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DENSO STEM Grant for Michigan Tech

Published July 17, 2018

Michigan Tech was listed among the 25 institutions of higher learning that shared in nearly $1 million in funding from DENSO International America, Inc.

DENSO Awards $1 Million in STEM Grants to 25 North American Colleges

DENSO, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers of technology and components, announced that its philanthropic arm will donate nearly $1 million in overall funding to 25 institutions of higher learning across North America to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational programming.

“Manufacturing and automotive companies need technically-minded associates now more than ever,” said David Cole, DENSO North American Foundation board member.

Acoustics in Arctic Ice Sheets

Published May 29, 2018

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Research Sites in the Arctic showing a collage of four snowy locations with researchers and equipment — Research Sites in the Arctic

As more human activity enters the Arctic, it is important to be able to detect and classify the resulting impact from human behaviors. Examples of anthropogenic impact sources might include shipping through the Northwest Passage, natural resource exploration, and tourism.

A simple way to measure this impact is to use a sparse array of acoustic and seismic sensors. In order to do that, we need to understand the propagation of acoustic energy through and between the ice, air, and water domains. With this work we begin to understand the energy propagation, which will guide us in designing and building future sensing systems in the evolving Arctic.

This work has been published by Miles B. Penhale, Andrew R. Barnard, Robert Shuchman, “Multi-Modal and short-range transmission loss in thin, ice-covered, near-shore Arctic waters,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(5).

https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5038569

2018 Employee Service Award Recognition

Published May 24, 2018

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Last Tuesday (May 15, 2018), faculty and staff members, along with their guests, gathered at the Memorial Union Ballroom for an awards dinner recognizing 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years of service to Michigan Tech.

Within the College of Engineering, the following employees were recognized:

25 Years

Bruce Mork, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Timothy Schulz, Electrical and Computer Engineering

30 Years

Warren Perger, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Charles Van Karsen, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

35 Years

David Hand, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Lawrence Sutter, Materials Science and Engineering

40 Years

Surendra Kawatra, Chemical Engineering

Congratulations to all honorees. This year’s Staff Service Recognition Luncheon will be held Wednesday, June 6.

By Human Resources.

Tech’s Frozen Engineers to Compete in Make48 Competition this Summer

Published May 3, 2018

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Michigan Tech’s Frozen Engineers were selected to represent Tech at the Make48: College vs. College competition this August in Baltimore, MD. Teams are given 48 hours to plan, prototype, and pitch an idea for prizes and licensing potential.

The Michigan Tech team consists of Mike Gazdecki (material science and engineering), Patrick Guyon (mechanical and electrical engineering), Rachel Kolb (mechanical engineering), and Ryan Thompson (mechanical engineering). The Frozen Engineers took fourth place in Michigan Tech’s 2018 Consumer Products Challenge for their single serve Margarita Machine.

Research Excellence Fund Awards Announced for 2018

Published April 30, 2018

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Jeremy Bos in the lab The Vice President for Research Office announced the 2018 Research Excellence Fund (REF) awards and thanked the volunteer review committees, as well as the deans and department chairs, for their time spent on this important internal research award process. The awardees in the College of Engineering are listed below:

Infrastructure Enhancement (IE) Grants

Daisuke Minakata (CEE/IMP) – SUNTEST XLS+Solar Light Simulator
Joseph Lacavoli (MSE/IMP) – Laser Welder
Jeremy Bos (ECE) – Interchangeable Parts – Sensor Pods
Noel Urban (CEE/GLRC) – DMA8232 Mercury Analyzer
Paul Fraley (MSE/IMP) – Testing Load Frames

Portage Health Foundation (PHF) Infrastructure Enhancement (IE) Grants

Jingfeng Jiang “JJ” (BME/LSTI) – Electromechanical Biomechanical testing apparatus (ACUMEN [3KN systems])

Research Seed (RS) Grants

Trisha Sain (MEEM)
Anjana Asthana (MSE/IMP)
Zequn Wang (MEEM)

Portage Health Foundation (PHF) Mid-Career (MC)

Feng Zhao (Bio Med)
Judith Perlinger (CEE)

Student Leadership Awards Ceremony 2018

Published April 25, 2018

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Percy Julian Award winners from 2016, 2017 and 2018. Left to right, Neffertia Tyner, Jimmie Cannon, and Logan McMillan

Outstanding students, staff and a special alumna were honored Friday, April 20, at Michigan Tech’s 24th Annual Student Leadership Awards Ceremony. The event’s keynote speaker, Captain Amanda (Taylor) Nerg ’10, was also the winner of the 2018 Outstanding Young Alumna Award. Captain Nerg earned a bachelor’s in business administration at Michigan Tech and is currently the Chief of Contracting Office at Morón Air Base in Spain, where she supports multiple Air Force, Marine and NATO missions.

Nerg says Tech helped her discover who she wanted to be, “Everything you do and have done at this University has shaped you into who you are today. Aspire to be your best and do your job with integrity and passion,” she says.

The President’s Award for Leadership, perhaps the most prestigious undergraduate award, was presented to Sarah Jo Martens, who is pursuing a degree in Environmental Engineering. Her nominators cited Martens’ numerous accomplishments including serving as President of Blue Key Honor Society, Campus Tour Guide, Orientation Team Leader and co-section Leader of the Huskies Pep Band. Martens has also played an important role in the Michigan Tech Theatre Company, having taken part in seven productions.

Gina Roose was the recipient of the Vice President for Student Affairs and Advancement Award for Service, Hossein Tavakoli received the Exceptional Leadership in Student Governance Award. The Exceptional Enthusiasm as Student Leader Award was presented to Nathan Shaiyen and the Student Employee of the Year was awarded to Madison Olmstead.

