Newsletter for 12/15/2024

New Announcements

Announcements

Key Winter 2025 Deadlines

*Please note the following upcoming university deadlines, and ALWAYS check the official UCSC Academic and Administrative Calendar for important dates and deadlines. Bookmark this year's Academic and Administrative Calendar and refer to it regularly. 

WINTER 2025 DEADLINES:

Monday, January 6th - Deadline to Withdraw from the University: Deadline to file to withdraw during quarter and receive full registration fees refund for winter 2025.

Monday, January 6th - Deadline to Apply for Late Leave of Absence: Deadline to petition for LOA; receive full registration refund for winter 2025.

**Thursday January 16th - Deadline to Apply For Degree: If you plan to complete your MS or PhD this quarter (winter 2025), the degree application needs to be submitted to the BE Graduate Advising office. This is also the deadline to pay for the filing fee, if applicable. More guidelines for graduating are available on the Graduate Advising website.

Thursday January 16th - Deadline for Graduate Student Enrollment & Fee Payment: If you have not paid your registration fees or enrolled in the minimum number of courses by this date, you will be charged a $50 late fee for winter 2025.

Thursday January 16th - Deadline for Graduate Student Part-Time Status: This is the deadline to apply for reduced course load and fees for winter 2025. Part-time status forms must be approved/signed by your faculty advisor and submitted to the BE Graduate Advising office by the posted deadline. Part-time application forms are available on the Graduate Division's website.

Friday January 24th -  Deadline to Add/Drop/Swap Courses: This is your last day to add, drop and swap courses for winter 2025. You will not be able to drop or withdraw from courses after this deadline has passed. If you are enrolled in a placeholder class, you MUST drop it by this deadline. More information on how to add, drop, and swap classes is available on the registrar website.

Saturday January 25th -  Late Add by Permission/Petition Begins: The Add by Petition form requires the signatures of both the instructor and the department adviser and needs to be submitted to the Office of the Registrar for winter 2025.

Thursday March 7th - Deadline for Grade Change Option: This is your last day to change your grading option for any courses you are enrolled in for winter 2025. IMPORTANT: The system defaults to Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading.  Instructions for how to change your grading option to letter grades (ABC) can be found here.

Friday March 8th - Deadline for Late Add Permission: Deadline to add a class by permission or petition for winter 2025.

Friday March 21st - Deadline for Removal of Incomplete: Deadline to file petition and submit class work for winter 2025. Graduate Incomplete grade within the last three quarters. 

**Friday March 21st - Deadline for Completing Degree Requirements/Submission: Deadline to complete all degree requirements for winter 2025. *Students participating in commencement need to complete all requirements by May 31 to be listed in the program. 

Phi Beta Kappa members - apply for $10,000 Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Scholarships

Graduate students who are Phi Beta Kappa members are encouraged to apply for $10,000 Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Scholarships awarded by the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association.

Applications are due by January 24, 2025, and can be directed to Andrea Cohen (pbk@ucsc.edu).

If you are interested in serving on our campus’s PBK Graduate Scholarship selection committee, please contact Andrea (pbk@ucsc.edu).

Graduate Student Leadership Certificate Program - Registration Now Open!

The Division of Graduate Studies offers graduate students a Leadership Certificate Program, consisting of a sequence of classes on leadership theory and practical skills. The program takes place every Friday of the winter quarter, 1:00–4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, starting January 10 and concluding March 14.

To join the program, your faculty adviser or principal investigator must recommend you with an email to Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Peter Biehl at vpdgs@ucsc.edu and state in the email that you are in good academic standing and able to commit to attending every meeting.

The Division of Graduate Studies will provide certification of completion of the program. The UCSC Academic Senate Graduate Council has reviewed and approved the program, and completion of the program is recorded as an official credential on your student record and transcript.

The program meets in person in Kerr Hall, chancellor's wing, conference room 212. Zoom virtual attendance is only available to those in the following circumstances: attending classes remotely, conducting research remotely, or needing to attend virtually for accessibility or to accommodate their schedules.

