Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Archives

Nineteen Inducted into Tau Beta Pi Honor Society

Published April 24, 2017

Tau Beta Pi 2017 — Spring 2017 Michigan Beta – Tau Beta Pi Initiates

The College of Engineering inducted nineteen students into the Michigan Tech Michigan Beta chapter of The College of Engineering inducted nineteen students into the Michigan Tech Michigan Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi this past last week.

Tau Beta Pi is a nationally recognized engineering honor society, and is the only one that recognizes the engineering profession. Students who join are the top 1/8th of their junior class or top 1/5th of their senior class. The society celebrates those who have distinguished scholarship and exemplary character and members strive to maintain integrity and excellence in engineering.

Spring 2017 Michigan Beta – Tau Beta Pi Initiates:

David Adamovicz – Mechanical Engineering
Adam Augustyniak – Mechanical Engineering
Ryan Beering – Geological Engineering
Kristen Bull – Materials Science and Engineering
Raymond Coyle – Mechanical Engineering
Zachary Garavet – Computer Engineering
Phoebe Glazko – Civil Engineering
Hunter Gulbranson – Chemical Engineering
Benjamin Hubbard – Mechanical Engineering
Rebecca Phipps – Chemical Engineering
Jacob Richards – Mechanical Engineering
Chelsey Rock – Materials Science and Engineering
Lucas Simonson – Electrical Engineering
Riley Stroven – Mechanical Engineering
Victoria Swanson – Civil Engineering
Michael vonKronenberger – Electrical Engineering
Sarah Wade – Computer Engineering
Kayla Wielgus – Civil Engineering
Tyler Wittmann – Environmental Engineering

Engineering Faculty Among Those Recognized by Fraternities and Sororities

Published April 17, 2017

On April 9, more than 320 students gathered for the 11th Annual Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony held in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

In addition to the many student awards presented, Order of Omega, the Greek Life Honor Society that coordinates the awards, took the time to recognize some exceptional faculty and staff members.

There are more than 560 students in fraternities and sororities at Michigan Tech, and Order of Omega wanted to emphasize that these awards were coming directly from the students.

When writing a nomination for the Outstanding Faculty Award, students were asked to consider faculty who:

are dedicated to supporting students and helping them succeed academically
demonstrate a passion for teaching and/or research
utilize innovative teaching methods
promote academic integrity among students

When writing a nomination for the Outstanding Staff Award, students were asked to consider staff who:

are dedicated to supporting students and helping them succeed both inside and outside the classroom
demonstrate a passion for working with students
promote and inspire the Michigan Tech Values of Community, Scholarship, Possibilities, Accountability and Tenacity

The following faculty and staff members were nominated by members of the Greek community and were recognized at the 2017 Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony:

Faculty:

Evelyn Johnson (HU)
Scott Miers (ME-EM)
David Hand (CEE)
Noel Urban (CEE)

Staff:

Laura Bulleit (Dean of Students Office)
Rochelle Spencer (Student Activities)

These nominations were written by individual students and were supported by an entire fraternity or sorority. In the end, the Outstanding Faculty Award was presented to Evelyn Johnson and the Outstanding Staff Award went to Laura Bulleit.

Advisor of the Year was also awarded to a staff member, Heather Simpson (Wahtera Center). Congratulations to all of these faculty and staff members who were nominated and thank you for inspiring and motivating students.

A special congratulations to Jessie Stapleton, director of student activities, for winning the first-ever Unsung Hero Award. She was recognized for all of her hard work and dedication to the students in the Greek community.

By Student Activities.

ME-EM Nonlinear and Autonomous Systems Lab Live Tour

Published April 11, 2017

To celebrate National Robotics Week, a team from University Marketing and Communications will host a live lab tour of the Nonlinear and Autonomous Systems Lab

Nina Mahmoudian (MEEM) and Donna Fard (MEEM) will talk about their research followed by students demonstrating robots they designed to better navigate an obstacle course in the lab. Join in from 11:15 a.m. to noon Wednesday (April 12, 2017) on Facebook Live and Twitter.

#mtulive

VIEW THE VIDEO TOUR ON FACEBOOK

VIEW THE VIDEO SCREENSHOTS

Outstanding Alumni and Friends to be Recognized at Alumni Reunion Dinner Summer 2017

Published April 5, 2017

The following outstanding alumni and friends will be recognized at the Alumni Reunion Awards Dinner on campus August 4, 2017:

University Awards

Board of Control Silver Medal: Presented to persons who, through personal and professional achievement, are outstanding examples to Michigan Tech’s more recent graduates

John Drake ‘64 BS Mechanical Engineering, ‘68 MS Business Administration, Hancock, MI
Norbert Verville Sr. ‘60 BS Business Administration, Houghton, MI

Alumni Board of Director Awards

Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Presented to alumni under the age of 35 who have distinguished themselves in their careers. The award recognizes the achievement of a position or some distinction noteworthy for one so recently graduated.

