• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• 2 Comments

When I am thinking about what I want to change in higher education, I come up with the long list of what I suffered from that I want to change to make higher education more pleasant and useful. But this blog asks for one change. I want to think out of the box, so, I […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• 3 Comments

“Networking” is the word that I am freaking out even by hearing that. As an international student, I feel that the networking here at U.S. is more important than my country because I already have my family and friend as my network there. Despite all fears and shyness, I believe it is very important skill […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• No Comments

“For me, the frustration comes from the fact that I know I should get up at 7 a.m. and start working, but I hit snooze 10 times because I technically don’t have to be in an office. Then when I do get up, I feel super guilty and behind and then I’m unproductive and the […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• No Comments

When all of us started graduate school, the university warned us about mental health issues. We may think these mental-health issues are just for others who already suffer or at-risk, but everyone of us at-risk of having psychiatric disorders. Statistics show that the number of graduate students with mental disorders has been increasing and many […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• No Comments

Internationals faculties and teaching assistants whose English is not their first language face challenges when they want to teach U.S. students. This is because they are not acquainted with the U.S. educational system nor with U.S. culture. Based on my personal experience, as an international teaching assistant, I was shocked when my undergraduate students did […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Dec, 03, 2017
• 3 Comments

Nowadays, the academic job has become very competitive for Ph.D. graduates, and many Ph.D. graduates remain unemployed or underemployed. “The highest rates of academic employment are reported by doctorate recipients in humanities and other non-S&E fields (near 80%); the lowest rates are reported by engineering (15%) and physical sciences (29%) doctorates”( National Science Foundation.2014) Few […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Nov, 10, 2017
• No Comments

All faculties experience having students who are constantly updating their statuses on Facebook or refreshing their Twitter.  Most of the faculties find the social media as a barrier to the learning of students at class. However, nowadays, some other faculties are using social media to enhance learning in class and improve their productivity.  A report […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Nov, 03, 2017
• No Comments

As I came to the United States about three years ago, I rarely heard about open-access journals in my major: Construction Engineering and Management. I first exposed to that when my papers are accepted for ASCE journals (American Society of Civil Engineering), within the acceptance email, there was a note that I can pay the […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Oct, 25, 2017
• No Comments

Before I got into cases, I decided to look at the ORI website, and the quarterly newsletter grabbed my attention. The March 2017 newsletter demonstrates the statistics that is very interesting to look at. ORI received 329 research misconduct cases between 2006 and 2015. 125 of these cases were closed with research misconduct findings, and […]

• sogandmhz
• GRAD 5104
• Sep, 13, 2017
• No Comments

I received my master’s degree from University of Nebraska (UNL) and then, started my PhD at Virginia Tech (VT). For this reason, it was interesting for me to look at the mission statements of these two universities and discuss differences between a university ranked below 100 and a top ten university in graduate engineering program. […]