regulation and Support is responsible for ensuring university research is safe, legal, and fair.
My primary responsibility was to ensure this was applicable to graduate students at the university, as well as visible and accessible to graduate students.
So far, our primary task was to provide input on their website as they are redoing their main page and the pages of their seven ORRS units.
I provided input regarding a system for compartmentalization of compliance, oversight, and facility management into budget requests to replace the old indirect cost system following the executive order limiting indirect costs.
Following the executive order drastically limiting indirect costs, the academy as a whole had to shift systems to stay afloat. We talked about the different avenues being pursued and the advantages and drawbacks accompanying them.
I also gathered feedback from fellow graduate students regarding indirect cost structures, IRB processes, modifications, and resources.
Associated with the revising of the website, I collected some informal qualitative data to predict the kinds of questions that could arise, and relay them back to Dr. McCabe, so that they may be preemptively answered and visible on the website.
Attended monthly meetings regarding the business of the Council of Graduate Students (COGS), which include funding opportunities, events, and general advocacy for graduate students at MSU.
COGS is a collection of graduate student representatives from every department and unit across MSU. Following Robert's Rules of Order explicitly, I was a frequent representative to move and second agenda items.
Served on the COGS DEI Student Award Committee.
The COGS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award was established in 2021 to highlight impactful and meaningful work while at MSU for their program, unit, or department. I served on this committee with four other graduate students and a faculty supervisor, reading and reviewing application material of over ten applicants/nominees. Each candidate submitted documents detailing their DEI work, their future plans pertaining to DEI work, and then their recommender submitted a letter on their behalf. No guidance or metric was provided, so I created one myself to stay consistent with reviewing and ranking.
Served on the University Curriculum Committee for a semester.
This committee deals with criteria for the establishment and deletion of courses, curricula and degree requirements proposed by academic units, as well as the reviewing of changes in graduate and professional courses. This committee works with the office of University Curriculum and Catalog to ensure the university's course catalog stays updated.
Served on the COGS Finance Committee.
Chaired by the COGS Treasurer, the COGS Finance Committee meets once a month to evaluate and prepare proposals of financial actions including funding requests. Most of the funding requests were from graduate students requesting funds for professional development opportunities and conference travel or graduate student groups for event funding. We would evaluate proposals on a first-come-first-served basis based on the provided bylaws and policies of the committee, and then submit them to Full Council for final approval. While I served on the committee, Full Council approved all proposals from the Finance Committee.
Revised bylaws and parameters of qualifications for COGS funding proposals.
Some of the funding opportunities were created that passed summer, and thus the policies regarding them were not trial tested. Accordingly, there were some flaws and loopholes that needed to be corrected for increased transparency.
Advised and assisted in graduate studies proposals for courses and programs.
One of the two graduate students on the committee, we approved and denied curriculum and degree amendment proposals based on their merit to the respective program, department, and the College of Engineering as a whole. The committee consisted of one faculty member from the seven departments in the college, one faculty member from the previous year's committee who represented the college at the university-level, and the two graduate students.
Assisted on the selection of the Fitch H. Beach Award.
This award recognizes the most outstanding graduate student researchers within the College of Engineering. I ranked the applicant from each department (excluding my own) based on their recommendation, CV, and then final oral presentation. The ranking based on CV was quantified based on presentations, citations, publications, and patents.
Gathered data on graduate student perspective of AI in education.
Following the boom of ChatGPT and similar large language models, education needed to pivot and address boundaries regarding AI. The college's representative to the University Committee on Graduate Studies asked about the perspective of AI in the classroom. To ensure that I wasn't just speaking for myself, I designed a survey to gauge some of the main discussion points and presented the data to that faculty member.