College of Engineering Blog

Category: Students

Commencement Graduate Student Speaker Found His Way ‘Back Home’ to Michigan Tech

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Man in a gray sweater stands confidently in a modern office lobby with brick walls and comfortable seating areas.
Houssein Yassin ’23, who returned to Michigan Tech to earn his PhD, will address the audience as graduate speaker at Spring Commencement ceremonies on April 24.

Although Michigan Tech is thousands of miles from his upbringing in South Lebanon, Houssein Yassin ’23 began thinking of the University as home long before he ever set foot on campus. Now a PhD student in mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics, Yassin will take the podium as the 2026 Spring Commencement graduate student speaker on April 24.

“I used to watch YouTube lectures from Professor Gordon Parker, and with every lecture, Michigan Tech felt less like a university far away and more like a place where I belonged,” said Yassin. “There was a warmth in the way he taught that made me feel this was the kind of place where I could grow, be challenged, and truly shine.”

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Marathons and Water Towers: Undergraduate Commencement Speaker Talks Discipline, Service, and Community

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Undergraduate commencement speaker Caelan Mead-O’Brien stands in front of a sunny window in the DOW atrium. He is wearing a jacket and button-up shirt.
Spring ’26 undergraduate commencement speaker Caelan Mead-O’Brien focused on community and service during his time at Michigan Tech, all while learning to protect crucial natural resources, training for marathons, and more.

Caelan Mead-O’Brien, the undergraduate student speaker for the 2026 spring commencement, was enabled to come into his own personally, professionally, and academically during his time at Michigan Tech. As he prepares to graduate with a degree in environmental engineering, Mead-O’Brien recalls his first impressions of Michigan Tech, and the way his time in Houghton has helped him to learn, grow, and lead.

Though he was originally hesitant to move so far from his hometown of Okemos, Michigan, Mead-O’Brien quickly found his place in the Keweenaw.

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Michigan Tech SWE Students Travel to World’s Largest Conference for Women in Engineering

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Dean Michelle Scherer and 22 Michigan Tech students and alumni pose together at an event as part of WE25. The group is wearing name tags and conference lanyards and business casual attire.
Michigan Tech SWE student members, alumni, and College of Engineering Dean Michelle Scherer, far right, gather at WE25, the Society of Women Engineers’ annual conference.

Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is celebrating 75 years of providing a robust network of advocates for any and all looking to support women engineers and their unique place and voice within the engineering and technology industry. At Michigan Tech, our award-winning SWE section is going above and beyond to help members connect with peers and industry around the world. 

This October, Tech’s SWE section traveled with 17 students to WE25, the organization’s national conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The annual conference is the world’s largest gathering dedicated to forwarding the progress of women in engineering and technology. 

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From Co-op to Career: Michigan Tech Chemical Engineering Alum Shares His Story

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Students and employers mill around by booths and in aisles as hundreds attend Michigan Tech’s Fall Career Fair in the multipurpose room of the SDC in 2024.
Michigan Tech’s fall Career Fair is the first of two offered to all students each academic year to make connections for co-ops, internships, and full-time jobs.

As Huskies gear up for Michigan Technological University’s Fall Career Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 23, they’re looking for on-point advice to land co-ops, internships, and full-time jobs. 

Cody Woodbury ’20 has got them covered. Woodbury is a process engineer at Koppers, a global leader in the development of progressive wood treatment technologies. He’s one of the many Michigan Tech students who did a co-op with the company and went on to be hired full-time. 

In this Q&A,  the chemical engineering grad shares practical advice for students on topics like why it’s important to ask prospective employers questions, how to understand what success looks like during a co-op, and how to make the most of your time at Tech.

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The College of Engineering Graduating Class of 2025 Shares a Fond Farewell

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A crowd of Michigan Tech graduating students wearing their caps and gowns with the audience in the background.
Over 600 College of Engineering students will participate in this week’s upcoming commencement ceremonies.

More than 600 College of Engineering students will take part in Michigan Technological University commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday. While their time on campus is coming to an end, they know they’ll be Huskies forever. 

As they prepare for graduation, engineering students are reflecting on their time at Tech, sharing their dreams for the future, and offering advice to the next generation of Huskies.

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Design Expo Seeks Judges for 25th Anniversary

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Overhead photograph of the atrium in the Van Pelt Opie Library with student project presentation on display
Design Expo is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Be a part of the historic event and become a judge!

Since it began in 2000, Michigan Tech’s Design Expo has been a nexus of student innovation and industry collaboration. This year’s event marks the 25th anniversary of more than 1,000 Enterprise and Senior Design students showcasing their designs and demonstrating their real-world problem-solving skills to the community, industry partners, and Michigan Tech faculty and staff. The Enterprise Program is looking for individuals to volunteer as distinguished Design Expo judges.

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Sustainability and Collaboration Motivate Midyear Commencement Undergraduate Student Speaker

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: Aliyah Maxwell-Abrams in their graduation gown standing in front of Dillman Hall
Aliyah Maxwell-Abrams is ready for their next challenge thanks to the Michigan Tech community.

On the road to graduation, Aliyah Maxwell-Abrams left their mark on the Tech community, just as the Tech community left a lasting impression on them.

This December, they are graduating with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a minor in mathematics, and will address fellow graduates at Michigan Tech’s mid-year commencement.

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Midyear Commencement Graduate Student Speaker Knows Her Strengths

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Mehnaz Tabassum was inspired by the Keweenaw landscape and is looking to inspire the next generation of engineers. (Images courtesy of Mehnaz Tabassum)

Mehnaz Tabassum scored just 25 percent on her first midterm as a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University. She was understandably worried when her instructor for the course, Zhaohui Wang, asked Tabassum to come to her office hours following the exam. Tabbassum assumed Wang would be upset with her. 

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SWE at Michigan Tech Receives Awards, Honors, and Job Offers at Annual Conference

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Gretchen Hein ‘96, Skyler Brawley, and Amanda Smies ‘18 pose with their awards from SWE’s annual WE24 conference.

In the final weekend of October, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosted WE24, the world’s largest conference for women in engineering and technology. SWE at Michigan Tech supported the travel of 19 students to the conference in Chicago, Illinois where they attended sessions, participated in the career fair, and met with Michigan Tech alumnae from the Chicago area and SWE at large.

The WE24 Career Fair is the largest career fair for women in the world. This year, students in attendance had 17 interviews and 4 internship offers just from participating in this event. Most of the students who interviewed will be hearing in the next few weeks regarding internships and full-time offers.

As part of the conference, WE24 held a robust awards ceremony where engineers from Michigan Tech received awards for their achievements and contributions.

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Consumer Product Manufacturing Team Shares Enterprise Success Story

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Three students from the CPM Enterprise Team.
From left, Zoe Kumm, Madeline Johnson, and Jacqui Foreman in their Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise OneTumbler team photo in spring 2024. (Photo courtesy CPM Enterprise)

Michigan Tech Enterprise Teams lead to industry partnerships and the kind of experience that employers are looking for. In the case of a Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise (CPM) team, the research they conducted led to publication and fewer single-use beverage containers on campus.

CPM enterprise works on multiple projects for multiple years, with the group breaking out into subteams. For their project, the CPM OneTumbler team partnered with campus housing to give all first-year Huskies in 2023’s incoming class a Michigan Tech OneTumbler, as a way to promote sustainability on campus.

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