Kevin Baker ‘04 BS Biomedical Engineering, ‘05 MS Materials Sciences, Royal Oak, MI

Outstanding Service Award: Presented to alumni and friends making significant contributions to the success of the Association and/or the University

Paul Mikkola ‘66 BS Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, ‘89 Honorary PhD, Bedford, NH

Distinguished Alumni Award: This award recognizes alumni who have made outstanding contributions both in their careers and to Michigan Tech over a number of years.

John Rockwell ‘79 BS Business Administration, San Jose, CA

Humanitarian Awards: Presented to those alumni and friends who, through their outstanding involvement and dedication, have made a significant contribution of volunteer leadership or service which has improved or enriched the lives of others and the welfare of humanity, and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on or bring honor to their Alma Mater

Sanna Roling ‘67 BS Biological Sciences, Spring, TX
Nicholas Schreiner ‘11 MS Environmental Engineering, Ankeny, IA

Honorary Alumni Award: This award honors individuals who have provided service and support of the university characteristic of dedicated alumni. The Association reserves this award to recognize the strongest non-alumni supporters of Michigan Tech.

John Dau, Clinton Township, MI

For additional information, contact the Alumni House.

By Alumni Engagement

Tech Enterprise Wins ASME Award for Advances in Mechanical Engineering Education

Published April 5, 2017

The Michigan Tech Enterprise Program has been selected to receive the Donald N. Zweip Innovation in Education Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The award recognizes mechanical engineering/engineering technology and closely related programs/departments for exceptional and innovative engagement in and fostering advances in mechanical engineering education, particularly those who have demonstrated exemplary contributions to the advancement of mechanical and multi-disciplinary project-based engineering education.

Donald N. Zwiep, a pioneer and champion of project based learning in mechanical engineering, showed the value of real-world projects and collaborative learning as an exceptional pedagogy. A long-serving mechanical engineering department head at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a dedicated ASME member and past president, he was uniquely positioned to strengthen the bonds between the Society and the engineering departments through outcomes based accreditation, project based learning, and engagement of both students and faculty in their professional society.

Michigan Tech’s Enterprise Program will receive their award during the Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. The ceremonies are part of the ASME Mechanical Engineering Education Leadership Summit, April 18-19 in Washington, DC.

The award includes a $2,000 Honorarium and Certificate to the program and travel support to the conference.

The Enterprise Program will give a 10-15 minute presentation during the awards luncheon.

Gerdau Steel Tour 2017

Published March 29, 2017

Steel Twenty-two Michigan Tech students returned from a three-day, all-expense-paid tour of Gerdau’s Long Steel North America facility in St. Paul, Minnesota yesterday. The trip was hosted by Career Services and made possible through a grant from the Association for Iron and Steel and Gerdau, a Michigan Tech corporate partner.

Gerdau is a leading supplier of long steel worldwide and the world’s largest automotive industry supplier. From process engineers to quality managers, Gerdau has a strong tradition of hiring Michigan Tech students for internships and full-time employment.

During the tour, students took a firsthand look at the steelmaking process and networked with Gerdau plant leadership and Michigan Tech alumni. Stacey Donnelly, experiential education and career development assistant in Career Services, accompanied the students on their trip.

Jessica Geroux, a mechanical engineering student, said,

The St. Paul Gerdau Mill graciously hosted us, sharing professional and personal insight from a panel of esteemed Tech alumni, while granting us an inside glimpse into the steel industry through an intensive, educational tour of the mill.

Story by Career Services.

2017 SURF Awards to Eight Engineering Undergraduates

Published March 28, 2017

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will fund 20 students from across the University with funds from the office of the Vice President for Research. Previous SURF award recipients have included Goldwater Scholarship and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipients. Since 2002, SURF students have co-authored 71 peer-reviewed publications. This year’s recipients, project titles and advisors are listed on the SURF webpage.

Kaylie Butts, Rachel Schlicker and Quelyn Bekkering received Honorable Mention.

By Will Cantrell.