The maximum number of graduate students in the program cohort is 25.

Deadline to register: January 3, 2025

Research Intern Training Time Provenance (Data Dignity) | Microsoft Careers

Research Internships at Microsoft provide a dynamic environment for research careers with a network of world-class research labs led by globally-recognized scientists and engineers, who pursue innovation in a range of scientific and technical disciplines to help solve complex challenges in diverse fields, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

Training-time provenance is a research effort on estimating the influence of specific training data on outputs of large language models (LLMs).

We are attempting to demonstrate that LLMs can be trained in such a way that influence of specific training data on generated outputs can be efficiently and usefully estimated. You can read more about “Data dignity” in the article: There is no A.I. (The New Yorker).

Apply Today!

Qualifications

For this Research Internship (summer 2025), we are seeking PhD students with a passion for fundamental Deep Learning research, particularly those with experience in training LLMs and other large AI models. The Research Intern's responsibilities will include (1) training small language models with novel schemes preserving provenance of data, (2) experimenting with these models to test their performance and reliability. 

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science or a related STEM field. Exceptional candidates enrolled in a master’s program might also be considered.
• At have at least 2 years of research experience, including peer-reviewed publications, researching a topic closely related to the above description, such as natural language processing, deep learning, generative models, approximation methods, etc.

Other Requirements

• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager’s Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship.
• In addition to the qualifications below, you’ll need to submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples. After you submit your application, a request for letters may be sent to your list of references on your behalf. Note that reference letters cannot be requested until after you have submitted your application, and furthermore, that they might not be automatically requested for all candidates. You may wish to alert your letter writers in advance, so they will be ready to submit your letter. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to develop original research agendas.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with other researchers and product development teams.
• Experience in training large AI models.
• Experience in approximation methods for deep learning systems.
• Proficient interpersonal skills, cross-group, and cross-culture collaboration.
• Ability to think unconventionally to derive creative and innovative solutions.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-intern-pay 

Microsoft accepts applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

Inviting Nominations for the Steve Kang Award in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are delighted to announce that the application to submit nominees for the Kang Award in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is now open! This is the third year this award is being given. Past recipients include:

• 2023 Kate Ringland, Computational Media

• 2024 Colleen Josephson, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Through a generous gift from Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dean Emeritus Steve Kang, Baskin Engineering will recognize one faculty member each year for their work to promote equity and celebrate diversity within our school, our campus, and the broader community.  In particular, we are hoping that the Kang Award will provide an opportunity to surface and recognize the invisible labor inherent in mentorship and community-building – work that is crucial to creating an inclusive environment in which people from diverse backgrounds all feel welcome and are given the opportunity to reach their potential and thrive.

To nominate someone you would like to be recognized, please complete the form provided here, to share with us what you appreciate most regarding the contributions of your nominee.

Please submit your nominations by December 15, 2024. 

We plan to announce the inaugural Kang Award recipient in our Winter newsletter. 

CFP: Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice Research Fellowship

We are pleased to announce the CFP: Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice Research Fellowship! 

Amount: $5,000
Deadline: Wednesday, January 15th at 5 pm

Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice Research Fellowship: In 2025, a limited number of graduate fellowships will be available to support grads’ ongoing research on topics related to Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice, broadly construed, at UCSC (e.g. health equity, disability rights and health disparities, oral histories of health and illness, care beyond the clinic, medical experiments performed among incarcerated people, BIPOC community medicine, and other alternative health systems).  

Because one of the central aims of the collaboration is the dynamic social mapping of our local and state community here in California, priority will be given to campus-based, local, or state-based projects. Those selected will receive a one-time $5,000 fellowship to contribute to student research project costs and will join the ongoing work of the Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice cluster.

Eligibility: UC Santa Cruz graduate students from any department in good academic standing may apply. You must be an enrolled student at time of application. Students are ineligible to apply while on leave or in absentia. You must be available to participate in the fall 2025 “report out” workshop (there will be virtual options).

