Posts under the ‘Research’ category

Jim Hwang

Materials science and engineering professor Jiann-Yang “Jim” Hwang and 2012 PhD graduate Zhiwei Peng have been chosen to receive Michigan Technological University’s 2013 Bhakta Rath Research Award for their studies on the use of microwaves in steelmaking.

The award, endowed by Michigan Tech alumnus Bhakta Rath and his wife, Shushama, recognizes a doctoral student at Michigan Tech and his/her faculty advisor for “exceptional research of particular value that anticipates the future needs of the nation while supporting advances in emerging technology.” Hwang and Peng, now a research assistant professor, will share a $2,000 prize.

Zhiwei Peng

Kampe called Peng’s work “incredibly thorough in scope and rigorous in its approach.” He noted that Hwang has researched microwave steelmaking for years “and has become a renowned authority on environmental and sustainability issues within the materials processing industries.

“This project represents an excellent fit with Dr. Rath’s vision of this award,” Kampe said.

The researcher did theoretical and experimental work on the use of microwaves to heat materials, particularly magnetic substances, and offered ways to improve microwaves’ heating efficiency. They also provided guidelines for making large-scale microwave furnaces for industrial use. Peng’s dissertation research was an integral part of three grants totaling $2.6 million.

Their work has led to five books, 25 papers and invitations to prepare books on microwave heating.

In support of the nomination, Dinesh Agrawal of Penn State wrote that Peng’s work “will surely accelerate the development of microwave heating for various applications in the field of ceramic and metallic materials, organics synthesis, biomedical treatments, etc.” And Jian Li of Canada’s CanmetMATERIALS research laboratory wrote that Peng’s dissertation reveals “great potential in energy saving and environmental safety.”

Mingming Zhang of the Canadian steel and mining company ArcelorMittal wrote that Peng’s research “attracted my attention because of its huge potential in energy savings and environmental protection compared with conventional technologies,” adding that the achievement is all the more remarkable because steelmaking consumes more energy than any other industry. “Moreover, there is a great possibility to substantially reduce the CO2, SOx and NOx emissions, contributing to an environmentally friendly world,” Zhang said.

Peng’s solid foundation in math and science and his interdisciplinary approach have been key to the project’s success, said his advisor. “He is not afraid of challenges, and he willingly took courses from other departments that advanced his research,” Hwang said. “By combining knowledge from several disciplines, Zhiwei has developed a new field of research.”

The Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society celebrated World Water Day on Thursday, March 21 with a student poster competition. The posters covered different topics in water research occurring at Michigan Technological University. Posters were displayed on the 1st floor of the Great Lakes Research Center; CWS Faculty presented a showcase of CWS research, followed by A dinner in the Atrium overlooking the lake.

2013 Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society Award Winners
Original Research Category:
1st – Miles Corcoran
2nd – Julie A. Padilla
3rd – Jade E. Ortiz and Martin Hobmeier (Tie)

Coursework/Informational:
1st – Nancy Auer’s BL4465 Biological Oceanography class:

Photos of the award winners and all other presenters

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.

Poster Awards: 1st place Poster: Anna N. Hess; 2nd Place Poster: Huan Yang; 3rd Place Poster: Colina Dutta;
Oral Presentation Award Winners: 1st Place Award: Joel Suss, 3rd Place Award: Bonnie Zwissler

The objective of the colloquium is to give graduate students an in-house opportunity to share and gain experience presenting their research with peers, professionals, and professors among campus.

Detailed feedback from judges will help students enhance their skills in presenting at conferences, as well as providing insights on research methods and techniques.

The Awards Banquet was held on Friday evening February 23. The Graduate School presented several annual awards, including the Exceptional Graduate Student Scholar Award given to Antonio Velazquez, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Outstanding Graduate Student Leader award went to Howard Haselhuhn of Chemical Engineering. The Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award for 2013 was given to Gregory P. Waite of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences. Recipients of Service Award were Jennifer Winikus,Tolga Yapici, and Abhishek Bhavalkar.

