The Annual Chemical Engineering Department Awards Convocation was held in the Rozsa Center on April 11, 2013. This is an opportunity to thank the faculty, staff and students for their hard work and dedication. The department recognized the support of Mrs. Karen Hubbard, Kimberly-Clark, Dow Chemical, Dow Corning and UOP for their donations and services, which made this year’s Awards Convocation possible.
Adrienne Minerick (ChE) was elected to the American Society of Engineering Education’s Board of Directors. She will serve as the Professional Interest Council I Chair. ASEE has over 12,000 members that include deans, department heads, faculty members, students, and government and industry representatives who hail from all disciplines of engineering and engineering technology.
The Department of Chemical Engineering 2012-2013 Awards Convocation will be on April 10, 2013
Rosza Center, 2:00-4:00 P.M.
The Keynote eakers will be Michigan Tech chemical engineering alumnus James A. Mack ‘59 and his wife, Lorna, donated $2 million to establish an endowed chair in cellular and molecular bioengineering. Mr. Mack retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambrex Corporation, a developer and marketer of specialty chemicals. His company has successfully combined biology with engineering—especially in the rapidly emerging field of tissue engineering and cell therapy, and the development of small molecule therapeutics. Poster
James and Lorna Mack are dedicated to helping Michigan Tech achieve its vision—to grow as a premier research university of international stature, delivering education, new knowledge, and innovation.
ESC/BRC Student Research Forum Winners Announced
The Ecosystem Science Center and the Biotechnology Research Center announced award recipients of the Ninth Annual ESC/BRC Student Research Forum, held March 27.
For the graduate students, two Grand Prize Awards and six Merit Awards were presented. They were selected from among the 59 posters and abstracts submitted by graduate students conducting research related to ecology, the environment and biotechnology at Michigan Tech.
Maria Tafur of the Chemical Engineering depaertment won a Merit Award for, “Reduction of Porcine Parvovirus Infectivity in the Presence of Protecting Osmolytes, ” Advisor: Caryn Heldt
Four Michigan Tech Chemical Engineering students placed in the annual Minerals Processing division undergraduate and graduate poster competition during the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Annual meeting in Denver on February 27. This annual poster competition showcases research from the top mining and mineral processing programs across the nation and is judged by some of the top engineers and scientists in industry and academia. It involved a five-minute oral presentation in a special session as well as a public poster display at a large SME gathering.
The Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) was held on Feb 21-22, 2013. GRC was organized by the Graduate Student Government (GSG). Graduate students from all departments at Michigan Tech presented their research and ideas to other students and faculty in the form of oral or poster presentations. A group of judges that consists of faculty (and/or some invited members of industry) evaluated student’s presentations to award prizes to the best 1st, 2nd and 3rd presentations from each session (oral and poster). There are also three honorable mention awards given in both oral and poster presentation sessions.
In addition, at the Awards Banquet that was held on Friday evening February 23, the Graduate School presented several annual awards, including the Outstanding Graduate Student Leader award that went to Howard Haselhuhn of Chemical Engineering.
Outstanding Graduate Student Leader: Howard Haselhuhn, Shown here Kevin Cassell (GSG), Michigan Tech vice president Les Cook, Howard Haselhuhn, and Komar Kawatra, Department Chair, Chemical Engineering
A team of six chemical engineering students will represent Michigan Tech in the 2012 National Chem-E Car Competition in Pittsburgh, Penn., on Oct. 28. They are one of 32 student teams competing in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual challenge.
Chem-E cars are small vehicles, about the size of a shoebox, powered by chemical reactions.
Co-leaders of Tech’s 2012 team are David Hutchison and Christian Dale, both second-year chemical engineering students. Other team members are Justin Levande and Benjamin Veenstra, both second-year chemical engineering students; Ross Koepke, a third-year chemical engineering student; and Ben Markel, a senior in chemical engineering. Interim faculty advisor is Tony Rogers (CEE).
The team took first place in the North Central Region Chem-E car regional competition last April to earn their place in the lineup at next weekend’s national event. The Tech team’s car also won an award for creativity in the regional competition at the University of Akron.
You are cordially invited to stop by the Michigan Tech Hospitality Suite at the AIChE meeting in Pittsburgh. We will be located in the David Lawrence Convention Center, Room 318, from 7 to 10 pm on Monday, October 29th. It would be great to visit with you personally and show you how Michigan Tech is helping create the future in chemical engineering. This year, we will feature the 23 books written by our faculty, and there will be a short presentation by Daniel Crowl, “Blowing up a House Safely.”
MORE —see the flyer
Chemical engineering faculty and students at Michigan Tech attended a forum of “Challenges and Opportunities in Chemical Engineering” at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts Atrium where several chemical engineering alumni talked about their career experiences and then meet with students and enjoyed some pizza.
The 2012 ASISC conference held in Houghton was a remarkable success this year with people travelling from all over the world to share their
research in mineral processing. Along with presenters from industry,
Michigan Tech graduate and undergraduate students presented their latest research centered around sustainable developments for mineral processing. It provided a great networking opportunity for Michigan Tech students to meet representatives from leaders in the mining and steel manufacturing industry as well as other researchers from many other institutions.