The Rising Star of the Year, presented to a first or second year student showing great potential for leadership, was awarded to Gi West. Erica Coscarelli was named Outstanding Future Alumna and Brendan Beecham was named Outstanding Future Alumnus. These awards are presented to a student living the Alumni Board of Director’s motto of “Celebrating Traditions, Creating Connections.”

Other awards handed out included:

Exceptional Program of the Year: Undergraduate Student Government’s Snowman Left Behind
Most Improved Student Organization: Indian Students’ Association
Exceptional Community Service Project: Order of Omega – Fall & Spring Blood Drives
Claire M. Donovan Award: Hossein Tavakoli
Student Organization of the Year: Mind Trekkers
Student Organization Advisor of the Year: Ellen Horsch, Alpha Gamma Delta
The Provost’s Award for Scholarship was selected from the Departmental Scholars. This year’s recipient was Dillon Babcock, Departmental Scholar from Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics.

Award recipients who received their awards at previous ceremonies were also recognized Friday. They include:

Percy Julian Award: Logan McMillan
Exceptional Graduate Student Leader: William Lytle, PhD Student, Social Sciences Department
Exceptional Graduate Student Scholar: Haihang Ye, PhD Student, Chemistry
Exceptional Graduate Mentor: Chelsea Shelly, Associate Professor, Social Sciences Department and Kathleen E.

By Student Activities.

Four Michigan Tech Teams Take Home Awards from the Central Michigan University New Venture Competition

Published April 25, 2018

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Six undergraduate student teams from Michigan Technological University traveled to Central Michigan University (CMU) to compete in the eighth annual New Venture Competition held Friday, April 13, 2018. The event was co-sponsored by Michigan Tech’s Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship (ICE). Student teams from Michigan Tech and CMU presented business plans and pitches to panels of experienced entrepreneurs. Four of Michigan Tech’s six competing teams, including those with engineering students, took home cash and in-kind awards.

Team Fitstop took first place in the pitch competition and was awarded $1,000. Fitstop founders, Gabe Giddings (computer science) and Jacob Carley (electrical engineering), participated in Michigan Tech’s I-Corps Site Program in January.

Pavlis Honors College student Kyle Ludwig won the $250 Audience Choice Award in the pitch component of the competition for his startup Looma. In addition, Looma was also awarded $1,500 in legal assistance from Foster Swift.

Michigan Tech’s Hinge was awarded second runner up in the pitch component of the competition and $250. Isaiah Pfund (mechanical engineering), Jack Horrigan (electrical engineering), and Tanner Sheahan (chemical engineering), of Hinge, participated in the Michigan Tech Consumer Products Challenge last January and are working on a self-sanitizing toilet as well as other consumer and industrial product ideas. Horrigan and Pfund were also winners of best elevator pitch at the Bob Mark competition last fall.

Michigan Tech at Earth and Space 2018

Published April 17, 2018

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The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Earth and Space 2018 conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 9-12. Michigan Tech was well represented by several talks. Paul van Susante (MEEM) is the current chair of ASCE’s Aerospace Division that organized the conference and he gave two talks: “Minerals from Space: Terrestrial and Extra-terrestrial Perspectives” and “Robotic Mars and Lunar Landing Pad Construction Using In-Situ Rocks.” He also chaired two sessions, served as a student paper judge and handed out division awards as well as the Columbia medal to Paul Wooster from SpaceX on behalf of Elon Musk.

In addition, Gregory Odegard (MEEM) presented at the pre-conference shortcourse: “Design and Analysis of Composite Materials for Aerospace Structures.” Two of his students, Hashim Al Mahmud and Will Pisani, attended the shortcourse and each presented a paper. The papers titles were: “Multiscale Modeling of PEEK Using Reactive Molecular Dynamics Modeling and Micromechanics” and “Predicting the Effective Mechanical Properties of Graphene Nanoplatelet-Carbon Fiber-Epoxy Hybrid Composites Using ReaxFF: A Multiscale Modeling Approach”.

The 2017 best paper award for the Journal of Aerospace Engineering (published by ASCE by the Aerospace Division) was awarded to “Design and Simulation of Active External Trailing-Edge Flaps for Wind Turbine Blades on Load Reduction” by Xiao Sun, Qingli Dai, Muraleekrishnan Menon and Fernando Ponta in the September 2017 issue.

https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000771

Kristina Swallow, ASCE President, attended the entire conference which concluded with a tour of NASA Glenn Research Center. For more information, visit the ASCE Earth and Space website.

2018 Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Recognize Faculty and Staff

Published April 17, 2018

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More than 300 Michigan Tech students gathered for the 12th Annual Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony Sunday 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 and 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.

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

Are dedicated to promoting the Michigan Tech Greek community values and chapter values
Are dedicated to developing leaders within the chapter; are dedicated to promoting a values-based organization
Promotes and role models ethical leadership and promotes academic success among members and the chapter as a whole.

The following faculty and staff members were nominated by members of the Greek community and were recognized at the 2018 Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony

Faculty—Sean Clancey (ChE), Cameron Hadden (MEEM). Staff—Joseph Cooper (Student Financial Services), Scott Wendt (ChE). Advisors—Laura Bunzendahl-Bulleit (Dean of Students Office), Bobbie Dalquist (Financial Information Systems), James DeClerck (MEEM), Alyssa Fredin (Financial Aid).

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 Cameron Hadden and the Outstanding Staff Award went to Scott Wendt. Advisor of the Year was awarded to Bobbie Dalquist.

Congratulations to all of these faculty and staff members who were nominated and thank you for inspiring and motivating students.

The full list of award winners and nominees can be found on the student activities website.