Author: Mary Stevens

Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Kai Zhang

Kai Zhang
MEEM

Mr. Kai Zhang received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology, and MS degree at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in MEEM department under the supervision of Dr. Chunpei Cai. His research focuses on plasma simulations, and theoretical and/or numerical analysis of rarified gas flows. After the completion of his Ph.D. degree, he would return to China to teach and continue his research as a university faculty in Hunan. He wishes to bring the education experience at MTU to his future students and strive for academic excellence.

Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Hossein Tavakoli

Hossein Tavakoli
Environmental Engineering
I came to Michigan Tech in August 2014 to pursue my PhD in Environmental Engineering. My research focuses on the environmental and socioeconomic impact of algae cultivation, and algal biofuel production. Apart from research, I have been involved with the Graduate Student Government (GSG) at Michigan Tech since 2016 in various capacities as department representative, sustainability liaison, and president. I have also been working as a Teaching Assistant in different departments which has been an invaluable experience for me.

I am truly grateful to the Graduate School for providing me with financial support through the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship. This fellowship helps me in focusing exclusively on finishing the experiments and publishing in journals to complete my dissertation in a timely manner.

Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Nupur Bihari

Nupur Bihari
Materials Science and Engineering

I moved to the beautiful city of Houghton as a Master’s student in Electrical Engineering and worked on my thesis (under Dr. Paul Bergstrom) on a microfabricated blood typing sensor. Continuing to explore semiconductor microfabrication and vacuum systems, I joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Fall 2016 under Dr. Joshua Pearce. I began my PhD research on integrating the disparate worlds of additive manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication.

Additive manufacturing is radically changing the way polymer-based components are manufactured. It has enabled customization, reduced costs and led to unprecedented growth in the acceptance and use of polymers in scientific research equipment. Despite the ubiquity of 3-D printed materials in research applications, they have remained conspicuously absent from semiconductor research, primarily due to their apparent incompatibility with vacuum equipment. This incompatibility is mainly in terms of outgassing of volatile organic species. Outgassing in polymers arises when low molecular mass entities present in the material matrix escape when exposed to vacuum. If polymers are coated with a conformal, crystalline, inorganic film introduced with atomic layer deposition (ALD), then outgassing can be reduced to a large extent because the surface layer acts as a seal to prevent these low molecular weight species present in the bulk of the material from escaping. Going a step further, I am in the process of building a first of its kind ALD system almost entirely out of 3-D printed polymeric materials.
I would like to express my gratitude to Graduate School for the finishing fellowship. I am honored to have my research get this recognition.

 

Three Students Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Rose Turner, Gabriela Shirkey and Helena Keller were named GRFP Fellows while Katelyn Kring received Honorable Mention.

Turner, from Berkley, Michigan, graduated from Michigan Tech in December with a bachelor’s in environmental engineering. She was the student speaker for Fall Commencement and is planning to pursue graduate studies in Environmental Engineering here at Michigan Tech

Katelyn Kring, from Portage, MI, graduated from Michigan Tech in December and is continuing as a first-year master’s student in Tech’s Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences.

Shirkey, from Manitou Beach, Michigan, graduated from Michigan Tech in the Fall of 2013 in scientific and technical communications  and is currently studying geography at Michigan State University.

Keller, from Elk River Minnesota, graduated from Tech in Spring 2014 with a degree in Chemistry. She is currently studying macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

THE NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.

2019 Graduate Research Colloquium Award Recipients

Top three GRC poster presentations:

  1. Janna Brown, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  2. Laura Schaerer, Department of Biological Sciences
  3. Avik Ghosh, Department of Chemistry

Top three GRC oral presentations:

  1. Nabhajit Goswami, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  2. Nicholas Gerstner, Department of Humanities
  3. Jeremy Bigalke, Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology

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.

Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award:

Chemical Engineering

  • Aaron Krieg
  • Daniel Kulas

Chemistry

  • Vagarshak Begoyan
  • Charles Schaerer

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Dongdong Ge
  • Christa Meingast
  • Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi
  • Darud E Sheefa
  • Sarah Washko

Cognitive and Learning Sciences

  • CatherineTislar

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Mehdi Malekrah

Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

  • Brandi Petryk

Humanities

  • Elizabeth Renshaw

Mathematical Sciences

  • Jacob Blazejewski
  • Nattaporn Chuenjarem

Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics

  • Ahammad Basha Dudekula
  • Siddharth Bharat Gopujkar
  • Cameron Hansel
  • Erica  Jacobson
  • Luke Jurmu
  • Mingyang Li
  • Si Liu
  • Niranjan Miganakallu
  • William Pisani
  • Samantha Swartzmiller
  • Upendra Yadav
  • Zhuyong Yang

Physics

  • Lisa Eggart
  • Nicholas Videtich

Social Sciences

  • Sun Nguyen
  • Daniel Trepal

Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship:

