Category: Seminars

Pradeep Agrawal Shares Lessons on Management during a Global Pandemic

Professor and Chair Pradeep Agrawal was among leaders presenting for a virtual knowledge sharing session on “Lessons Learned from Effectively Managing Projects and Teams during a Global Pandemic,” sponsored by the AIChE Management Division. Agrawal presented “Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic at Michigan Technological University,” co-authored by Jeanna Collins, Kurt A. Rickard, and Tony N. Rogers.

The presentation took place on November 16 during the 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting.

The session was chaired by Dhaval Bhandari of ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. According to Bhandari, “It was humbling to listen to how each organization/team presented with unique circumstances developed their own unique solutions often not knowing what tomorrow will bring.”

EAB Poster Session Awardees

Awards
EAB Poster Session Awards announced

Congrats to these students for their posters that were presented to the judges and EAB members on October 22nd in these categories:

  • Undergrad Research
    • 1st, Lauren Spahn/Raisa Carmen Andeme Ela, advisor Rebecca Ong
    • 2nd place, Ethan Burghardt/Seth Kriz, advisor Caryn Heldt 
  • Student Organization
    • 1st, ChemE Car, Sarah Foyer/Emily Leverance,/Axel Valeri, advisor Jeana Collins
    •  2nd place, CPM: Commercial Keg Cleaner, Autumn Cole/Mike Johnson/Cael Hansen/ James Staley/Frank Bruck, advisor Tony Rogers
  • Graduate Research
    • 1st Natalie Nold/Seth Kriz/ Sheridan Waldack/ Alexis Pohkrel/ Pratik Joshi, advisor Caryn Heldt
    • 2nd place, Tinuade Folayan, advisor Lei Pan

#mtuchemeng #mturesearch

ACS Student Research Symposium Awards

Graduate students Seth Kriz and Natalie Nold from Dr. Caryn Heldt’s lab placed third at the ACS Student Research Symposium that was held in Marquette, MI on October 23rd. Ethan Burghardt who is doing research in the Heldt Lab was also awarded 2nd place in the Undergraduate Award Session; Ethan is majoring in Chemistry. Congratulations to all!

The symposium provided a venue for students to present their research in chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields. This symposium will be an excellent opportunity for students, faculty, and the community at large to learn about the interesting chemistry and related research being conducted in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The event was sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Section of the American Chemical Society

#mtuchemeng #mturesearch

Lauren Spahn to Present at AIChE Annual Meeting

Undergraduate chemical engineering student Lauren Spahn’s abstract was accepted for presentation at the 2021 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Undergraduate Student Poster Session. 

Spahn’s abstract, titled “Optimization of Lignin Precipitation with Functional Group Control for Use in Bio-Based Polyurethane Foams,” will be part of the Materials Engineering and Sciences session on Monday (Nov. 8) during the 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting, which is being held in Boston Nov. 7-11 and virtually from Nov. 15-19.

The AIChE Annual Meeting is the forum for ChEs interested in innovation and professional growth. Experts will cover wide range of topics relevant to cutting-edge research, new technologies, and emerging areas in the field. This year’s topic is “Building the Bridge in 21st Century Education.”

Optimization of Lignin Precipitation with Functional Group Control for Use in Bio-Based Polyurethane Foams
AIChE Undergraduate Student Poster Competition

#mtuchemeng

By Chemical Engineering.

Local ACS Chapter Hosts 2017 Student Research Symposium

ACS SRS RoomThe Upper Peninsula Local Section of the American Chemistry Society invites you to the 2017 Student Research Symposium. This year’s research symposium will be held on Northern Michigan’s campus within the atrium of the New Science Facility on Saturday, March 25. The event starts at 9:30 a.m.

The purpose of the event is to provide a venue for students to present their research in chemistry, chemical engineering and related fields. This symposium is an excellent opportunity for students, faculty and the community at large to learn about the interesting research being conducted in the UP. More details can be found online.

You can also check out our Facebook page for more information.

All are welcome. There is no charge to attend. RSVP here.

By Robert Handler, Chemical Engineering.

PCA Panel Discussion for Chemical Engineering Students Fall 2016

The Presidential Council of Alumnae at Michigan Tech held a panel discussion in Chem Sci 101 on September 22, 2016. Alumnae gave presentations about their careers.

  • Christine Cowell: Introduction
  • Laurie Dorschner: Identifying and selecting career opportunity
  • Heidi Gieger: PIE to power your career: Performance Image Exposure
  • Sally Heidke: How to seek out and use a mentor
  • Jill Meister: Skills you gain throughout your career, balancing work/family
  • Adrienne Minerick: Work hard play Hard, be in the moment
  • Karen Wallace: “Oh the places you will go….”
  • Tina Schmiedel: The power of understanding the financials – professionally and personally

WATCH THE VIDEO

Closed captioning available.

