Jacqueline Huntoon, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $385,136 grant from the State of Michigan, Department of Education.
Christopher Wojick (CEE), Stephanie Tubman (Provost Office), Douglas Oppliger (EF) and Amanda Gonczi (GLRC) are Co-PIs on the project “2018-19 MiSTEM Advisory Council Grant.”
This is a one-year project.
By Sponsored Programs.
Tau Beta Pi initiated eighteen students and two eminent engineers into the Michigan Tech Michigan Beta chapter this semester.
A nationally-recognized engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi is the only one that recognizes all engineering professions. Members are selected from the top eighth of their junior class, top fifth of their senior class, or the top fifth of graduate students who have completed 50 percent of their coursework.
Tau Beta Pi celebrates those who have distinguished scholarship and exemplary character and members strive to maintain integrity and excellence in engineering. The honor is nationally recognized in both academic and professional settings. Alumni embody the principle of TBP: “Integrity and Excellence in Engineering.”
Spring 2019 Initiates:
Undergraduate Students
David Castelvetere: Mechanical Engineering
Laura De Marchi: Biomedical Engineering
Lucas Determan: Computer Engineering
Brooke Forseth: Civil Engineering
Dakota Frohriep: Electrical Engineering
Zachrey Gogulski: Environmental Engineering
Ben Johnson: Mechanical Engineering
Sean Luke: Mechanical Engineering
Nate Marus: Biomedical Engineering
Josh Poquette: Electrical Engineering
Cameron Reid: Chemical Engineering
Erican Santiago: Biomedical Engineering
Christian Walters: Mechanical Engineering
Jason Whitler: Mechanical Engineering
Derek Willis: Mechanical Engineering
Bronson Wood: Chemical Engineering
Graduate Students
Chaitanya Bhat: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Li Wei: Electrical Engineering
Eminent Engineers
Sean Kirkpatrick: Biomedical Engineering
Faith Morrison: Chemical Engineering
Stephen Morse was awarded an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International Committee Award of Appreciation for his outstanding contributions to the Standard Practice for Determining Load Resistance of Glass in Buildings (E1300) and the Subcommittee (E06.52) on Glass Use in Buildings.
He was recognized for his work on greatly improved design methodologies for architectural window glass.
Morse holds a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The Graduate Student Government (GSG) hosted the 11th Annual Graduate Research Colloquium March 27 and 28, to celebrate the hard work and outstanding achievements of our graduate students. The event has grown from a one-session event with a handful of participants into a two-day event with a record 85 participants, representing 17 academic schools and departments. The event ended with an awards banquet honoring presenters, award nominees and three new awards recognizing departments for supporting graduate education. Congratulations to the 2019 graduate student recipients for their outstanding accomplishments.
The Graduate School sponsors three awards to honor students that have committed an extraordinary amount of time to their studies, instructing others or serving the graduate community. These awards include: Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Graduate Student Service Award.
The Graduate Student Service Award is given to graduate students nominated by the Graduate Student Government Executive Board for their outstanding contributions to the graduate community at Michigan Tech.
Michigan Tech is a member of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS), which solicits nominations for its Excellence in Teaching Award and Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition.
The MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award participating schools are able to nominate one master’s and one doctoral level graduate students who exemplify excellence in the teaching/learning mission of our university.
The MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition recognizes and rewards distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.
Michigan Tech is also a member of the Council for Graduate Schools/ProQuest and recognizes nominees for having completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.
The GSG sponsors an Annual Merit Awards Program consisting of four awards that honor the exceptional work of one staff member, one graduate mentor and two graduate students. The recipients of these awards were nominated by their fellow graduate students and selected by the Graduate Student Government Executive Board.
Congratulations to award recipients and nominees and a huge thank you to all the presenters, judges, volunteers and GSG supporters for helping make this one of the largest colloquiums in GSG’s history.
By Graduate School and Graduate Student Government.
Fourteen students have been awarded the Portage Health Foundation Making a Difference Scholarship. The scholarships are part of a Michigan Tech-Portage Health Foundation partnership established in 2015 to support health education. This year’s recipients have an average GPA of 3.8 and represent the breadth of health-related research happening on Michigan Tech’s campus.
$8,000 Scholarship Recipients:
$4,000 Scholarship Recipients:
$1,000 Scholarship Recipients:
Bernadette Yeoman-Ouellette, chairperson of the Portage Health Foundation Board said, “I am so impressed by the caliber of our Make a Difference Scholar candidates. With the investment from the Portage Health Foundation in the form of scholarships, the seed is planted. With nurturing from Michigan Tech University, these students have every opportunity for their education to blossom into their dream careers in health care.”
“It is the synergy between the Portage Health Foundation and Michigan Tech University that allows this fruition to occur,” she added.
At the recent awards dinner, scholarship recipients and faculty members had the opportunity to hear from current students, Allie Waara and Elisha Earley, both PHF undergraduate research interns; and Alexa Destrampe, a Portage Health Foundation and Randy Owsley Memorial Athletic Trainer Scholar.
“We are especially grateful to the Portage Health Foundation for their support of our students through the Making a Difference scholarship program,” said Michigan Tech President Richard Koubek.
“Each recipient is truly deserving of the award and we are eager to see the impact these students will have on our community in the years to come.”
The 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) was held on Friday, March 29th, in the lobby of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts from 1-5 p.m. The URS highlighted the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.
The Pavlis Honors College hosts undergraduate researchers and scholars from all departments, schools and programs to present abstracts for presentation at the URS.