Click to see some of the Colloquium and Awards Banquet Photos

Graduate Research Colloquium on February 21 and 22: Presentation Booklet

For more information please visit http://gsg.students.mtu.edu/colloquium.html

Demonstrations of the new Immersive Visualization Studio in EERC 510 were held on Feb 1. The new facility is part of the of the Paul & Susan Williams Center for Computer Systems Research directed by Professor Saeid Nooshabadi (ECE/CS). Displays of two current research projects were shown. The social event was cosponsored by the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Michigan Technological University. The facility can be used to analyze tremendous amount of data, study the fluid dynamics of Lake Superior, simulate volcanic eruptions, and look at weather patterns. One student opportunity: developing applications within the Husky Games Enterprise. Professor Saeid Nooshabadi directs this computing center. He envisions interdisciplinary teams addressing new problems, sharing camaraderie and a purpose, and engaging in a “cross-pollination” of ideas. His focus: “make it practical and useful.”

Immersive Visualization Studio at Michigan Tech Youtube Video

More information (PDF) from Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering 2012 Annual Report

The Great Lakes represent almost 90 percent of the US surface freshwater, with almost one-half of that in Lake Superior alone.

Never before has the Great Lakes basin faced the magnitude of issues and stresses currently in operation—challenges that cut across all branches of science and engineering, from biology to physics, and from social science to management and policy.

Enter Professor Guy Meadows, who recently joined Michigan Tech after 35 years at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. As Director of Great Lakes Initiatives at Michigan Tech’s new Great Lakes Research Center, Meadows’ primary goal is to blend scientific understanding and technological advancements into environmentally sound engineering solutions for the Great Lakes. “Tackling these difficult and multidisciplinary issues requires an organization that brings together dedicated researchers, from all areas, to focus their collective energies and expertise on problems never before faced,” says Meadows. “The opportunity is now before us; it is up to us to seize the moment.

“Freshwater is perhaps our most valuable natural resource,” adds Meadows. “Research directed at understanding and preserving all aspects of this enormous natural resource is critical to the well being of our nation, our neighbors, and the world. We’ve needed a state-of-the-art, integrated facility where researchers, students, technicians, policy makers and the general public can come together to not only share ideas, but to share laboratory space, advanced equipment and a common goal. The Great Lakes Research Center is that 21st century space.”
Meadows’ own research involves the development of a wide range of environmental monitoring platforms, which operate in the Great Lakes and coastal ocean. These range from a network of automated wind and wave measurement buoys distributed through the upper Great Lakes to underwater vehicles for bottom mapping. His team has even developed a fully autonomous
ocean-monitoring buoy that flies as a robotic Pelican.

The next step, in collaboration with colleagues at Michigan Tech, is to accurately take the internal temperature of Lake Superior by propagating sound waves the entire length of the basin and very accurately measuring the travel time. “We will do this at many different frequencies, causing the sound waves to take many different paths through the lake, from surface to bottom. This will answer the question: ‘Is Lake Superior warming up? And if so, by how much?’”

Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center provides the ideal location to further develop the next generation of advanced sensors and numerical models for the marine environment. “The University’s new super computer, which will be housed in the GRLC, make this possible,” says Meadows. The Center’s location on the deep Keweenaw Waterway will allow the team to begin to monitor the Lakes though the harsh northern winters. “Presently, we must remove our network of surface buoys before ice develops. This leaves us blind to understanding Lake dynamics during the worst (and most interesting) part of the year,” he adds. “We are now able to develop a network of underwater buoys each with a node cabled back to the GLRC—an evolving effort with partner universities on the Canadian side.”

Meadows’ distinguished career of teaching, research and service includes numerous awards for outstanding teaching, which reaches beyond the University setting to less formal environments, including five nationally-televised documentaries for the History Channel and the Discovery Channel.

For more information on the new Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Tech, visit www.greatlakes.mtu.edu.

By Dennis Walikainen
May 24, 2012—

Adrienne Minerick, an associate professor of chemical engineering, is the recipient of Michigan Technological University’s 2012 Fredrick D. Williams Instructional Innovation Award. The award recognizes faculty who have developed or adapted new and innovative approaches to instruction.

A longtime member of the chemistry faculty, Williams is remembered by his colleagues and students for his innovative and creative instruction in the large-enrollment, first-year chemistry sections. He was also director Michigan Tech Center for Teaching Excellence.

Nominators cited Minerick’s numerous innovations in just two years of teaching at Michigan Tech. One example is a combined undergraduate and graduate class, with differing expectations based on the students’ grade level.

