IndiaWest, a newspaper for and about Indian Americans, reported that Bhakta Rath, a 1958 Michigan Tech alumnus and supporter who established the Bhakta Rath Research Award, is one of three Indian Americans honored by ASM International.
The following alumni will begin their six year Director terms at the Reunion meeting Thursday and Friday (Aug. 4-5).
- Daniel Batten ’88, ’90 Mechanical Design Engineering Technology and Business Administration from Jenison, Michigan
- Derek Chapel ’05 Electrical Engineering from Petoskey, Michigan
- Joseph Gallo ’11 Mechanical Engineering / Electrical Engineering from Midland, Michigan
- Jenna Joestgen ’10 Biomedical Engineering from Appleton, Wisconsin
- Kristin Kolodge ’95 Mechanical Engineering from Harrison Township, Michigan
- Emily McDonald ’12 Environmental Engineering from Ferndale, Michigan
- Dennis Sage ’86 Scientific and Technical Communication, Arlington Heights, Illinois
- Andrew Burton ’97 (SFRES)-new faculty representative
Great Lakes Research Center Hosts Alumni and KSEF
Faculty, staff and students at the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) are hosting and participating in a number of events during Alumni Reunion and in partnership with the Keweenaw Science and Engineering Festival (KSEF). The campus community is invited to join alumni and KSEF attendees at the following GLRC led activities:
- “Layers of Superior,” an art show featuring work created by Hancock High School art students and inspired by Lake Superior, is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3-Friday, Aug. 5. The exhibit is located in the first floor lobby of the GLRC.
- Join Michigan Tech’s Center for Science and Environmental Outreach at Kestner Waterfront Park for the Keweenaw Science and Engineering Festival’s Family Engineering Day from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday.
- On Thursday from 3 to 4 p.m., the new donor wall will be dedicated in the first floor lobby of the GRLC. All are invited to the dedication launching the GLRC’s Buy a Fish campaign. Funds raised will support student opportunities, research and facilities improvements. Dedication remarks are scheduled for 3:15 p.m. in the GLRC’s first floor lobby.
- Come on down to the GLRC from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday for the GLRC’s Water Festival. Tour a 47 foot Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat, drive an underwater robot, see zooplankton up close, listen to Lake Superior while learning about underwater acoustics research and learn how faculty collect and use data to make predictions on the spread of invasive aquatic species. Visit this link for a full schedule of the Water Festival activities.
From Tech Today, by Elizabeth Hoy.
Science and Engineering Festival begins
The 2nd Annual Keweenaw Science and Engineering Festival has begun, featuring three days of hands-on activities based on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Most of the events all families to participate with their children, like the Family Engineering Day put on by Michigan Center for Science and Environmental Outreach.
Read more and watch the video at ABC 10 UP, by Rick Allen.
New slide shows feature Keweenaw Science and Engineering Festival, alumni visitors, Science Fair winners, Lake Superior Celebration
Keweenaw Now captured some of the highlights of these events with photos we have now posted in our new slide show format. We also have added a slide show on the Western UP Science Fair winners and the April 26 Lake Superior Celebration at the GLRC. (See Slide Show announcement and links in our right-hand column).
Read more and watch a video presentation by Pengfei Xue at Keweenaw Now by Michele Bourdieu.
Dr. Sarah Rajala, Dean of the Iowa State University College of Engineering, has earned the National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) – representing 17 multidisciplinary engineering societies from industry, government and academia. Rajala received the award on April 18 at a ceremony in Washington D.C. Rajala earned her bachelor’s degree from Michigan Technological University in 1974 and master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University.
The AAES National Engineering Award recognizes Rajala’s outstanding service in three key areas: 1) inspirational leadership at the institutional, national and international levels; 2) innovations in engineering education and assessment; and 3) her tireless efforts to promote diversity in the engineering field.
“It is indeed appropriate that Sarah Rajala receive the AAES National Engineering Award,” said Joseph J. Rencis, president of the American Society for Engineering Education, one of the AAES member societies. “She is a trailblazer and embodies the criteria of inspirational leadership and devotion to engineering education, advancement of the engineering profession and promotion of public policies.” Rencis also praised Rajala’s diversity efforts, adding “Sarah has recognized the engineering profession cannot achieve full success without full participation of the rich diversity of talent in our global population.”
From Michigan Tech, Rajala received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2008; was inducted into the Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy in 1997; became a charter member of the Presidential Council of Alumnae in 1997; and earned the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1986.
Rajala joined Iowa State in 2013, after having served as the first female dean of the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. Before she became dean, Rajala was the first female tenure-track professor in the engineering department at North Carolina State University, where she organized networking activities for the college of engineering women faculty and helped create a maternity leave policy for tenure-track faculty members where none had existed.
In the classroom and through professional organizations, Rajala has worked to improve engineering education for students. She has received numerous teaching awards, provided key leadership related to reform engineering education, and was elected president of the American Society for Engineering Education [ASEE] in 2008-09.
The focus of Rajala’s research is the analysis and processing of images and image sequences and engineering educational assessment. She has directed numerous master’s theses and doctoral dissertations, authored and co-authored nearly 200 publications, and secured a patent on image sequence compression.
Deborah Huntzinger, who earned her BS and PhD in Geological Engineering at Michigan Tech, is now an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ.
During her post-doc at the University of Michigan, Huntzinger was involved in research recently published in the journal Nature, “The terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.” Huntzinger is a coauthor in the research, which for the first time ever quantifies how greenhouse gas emissions vary by source sector and region.
“The comprehensive approach used to compile, synthesize, and interpret the data has led to results that bolster the understanding of human contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and point to regions where more attention is needed to manage emissions,” notes John Gierke, Huntzinger’s graduate advisor and chair of the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences at Michigan Tech.
The group’s research suggests that a reduction in agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions, particularly in Southern Asia, may help mitigate climate change.
Read more at Eurekalert.org: “Greenhouse gas bookkeeping turns on its head”, and Nature: “The terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere”.
Huntzinger’s research interests focus on improving the understanding of complex environmental systems and our ability to forecast their future variability. Her current research interests are in the integration and comparison of environmental remote sensing products, model estimates, and in situ data to advance the understanding of biospheric contributions, both spatially and temporally, to land-atmosphere carbon exchange.
The Chemical Engineering department presented a talk by Dr. James H. Comfort, General Manager, Cloud Services, IBM Cloud Division. The title was “Crafting a Career in Uncharted Waters: A Journey from Chemical Engineering to Cloud Computing and Back.” The presentation was in Fisher 135 at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday March 31st. The university was invited to attend.
Outside magazine named Houghton among the 16 best places to live in America, mentioning that Michigan Tech students double the town’s population during the school year. The article also notes Tech as one of the largest employers, praises the Nordic ski trails and mentions that Tech will host the National Cross-Country Skiing Championships in 2015 and 2016. See The 16 Greatest Places to Live in America.
Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula is known as a place of natural beauty with a fascinating mining history. Join local expert Bill Rose to learn how to read this landscape and how it came to be the way it is today. The Copper Country has a strong geoheritage comprised of five major events in Earth’s history. Rose has designed several two-day field trips that address each of these specific themes. Participants can look forward to covering lots of ground and being outside all the time with travel by boat, van and short walks.
William (Bill) M. Colton, Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning at Exxon Mobil, gave two presentations at Michigan Tech. Mr. Colton was born in Massachusetts and received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1975.
Aboard a spacecraft orbiting the moon is a little bit of Brandon Dilworth.
His body is comfortably here on Earth. But for the last several years, Dilworth has poured all his professional skill and passion into a game-changing scientific project that is now hitching a ride on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer.