Graduate School Newsblog

Open House for the Humanities Digital Media Zone this Friday

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The renovated Humanities Digital Media Zone (HDMZ) will host an open house at 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 29. Members of the Michigan Tech Board of Control and the administration are expected to attend, and the public is also welcome. The HDMZ is located on the first floor of Walker. The project cost $550,000 and was funded by departmental resources, student fees and donor contributions.

“The HDMZ is designed to create a flexible and sophisticated technological work and social environment,” said Erin Smith, director of the project and senior lecturer in humanities. “The new HDMZ serves a broad range of humanities-centered educational goals and technology practices. It represents the consolidation of the former Center for Computerized Language Instruction (CCLI) and the Modern Language Lab, as well as a classroom and a number of other discrete spaces.”

The new HDMZ includes:

  • a commons area with PC and Mac computing and comfortable seating for work on laptops and other mobile devices
  • a digital media studio with Macintosh computers and software for media development
  • a laptop classroom with Smartboard and projection systems
  • two private recording and listening rooms
  • a new multipurpose seminar space for a range of activities and research, including language cafés, gaming and video-conferencing
  • a centrally located resource desk staffed by student consultants with specialties in foreign languages and/or media development
  • director and support staff offices
  • offices for Cin/Optic Enterprise and student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication

Other resources available to students include digital SLR and video cameras, voice recorders, smart pens, graphics tablets and other language and media resources.

“In addition to improving the services and technology that we offer to students and faculty, the renovation makes visible the interdisciplinary and global nature of the research, teaching and work done by humanities faculty and students,” Smith said. “With its open floor plan, range of technology resources and opportunities for interaction and collaboration, the HDMZ strives to situate technology use as a complex human practice undertaken in a global context.”

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Geology student awarded Fulbright Scholarship

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Doctoral student Luke Bowman (Geology ’14) has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the coming academic year. He will be doing research on hazards communications in El Salvador. The title of his project is “Developing Culturally Appropriate Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in El Salvador.” Bowman’s advisors are Professor John Gierke (GMES) and Professor Bill Rose (GMES).

Bowman is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and has extensive experience in Central and South America. His BA in Geology is from Hanover College. He has an MS degree in Geology from Michigan Tech. He also has worked on ethnography in the social sciences department.

By discovering culturally appropriate ways of involving local populations in project design and decision making–and by integrating local knowledge and coping strategies into risk plans at the administrative level–Bowman hopes risk communication can be greatly enhanced.

He says, “Melding the organizational aspects of aid institutions with a dynamic cultural understanding of how communities perceive geological hazards is key to developing trust and devising effective, sustainable methods to help people prepare for future disasters.”

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Winners of Rath Award for Research Announced

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Chee Huei Lee

For groundbreaking work in nanotechnology, Yoke Khin Yap and Chee Huei Lee have received the University’s Bhakta Rath Research Award.

The award, endowed by 1958 alumnus Bhakta Rath and his wife, Shushama Rath, recognizes a Michigan Tech doctoral student and advisor for “exceptional research of particular value that anticipates the future needs of the nation while supporting advances in emerging technology.”

Yap, an associate professor of physics, and then-PhD student Lee (he graduated in 2010) invented a technique for synthesizing boron nitride nanotubes. Compared to their carbon-based cousins, boron nitride nanotubes have alluring qualities but, before Yap and Lee’s pioneering work, had been notoriously difficult to grow.

The researchers created veritable nano-carpets of boron nitride nanotubes and discovered they possessed a number of interesting properties: They are perfect insulators, which means they could be doped to form designer semiconductors for use in electronics that operate at high temperatures. They are among the strongest materials known and can be dispersed in organic solvents, properties that could be useful in making high-strength composites and ceramics. Plus, they shed water like a duck’s back. This quality, known as superhydrophobicity, holds at all pH levels, which means they could be used as protective coatings to shield against the strongest acids and bases.