PCA CHE Fall 2016

Shonnard is an Invited Panelist

David Shonnard
David Shonnard

David Shonnard (Robbins Chair, ChE) and Robert Handler (SFI) have been invited as panelists in a breakout session at the Alternative Aviation Fuel Workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) in Macon, Georgia September 14-15, 2016.

Handler will attend and join other experts from government, industry and academia to promote the environmental sustainability of biofuels in the aviation industry. Further information can be obtained from Handler at 7-3612 or rhandler@mtu.edu.

From Tech Today.

Shonnard Delivers SCPPE Keynote Address

David Shonnard
David Shonnard

David Shonnard (ChE/SFI) delivered the keynote address at the 4th International Conference on Sustainable Chemical Product and Process Engineering (SCPPE) held in Nanjing, China from May 31 – June 3, 2016.

The conference was hosted by Nanjing Tech University and the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering.

Shonnard provided an update on research into sustainable biofuels through environmental life cycle assessment.

From Tech Today.

Global Future: People, Progress, Energy and Engineering

William Colton Talk 2016
William Colton Talk 2016

Department of Chemical Engineering Presents

William M. Colton
Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning
Exxon Mobil Corporation

Global Future: People, Progress, Energy and Engineering

Fisher Hall 135
Tuesday, April 5, 2016, 4:00 pm

ABSTRACT: By 2040, the world’s population will have reached 9 billion, and global GDP will have more than doubled. This economic progress translates into improved standards of living for billions of people. Energy underpins standards of living everywhere in the world, and the need for affordable and reliable energy in the 21st century remains vast. Global energy demand is expected to grow 25% by 2040 and, to keep pace with demand, the world will need to pursue all economic energy sources. These sources include oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and renewables. At the same time, the CO2 intensity of the global economy is expected to be cut in half by 2040. These advances, for the economy, for people’s living standards, for the expansion of energy types and supplies, and for the environment, are enabled by technology. Technology has the highest potential to help meet our economic, energy and environmental goals—reinforcing the critical role played by scientists and engineers.

BIOGRAPHY: Mr. William (Bill) M. Colton is Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning for Exxon Mobil Corporation as of February 1, 2009. In this role, he oversees all of the corporation’s strategic planning activities and the development of its Energy Outlook, ExxonMobil’s assessment of global energy trends.

Mr. Colton received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1975. He joined Exxon Corporation in 1975 and his career has been spent in both upstream and downstream businesses throughout ExxonMobil, including project development, refining, lubes, synthetic fuels and natural gas marketing.

Mr. Colton also worked in finance and planning positions, including ExxonMobil corporate headquarters and eight years overseas in Tokyo and Bangkok. Mr. Colton’s previous assignment was as the Corporation’s Assistant Treasurer.

View the Presentation Photo Gallery in Chemical Engineering 2016

Dr. David Wood, Ohio State University- A Grain Processing Seminar in chemical Engineering

Dr. David W. Wood

Ohio State University

Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

 

Friday-March 22, 2013

10:00 a.m.

 MUB-Alumni Lounge

 

New Technologies from Engineered Self-Modifying Proteins

Professor Wood’s work seeks to apply biological concepts of protein function, cell metabolism, genetics and evolution to the molecular-scale development of new technologies.  These goals are achieved through the development of designer fusion proteins that combine domains and functions from unrelated proteins and enzymes.  We typically combine rational protein engineering with genetic selection to create and fine-tune the desired activities.  In oseparations, we have combined a previously developed pH-sensitive self-cleaving protein with a variety of purification tags to produce simple and economical methods for purifying recombinant proteins.  Our most recent work involves rational and evolutionary approaches to optimizing our self-cleaving tags for use in a wider variety of expression hosts.  In biosensing, we have developed allosteric proteins that incorporate human hormone receptors, and have used these proteins to generate Escherichia coli strains that are growth-dependent on hormones and hormone-like compounds.  Remarkably, this genetically simple bacterial sensor can differentiate agonist from antagonist activities and has been effective in detecting a wide variety of strong and weak estrogenic compounds.  More recently, we have applied this system to the discovery of thyroid active compounds, as well as the evaluation of environmental endocrine disruptors in humans and animals, and even the discovery of possible autism-associated environmental factors.  Applications of our designed proteins are far-reaching, and include drug discovery, biosensing, drug activation, reversible knockouts for metabolic research, new genetic selection systems, and advanced cellular control strategies.