2012 Applicants

[empty]

Just because we've got some down time...

I'm a sophomore in biomedical engineering w/a spanish minor, my depth area is going to be biomechanics. Anyway I was wondering if anyone knew of an undergraduate BME major being accepted in the past? According to this report (http://www.me.vt.edu/academic_programs/ ... 0AWARD.pdf) there have only been 7 undergrad bioscience awards ever.

Just wondering if anyone had anymore info or if there were others in the same boat as me. I had the aeromedical lab in Fort Rucker and the 711th human performance wing at Wright-Patterson as my top choices.

Hey BMEhopeful,
I'm a current scholar. Biosciences and Neural/Cognitive can fall under the same grouping. Per the slide, both categories have many more PhD level scholars (I fall into that group). In biomechanics labs (of which I am a part at the DoD) there are many more PhD's working than BS or MS level technicians. The PhD's tend to do more of the study conducting and data processing than they do in academia, which eliminates some (but not all) of the need for technicians.

The 711th seemed great when I talked to them when I was looking at places pre-award. I don't know if you got an interview, but if somehow you aren't offered SMART this year, it hardly ever hurts to be proactive next year and contact the biomechanics group at 711th to see if they have an interest. A little sleuthing can return e-mail addresses for many branch directors, just use them judiciously.

[ssven218]

Hello Everyone, I was just e-mailed by the Smart Program today, they said they have not heard from the Dept. of Defense yet and the awards will not be sent out for a few weeks or until they hear, which ever is first!
See below:
Dear Vincent Scotti ,



ASEE has been notified by the Department of Defense that the 2012 SMART Scholarship award announcements have been delayed. Award notifications are now expected to be sent out at some point in the next few weeks. Once the Department of Defense provides another update this information will be provided to you. All applicants will be notified of their final award status. Thank you for your interest in the SMART Scholarship Program.



The ASEE SMART Scholarship Team

I am sorry to be the one to inform you, but like you I am waiting to know. The scholarship process is hard, but the waiting is the hardest!
Good luck to all of you, I wish you the best, keep your fingers crossed!
Vince

[detroitsaab93]

Hello Everyone, I was just e-mailed by the Smart Program today, they said they have not heard from the Dept. of Defense yet and the awards will not be sent out for a few weeks or until they hear, which ever is first!
See below:
Dear Vincent Scotti ,



ASEE has been notified by the Department of Defense that the 2012 SMART Scholarship award announcements have been delayed. Award notifications are now expected to be sent out at some point in the next few weeks. Once the Department of Defense provides another update this information will be provided to you. All applicants will be notified of their final award status. Thank you for your interest in the SMART Scholarship Program.



The ASEE SMART Scholarship Team

I am sorry to be the one to inform you, but like you I am waiting to know. The scholarship process is hard, but the waiting is the hardest!
Good luck to all of you, I wish you the best, keep your fingers crossed!
Vince

This is old news with how frequently people check their emails now lol

[Guest]

Just because we've got some down time...

I'm a sophomore in biomedical engineering w/a spanish minor, my depth area is going to be biomechanics. Anyway I was wondering if anyone knew of an undergraduate BME major being accepted in the past? According to this report (http://www.me.vt.edu/academic_programs/ ... 0AWARD.pdf) there have only been 7 undergrad bioscience awards ever.

Just wondering if anyone had anymore info or if there were others in the same boat as me. I had the aeromedical lab in Fort Rucker and the 711th human performance wing at Wright-Patterson as my top choices.

Hey BMEhopeful,
I'm a current scholar. Biosciences and Neural/Cognitive can fall under the same grouping. Per the slide, both categories have many more PhD level scholars (I fall into that group). In biomechanics labs (of which I am a part at the DoD) there are many more PhD's working than BS or MS level technicians. The PhD's tend to do more of the study conducting and data processing than they do in academia, which eliminates some (but not all) of the need for technicians.

The 711th seemed great when I talked to them when I was looking at places pre-award. I don't know if you got an interview, but if somehow you aren't offered SMART this year, it hardly ever hurts to be proactive next year and contact the biomechanics group at 711th to see if they have an interest. A little sleuthing can return e-mail addresses for many branch directors, just use them judiciously.

Thank you. I did not get an interview this year and am definitely not expecting an award offer, I was mainly wondering if it would be worth my time to apply again next year. It's a little disappointing to hear that it's mainly PhD's, but it can't hurt anything to contact them and keep trying! Thanks again for that info!

[empty]

Just because we've got some down time...

I'm a sophomore in biomedical engineering w/a spanish minor, my depth area is going to be biomechanics. Anyway I was wondering if anyone knew of an undergraduate BME major being accepted in the past? According to this report (http://www.me.vt.edu/academic_programs/ ... 0AWARD.pdf) there have only been 7 undergrad bioscience awards ever.