Yap said Lee played an important role in their collaboration. “I enjoy working with Chee Huei, as he is willing to listen, think and work hard on an idea, and then he comes back to tell you much more than what you were expecting,” said Yap. “My initial ideas mature and flourish with his feedback.”

Lee has authored or coauthored 12 peer-reviewed journal papers on their nanotube research, as well as three chapters and review articles and three papers in peer-reviewed proceedings. As recipients of the Rath Award, Yap and Lee will share a $2,000 prize. Their research work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

To find out more, visit the Michigan Tech News Site .

by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
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Graduate Students participate in Nature Teacher Workshop

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PhD students Tara Bal (SFRES) and Meagan Harless (Biological Sciences), along with Joan Chadde of the Western UP Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education, put on a Nature Teacher Workshop Tuesday at the Nara Nature Center. Thirty local teachers attended the session.

Bal talked about insects; Harless talked about streams and ponds. The session was based on “Hands-On Nature Activities,” a guide with information and exercises for outdoor and environmental education with children. All participants received a copy of the book.

The workshop was sponsored by the Western UP Center and the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative.

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Tickets Available for Commencement, You’re Invited

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Spring Commencement begins at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 30, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in the Student Development Complex.

Members of the campus community may request tickets from Elizabeth Pollins in the Vice President for Student Affairs Office. Call 487-2465 or email epollins@mtu.edu .

The University will honor the achievements of 753 students receiving undergraduate degrees, 156 master’s degrees and 48 PhDs.

Mr. Norman R. Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and Martin Marietta Corporations, will give the commencement address, as well as receive an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Engineering, and Dr. Katerina E. Aifantis ’02 will be honored with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Commencement is not just a ceremony to honor our students and present degrees. It also serves as a time to reflect on and recognize the important contributions of our faculty and staff to the mission of the University to prepare students to create the future.

Parking, on a first-come, first-served basis, is available in Lots 22, 23 and 24. No parking pass is required.

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Students Journey to Lansing for Graduate Education Week

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Graduate students, all from Michigan, ventured to Lansing last week for Michigan Graduate Education Week in the Capitol Building.

The students met with legislators and discussed the importance of graduate education in Michigan, the nation and the world.

“We stressed the significance of Michigan Tech and how graduate education contributes to the Michigan economy and goes well beyond,” said Jacque Smith, director of marketing and advancement for the Graduate School. “The legislature was in session, and they took time out from their busy day to talk with us.”

Attending from Michigan Tech were Alicia Sawdon, a PhD candidate in chemical engineering from Lapeer; Natasha Hagadone, a PhD candidate in applied cognitive science and human factors from Central Lake; Joseph Hernandez, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering from Port Huron; and Kaitlyn Bunker, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering from Canton.

Students had a chance to meet their legislators, too, and presented plaques to Representative David Rutledge (D-Ypsilanti) and Senator Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) for sponsoring Michigan Graduate Education Week.

“I was honored to represent Michigan Tech and my department,” said Hagadone. She spent time with Senator Howard Walker (R-Traverse City), telling him about the DeSciDE (Decision Sciences and Decision Engineering) lab at Tech and her research in personalized decision support.

Sawden concurred. “Being able to talk with a representative (Kevin Daley, R-Lapeer) about my research and school, see the capitol, and meet students from other departments made this trip worthwhile,” she said. “I hope in future years more students can experience Graduate Education Week!”

“It was a real privilege to meet and have one-on-one time with Senator [Phil] Pavlov [R-St. Clair],” said Hernandez. “We were able to discuss why I chose Michigan Tech and how my research is important to Michigan.”

Smith stressed the significance of graduate education’s impact on Michigan, the region and the nation. “$61 million in research funding at Michigan Tech comes from sources outside the state,” he said. “That’s bringing monies into the state with research done, in great part, by graduate students working with faculty.”

In addition to the research dollars, he said, the more than 850 graduate students live, pay taxes and spend money in the local economy, Smith said. “In a town of 7,000, that’s a large economic impact.”

