EES Graduate Student Orientation and Frequently Asked Questions
Regularly Scheduled EES Department Activities
- The EES Distinguished Speaker Series is on Friday at 12:30 pm in NatSci Rm 304.
- EES Coffee Time is Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10:00 am in Rm 206 during regular class weeks of the academic year but only on Wednesdays during the summer.
Important EES Department Contacts
| Names | Role | For questions about… | |
| Ms. Ashley Knoch | aeknoch@msu.edu | Office Clerk/Receptionist | Reimbursements, obtaining keys, email lists |
| Ms. Rachel Pickell | pickellr@msu.edu | Office Coordinator | Enrolling in classes, academic form submission |
| Mr. Jiabao Zhang | zhan2529@msu.edu | Office Secretary | Travel and grant funding |
| Mr. Dallas Coryell | coryelld@msu.edu | Office Administrator | Human Resources |
| Prof. Allen McNamara | allenmc@msu.edu | EES Graduate Chair | Academic program requirements and concerns |
| Prof. Jeffrey Freymueller | freymuel@msu.edu | EES Department Chair | Department affairs and concerns |
Useful Links
| Student Information System (SIS) | https://student.msu.edu/ |
| Employee Portal (EBS) | http://ebs.msu.edu/ |
| EES Graduate Student Handbook and Forms | https://ees.natsci.msu.edu/academics/graduate/graduate-forms-student-handbook.aspx |
| Rec/Gym Membership | https://recsports.msu.edu/fitness/memberships.html |
| Grad Employee Union | https://geuatmsu.org/about/ |
| Health Insurance | https://hr.msu.edu/benefits/graduate-assistants/health/index.html |
| Dental Insurance | https://hr.msu.edu/benefits/graduate-assistants/dental.html |
| Vision Insurance | https://msustudents.vspforme.com/ |
| Graduate School Calendar | https://grad.msu.edu/calendar |
| Campus Maps | https://maps.msu.edu/ |
| Parking Passes | https://parking.msu.edu/employees/permits |
| Campus Bike Permits | https://parking.msu.edu/visitors/bike-registration |
| CITI Modules | https://www.citiprogram.org/?pageID=668 |
| MSU ID Office | https://idoffice.msu.edu/ |
Frequently Asked Questions
Obtaining IDs, campus access, and registering vehicles
Q: How do I get my MSU ID card?
You will need to go to the MSU ID office, which is in the International Center ( https://maps.msu.edu/interactive/index.php?location=GDFZ ). They will take your ID picture, if you have not submitted one online, so be prepared to smile. Here is their website: https://idoffice.msu.edu/ .
Q: How do I get keys and keycard swipe access to the rooms and buildings that I need?
Go to Natural Sciences Room 207 and talk to Windie Canen. Some rooms (and the building after hours or on weekends) are accessed by scanning your ID outside the door. So, make sure to specifically ask for keycard access as well. For keycard access, they will need the Z number on your MSU ID, so you have to get your MSU ID first.
Q: How do I get a Parking Pass for my car?
Go to the MSU Parking Services website ( https://parking.msu.edu/employees/permits ) to buy a pass. It will give a few options, so make sure you buy the Graduate Student pass. If you are on Fellowship, you may need to call Parking Services to make sure this pass is available to you in the online portal. A new parking pass must be purchased each semester.
Q: Do I need to register my bicycle, e-bike or e-scooter to park it on campus?
Yes, go to this website ( https://parking.msu.edu/visitors/bike-registration ) to register them with the Bike index.
Classes and Degree Requirements
Q: What are my degree requirements and milestones as a graduate student?
Consult the EES Graduate Student Handbook, which can be found here: https://ees.natsci.msu.edu/academics/graduate/graduate-forms-student-handbook.aspx .
Q: How do I enroll in classes?
Access the Classes section of the SIS (https://student.msu.edu/ ). Courses in other departments may require an override code of some kind, but the process for this varies by department. To pursue an override code for graduate classes, a student typically starts by contacting the instructor first, however if no instructor is listed then contact the office of the department offering the course.
Q: What are RECR/CITI requirements and how do I fulfill them?
RECR stands for Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research. These are discussion-based workshops focused on various research ethics topics. Each workshop is 1.5 hours long, and you’re expected to complete two of them each year. You can see all scheduled RECR workshops (along with other events) on the Graduate School calendar (link is in the important links section).
CITI stands for Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative. These are interactive online modules focused on research ethics. The first four must be completed in your first year, and an additional 3 must be completed in your second year.
To see your progress towards these requirements, go to the SIS (link is in the important links section), then to the “Academic Progress” section and finally the “RECR” tab on the left.
