“We are scraping at the bottom of the barrel,” according to Lauren Sprague, the President of the Graduate Student Government at Michigan Tech. The Graduate Student Government, or GSG, met on Tuesday, Jan. 27 to discuss budgetary concerts relating to travel grants. Further discussions included details about the upcoming Graduate Research Colloquium and the Mindfulness Yoga event.
All graduate students at Michigan Tech have the opportunity to apply for a travel grant when traveling to a conference. While around 70 percent of the graduate students at Michigan Tech are masters students, the other 30 percent are PhD students. The problem that arises is that most of the people who go to conferences are PhD students. On this note Sprague said that “In an ideal world we would be spending seventy percent of our budgets that masters students can attend, and thirty percent on things that PhD students can attend.”
As the enrollment of international graduate students decreases, the amount of money available to the GSG decreases. Since the GSG receives funds from the Graduate Student Activity Fee, when enrollment lags, so does the funding. The proposal to amend the GSG bylaw relating to travel grants included decreasing the reimbursement for domestic presenting from $500 to $250, and decreasing the reimbursement for international presenting from $750 to $500. While there was supposed to be a vote on the matter during the meeting, it was postponed until the next GSG meeting on Feb. 10, due to lengthy discussions between members of GSG. In order for the amendment to pass there needs to be a two thirds majority in favor. Any changes to the GSG bylaws will go into effect during the 2026-2027 school year.
For the event discussed during the meeting, there is the upcoming Graduate Research Colloquium. The event is scheduled to take place Mar. 18-19, and there will be cash prizes for first, second, and third places of $300, $200, and $100 respectively. The deadline to apply is by Mar 10, so there is still plenty of time to apply. You can apply online at gsg.mtu.edu. The GSG Research Chair Israel Adeoye wanted anyone interested in applying to know that “the Graduate Research Colloquium is a great opportunity for [students] to present their research, gain valuable feedback from judges and faculty members across the campus, and enhance and improve the research progress of graduate students at MTU.”
Additionally, members also discussed their upcoming participation during Winter Carnival with their DIY hot chocolate stand. The location has yet to be determined, and tentatively the plan is to run the stand from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
For more information about GSG feel free to contact Lauren Sprague at gsg-president@mtu.edu, and for more information the Graduate Research Colloquium contact Israel Adeoye at gsg-research@mtu.edu.