2017 Award Recipients in Engineering Programs

Student Name	Student’s Major	Advisor/Department	Project Title
Jessica Benson	Biomedical Engineering	Jeremy Goldman / Biomedical Eng.	Evaluating Biodegradeable Zinc Stent Materials
James Gooding	Chemical Engineering	Shiyue Fang / Chemistry	Digital History of Historic Mineralogical Instruments at the A.E. Seaman Museum
Amanda Kautzer	Biomedical Engineering/Eng. Management	Rupak Rajachar / Biomedical Eng.	Multi-arm PEG-based Hydrogels for Tendon and Ligament Repair
Darian Reed	Civil Engineering	Pasi Latula / Civil & Environmental Eng.	Evaluation of Methods to Record Head Orientation in Driving Simulator and In-Vehicle Study Environments
Marissa Schorr	Geology	Chad Deering / Geological & Mining Eng.	Filling in the Gaps: Finding the Missing Detrital Zircon Puzzle Pieces to the Magmatic Evolution of the Mt. Princeton Batholith, Colorado
Luke Weidner	Geological Engineering	Thomas Oommen / Geological and Mining Eng.	Validation of a Landslide Susceptibility Model Using Ground Movement Image Correlation in Parwan Province, Afghanistan
Travis Wigstrom	Chemical Engineering	Shiyue Fang / Chemistry	A Novel Carboxylic Acid Protecting Group Deprotectable Under Mild Neural Conditions
Aubrey Woern	Mechanical Engineering	Joshua Pearce / Materials Science	Techno-Economic Analysis of Flexible Filaments Used in 3D Printing vs. Traditional Manufacturing

Engineering Students Participate in URS 2017

Published March 21, 2017

Winners Announced!

Brian Flanagan
Computer Engineering
The Effects of Uncertain Labels on Damage Assessment in Remotely Sensed Images
SECOND PLACE WINNER

Drew Hanover
Mechanical Engineering
Building-to-Grid Predictive Power Flow Control for Demand Response and Demand Flexibility Programs
THIRD PLACE WINNER

Trevyn Payne
Chemical Engineering
Separation of Individual Components from Lithium-Ion Batteries
HONORABLE MENTION

Hannah Marti
Biomedical Engineering
Psychophysiological Effects of Acute Mindfulness Meditation
HONORABLE MENTION

Several undergraduate students in engineering disciplines participated in Michigan Tech’s Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) on March 17, 2017, in the Rozsa Lobby. Hosted by the Pavlis Honors College, the URS highlights the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.

READ THE ABSTRACTS

Participating engineering students included:

Dakota Anderson
Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering
Improving Upper-Body Muscle Conditioning While Training at Low Intensities

Alicia Ball
Chemical Engineering
Effect of pH & Mineral Chemistry on Settling of Mineral Particles

Erica Coscarelli
Environmental Engineering
Impact of Dissolved Organic Matter & Its Transformation to Ultraviolet Photolysis Process in Engineered Water & Wastewater Treatment Systems

Aaron Dean
Mechanical Engineering
Effectiveness of Using SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study Data to Analyze Driver Behavior at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

Mary Elizabeth Galbraith
Chemical Engineering
Unconventional Rare Earth Element Resources

Rebekka Guyon
Geological Engineering
Production of Biocementation from the Stimulation of Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria to Mitigate Dust Susceptibility

William Hughes
Mechanical Engineering
Investigation of Fuel Injection Systems- Fundamental Nozzle Cavitation Studies

Emily Hunt
Materials Science and Engineering
3D Printed Super-Bainitic Steel

Michelle Kelly
Environmental Engineering
Within-Reach Variation in Nitrification and Denitrification Rates in Lake Superior Tributaries

Ami Kling
Biomedical Engineering
Determination of the Effects of Hyperthermic Ablation on the Microstructure of Type I Collagen

Allysa Meinburg
Biomedical Engineering
Sensorized Suture Anchor for Real Time Monitoring of Tensile Loads

Alex Miltenberger
Applied Geophysics
Multiple-Point Geostatistical Simulation of Fracture Networks Using Secondary Ground Penetrating Radar Information

Zachary Oldenburg
Chemical Engineering
A Preliminary Economic Feasibility Study for the Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Emily Petersen
Materials Science and Engineering
Emergence of Home Manufacturing in the Developed World: Return on Investment for Open-Source 3-D Printers

Denada Planaj
Geological Engineering
Modeling Shallow and Deep Seated Landslides in Wayanad District, Kerala, India

Violet Thole
Materials Science and Engineering
Structure Property Relationships in Next Generation Ballistic Fibers

Ben Updike
Chemical Engineering
Preliminary Quantum Chemical Investigations on the Designing of Effective Catalysts for the Haber Process

Travis Wigstrom
Chemical Engineering
A Better Approach to Tritylation of Alcohols

Erica Anderson
Geological Engineering
Modeling the Potential Travel Paths of Post-Wildfire Debris Flows

Yani Beeker
Materials Science and Engineering
Open-Source Parametric 3-D Printed Slot Die System for Thin Film Semiconductor Processing

Katie Bristol
Applied Geophysics
Rock Magnetic Investigation of Carbonaceous Chondrules from the Allende Meteorite

Jeffrey Brookins
Materials Science and Engineering
Prototyping & Characterization of Zinc-Based Bioabsorbable Vascular Ligating Clips