Q: How many credits must a graduate student take per academic semester?
For PhD Students, who want to maintain full time status, the minimum credits required during the fall and spring semesters are:
- 3 credits/semester IF on a 0.5 Assistantship (e.g., 20 hour per week TA or RA position)
- 3 credits/semester IF on a 0.25 Assistantship (e.g., 10 hour per week TA or RA position)
- 6 credits/semester IF not on an assistantship. For example, if one is on a fellowship.
However, starting the semester AFTER a student has passed comps (and it is recorded as such), then the student only needs to take 1 credit per academic semester.
For MS Students, who want to maintain full time status, the minimum credits required during the fall and spring semesters are:
- 6 credits/semester IF on a 0.5 Assistantship (e.g., 20 hour per week TA or RA position)
- 6 credits/semester IF on a 0.25 Assistantship (e.g., 10 hour per week TA or RA position)
- 9 credits/semester IF not on an assistantship. For example, if one is on a fellowship.
For all graduate students, no credits are required in summer unless the student is defending/graduating during summer. There may be examples of other activities which may necessitate a credit over the summer.
More details can be found here: https://reg.msu.edu/academicprograms/Print.aspx?Section=346
Q: What are GLG 999 credits and how many should I be taking?
GLG 999 credits are doctoral dissertation research credits, and all PhD students need a minimum of 24 to graduate. However, students can only take a maximum of 36 999-credits — a policy seemingly created to put a limit on how long a student may remain in a doctoral graduate program.
While a graduate student may carry up to 16 credits a semester, block tuition only covers the cost of 9 credits. So, while it is theoretically possible to reach 24 credits in two semesters, this is not a recommended approach since it would be expensive for whomever was paying tuition, likely the PI’s research grant. Instead, students should consider a philosophy of topping off the 9 credits available from their block tuition each semester with 999 credits until they reach 24 credits.
In detail, an effective GLG 999 strategy is: initially, students should enroll in any graduate coursework and, then, use the available remaining block tuition credits to enroll in as many GLG 999 credits as possible. In this way, the student should likely reach 24 credits by the end of the semester that they complete their comprehensive exams (ideally, their fourth or fifth semester of graduate school).
If the strategy above is pursued correctly, then after comps (advancing to candidacy) a student only needs 1 credit a semester to stay full-time and that credit can be a GLG 999 credit. This gives the student up to 6 years post-comps (as a PhD candidate) to finish the PhD (i.e., 1 999-credit a semester for 12 semesters to go from 24 to 36 999-credits), which should be plenty of time to complete their dissertation work.
This strategy also provides the student flexibility to graduate during any one of those semesters post-comps since the student already has the minimum 24 999-credits needed to graduate. This flexible and variable rate 999-credit strategy is sometimes called the “run to 24, crawl to 36” strategy, and it stands in contrast to a strategy of trying to plan when a student is going to graduate and to spread the 24 credits out evenly across all semesters, which risks not having enough if the graduation timeline is compressed, or to spread all 36 credits out evenly over a student’s planned timeline, which risks setting a graduation date that cannot be extended.
Q: Do students have to pay tuition?
Yes, graduate student coursework requires tuition, and your offer letter describes how tuition will be paid for during your graduate studies. Most graduate students are supported with provided assistantships (teaching or research), which include block tuition for 9 credits a semester.
Working environment
Q: How do assistantships and block tuition work?
Most students are supported on a teaching or research assistantship. Your graduate admission offer letter describes the conditions and commitment of the department to providing assistantships. All teaching assistantships and research assistantship positions come with up to 9 credits of block tuition. These credits must be used that semester for any needed coursework, thesis, and/or dissertation credits.
A teaching assistantship is provided through the department via an offer letter prior to the start of the semester. The letter will describe the course(s) and which instructor(s) will supervise. Graduate teaching assistantships are automatically represented by the Graduate Employees Union: https://geuatmsu.org/ , which sets compensation and working conditions.
Research assistantships are provided via principal investigators (PIs), typically one’s graduate advisor, also via an offer letter prior to the start of the semester. Compensation and working conditions for research assistantships typically match those of teaching assistantships but are arranged individually with the PI so may vary in detail.
University Human Resources introduces seemingly confusing terminology regarding assistantships, because during the academic year, graduate students are expected to be spending at least half of their time academically pursuing their degree (i.e., 20 hours/week). This academic work includes both classwork as well as work related to thesis or dissertation research. Thus, there are no full-time graduate assistantships, and instead assistantships use the following definitions:
- A regular assistantship is a half-time or a 0.5 assistantship (TA or RA), i.e., 20 hours/week appointment.
