Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient -Sanaz Habibi

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Sanaz Habibi
Chemical Engineering

I joined Michigan Tech as a Ph.D. student in September 2014. Since January 2015, I have been working as a graduate research assistant at Medical micro-Device Engineering Research Lab. (M.D.-ERL). My research focuses on developing and optimizing reliable low-cost point of care tools for rapid and quantitative disease diagnosis.

I want to express my gratitude to Graduate School for providing me the Finishing Fellowship. This fellowship gave me the opportunity to put my entire focus on completing my dissertation. I would also like to thank my Ph.D. advisor Prof. Minerick for her constant support and encouragement.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient – Jingyuan Wang

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Jingyuan Wang
Electrical Engineering

My research assistant position at Michigan Tech gives me an opportunity to not only work hard but also to work smart and efficiently towards my goals. I feel satisfaction and pride when helping and as a member of my research group. For my PhD research, I am working on demand response, optimal power flow, integration of distributed energy resources, improving computational performances on large-scale power grids with decentralized approaches, and developing Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation on large-scale transmission and distribution systems with Opal-RT, GAMS and Raspberry Pi server.

As a teaching assistant for two years in the past, I have learned that I should not only lead students and help them with problems, but also encourage and motivate them through open communication. By doing this, students show great enthusiasm for their study, which I find incredibly rewarding. Also, as a member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE), I communicate with female engineering alumni from Michigan Tech and learn a lot from them, such as how to balance life, work and family, and how to successfully deal with the issues that I will encounter as a female engineer in the future.
I would like to thank the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Graduate School for funding my academic endeavor. I would like to thank my PhD advisor, Dr. Sumit Paudyal, for supporting me in the past five years. I appreciated every single insightful discussion about my research with him and every single piece of suggestion that he ever gave me.
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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient – Priscilla Addison

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Priscilla Addison
Geological Engineering

My interest in engineering started in childish defiance of wanting to prove to majority of the people I came across that girls can be engineers too, and pretty great ones at that! But thankfully it ended up being something I enjoyed immensely. My personality is more logical than emotional, so in school I found myself gravitating towards the Math and Physics subjects because of the structure in them. I enjoy that these subjects can help give the breakdown of why and how most things work. During my undergrad, I majored in civil engineering but got more interested in the geotecthnical/geological aspect of the discipline because of the encompassing nature of this subfield. I like the fact that it puts me in the heart of basically everything of the built environment since geological engineering deals with virtually everything that touches the earth! In my current role as a PhD candidate, I have been developing predictive models to isolate locations in the western US that are vulnerable to debris flows occurrences after wildfires. A recent model has been able to predict 8 out of 10 of these disastrous locations, which is a great improvement on the 4 out of 10 that an earlier model was predicting a couple years ago. This makes me so happy because it is a great step towards mitigating/ preventing the devastations usually associated with these events.

Throughout my academic career, I have been so lucky to have met so many wonderful people, especially my advisor, Dr. Oommen, who has been nothing short of supportive through all the highs and lows of this wringer of a grad school journey. He truly is amazing! I am also very thankful to the Graduate School for this award of Finishing Fellowship which is making it possible for me to fully concentrate on writing my dissertation and defending it without worrying about finances anymore. Medaase— this means “thank you” in my native language, Twi.

 

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Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2018 Recipient – Xueling Li

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Xueling Li
Mathematical Sciences

I am currently a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mathematical Sciences. My research focuses on developing statistical methods and computational tools to identify genetic variants that influence the susceptibility to complex diseases. I also work with professor Dana Johnson of the School of Business and Economics to better understand service quality and patient satisfaction, and identify opportunities for improved service delivery in rural healthcare using data provided by Aspirus Keweenaw about patients in the local area.

I feel extremely honored and very grateful for the support provided by the Portage Health Foundation, which allows me to pursue such cutting-edge research here at Michigan Tech.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient – Huaguang Wang

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Huaguang Wang
Materials Science and Engineering

Huaguang WangMr. Huaguang Wang received his BS and MS degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from Central South University in China. Currently, he is pursuing her Ph.D. degree at MTU from Fall 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Bowen Li. His Ph.D. research focuses on nano-composite materials synthesis, mineral processing, and microwave technology. After the completion of his Ph.D., if an opportunity arises from his hometown university, he would be interested to take on a faculty position to perform research and teach. Secondary to that is to find R&D positions in the United States.
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Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2018 Recipient – David Rosen

