Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Graduate students making national media coverage

The research of Materials Science and Engineering PhD Students Chenlong Zhang and Bas Wijnen along with their collaborators Jerry Anzalone (MSE), Paul Sanders (MSE) and Joshua M. Pearce (MSE/ECE) has been covered widely by the national media including: NBC News, CNN Money, Live Science and the International Science Times in articles like “Low-Cost, Open-Source 3-D Metal Printer Could Bring Revolutionary Technology To Millions.”

Published in Tech Today.

Research Universities Partner to Increase the Diversity in Future Faculty

Michigan Tech, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University and Wayne State University are partners on a 3.5-year $1.32 million project sponsored by the National Science Foundation.  Michigan Tech will partner with the other research universities in Michigan to test strategies designed to increase the number of domestic underrepresented minority graduate students pursuing careers in academia.  The project will involve an extensive research component that will test the effectiveness of mentoring and community-building events on graduate students’ persistence toward a degree and interest in continuing on to a career in academia.

“I am very excited about this project because it will result in hard data that can be used to test the importance of mentoring relationships and a sense of community on graduate students’ experiences,” said principal investigator Jacqueline Huntoon.  “I anticipate that by learning more about the graduate experience for students who are not members of the dominant racial/ethnic group, we will learn more about how to better meet the needs of all graduate students regardless of their race, ethnicity or gender.”

This research project is strengthened by the fact that five very different universities will participate in the project.  Their graduate deans recognize that the demographics of the US population are changing dramatically.  The goal of the project is to ultimately diversify the ranks of higher education faculty so that they are more representative of the US population at large and can better meet the needs of students and employers.  The project will ultimately help graduate schools across the country learn more about how to better serve students.

Craig Friedrich (MEEM), Shekhar Joshi (Bio Sci) and Chris Wojick (CEE) are co-principal investigators on the project.

The Van Pelt and Opie Library Announces Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech.

Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech offers the campus a digital repository for worldwide access to its research, scholarship and other academic works created by members of the Michigan Tech community.

Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech has the capacity to provide and preserve access to all types of documents and publications–from articles and reports to books, journals and other creative works. Tools are also provided to manage the publication process, including peer review. Organization can be by college, department or even individual scholar. Access can be open globally, controlled by ISO login or unique passwords when desirable.

PCMI graduate’s paper published in Journal

Peace Corps Masters International Environmental Engineering Program graduate Cara Shonsey has published a paper titled, “Quantifying available water supply in rural Mali based on data collected by and from women,” in a special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production on Water, Women, Waste, Wisdom and Wealth. Her advisor, John Gierke (GMES), co-authored the paper. See online.

Published in Tech Today.

Graduate School Recruits in Thailand

It’s become a popular and successful strategy. Graduate School staff venture to Thailand to recruit, and they get a lot of help from alumni over there.

Jacque Smith, director of graduate enrollment services, and Kristi Isaacson, assistant director of graduate enrollment services, have just returned from another trip, replete with 30-hour airplane rides both ways.

While there, they attended the Royal Thai Scholar event, which featured Thailand’s best and brightest, according to Smith.

Thanksgiving break and computer maintenance

The University is closed on Thursday,  November 28th and Friday, November 29th.  When the University is closed, the “two week” rule for submitting drafts is relaxed to the next available business day.  The Graduate School does not expect students to submit drafts to the committee or the Graduate School when the University is closed (but the Pre-defense form will still calculate these dates as the “due” dates).

  • Students scheduling a defense on December 12th or 13th may submit the draft no later than 4pm on Monday, December 2nd.
  • Of course, submitting earlier is always fine.

Additionally, the University is scheduling campus wide home directory maintenance from Thursday Nov. 28, 7 p.m., through Sunday Dec. 1, 11 p.m. During this time:

  • No one will be able to use a campus computer (like one in the Library, or an office)
  • No one will be able to access their campus home directory or the Multidrive
  • Everyone will be able to use the wireless network on campus with a personal laptop
  • Everyone will be able to log into Canvas or other campus sites (like MyMichiganTech.mtu.edu)

To track progress during the upgrade please visit http://status.it.mtu.edu.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, about the planned upgrade, please call the User Services help desk at 487-1111 or email it-help@mtu.edu for assistance.

Michigan Tech Enters PhD Program Agreement with University in India

Mechanical engineering faculty from a private Indian university will soon be pursuing their PhDs from Michigan Tech.

The new agreement with Vidya Prathisthan, located in Baramati, India, creates a 2-plus-2 PhD program in mechanical engineering for faculty, plus a 1-plus-1 master of science program for students.

Qualifying faculty will complete the first two years of their PhD program in India, where they can take Michigan Tech courses online and graduate courses from any of the Indian Institutes of Technology (ITTs). Then they will travel to the US and spend the final two years of their program conducting research with Michigan Tech faculty advisors.

Published in Tech Today

Biotechnology Research Center announces Fall 2013 Travel Awards

The Biotechnology Research Center announces its Fall 2013 Travel Grants. Recipients include:

Post doctoral Research Scientist Presentation:

  • Mimi Yang (SCH) 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting (poster)
  • Lijun Zhang (EBE) MSC 2013 Adult Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Meeting (poster)

Graduate Student Presentations:

  • Faten Dhawi Almuhanna (IBMB) International Plant and Animal Genome XXII Meeting (poster)
  • Ran An (ECM) SciX 2013 Conference (poster)
  • David Chadderdon (ECM) 2013 AIChE Annual Conference (podium)
  • Kristina Flesher (FAE) International Annual Meetings of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA (poster)
  • Azhang Hamlekhan (MEEM) TMS 2014 Annual Meeting & Exhibition (podium)
  • Sean Hopkins (EBE) ) 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting (poster)
  • Maryam Khaksari (ECM) SciX 2013 Conference (poster)
  • Connor McCarthy (EBE) 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting (poster)
  • Ramkumar Mohan (SBL) The Midwest Islet Club Meeting (poster)
  • Ji Qi (ECM) 2013 AIChE Annual Conference (podium)
  • Aparupa Sengupta (SBL) Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (podium)
  • Emily Shearier (EBE) TERMIS-AM 2013 Conference and Exposition (poster)
  • Maria Tafur (ECM) 2013 AIChE Annual Conference (podium)
  • Le Xin (ECM) 2013 AIChE Annual Conference (podium and poster)

Published in Tech Today

Grand Opening of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center

Today at the Library: Grand Opening of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center.

Even if you were not able to register for the day’s events, please consider joining some of the events including the ribbon-cutting in the Opie Reading Room at 11 a.m.  Lunch to follow offers the opportunity to meet representatives from the U.S. Patent Office as well as representatives from the offices of Michigan’s congressional delegation. The full schedule of events may be found online.

The Van Pelt and Opie Library’s new distinction as a patent and trademark resource center was featured on the US Patent and Trademark Office website.

Published in Tech Today.