Andrew Bruning
Mechanical Engineering
Generating Monodisperse Oxidized Methacrylated Alginate Microbeads with Specific Encapsulation Factors

Derek Burrell
Electrical Engineering
Performance Analysis of Stationary Hadamard Matrix Diffusers in Free-Space Optical Communication Links

Elisha Earley
Biomedical Engineering
Evaluating Novel Biodegradable Stent Materials

Simon Eddy
Materials Science and Engineering
Tungsten Disulfide as a Counter Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Meghan Friske
Biomedical and Electrical Engineering
Characterization of Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffold for Wound Healing Applications

Samuel Gaines
Civil Engineering
Structural Health Monitoring Using UAV’s & Kinect Sensors

Jackie Harris
Chemical Engineering
Investigation into the Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Novel Nitroxide Derivatives

Carly Joseph
Biomedical Engineering
Development of a Novel Injectable Nitric Oxide Releasing Fibrin Microgel Composite Hydrogel for Tendon Repair

Ryan Kibler
Environmental Engineering
Understanding Lake Superior Warming Through Observational Data & Model Results

Jeremy Luebke
Environmental Engineering
Changes in Tropospheric Ozone Formation With a Reduction in PM Over China

Mary Kate Mitchell
Chemical Engineering
Predicting the Rejection Efficiencies of Toxicologically Relevant Organics in Reverse Osmosis of Wastewater Reclamation Processes

Charles Newlin
Materials Science and Engineering
The Effects of Nano-Sized Particles in Ultrahigh Carbon Steels

Thomas Page
Mechanical Engineering
Linear Traverse Design Project for Research Applications in the Cloud Chamber

Emily Praznik
Environmental Engineering
Macroinvertebrates in Hammel Creek

Hao Qin
Materials Science and Engineering
Synergistic Effect of Graphene-Oxide-Doping and Microwave-Curing on Mechanical Strength of Cement

David Ross
Biomedical Engineering
Covalently Bonded Collagen Coating on PDMS Improved Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Sheet

Philip Staublin
Materials Science and Engineering
Modeling Biocorrosion of Zinc Alloys in Endovascular Environment

Valeria Suarez
Geological Engineering
Risk Assessment and Slope Stability Modelling of a Transportation Corridor in Hindu Kush Range

Brendan Treanore
Materials Science and Engineering
Substrate Active Cooling for Weld Based 3D Printing

Michigan Space Grants for Guadagno and Oppliger

Published March 20, 2017

Michigan Tech faculty, staff members and students received awards tallying $30,000 in funding through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the 2017-18 funding cycle. Award recipients within the College of Engineering include:

Undergraduate Marcello Guadagno (ME-EM) received a $2,500 research fellowship for “Stratus Meteorological CubeSat: Payload Integration and Mission Level Design” with Lyon Brad King (ME-EM).

Douglas Oppliger (EF) received $5,000 or more for “Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles for Teaching STEM Concepts” (includes augmentation).

NASA implemented the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in 1989 to provide funding for research, education and public outreach in space-related science and technology. The program has 52 university-based consortia in the United States and Puerto Rico.

As an affiliate of the Michigan Consortium, Michigan Tech has been an active participant in MSGC for approximately 20 years. MSGC funding is administered through Michigan Tech’s Pavlis Honors College.

For more information, contact Paige Hackney in the Pavlis Honors College at 7-4371 or visit the MSGC website.

Senator Gary Peters Tours Advanced Power Systems Research Center

Published March 7, 2017

HANCOCK, Mich. (WLUC) – Senator Gary Peters was in Houghton County on Friday. He’s getting an up close look at Michigan Tech’s vehicle technology research and development efforts.

Peters toured the university’s Advanced Power Systems Research Center this afternoon. The center is providing ways to reduce 20 percent of energy and fuel consumption in all vehicles, including further studies on self-driving vehicles.

Senator Gary Peters tours Michigan Tech’s Advanced Power Systems Research Center

“Having him be able to come to campus, understand our situation, understand what we’re working with and the kind of work that we’re doing, that our scientists and engineers are doing, makes all the difference in the world when he gets back to Washington,” said David Reed, Vice President of Research at the MTU APS Research Center.

Peters visits MTU for a look at autonomous vehicle technology

Senator Gary Peters said, “This is the future for the auto industry—self–driving, autonomous vehicles—and we’re seeing very stiff competition from Asian companies, from European companies that are developing this technology and one thing we know—whoever is first, is going to be at a competitive advantage and I want to make sure it’s the United States.”

Category: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Spring 2017 Michigan Beta – Tau Beta Pi Initiates:

2017 Award Recipients in Engineering Programs

Winners Announced!

Senator Gary Peters tours Michigan Tech’s Advanced Power Systems Research Center

Peters visits MTU for a look at autonomous vehicle technology