Just wondering if anyone had anymore info or if there were others in the same boat as me. I had the aeromedical lab in Fort Rucker and the 711th human performance wing at Wright-Patterson as my top choices.

Hey BMEhopeful,
I'm a current scholar. Biosciences and Neural/Cognitive can fall under the same grouping. Per the slide, both categories have many more PhD level scholars (I fall into that group). In biomechanics labs (of which I am a part at the DoD) there are many more PhD's working than BS or MS level technicians. The PhD's tend to do more of the study conducting and data processing than they do in academia, which eliminates some (but not all) of the need for technicians.

The 711th seemed great when I talked to them when I was looking at places pre-award. I don't know if you got an interview, but if somehow you aren't offered SMART this year, it hardly ever hurts to be proactive next year and contact the biomechanics group at 711th to see if they have an interest. A little sleuthing can return e-mail addresses for many branch directors, just use them judiciously.

Thank you. I did not get an interview this year and am definitely not expecting an award offer, I was mainly wondering if it would be worth my time to apply again next year. It's a little disappointing to hear that it's mainly PhD's, but it can't hurt anything to contact them and keep trying! Thanks again for that info!

Never hurts. I got the award the second go-round, not the first.

[exdtdis]

B.S. Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. Research in the area of human perfomance and endurance in extreme situations and stress. Since I am a bioscience I am not holding my breath...that would lead to hypercapnia. The build up of CO2 would trigger my chemoreceptors and force me to breath. Therefore, it would be useless to do so. Hey, I've had to read all the computer science lines of code or whatever, now it is your turn to hear some bioscience lol.

[Farquad]

Might as well introduce myself.

I'll be a second year PhD student studying biochem, mostly on the chemistry of quorum sensing signals. I have two years at the Naval Research Lab working on cold plasma, so hopefully that's where I'll be placed.

I think NDSEG applicants may find out sooner than SMART applicants . . . ?

[grrrl]

Any OR (Operations Research) people out there??

[Guest 2012a]

I am a sophomore Biochemistry major with Mathematics minor. Any other chemistry/biology people?

I am a 4th year PhD student in organic chemistry. I am studying the effects of microwave irradiation on chemical reactivity.

[SN2012]

Who here in this forum is a M.S or Ph.D Student? And who is soon to be?

MS - Epidemiology / Biostats - requested 2 years of funding

[culion]

MS in applied math. only requested at most a year if I recall. Mainly applied for tuition purposes.

[In_Stitches]

I'm going to go on record here and say that this f-ing sucks. I can't focus on anything because I keep thinking about this and checking my email, etc. I understand that these are decisions representing likely several million bucks, but a very irresponsible part of me just wants them to borrow a little more from China and send out the notifications now.

[2012_UMD]

I'm going to go on record here and say that this f-ing sucks. I can't focus on anything because I keep thinking about this and checking my email, etc. I understand that these are decisions representing likely several million bucks, but a very irresponsible part of me just wants them to borrow a little more from China and send out the notifications now.

Here here

[RAAARRGH]

I'm a civilian employee of the US Army (Chemical Eng.), applying to SMART as a retention candidate for 5 years of PhD support.

[sorry]

I feel like people aren't really considering the substance of the letter we got. It says "ASEE has been notified by the Department of Defense that the 2012 SMART Scholarship award announcements have been delayed."

Now I don't know about you, but I don't think the DoD would just randomly decide to delay the announcements. Now, maybe they mean that the process of determining which applicants are needed by the DoD is taking longer than expected. But I think it's likely based on recent events that some really serious budgetary issues have arisen. Maybe SMART had started to patch the hole by rescinding those summer support payments. It seems like they needed that money and will find a way of getting it. I would not be surprised if some large change in the program for this year's awardees is coming or being considered. Like a significant decrease in the number of people selected, a tuition cap, a stipend reduction, or something else.

[Smrt guest]

Just heard from a contact in the program that they are makin changes to the amount of awards being given. Good luck all!

[In_Stitches]

Just heard from a contact in the program that they are makin changes to the amount of awards being given. Good luck all!

Oh here go hell come.

[Guest]

Just heard from a contact in the program that they are makin changes to the amount of awards being given. Good luck all!

If I had to guess I would say they were likely planning on using the money cut from current awardees to help fund this year's awards. When the previous awardees called foul (and rightly so) on the change of contract, they were forced to rebalance their budget for this year's awards.

[Tico Suave]

Just heard from a contact in the program that they are makin changes to the amount of awards being given. Good luck all!

Great so my chances are lower

[sotired]

Just heard from a contact in the program that they are makin changes to the amount of awards being given. Good luck all!

Great so my chances are lower

and i have no chance now. i'm getting off this forum pronto.
bye all!

