Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Ten Times Over

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A sea of stories and support behind the Class of 2014
It’s never a snapshot of just one perspective.

On campuses across the country, students are ascending one side of a stage, shaking hands, and descending as graduates, careers and experiences and possibilities laid out before them.

These are a few snapshots of one. But not just one. Rebecca Miner is finishing her third Tech degree today, a doctorate in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Her family is seated in a skybox in the arena while she’s up near the stage with the rest of the newly minted PhDs. It’s quiet in the arena. Warm. The only constant sound, aside from the voices calling names, is the sound of camera shutters capturing every moment ten times over.

Read the full news story.

Published in Tech Today by Kevin Hodur, content specialist

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Michigan Tech’s Peace Corps Masters Internation Program Tops in Nation-Again

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For the ninth year in a row, Michigan Technological University ranks as the number one university nationwide for the number of Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) students currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Michigan Tech has 32 graduate students overseas, earning the University top spot on the Peace Corps’ annual ranking of PCMI and Paul D. Coverdell Fellows graduate schools.

Michigan Tech has 10 different PCMI programs in three colleges and schools. The Peace Corps said that is the largest number of PCMI programs at any university in the nation.

In the PCMI program, students incorporate Peace Corps service as credit toward their master’s degree. The Coverdell Fellows Program provides returned Peace Corps volunteers with scholarships, internships in underserved American communities, and stipends to earn an advanced degree after they complete their Peace Corps service.

“One of Michigan Tech’s primary goals is to conduct innovative research and education that promotes sustainable economic and social development worldwide,” said Tech President Glenn Mroz. “Our Peace Corps Masters International Program is clearly achieving that goal. It speaks to Michigan Tech’s commitment that a school the size of ours is consistently first in the nation in the number of Peace Corps volunteers.”

For the full story, see Peace Corps.

Published in Tech Today by Jenn Donova, director of news and media relations

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Bhakta Rath Research Award Presented to Fang, Pokharel

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Michigan Tech has given its 2014 Bhakta Rath Research Award to two scientists who have developed a fast, effective and inexpensive way to purify synthetic DNA and peptide molecules.

Their discovery could ultimately be used to heal. Peptides have the potential to fight some of the most intractable diseases, and DNA is a critical element of gene therapy.

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Published in Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, senior content specialist

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Biomedical Engineering Announces 2014 Kenneth L. Stevenson Research Fellows

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The Department of Biomedical Engineering announces the recipients of the 2014 Kenneth L. Stevenson Research Fellows.  Two undergraduate and two graduate students are selected annually to receive these competitive research fellowships.  The Stevenson Fellows program provides an opportunity for upper-level undergraduate and early-stage graduate students to spend the summer in a total immersion research experience in a biomedical engineering research laboratory.  The annual competition is open to students from all academic departments who wish to explore biomedical engineering research and provides a generous research stipend.
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Global City Presents “A Village in Bangladesh”

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“A Village in Bangladesh” will be presented by S. M. Mizanur Rahman, Tuesday, April 22, at 5 p.m., in EERC 103.

Mizanur will present the development disaster caused by shrimp farming in his village and how small producers are left out of the economic development of this product. He will also talk about his work in the community and “The Motorcycle Project,” an idea he developed to provide capital support and planning skills to the local people, which he plans on implementing this summer. He is now pursuing his PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Tech.

Published in Tech Today.

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Michigan Tech Graduate Students Win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

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Three graduate students have received Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Christa Meingast in environmental engineering and Gregory Hardy and David Diesenroth in mechanical engineering won the competitive fellowships. Benjamin Winter in civil engineering received an honorable mention.

“NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are one of the oldest, most prestigious and competitive programs nationally,” said Jodi Lehman, assistant director for research development at Michigan Tech. “It is the fellowship program that other federal programs such as the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy use as a benchmark,” she noted.

“The Graduate School is happy to see our students honored for their scholarship and achievements in and out of the classroom,” said Debra Charlesworth, assistant dean of the Graduate School and coordinator of the NSF Graduate Research Fellows program at Michigan Tech. “These prestigious awards recognize not only our students, but the faculty and staff who have provided opportunities and mentoring for them to reach their potential. They join an outstanding group of Michigan Tech NSF scholars who are conducting research around the world.”

Charlesworth herself is a former NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

“The recent awards and honorable mention demonstrate the quality of a Michigan Tech education at all levels and disciplines,” said Craig Friedrich, director of graduate studies for the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and Richard and Bonnie Robbins Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “Our students are on par with the top research institutions in the US, and the support provided by Jodi Lehman helping students prepare fellowship applications continues to grow our success and recognition with the National Science Foundation and other agencies.”

Published in Tech Today by Jenn Donovan, director of news and media relations

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Grad student selected for Robert and Mary Buttle Scholarship

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Steven Sarich, MS student in social sciences, was selected as a recipient of the Robert and Mary Buttle Scholarship which will provide $4,000 toward tuition and other expenses. This is one among several funding opportunities provided by the Southwest Section of the American Ceramic Society which focuses on material science research of historic and modern ceramics.

Published in Tech Today.

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Deisenroth Receives NSF Fellowship

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David Deisenroth, a graduate student pursuing an MS in Mechanical Engineering, has received an National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship to travel to Korea this summer to conduct research.

Deisenroth will conduct an in-depth study on the collision of a falling drop of water and a resting drop of water. He will film the drops at high speeds and observe their characteristics. The results can be used to further the understanding of thermal management systems, aerosols and fuel injection.

An EAPSI award provides science, engineering and education research experiences in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, or Taiwan; an introduction to the science, science policy and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture, and language. EAPSI awards help students initiate professional relationships to enable future collaboration with foreign counterparts.

Deisenroth’s award includes a stipend of $5,000 and travel expenses. His advisor is Jeff Allen, the John and Joan Calder Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.

Published in Tech Today.

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Duan a finalist in the Student Paper Competition

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Ran Duan, a PhD candidate in engineering physics, has been named a finalist in the Student Paper Competition of the 2014 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, cosponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society and the Union of Radio Science.

As a finalist, Duan has been been invited to present a poster on his paper titled “Multiband Unidirectional Cloaking Based on Geometric Optics” at the symposium in Memphis, July 6-11.  He will also receive a $1,250 award to help him attend the symposium.

Duan won Michigan Tech’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for the fall 2013 semester.

Duan’s research is on an invisibility cloak being developed by Associate Professor Elena Semouchkina (ECE/Physics).  An invisibility cloak is a device that allows electromagnetic waves such as microwaves or light to bypass objects, essentially making them invisible.

Published in Tech Today.

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Alumni Power at the Straits of Mackinac

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It’s a Michigan Tech electrical engineer’s dream: Connect the two Michigan peninsulas’ power grids using the latest technology in a massive project, the first of its kind. And Tech alumni are playing huge roles in it all.

A high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) device is being installed near St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula to control increased power transfers in the original but updated transmission system. American Transmission Company (ATC) owns the lines in the UP, and the International Transmission Company (ITC), owns the Lower Peninsula lines.

“It’s the fourth generation of HVDC technology using voltage source converters,” says Adam Manty, 2006 and 2008 Michigan Tech alumnus and special studies engineer for ATC (one of many alumni working there and on the project). “It’s the newest, latest and greatest, and it’s the first large-scale back-to-back configuration of its kind in the world.”

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Published in Tech Today by Dennis Walikainen, senior content specialist
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