Graduate education also contributes to Michigan’s economy by creating a highly skilled workforce, technology transfer with cutting-edge research, and future faculty to teach in Michigan schools, from K-12 through universities, Smith said.

by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
Published in Tech Today

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Federal Funding General Information Session

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Michigan Tech students have an impressive success rate at being awarded some of our nation’s most prestigious and competitive graduate fellowships.

Michigan Tech’s Sponsored Program Enhancement office will host a general information session on  federal funding opportunities.

When: Wednesday April 20th at 6:00 in Fisher Room 131

Please join us if you are interested in finding out how you can fund your graduate education (@ Michigan Tech or at another university) through fellowships/scholarships offered by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA, and EPA.

Who should attend: Current juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have a competitive GPA, some research experience, and are a US citizen, US national, or permanent resident alien.

Please contact Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu) with any questions.

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Tech Professor, Grad Students Introduce School Children to Life in Lake Superior

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Today and Tuesday, April 18-19, Professor Martin Auer (CEE) and his graduate students will bring hands-on science investigations about Lake Superior to CLK Elementary School students in Calumet. Each grade level will spend 55 minutes with the scientists, learning about Lake Superior.

This special event is part of CLK’s Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative Heritage Garden project and the school’s monthlong celebration of Earth Month, “3LK at CLK: Living, Learning and Loving the Keweenaw.”

The Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative connects schools and communities in the stewardship of Lake Superior and its watershed. The initiative is one of eight hubs statewide that are part of the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, with support from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust and the Wege Foundation.

The Auer team’s activities will include

  • Lake Superior: big, deep, cold, and beautiful
  • Riding the Waves: field sampling equipment demo
  • Plankton: Lake Superior’s vegetable garden
  • From the Lake: sediment, benthos and fish

Auer’s research focuses on modeling of Great Lakes and inland waters and field monitoring and laboratory studies related to water quality modeling and management. He is familiar to many in the Keweenaw for his work with the Agassiz, which has become Tech’s floating ambassador, bringing people to the water and the water to people in the Lake Superior basin. Each year, Auer and colleagues host hundreds of K-12 students aboard the R/V Agassiz, where they learn how the Great Lakes are studied by scientists.

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Tech Students Receive NSF Awards for Grad Study, Research

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The National Science Foundation has selected three Michigan Tech students and a recent graduate to receive highly competitive awards that support their research and graduate study. Another student, now at Northern Michigan University, will use his award to pursue an advanced degree at Michigan Tech.

Master’s student Chris DeDene and recent graduate David Schaeffer have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. DeDene will pursue a PhD in Civil Engineering at Michigan Tech. Schaeffer will continue work on his PhD in Psychology at the University of Georgia.

Fellowship recipient Erich Petushek is completing his master’s at Northern Michigan University and will be coming to Tech, where he expects to pursue a doctorate degree in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors focusing on Biomechanics.

Graduate Research Fellowships support students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based degrees. Each fellow receives a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance and access to the TeraGrid supercomputer network. The NSF selected 2,000 fellows from more than 12,000 applicants.

An additional 2,064 applicants received honorable mentions. Among them are Tech students Eric Peterson, a physics PhD student; Eric Wesseldyke, an environmental engineering PhD student; mechanical engineering student Andrew Tulgestke; and Jonathan Ebel, a master’s student in biological sciences. Anieri Morales of the University of Puerto Rico, who plans to pursue a graduate degree at Michigan Tech, also received an honorable mention.

Tech students Erin Thomas and John Lyons, who are earning PhD degrees in mathematical sciences and geophysics, respectively, were selected to participate in NSF’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes. The institutes place US graduate students in research labs throughout East Asia and the Pacific, to help students initiate scientific relationships that will lead to future international collaborations. The awards include airfare, lodging, living expenses and a $5,000 stipend.

Thomas will be conduct research in Beijing, while Lyons will travel to Japan.

To learn more about federal funding opportunities for graduate students, attend an information session at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in Fisher 131. Faculty, advisors, undergraduates and graduate students are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Jodi Lehman at 487-2875 or at jglehman@mtu.edu.

Published in Tech Today.

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