- A reduced assistantship is a quarter-time or 0.25 assistantship (TA or RA), i.e., 10 hours/week appointment.
Often research assistantship activities are sufficiently related to thesis or dissertation work that these activities blend together, and students on a research assistantship are effectively working on their thesis or dissertation full-time (i.e., 40 hours/week).
Q: What about financial support during the summer?
Summer support comes from a large number of sources, and it is generally dependent on student-awarded fellowships or faculty-awarded grants. Talk to your research advisor about your summer funding situation. If supported, graduate students are typically supported at hourly pay rates during the summer so that their bi-weekly summer paychecks are very similar to their academic year paycheck.
Regardless of stipend support, health insurance purchased during the spring semester carries over until the start of the fall semester, so graduate students always have year-around health insurance.
Q: I am planning to travel and/or be away from work. Who do I ask for time off?
This should be discussed with your research advisor, and if you are TAing, the instructor of the course. If you are a TA, you should not plan a personal vacation during the semester, as it is your job to be available for all labs. If you are a TA and have some research-related travel, be sure to discuss this with the instructor of the course, and it likely will be necessary for you to find a substitute for any labs you have to miss. About half of our TA positions are for ISP courses, and for those you need to speak with the ISP Lab Coordinator, currently Ozzie Hernandez (herna106@msu.edu).
International Students
Q: What resources are on campus to support international graduate students?
The Office for International Students and Scholars (https://oiss.isp.msu.edu/) provides direct support for international graduate students. This office is responsible for assisting students with the VISA process as well as providing resources for acclimating to the US system and culture including healthcare, life on campus, and life in Michigan. They always have the most up-to-date information regarding federal immigration and visitor policy, so all questions regarding such policy should be directed to them.
Q: As an international student, how much time can I take off to visit my home country?
This should be discussed with your research advisor, and if you are TAing, the instructor of the course. If you are a TA, you should not plan a longer trip to your home country during the semester, as it is your job to be available for students.Summer is likely the most appropriate time for a longer trip, however students should discuss with their advisor well in advance.
Reimbursing expenses and work travel
Q: How do I get work supplies and a computer?
Talk to your research advisor about getting general office supplies. They’ll likely tell you to email Ms. Canen with links to the items you need and give you a code to send her. As part of your offer letter, you received funding to support the purchase of a new computer. Arrange this purchase with Windie. Please note that we MUST make this purchase through the MSU IT Store (we are not allowed to buy elsewhere). Otherwise for any other computers, laptops, tablets, computer parts, monitors, peripherals, etc., you should ask your research advisor.
Q: How often is it okay to work from home?
This should be arranged with your research advisor, and if you are TAing, the instructor of the course. What typically matters most to your advisor is that you’re meeting class requirements and making sufficient research progress.
Q: How do I get an expense reimbursed?
For most expenses, such as lab needs or travel for a conference, talk to your advisor prior to making any purchases. The Department staff can often make purchases for you, and we encourage you to have them make purchases so that you don’t have to go out of pocket, or risk accidentally violating some purchasing rule. For a department event or expense, email Windie. She’ll need a brief description of the purpose of the event/thing that needs reimbursing, along with an itemized receipt. If it was for an event, she’ll need roughly what types of people that were there (i.e., grad students, post-docs, prospective students, etc).
Q: I want to attend a conference/workshop. How can I get this trip funded?
Generally, talk to your research advisor about this and they’ll help you work something out. Funding is more likely to be provided if you’re presenting a poster or talk. For Ph.D. students, your offer letter came with a $5000 international research conference travel opportunity, which you can take after you have advanced to candidacy. Plan with your advisor how to use this best since this is a one-time opportunity. The department regularly offers the opportunity to apply for a department research conference award, which will partially offset the cost of attending a meeting. There are usually two calls each year, one for fall events and one for spring events. Each graduate student can receive about $600 in travel funding directly from the graduate school. Since this is a one-time offer, however, it’s best to save this for when you have no other options. More info here: https://grad.msu.edu/fellowships/travel .
Department Awards and Activities
Q: How do I apply for department awards?
This webpage describes our graduate Department Awards: https://ees.natsci.msu.edu/awards/graduate-awards/graduate-student-awards.aspx
Q: How can I be more involved in the department?
- Attend the weekly EES Distinguished Speaker Series
- Attend the MWF Coffee time in Rm 206.
- Attend the dissertation defenses and PhD committee meetings of your peers.
- Get involved with the EES Graduate Student Organization .
- Get involved with the Geology Club ( https://msu.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/geology ).
- Get involved with the Astrobiology Club ( https://msu.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/astrobiogyclub ).
Last updated July 2026