Atmospheric Sciences

  • Janarjan Bhandari
  • Kamal Kant Chandrakar

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  • Jeffrey Kiiskila

Biomedical Engineering

  • Anindya Majumdar

Chemistry

  • Mingxi Fang
  • Shahien Shahsavari

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi
  • Xinyu Ye
  • Shuaidong Zhao

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Wyatt Adams

Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

  • Priscilla Addison

Humanities

  • Nancy Henaku

Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology

  • Jeremy Bigalke

Mathematical Sciences

  • Matthew Roberts

Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics

  • Sampath Kumar Reddy Boyapally
  • Oladeji Fadayomi
  • Hui Huang
  • Xian Li
  • Miles Penhale
  • Nikhil Appasaheb Shinde
  • Rahul Jitendra Thakkar
  • Mitchel Timm
  • Xiucheng Zhu

Physics

  • Chad Brisbois
  • Dolendra Karki

School of Business and Economics

  • Garrett  Mitchell
  • David Renaldi
  • Gina  Roose
  • Dylan Steman

Social Sciences

  • John Barnett
  • Erin Burkett
  • Robert Zupko

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.

Graduate Student Service Award:

  • Daniel Byrne, Department of Computer Science
  • Nabhajit Goswami, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Ami Kling, Department of Biomedical Engineering

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.

Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee:

  • Jacob J. Blazejewski , Mathematical Sciences

The MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition recognizes and rewards distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition Nominee:

  • Sagda Osman, School of Technology

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.

Council for Graduate Schools/ProQuest Nominee:

  • Erin C. Pischke, Social Sciences Department
  • Lauren N. Schaefer, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Department.

New Graduate School Awards to Graduate Programs Innovations to Enhance Graduate Student Recruitment and Enrollment Award:

  • Significant Enhancement in Recruitment and Enrollment Award – For creative strategies to enhance growth in graduate programs. Awarded to Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) Participation – For highest participation at the GRC. Awarded to Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry
  • Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Participation – For highest participation at the 3MT competition. Awarded to Biological Sciences

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.

Exceptional Staff Member Recipient:

  • Brittany Buschell, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Exceptional Graduate Mentor Recipient:

  •  Melissa F. Baird, Social Sciences

Exceptional Student Leader Recipient:

  • Karina Eyre, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Exceptional Student Scholar:

  • Miles Penhale , ME-EM

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.

Michigan Tech Gold & Black Give Back: 24-Hour Giving Challenge April 11

Please support the Graduate School Alumni Challenge. If we receive 50 donations of any size the Michigan Tech Alumni Board will donate $5,000 to the Graduate School Emergency Fund. To make your donation on April 11th, please visit the Gold and Black Give Back website, scroll down to the Graduate School Alumni Challenge and click on the trophy icon.

Your donation will be used to assist graduate students with emergencies or financial hardships outside of their control. The Emergency Fund has assisted over 20 graduate students in the last year. We look forward to your support.

Go Huskies!

Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Tech with a Design Thinking Workshop

Did you know there is a whole ecosystem of resources to tap into for your entrepreneurial and innovative ideas here on campus?
GSG is excited to host a cafe style information session about the resources provided by Tech’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem today, April 3, 2019, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) Room 202. Come learn about how graduate students can get involved in design thinking, Smartzone, Husky innovate and more!
The cafe information session will be followed by a design thinking workshop where you will get a chance to help GSG in a design thinking exercise about “How might [GSG] improve communication of key information to graduate students?” If you are tired of receiving GSG emails, this is YOUR chance to impact how we disseminate information.
Light refreshments will be provided for attendants.  Registration for the event is required, but there is still plenty of space!! Reserve your spot at the following link:

Exploring Career Options & Managing the Job Search as an International Student – April 10

Professional Development Workshop Sponsored by GSG, and the Graduate School
An interactive workshop discussing various paths graduate students can take with their degrees.  This will also be followed by a condensed version of “Managing the Job Search as an International Student.
See registration link for room and time: https://mtu.libcal.com/event/5018426

Superior Health Foundation Community Ambassadors in Health Scholarship

Do you know of students who are looking to:

  • Engage in community service locally
  • Build hands-on skills and knowledge in community health and wellness
  • Join a learning community that reflects on community service, health and wellness

Students interested in contributing to the health and wellness of the local community should consider applying for the Superior Health Foundation Community Ambassadors in Health Scholarship.

Undergraduate scholarship recipients will receive $500 for the semester they participate in the program. Graduate scholarship recipients will receive $1,000.

Students will partner with a service-oriented organization, such as those that address health care, food security, mental health, obesity, health education or environmental health.

Residents of the Upper Peninsula are especially encouraged to apply and will be given priority consideration. Check out our site for more detailed information on eligibility and how to apply.

This scholarship opportunity is made possible through the generosity of the Superior Health Foundation, and all enrolled Michigan Tech students may apply.

The application deadline is Monday, April 15.

If you have any questions, contact Kari Henquinet.