According to one nominator, such forward thinking has allowed her “to re-energize our core graduate program courses, widely incorporate desktop experiment modules (DEMos) from her NSF CAREER Award and contribute to biosafety in our labs and instruction.”

In one example, Minerick challenges her chemical engineering students to think beyond the traditional model of scaling up chemical processes to the manufacturing plant level. She invites students to consider scaling down operations to lab-on-chip devices that can contain whole chemical processes and analysis within one square inch.

Minerick’s efforts have been acknowledged off campus too. She has used Jell-O to make castings of microfluidic channels for diffusion and transport observation, a model that makes science more fun for K-12 students, and her innovative methods have appeared in American Society for Engineering Education proceedings articles and in the Journal of Chemical Engineering Education.

She has also received the Ray W. Fahien Award, chemical engineering’s most prestigious education award.

Minerick’s primary area of research is electrokinetics with a focus on medical microdevices, blood cell dynamics and point-of-care diagnostics.

Minerick received master’s and PhD degrees in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2003 and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Tech in 1998.

By Marcia Goodrich
October 5, 2012—

Reza Shahbazian-Yassar thinks sodium might be the next big thing in rechargeable batteries.

Now, the gold standard in the industry is the lithium ion battery, which can be recharged hundreds of times and works really well. Its only problem is that it is made with lithium, which is not cheap. It could get even more expensive if more electric vehicles powered with lithium ion batteries hit the road and drive up demand.

“Some people think lithium will be the next oil,” says Shahbazian-Yassar, an associate professor of mechanical engineering–engineering mechanics at Michigan Technological University.

Sodium may be a good alternative. “After lithium, it’s the most attractive element to be used in batteries,” Shahbazian-Yassar said. It’s also cheap and abundant; seawater is full of it.

It has just one problem: sodium atoms are big, about 70 percent larger in size than lithium atoms. “When the atoms are too big, that’s problematic,” says Shahbazian-Yassar, because they can cause a battery’s electrodes to wear out faster. “Imagine bringing an elephant through the door into my office. It’s going to break down the walls.”

Before a long-lasting rechargeable sodium battery can be developed, scientists need to better understand these challenges and develop solutions. With a $417,000 National Science Foundation grant, Shahbazian-Yassar is leading that effort at Michigan Tech. “We have an opportunity to tackle some of the fundamental issues relating to charging and discharging of batteries right here,” he said. “We have a unique tool that lets us observe the inside of a battery.”

Using a transmission electron microscope, Shahbazian-Yassar and his team can peer inside and see how a battery is charging and discharging at the atomic level. “We will study these fundamental reactions and find out what materials and electrodes will do a better job hosting the sodium.”

Sodium ion batteries would not have to be as good as lithium ion batteries to be competitive, Shahbazian-Yassar notes. They would just need to be good enough to satisfy the consumer. And they could make electric cars more affordable, and thus more attractive. Plus, they could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly if the batteries were charged using renewable energy sources. That would lead to two laudable goals: greater energy independence and less pollution worldwide.

“I hope I can make a contribution,” says Yassar.

Michigan Tech Research Institute (Ann Arbor) researchers shared their posters and time to talk about their work during a day-long poster presentation session in the Atrium of the Dow Environmental Sciences and Engineering Building. Numerous faculty and students had the chance to study the posters and meet with the researchers for potential internships, collaboration and inspiration.

View pictures and video clips and links to research project posters and more information

Michigan Tech is again hosting seven middle and high school teachers from Michigan and Wisconsin in a six-week Research Experience for Teachers (RET), a program funded by the National Science Foundation, which ends this week.
The teachers presented posters on their research experiences, as well as the development of classroom/laboratory units, Friday, Aug. 17, in Memorial Union Alumni Lounge B.
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Updated from From Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, magazine editor

The Great Lakes Research Center dedication ceremony for Michigan Technological University’s newest building was on Thursday, Aug. 2. The speakers were Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz; Stephen Hicks, chair of the Board of Control; and Guy Meadows, director of Great Lakes initiatives at the GLRC.

The three-story, 50,000-square-foot center has three distinct areas: a boathouse for the University’s three research vessels and environmental monitoring buoy network, a complex of research laboratories, and a public area that includes conference facilities and space for K-12 education.

Read more about it from news media stories and view Video News Clips

Videos from the Great Lakes Resarch Center Symposium