Assistant Professor Audrey Mayer was recently awarded a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Audrey will be working with Dr. Virginia Dale at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Professor Mark Rouleau of the Social Sciences department, on a computer simulation modeling project titled “Regional-scale impacts of bioenergy and carbon sequestration policies for nonindustrial private forests in Michigan and Tennessee.”
Professor Martin Jurgensen has received $50,000 from the US Department of Agriculture for a one-year project, “Below Ground Processes Associated with Fire Management and Naturally Occurring Charcoal of Application of Biochar.”
The Michigan Technological University Chapter of Xi Sigma Pi, National Forestry Honors Fraternity, is pleased to welcome fourteen new members to their society on April 18, 2011.
Congratulations to:
-Amber Oja
-Bethany Blease
-Ben Kamps
-Gerald Jondreau
-David Kossak
-Paul Gerhart
-Kenneth Carruthers
-Micheal Premer
-Michelle Kroll
-Amy Berns
-Jennifer Boettger
-Conor Bell
-Kenneth Kettler
-Meghan Stan
The society’s advisor is Dr. Jim Pickens of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. Congratulations to all the new members.
Assistant Professor Oliver Gailing has received $10,870 from Hanes Trust for a one-year project, “Hybridization and Local Adaptation in Quercus Rubra L. and Q. Ellipsoidalis E.J. Hill in Michigan.”
Assistant Professor Catherine Tarasoff has received $21,053 from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for a 17-month project, “Restoration of Sage-Grouse Habitat on Mined Sites.”
| The Vice President for Research has announced this year’s recipients of the Research Excellence Fund Awards, which total $502,378 among 27 people.
Recipients from the School from the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science nd their respective award categories are: Mentoring Grants – Oliver Gailing Research Seed Grants – Michael Falkowski and Oliver Gailing Infrastructure Enhancement Grants – Andrew Burton, “Improving Michigan Tech’s Ability to Quantify Stable Isotopes of Water” Forty-six proposals, totaling $1.2 million, were submitted. “We thank all of the members of the review committee for their important role in this process,” said David Reed, Vice President for Research. |
April, 2011—Chandrashekhar Joshi, a professor of plant molecular biology in Michigan Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, has been named the winner of the University’s 2011 Research Award.
The annual Research Award recognizes a Michigan Tech faculty member for outstanding achievement in research. The award is based on the impact that the researcher has made toward advancing knowledge or the state of scholarship in his or her field, as evidenced by either a sustained productive scholarly endeavor or a single noteworthy breakthrough.
Joshi’s research focuses on understanding how trees make cellulose. “We have been unraveling the process of cellulose synthesis in trees for over a decade now,” he said. “We hope that one day sustainable, renewable and improved bioenergy and other useful products will result from our research.”
SFRES Dean Peg Gale called Joshi “an excellent scientist, mentor, teacher and scholar. His research is groundbreaking, and he passes his knowledge on to others so that they might someday be greater than him. Shekhar has increased the reputation and visibility of Michigan Tech for quality research through his efforts. He certainly deserves this prestigious award.”
Among those recommending Joshi for the award was Stephen P. DiFazio, an associate professor of biology at West Virginia University. “His work is of fundamental importance in the burgeoning biofuels field, and his expertise is widely respected in the scientific community and beyond,” DiFazio said.
Joshi has contributed to three patents and received more than $6.5 million in research funding over the past three decades, said Professor Laigeng Li of the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “Just as noteworthy as his sustained productivity in the laboratory are his contributions to foster the advancement of knowledge among students from the undergraduate to postgraduate levels,” Li added.
Joshi said: “I am truly humbled and touched by my selection for one of the most prestigious awards at Michigan Tech,” Joshi said. “Michigan Tech is the place where dreams of building a better future really come true. I am grateful to Dean Peg Gale, my students, associates and colleagues at Michigan Tech, and friends and family around the world for inspiration, trust and support over the years.”