Category: News

Marti and Ingram place 2nd, 3rd in Undergraduate Student Expo

Hannah Marti

UPDATED: Link to the official news release in Tech Today.

Excerpted from an email from Lorelle Meadows, Dean Pavlis Honors College congratulating the winners of the Undergraduate Research Expo:

“During the Expo, all of the posters were judged by a minimum of 2 faculty judges. The researchers receiving the highest average scores are:

1st Place Gina Testa, Wildlife Ecology and Management

“Avian Community Responses to Stand Age in Northern Aspen Forests”

2nd Place Hannah Marti, Biomedical Engineering (who worked in Dr. John Durocher‘s laboratory)

“The Effects of Changes in Fitness and Fatness on Aortic Pulsatility”

3rd Place Olivia Ingram, Biological Sciences ( who worked in Dr. Kevin Trewartha‘s lab in Cognitive Learning Sciences)

“The Role of Implicit Memory Processes in Age-Related Declines in Motor Learning”

Congratulations!  These students will all receive a small token, a $20 gift card to dining services, lunch with the Vice President for Research and an invitation to receive their certificate at the Annual Student Leadership Awards Reception.

Expo visitors also voted on an audience choice award and we have a remarkable three-way tie.  The winners of this award are: Olivia Ingram, Lewis Marshall and Abbey Senczyszyn.  Winners of the audience choice award may stop our office beginning tomorrow to retrieve your audience choice prize.”

Leguizamon, Van Goethem win poster presentation awards

LeguizamonVanGoethem
Edited from Tech Today:

Two graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences received poster presentation awards at the Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society conference Tuesday, 8 March, in Grand Rapids.

Carmen Leguizamon (advised by Casey Huckins) received a second place award. Ryan Van Goethem (advised by Amy Marcarelli) received a third place award. MAPMM

Travis Wakeham awarded numerous honors by Graduate Student Government

travis wakehamGraduate student, Travis Wakeham was recently honored with numerous awards by the Graduate Student Government , including:

Outstanding Teaching Award for his involvement and development of our Anatomy and Physiology laboratories working closely with Dr. John Durocher and Brigitte Morin.

Best oral presentation at the recent Graduate Student Colloquium  that includes an award of  $300.

Best attended oral presentation at the Colloquium that includes an award of $50.

In addition, his picture was featured on the TV website reporting on the Colloquium.

Travis is a Masters student working in the lab of  Dr. John Durocher and conducted much of the research for his presentation in the lab of collaborating colleague Dr. Stephen Elmer in the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology.

Alumnus Dr. Donofrio joins Neogen as director of microbiology

From www.4-traders.com; picture courtesy of LinkedIn

LANSING, Mich., Feb. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Neogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) announced today that Dr. Robert Donofrio has joined the company as the director of microbiology, research and development in Neogen’s Lansing, Mich.-based food safety research and development group.

Dr. Donofrio completed his Ph.D. in 2009 under now Emerita Dr. Susan Bagley.

For the full article see:

This link

 

 

Dr. Kerfoot attends Torch Lake Watershed Project Public Meeting

kerfootDr. Kerfoot was one of many Michigan Technological University faculty and staff to present at the recent Torch Lake Watershed Project Public Meeting

An account of the meeting can be found in the 9 February 2016 blog post from Keweenaw Now

LAKE LINDEN —

What do you know about the Torch Lake Watershed, the Torch Lake Superfund and stamp sand, the Torch Lake Area of Concern, PCBs and fish advisories, ongoing research and remediation of contaminated sites in the area? The Torch Lake Watershed Project public meeting is one way to learn about these issues and to become involved in a community effort to plan the future of this area.

More at Keweenaw Now

http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2016/02/torch-lake-watershed-project-public.html

Dr. Durocher this weeks Props for Profs winner

DurocherThis week’s Jackson CTL Props for Profs Winner is John Durocher, (Bio SCI).  John’s anonymous nominator said he “made it a personal goal to see everybody succeed.” The nominator especially liked the extra “study slides, review videos, and practice questions” that John provided, and appreciated the extra time these must have taken to develop.   Finally, John was praised for his prompt response to e-mail and effective integration of real-life examples into the course.

Both Durocher and his nominator will receive a $5 gift certificate to purchase a snack or drink at the Library Café or several other locations on campus.

Edited from From Tech Today

Graduate Job Success: Dr. Steph Gleason

Steph Gleason
Steph Gleason

Dr. Steph Gleason (Groves) has a new position as the North America Grain Processing Application Development Leader at DuPont Industrial Biosciences.

She joined DuPont in 2014 as a member of the Grain Processing Applied Innovation Center as an Application Scientist prior to taking this new role in October 2015.

Steph received a PhD in Biological Sciences from Michigan Tech in 2013. While at Michigan Tech, her advisor was Susan Bagley.

Congratulations, Steph!

Graduate Job Success: Dr. Ramana Pidatala

Ramana Pidatala
Ramana Pidatala

Dr. Ramana Pidatala got a new job in August 2015 as a Research Associate at DoE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, CA. He is working in the Plant Systems Biology group in the Feedstocks Division under Dr. Jenny Mortimer.

Ramana received a PhD in Biological Sciences from Michigan Tech in 2015. While at Michigan Tech, his advisor was Rupali Datta.

Congratulations, Ramana!