GSA FEBRUARY 21st - ANNOUNCEMENTS

GSA SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ITS TIME TO TAKE A STANCE FOR A CURE, A CURE FOR CANCER THAT IS!

2012

Join GSA and the Resident Fellows for 2012 Relay for Life at Virginia Tech on April 20, 2012, 5:00 PM on the Drillfield. The American Cancer Society Relay for Life is a year-long fundraiser building up to a life-changing event that gives everyone a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. To sign up as part of the Graduate Student Relay Team, visit: http://tinyurl.com/gsarelay12. The $10.00 donation allows you to become a team member and receive a Relay t-shirt. We also encourage you to form your own team with fellow Graduate students! To create a team, follow these easy steps: -Go to vtrelay.org -Click "Sign up" -Create Team name -Team Company/Organization, choose: Graduate -Make an attainable team fundraiser goal -Recruit teammates and start fundraising! Look out for Nerd Wars, an adaption of penny wars, March 1st! For more information, contact Megan Stuart, stuartma@vt.edu or Swetha Kumar, swethak@vt.edu. ***CROSS LISTED ANNOUNCEMENTS*** I. BOV GRAD LUNCHEON WITH PRESIDENT STEGER, PROVOST MCNAMEE Friday, March 16, 12-1:30pm, attend the first graduate luncheons of the spring semester with President Steger and Provost McNamee at the Inn at Virginia Tech. Spaces are limited, so if you are interested in attending, please fill out the following survey: https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1329491982475 Graduate students selected for attendance will be contacted by March 14.
Questions/Feedback contact: Michelle McLeese, BOV grad Rep. at mmcleese@vt.edu or bovgradrep@vt.edu

II. QUESTIONS FOR GSA ELECTION NOMINEES (FINAL POSTING) Elections to GSA Executive Board are scheduled for Feb 23 at 5:30-7PM in GLC MPR. The candidates who have been nominated will be displayed on http://www.gsa.uusa.vt.edu/about/nominees. In addition, on-the-floor nominations are accepted as well. Monika Gibson, from Graduate School Student Services, has agreed to moderate a Q&A session for the nominees to each position, just before the elections. To this end, we are accepting questions from the graduate student body on this survey form https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1328419978469. Questions from this pool will be chosen for the candidates. Questions/Feedback contact: Shree Narayanan, GSA President (snsnair@vt.edu).

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS I. GSA FOLLOW UP SURVEY NEEDS YOUR HELP! As part of the implementation of the Summon Discovery Service by Virginia Techs University Libraries, we are assessing its use and effectiveness among faculty and students. Through this survey, we are requesting your feedback on your use of, and experiences with Summon, and your perception of its

Questions/Suggestions contact: Shaimaa Abdallah GSA VP Membership (shaimaa@vt.edu )

GSA FEBRUARY 21st - ANNOUNCEMENTS

2012

effectiveness in finding research information. The information collected will provide insight into how the Libraries might enhance the service to meet research needs of users. The survey has IRB approval. The survey should take approximately 12-15 minutes, and you may exit the survey at any time. Use the link http://www.lib.vt.edu/RIS/consent.html to review the informed consent and begin the survey. Thank you for considering this request for your participation. II. GSA FOLLOW UP SURVEY NEEDS YOUR HELP! - (FINAL POSTING) Five years ago the GSA sponsored a survey of graduate students to determine the need, and willingness to pay, for statistical assistance in research. We are now sponsoring a short follow-up survey (5-15 minutes), and ask that all graduate students complete this survey regardless of whether you have used statistical assistance: https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1326655920270. Your responses are greatly appreciated and needed. Thank you! Questions/Feedback contact: Michelle McLeese, GSA cabinet member at mmcleese@vt.edu. HELP IS ON THE WAY! SPECIAL NOTE from LISA: Renovations of the fourth floor of Hutcheson Hall, home of LISA (Virginia Techs Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis); will begin on February 20th.Due to these renovations, two changes in LISA's services will occur: - LISAs regular Monday-Friday 1:00-3:00 pm Walk-In Consulting in Hutcheson Hall will instead be hosted in the Video Conference Room at the GLC. Additional Walk-In Consulting will be available from 1:00-3:00 pm in ICTAS Caf X on Tuesdays and in 312 Sandy Hall on Thursdays. - LISA will be encouraging our statistical collaborators to conduct statistical collaboration meetings in the clients' offices/labs. We do have a meeting room at 312 Sandy Hall if hosting the LISA statistical collaborator for a meeting in your office/lab space is not possible or desirable. I. SHORT STAT COURSES THIS SPRING LISA (Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis) provides a series of evening short courses to help graduate students use statistics in their research and provide practical statistical techniques for analyzing or collecting data. See www.lisa.stat.vt.edu/?q=short_courses for instructions on how to register and to learn more. All short courses are 5-7pm. Seats are still available for the Feb 23 and Feb 28 sessions. You can join the waiting list for the other courses. Each of these courses will be screen/audio recorded. After processing this videos will be posted on Vimeo (www.vimeo.com/lisavt ) for individuals that are unable to attend. We will also be teaching the very popular R courses in the summer and fall semester. Spring 2012 Schedule: - Feb 21 and 23: Plotting Data in R through Excel;* - Feb 28: Regression Analysis with Categorical Factors using JMP and R; - Mar 13: Bayesian Methods for Regression in R;* *These courses will be held in 3060 Torgersen; all other courses will be held in GLC Room F. Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Statistical.collaboration) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/LISA_VT) to be the first to know about LISA events! For more information, please visit our website www.lisa.stat.vt.edu.

Questions/Suggestions contact: Shaimaa Abdallah GSA VP Membership (shaimaa@vt.edu )

GSA FEBRUARY 21st - ANNOUNCEMENTS

REPEATED

2012

I. GSA WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMNTS ARE ALL POSTED ONLINE ON OUR FACBOOK PAGE http://www.facebook.com/VTGraduateStudentAssembly#!/VTGraduateStudentAssembly?sk=app_128 953167177144 II. GRADUATE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE BOARD OF VISITORS-HAVE YOU MET YOUR REP YET? Meet Michelle McLeese, your 2011-2012 graduate representatives to the board of visitors (BOV). There are many reasons to know about the BOV and to have your voice heard and be represented! Michelle is your direct liaison to the BOV and she also works with the graduate student assembly (GSA) every month to present information from the BOV directly to you and your departments. Consider visiting Michelle in the Graduate Life Center (23A) or emailing her for more information at mmcleese@vt.edu. III. FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: facebook.com/VTGraduateStudentAssembly

Questions/Suggestions contact: Shaimaa Abdallah GSA VP Membership (shaimaa@vt.edu )