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David Rosen
Biomedical Engineering

David Rosen I started my graduate study in the spring of 2015, which was the semester after finishing my undergraduate study at Michigan Tech.  Early on in my undergraduate study, I became fascinated with the general topic of biomechanics and the technologies associated with it. This fascination is what drew me to pursue graduate level research in Dr. Jingfeng Jiang’s lab. There I focus on a medical ultrasound technology called elastography, an imaging technique used to assess soft tissue elasticity in vivo.  I am particularly interested in understanding how the complicated mechanics of soft tissue manifest in elastography measurements and what that can tell us about how best to use elastography to characterize various disease states in soft tissue.

The opportunity to pursue this line of research for my graduate study has been a privilege. I am immensely grateful for the support that the Portage Health Foundation has provided me in this pursuit.

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Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2018 Recipient – Anindya Majumdar

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Anindya Majumdar
Biomedical Engineering

Anindya MajumdarI am a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engg. at MTU.  Water and biological tissues act as excellent sources of optical scatterers, and thus give rise to fascinating optical phenomena. My research focuses on ways to make use of these phenomena (specifically, speckles and phase singularities) for novel ways of imaging and analyzing motion in biophysical systems. Outside of work, my time is spent exploring the beauty of the U.P. and the surrounding areas, as well as trying out the excellent variety of student organizations at Michigan Tech.

I appreciate the assistance provided by the Portage Health Foundation during my journey at Michigan Tech, and thank them wholeheartedly.
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Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2018 Recipient – Kevin Phillips

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Kevin Phillips
Integrative Physiology
Kevin Phillips (1)

I have been living in the Upper Peninsula for 5 years and began my Ph.D. at Michigan Tech in 2015. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Integrative Physiology program. I have always loved the outdoors and exercise. Therefore, my research is focused on understanding how environmental demands and thermal interventions (hot/cold water immersion) influence performance and the perception of fatigue during physical exercise. We use a variety of techniques to quantify muscle and brain activation during these fatiguing tasks. This research may provide us with important implications for improving athletic performance and managing the perception of pain in clinical populations. I would like to thank the Portage Health Foundation, Michigan Tech, and my mentors. Their support has provided me with an incredible opportunity to accomplish my goals.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient – Xin Yan

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Xin Yan
Chemistry

Xin YanI came to Michigan Tech in August 2012 and work in chemistry lab with my advisor, Dr. Lanrong Bi for 6 years. Before my graduate studies, I earned my bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China.

My current research focuses on designing of novel fluorescent probes which are used to label targeted lysosome and mitochondria. These probes can be used for facilitating early cancer diagnosis, cancer prevention and cancer therapy. Besides research projects, I also worked as a teaching assistant in several chemistry laboratories. These teaching experiences also benefits me a lot.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Graduate School for providing me with this financial support. This fellowship allows me to focus on my dissertation and complete my PhD degree on time. I am also grateful to my advisor and the chemistry department. I feel proud to be a student in Michigan Tech.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Fall 2018 Recipient – Zhimin Song

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Zhimin Song
Environmental Engineering

Zhimin SongI came to Michigan Tech in Fall 2013 and got my Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering in 2017 with a GPA of 3.9. I started my Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Paul Doskey in 2015, which focusing on the “diagenesis of organic matter in peat and porewater of a poor fen”. This program studies the seasonal variation of organic matters in the peatland. Peatlands, as unbalanced wetland ecosystems, contain approximately 30% of the global soil carbon. This large amount of carbon is so sensitive to variations in the climate system that it can serve as the indicator for climate changes. Understanding how the organic matter decomposition at different seasons is of great importance.

My study was conducted at an extensive poor fen peatland in Nestoria, Michigan, USA (46.34º N, 88.16º W). Our field sampling was conducted monthly at three different experimental plots and three different depth under the ground. We were able to track the organic matter decomposition through the year and see the effect of plant functional groups and sampling depths on the organic matter decomposition inside the peatland. These research experiences are invaluable to me as an international student from China.

I would like to thank my adviser Dr. Paul Doskey, my committee member Dr. Erik Lilleskov, and Dr. Evan Kane for their guidance and contributions to these projects. These works cannot be done without their unconditional support. I would also like to thank the Graduate School for granting this finishing fellowship. It really helped a lot reducing my financial burden and allows me to focus on writing my dissertation.

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