Awards: Up to eight awards will be made of $5,000 each in 2024-2025. As part of becoming an AMDJ fellow, students will be mentored by MRPI faculty from UCSC and across the participating UC campuses, receive invitations to group events, and participate in a UCSC half-day “report out” workshop in fall 2025.

To Apply: Applications should include the following:

1. Description of what funds will be used for (750-1000 words)

2. How will the funding help you to advance your research project? (750-1000 words)

3. Please mention any other funding you have, its amount and duration.

4. Two-page curriculum vitae

5. Contact information for your department Graduate Director who will be required to confirm through InfoReady that you are within normative time and in good academic standing during the 2024-2025 Academic Year (they will be prompted to do this after you submit your application).

Applications are due by Wednesday, January 15th at 5 pm.

Learn more here. 
 

UCSA & UCGPC Optional Fees

Did you know that you can opt out of the UCSA or UCGPC Association charges by submitting an online form before the third-week deadline of the affected quarter? If you opted out and wish to opt-in, you will need to complete the same form. Follow the navigation below to access the form in your MyUCSC portal.

Instructions:
MyUCSC >> Graduate Student eForms tile >> UCGPC Registration Fee Opt-out link in the left navigation

Reminder: After the third week of instruction (the Add/Drop/Swap Deadline on the Academic and Administrative Calendar) you are no longer able to opt out of the fees for the current quarter, but you may opt out for future quarters. A refund of current fees may be directed to the UCSA or UCGPC.

The Army HBCU-MI SPARK Summer Internship Application is Open!

The Army HBCU-MI SPARK Summer Internship application window for 2025 is October 14, 2024 - January 12, 2025 11:59PM PST.

The Army Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Serving Institutions (HBCU-MI) Student Program for Army Research and Knowledge (SPARK) program allows U.S. graduate and undergraduate students in STEM fields to conduct research at an Army facility. Under the guidance of government scientists and engineers, students will engage in Army mission-related research projects, including data analysis and systems modeling, during the summer of 2025.

Applications are now open for the 2025 program: For more information, visit us online at https://armyspark.com/.

Benefits Include:
Interns receive a stipend of $1,000.00  per week, paid bi-weekly
Housing paid for by the program
Travel to and from the internship paid  for by the program
Gain valuable confidence and work experience
Learn in state-of-the-art research facilities
Explore your career path  
Work side by side with Army scientists and engineers

Apply Now!

DOE NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship: Applications Open!

The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE NNSA SSGF)---a program that has supported the studies of more than 100 awardees awardees since 2006---is currently accepting applications through January 14, 2025. 

The DOE NNSA SSGF seeks and supports students pursuing a Ph.D. in areas of interest to stewardship science, such as materials under extreme conditions, nuclear science, or high energy density physics. Renewable for up to four years, the fellowship is open to U.S. citizens who plan full-time, uninterrupted study toward a doctoral degree at an accredited U.S. university.

Academic Eligibility:

• Senior undergraduates
• First-year doctoral students
• Second-year doctoral students
• Those matriculating into a Ph.D. program (e.g. employed or otherwise)

Benefits:

• A $45,000 yearly stipend
• Payment of full tuition and required fees
• Yearly program review participation
• An annual professional development allowance
• A 12-week DOE laboratory research practicum experience

Please consider joining fellowship staff as we host an informational webinar at 1:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, November 14. This Zoom session (register here) will provide an overview of the DOE NNSA SSGF and DOE NNSA Laboratory Residence Graduate Fellowship (LRGF) programs and guidance for applying. It will serve as a forum to ask related questions in a live Q&A format. A recording will also be made available via the fellowship website.

Meanwhile, you'll find application details and a downloadable poster here, and we encourage you to read more about the pursuits of fellows and alumni via our annual Stewardship Science publication here. A comprehensive FAQ and specifics regarding submission components and required supporting materials can be accessed via the application portal.

As always, we thank you for your support of the DOE NNSA SSGF, and we welcome the opportunity to answer questions ahead of the January 14 application deadline.

More questions? Contact DOE NNSA SSGF/LRGF Program Staff here: ssgf@krellinst.org