[smart_hopeful]

If I had to guess I would say they were likely planning on using the money cut from current awardees to help fund this year's awards. When the previous awardees called foul (and rightly so) on the change of contract, they were forced to rebalance their budget for this year's awards.

This sounds pretty plausible to me. I hate the idea of my odds being reduced - especially since the reduction seems likely to be substantial, given that the cuts to summer funding were pretty enormous. Even so, if the choice is between a smaller chance at working for an organization with integrity, or a better chance at working for an organization that's willing to put the screws to me, I'll take the former.

[Guest 2012a]

If I had to guess I would say they were likely planning on using the money cut from current awardees to help fund this year's awards. When the previous awardees called foul (and rightly so) on the change of contract, they were forced to rebalance their budget for this year's awards.

This sounds pretty plausible to me. I hate the idea of my odds being reduced - especially since the reduction seems likely to be substantial, given that the cuts to summer funding were pretty enormous. Even so, if the choice is between a smaller chance at working for an organization with integrity, or a better chance at working for an organization that's willing to put the screws to me, I'll take the former.

The summer stipends represent between 15-25% of yearly salary for SMART scholars, if I recall correctly. Can anyone confirm? I don't have time to skim the forums to see if that was the number discussed.

If that is the case, we can expect the number of awards to be cut by that much, approximately. That would be my guess anyway.

[Guest22]

Computer engineering. BS. I'm a sophomore applying for a three year scholarship. I was recommended, but three years is a lot of funding money.

Doesn't matter. They go down the list and put a check by each student til they're out of money. It would only affect you if you are the last on the list. If you change after the scholarship is awarded though, then its possible you wouldn't be offered a new award. It would depend how much leftover money they have (they allocate a certain amount for awar adjustments)

I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing lol. How do you know this though? I'm clueless and just have the impression that the DoD would rather give a one year award than a three year award so I'm hoping not.

I'm not certain where I heard it from. I'm relatively knowledgeable about the program though so I think it's reliable. Couldn't be 100% sure though. My POC at my base, who I knew prior to the SMART Program, is on the panel of judges who ranks the applicants. The top 50% get sent to all the bases, the bases each pick who they will recommend, and then SMART makes the final decision. Like I said, how much funding you asked for really isn't a factor at all. If you get accepted, you'll get accepted regardless of funding. If you didn't get accepted, you wouldn't have gotten accepted even if you asked for less funding.

What does affect your chances, however, is the funding that everyone ELSE asked for. So if you asked for more funding and get accepted, it comes at the expense of others obviously. It doesn't affect you though.

[2012_UMD]

I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing lol. How do you know this though? I'm clueless and just have the impression that the DoD would rather give a one year award than a three year award so I'm hoping not.[/quote]

I'm not certain where I heard it from. I'm relatively knowledgeable about the program though so I think it's reliable. Couldn't be 100% sure though. My POC at my base, who I knew prior to the SMART Program, is on the panel of judges who ranks the applicants. The top 50% get sent to all the bases, the bases each pick who they will recommend, and then SMART makes the final decision. Like I said, how much funding you asked for really isn't a factor at all. If you get accepted, you'll get accepted regardless of funding. If you didn't get accepted, you wouldn't have gotten accepted even if you asked for less funding.

What does affect your chances, however, is the funding that everyone ELSE asked for. So if you asked for more funding and get accepted, it comes at the expense of others obviously. It doesn't affect you though.[/quote]

Doesn't that inherently mean that it indirectly affects your funding? As in, if everyone getting accepted ahead of you drained away all but a year's worth of funding and you asked for two, you don't get funding?

[In_Stitches]

I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing lol. How do you know this though? I'm clueless and just have the impression that the DoD would rather give a one year award than a three year award so I'm hoping not.

I'm not certain where I heard it from. I'm relatively knowledgeable about the program though so I think it's reliable. Couldn't be 100% sure though. My POC at my base, who I knew prior to the SMART Program, is on the panel of judges who ranks the applicants. The top 50% get sent to all the bases, the bases each pick who they will recommend, and then SMART makes the final decision. Like I said, how much funding you asked for really isn't a factor at all. If you get accepted, you'll get accepted regardless of funding. If you didn't get accepted, you wouldn't have gotten accepted even if you asked for less funding.

What does affect your chances, however, is the funding that everyone ELSE asked for. So if you asked for more funding and get accepted, it comes at the expense of others obviously. It doesn't affect you though.[/quote]

Doesn't that inherently mean that it indirectly affects your funding? As in, if everyone getting accepted ahead of you drained away all but a year's worth of funding and you asked for two, you don't get funding?[/quote]

What he means is that it doesn't affect your ranking. If you're not at the bottom of the list, it doesn't affect you.