Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Qi Zhong

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Qi Zhong
Physics

I came to Michigan Tech in Spring 2014 and joined Dr. Ramy El-Ganainy’s group in Summer 2016. Currently, my research focuses on the fundamental aspects and applications of non-Hermitian physics. In general, non-Hermiticity arises in open systems that exchange energy with their environment. Particularly, my work deals with a special type of non-Hermitian degeneracies called exceptional points. I have explored the mathematical features of these singularities as well as their potential benefit in building new photonic components such as ultra-responsive optical sensors as well as a new generation of optical amplifiers that outperform standard devices. Additionally, I am also investigating how the engineering of dissipation in non-Hermitian nonlinear optical systems can be used to build new light sources that can produce coherent light at any color on demand.

I would like to thank the Graduate School for granting me this fellowship, which will allow me to focus on my dissertation writing and thesis defense. I am grateful for the Physics Department for the continuous support and would like to thank my adviser Dr. El-Ganainy for guiding me throughout my work.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Behdad Afkhami

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Behdad Afkhami
MEEM

My good memories from Michigan Tech started from a chilly summer night of August 05, 2014 when my flight landed in Houghton! Later at the end of my first semester (Fall 2014) I joined Dr. Scott Miers’ research team and since then I have been involved in several engine-related researches. Working on my PhD research topic became serious in summer 2015 with focusing on developing a turbulent flame speed model for spark ignition (SI) engines. The novelty of the project was on incorporating the effect of flame stretch into the flame speed; the parameter that can affect the flame speed significantly or result in flame extinction and high unburned hydrocarbon emission especially right after ignition in SI engines. To visualize the flame, its propagation and the flame stretch in a SI engine, an optically accessible-engine was utilized and tested in Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC). I want to take this opportunity to also thank Dr. Jeffery Naber, the director of APSRC for all his helps and contributions to the project.

During my graduate studies I was fortunate enough to serve as a Teaching Assistant since Spring 2015, getting promoted to the Lead Teaching Assistant in Fall 2016, and selected to receive the Distinguished Doctoral Teaching Fellowship in Spring 2019 as the instructor of Mechanical Engineering Practice 2 (MEP2) course in the ME department.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Graduate School at Michigan Tech for this financial support. This gave me an opportunity to focus on my dissertation and put all my efforts toward completion of my PhD degree. And, last but not the least, I want to thank snow and Mont Ripley which helped me to stay powered during the Houghton long winters :).

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Ruizhe Si

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Ruizhe Si
Civil Engineering

I came to Michigan Tech in Fall 2015 after finishing my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at Changsha University of Science and Technology.

My research is focused on improving the performance of the geopolymers and analyzing the multiscale structure and chemical composition of materials. Geopolymer is a type of binder material similar to cement paste. The production of the geopolymer can potentially reduce up to 80% of CO2 emission compared with that of ordinary Portland cement. However, large drying shrinkage of the geopolymer limited its application in construction industry. My research will help to understand the shrinkage mechanisms of geopolymer and provide the methods to reduce the shrinkage of the geopolymer. All these will facilitate the large application of geopolymer and also improve the service life of this eco-friendly construction material.

I am very grateful to the Graduate School for providing me the Finishing Fellowship, which helps me focus on finishing my dissertation during the summer semester. I also want to express my gratitude to my advisor Dr. Qingli Dai, who mentored me in my research and provided me many opportunities to collaborate with research groups from different universities to improve my research quality.

 

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Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2018 Recipient – Xue Mi

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Xue Mi
Chemical Engineering
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering and has been working on my Ph.D. project in Dr. Caryn Heldt’s lab since 2015 fall. My research has focused on creating methods to remove, detect, characterize, and purify viruses. Virus removal explored cheaper and easier ways to purify water; detection of viruses can be used to determine the cleanliness of surfaces from viral contamination and also possibly as a quick way to screen blood donations for viral contamination in underdeveloped countries; characterization studied viral surface properties to stabilize vaccines; purifying viruses can create less expensive vaccines and other viral therapies and bring them to market faster. All of these projects and applications can help improve both the health of our local population, but also health worldwide.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Portage Health Foundation for financial support. It allows me to focus on my paper and dissertation writing for the summer of 2019. I also want to thank my advisor Dr. Heldt for her constant help and generous support throughout my entire graduate school studies.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Grace Parikh

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Grace L. Parikh
Forest Science

I came to Michigan Tech in 2013 as a student in the Applied Ecology M.S. program with John Vucetich, where I had the privilege of working on the Isle Royale Wolf and Moose Project. The collegiality of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, in addition to the spectacular wilderness of the UP made it an easy decision to continue at MTU for a PhD, using a long-term data set compiled by Chris Webster. I have been working with John Vucetich and Chris Webster, studying winter adaptations of white-tailed deer with a 13-year data set, using a combination of field surveys, quantitative methods, and molecular techniques. I have also had a great deal of teaching experience, ranging from field to lecture-based classes.

I am very grateful for the support of my co-advisors, John Vucetich and Chris Webster. It is an honor to be awarded the Finishing Fellowship, and I look forward to wrapping up my dissertation and taking on new challenges.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Kai Zhang

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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.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Hossein Tavakoli

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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.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Nupur Bihari

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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.

 

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Three Students Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

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Three students from Michigan Tech received fellowships from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP), one of the oldest and most prestigious programs in the nation. In addition, one student received Honorable Mention in the national program.

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.

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2019 Graduate Research Colloquium Award Recipients

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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.

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.

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