Last Tuesday, Feb. 10, the Graduate Student Government held its third meeting of the semester. Topics of this meeting included updates to the upcoming Graduate Research Colloquium and the continued discussion on a bylaw amendment. The vote was postponed at their last meeting due to lengthy discussions between members.
The discussion covered how much GSG will be allowed to hand out to graduate students when it comes to travel grant reimbursements; decreasing the reimbursement for domestic presenting from $500 to $250, and the reimbursement for international presenting from $750 to $500. The concern for this change comes from declining international student enrollment rates. As of Feb. 10, GSG has used up 90 percent of the reimbursement fund and is unable to reimburse students until it is renewed on May 1. Per the GSG Bylaws, “GSG shall adopt no Bylaws amendment without a two-thirds (2/3) vote in the affirmative,” although the exact number of votes was not revealed during the meeting, the motion was passed. This change will take effect starting in the 2026-27 academic year.
Besides the amendment, Israel Adeoye, GSG Research Chair, talked about the upcoming Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC). The GRC is a chance for graduate students to show off their current research to the university community and work on their presentation skills for other professional events. The GRC will take place over Mar. 18 and 19. This year, students interested must submit all materials by Mar. 10. Students interested in the GRC can apply at gsg.mtu.edu/grc/. New this year, the GRC is collaborating with the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC). Students whose research aligns with its scope and have a research advisor that is a member of the GLRC may also participate in a simultaneous competition.
The next GSG meeting will be held on Feb. 24 in ChemSci 101. To stay up to date with GSG, follow their Instagram @gsg.mtu.