The winners of this year’s symposium, based on the assessment of faculty and staff judges from across campus, ARE:
First Place: Ceily Fessel Doan, Environmental Engineering, “Comparison of Nannochloropsis and Chlorelle Vulgaris Algae to Energy Efficiency in the Rio Grande Watershed” working with Alex Mayer
Second Place: Jacob LeBarre, Chemical Engineering, “Improvement of Virus Purification Method using Cation Exchange Chromatography” working with Caryn Heldt
Third Place: Kaylee Meyers, Biomedical Engineering, “Nitric Oxide Releasing Composite Hydrogels for Tendon Repair Via Matrix Metalloproteinase Controlled Pathways” working with Rupak Rajachar
Honorable Mention: Brenna Rosso, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, “Assessing the Expression and Purification of Arg-Tagged MS2 Coat Protein by Cation Exchange Chromatography” working with Ebenezer Tumban
Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Polega, Biomedical Engineering “Antibacterial Properties of Mussel-Inspired Polydopamine Coatings Prepared by Simple Two-Step Shaking-Assisted Method” working with Bruce Lee
A partnership between Michigan Tech and Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) was featured in the story “LIFT Partners with Michigan Technological University to Support Students in Advanced Manufacturing,” in Lift Technology.
DETROIT – LIFT—Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow, a national manufacturing innovation institute operated by the American Lightweight Materials Innovation Institute (ALMMII), today announced it has partnered with Michigan Technological University (MTU) on two programs – an Advanced Metalworks research project, currently underway, and Materials Science Summer Youth Program, on campus later this summer – to support student engagement in advanced manufacturing.
“The industry needs greater resolution when using welding machines,” said Russ Stein, MTU research engineer and lead program manager. “Additive manufacturing – or 3D printing – isn’t a new technology, but we are working on making it more effective, accessible and affordable.” More information on the MTU Enterprise Program can be found at https://www.mtu.edu/enterprise/
HOUGHTON — Water should be considered a basic human right, said Monica Lewis-Patrick. But in many cases, its commodification has made reliable access out of reach of struggling households.
Lewis-Patrick, the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of We the People of Detroit, delivered the keynote address Monday, March 25, 2019, as part of Michigan Technological University’s celebration of World Water Day.
Addressing the prospective engineers in the room, Lewis-Patrick urged them to move beyond mere equations and schematics.
“What we know, is that if you will serve humanity, and you begin your conversations for solving those problems with talking to the most impacted community first, I think we can get to these solutions much quicker and with fewer casualties,” she said.
This week, the Deans’ Teaching Showcase returns to the College of Engineering where Dean Janet Callahan has selected Faith Morrison, professor of chemical engineering and associate dean.
Callahan chose Morrison not only for her excellent and innovative teaching, but also for extensive historical involvement in academic advising and planning for assessment, especially for Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET).
Callahan’s words, “Professor Morrison has been focused on improving the Chemical Engineering undergraduate program throughout her career. She has been heavily involved in academic advising, assessment activities, and implementing new pedagogy to enrich her students’ learning experience. Dr. Morrison’s continuous drive to improve student learning is an inspiration to us all.”
In his nominating letter, Chemical Engineering Chair Pradeep Agrawal focused mostly on Morrison’s unique and deeply-considered teaching philosophy. He especially emphasized her willingness to continually be “flexible in developing her teaching approach to match the learning style of a younger generation.”
One such contribution that has clearly been well received is a series of YouTube videos published by Morrison on rheology and momentum transport, several of which have more than 100,000 views.
Morrison believes her fundamental purpose is to teach students how to learn, and that keeping them active in the classroom is important to this end. In her words, she gives students a chance to “attempt solutions and see how their ideas work—I allow them to lead the problem‐solving, since I believe they benefit from following where their ideas lead.”
This does not mean she allows them complete freedom. Morrison carefully chooses activities and scaffolds discussions, taking “great care to identify and organize classroom topics and to keep the conversation going.”
Agrawal also emphasized this active and carefully customized approach, which Morrison applies even in larger classes. “Faith finds ways to engage students regardless of the class size. Her approach encourages all students to achieve a minimum level of proficiency in order to pass her course, but she also provides “stretch” assignments to students aspiring to earn top grades. These “stretch” assignments are harder problems, designed to challenge the top performing students. Her unorthodox approach allows the students to work at a level commensurate with their aspirations, but also ensures a minimum level of preparedness of the subject matter. ”
Finally, Morrison was selected because, according to Agrawal, she “earns the respect of her students, in spite of maintaining a rigorous work load and standards.” Faith carefully balances the ability to “meet students where they are” and setting a high—but still appropriate—level of challenge. In her words, she has “found that when I set expectations where I need them to be, the students are able to rise to the occasion.”
Morrison will be recognized at an end-of-term luncheon with other showcase members, and is now eligible for one of three new teaching awards to be given by the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning this summer recognizing introductory or large class teaching, innovative or outside the classroom teaching methods, or work in curriculum and assessment.
By Michael R. Meyer, Director William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning.
Enrolled Michigan Tech undergraduate students are invited to participate in a new campus-wide video competition. Give us a glimpse into your day as a Michigan Tech student. Create a short video with highlights and interesting moments that capture some of the essence of your activities in this unique environment.
There will be multiple $300 and $100 prizes, up to $5,000 in total.
The aim is to generate a Day in the Life for all majors, reflecting a diversity of perspectives. Clean humor, tenacity, fun—the Tech experience!
Participants are asked to read the guidelines and follow the rules.
Hosted by the College of Engineering with sponsorship from schools and departments across campus. Contact engineering@mtu.edu with questions.