Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Leader in Industry and Government is Commencement Speaker

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Norman Augustine, a leader in both business and government and a powerful advocate for science and engineering education, will address the graduates at Spring Commencement, Saturday, April 30.

The University will honor the achievements of nearly 1,000 graduates, including 753 students receiving undergraduate degrees, 156 master’s degree recipients and 48 PhD graduates.

For more information, visit: commence.

Michigan Tech will provide live and on-demand video/audio streaming of the ceremony. For more information and to test your browser for compatibility, the link is also available on the commencement webpage. Click on “Watch Live,” highlighted in yellow.

Published in Tech Today.

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Geology student awarded Fulbright Scholarship

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Doctoral student Luke Bowman (Geology ’14) has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the coming academic year. He will be doing research on hazards communications in El Salvador. The title of his project is “Developing Culturally Appropriate Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in El Salvador.” Bowman’s advisors are Professor John Gierke (GMES) and Professor Bill Rose (GMES).

Bowman is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and has extensive experience in Central and South America. His BA in Geology is from Hanover College. He has an MS degree in Geology from Michigan Tech. He also has worked on ethnography in the social sciences department.

By discovering culturally appropriate ways of involving local populations in project design and decision making–and by integrating local knowledge and coping strategies into risk plans at the administrative level–Bowman hopes risk communication can be greatly enhanced.

He says, “Melding the organizational aspects of aid institutions with a dynamic cultural understanding of how communities perceive geological hazards is key to developing trust and devising effective, sustainable methods to help people prepare for future disasters.”

Published in Tech Today.

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Winners of Rath Award for Research Announced

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Chee Huei Lee

For groundbreaking work in nanotechnology, Yoke Khin Yap and Chee Huei Lee have received the University’s Bhakta Rath Research Award.

The award, endowed by 1958 alumnus Bhakta Rath and his wife, Shushama Rath, recognizes a Michigan Tech doctoral student and advisor for “exceptional research of particular value that anticipates the future needs of the nation while supporting advances in emerging technology.”

Yap, an associate professor of physics, and then-PhD student Lee (he graduated in 2010) invented a technique for synthesizing boron nitride nanotubes. Compared to their carbon-based cousins, boron nitride nanotubes have alluring qualities but, before Yap and Lee’s pioneering work, had been notoriously difficult to grow.

The researchers created veritable nano-carpets of boron nitride nanotubes and discovered they possessed a number of interesting properties: They are perfect insulators, which means they could be doped to form designer semiconductors for use in electronics that operate at high temperatures. They are among the strongest materials known and can be dispersed in organic solvents, properties that could be useful in making high-strength composites and ceramics. Plus, they shed water like a duck’s back. This quality, known as superhydrophobicity, holds at all pH levels, which means they could be used as protective coatings to shield against the strongest acids and bases.

Yap said Lee played an important role in their collaboration. “I enjoy working with Chee Huei, as he is willing to listen, think and work hard on an idea, and then he comes back to tell you much more than what you were expecting,” said Yap. “My initial ideas mature and flourish with his feedback.”

Lee has authored or coauthored 12 peer-reviewed journal papers on their nanotube research, as well as three chapters and review articles and three papers in peer-reviewed proceedings. As recipients of the Rath Award, Yap and Lee will share a $2,000 prize. Their research work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

To find out more, visit the Michigan Tech News Site .

by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
Published in Tech Today

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Graduate Students participate in Nature Teacher Workshop

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PhD students Tara Bal (SFRES) and Meagan Harless (Biological Sciences), along with Joan Chadde of the Western UP Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education, put on a Nature Teacher Workshop Tuesday at the Nara Nature Center. Thirty local teachers attended the session.

Bal talked about insects; Harless talked about streams and ponds. The session was based on “Hands-On Nature Activities,” a guide with information and exercises for outdoor and environmental education with children. All participants received a copy of the book.

The workshop was sponsored by the Western UP Center and the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative.

Published in Tech Today.

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Students Journey to Lansing for Graduate Education Week

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Graduate students, all from Michigan, ventured to Lansing last week for Michigan Graduate Education Week in the Capitol Building.

The students met with legislators and discussed the importance of graduate education in Michigan, the nation and the world.

“We stressed the significance of Michigan Tech and how graduate education contributes to the Michigan economy and goes well beyond,” said Jacque Smith, director of marketing and advancement for the Graduate School. “The legislature was in session, and they took time out from their busy day to talk with us.”

Attending from Michigan Tech were Alicia Sawdon, a PhD candidate in chemical engineering from Lapeer; Natasha Hagadone, a PhD candidate in applied cognitive science and human factors from Central Lake; Joseph Hernandez, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering from Port Huron; and Kaitlyn Bunker, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering from Canton.

Students had a chance to meet their legislators, too, and presented plaques to Representative David Rutledge (D-Ypsilanti) and Senator Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) for sponsoring Michigan Graduate Education Week.

“I was honored to represent Michigan Tech and my department,” said Hagadone. She spent time with Senator Howard Walker (R-Traverse City), telling him about the DeSciDE (Decision Sciences and Decision Engineering) lab at Tech and her research in personalized decision support.

Sawden concurred. “Being able to talk with a representative (Kevin Daley, R-Lapeer) about my research and school, see the capitol, and meet students from other departments made this trip worthwhile,” she said. “I hope in future years more students can experience Graduate Education Week!”

“It was a real privilege to meet and have one-on-one time with Senator [Phil] Pavlov [R-St. Clair],” said Hernandez. “We were able to discuss why I chose Michigan Tech and how my research is important to Michigan.”

Smith stressed the significance of graduate education’s impact on Michigan, the region and the nation. “$61 million in research funding at Michigan Tech comes from sources outside the state,” he said. “That’s bringing monies into the state with research done, in great part, by graduate students working with faculty.”

In addition to the research dollars, he said, the more than 850 graduate students live, pay taxes and spend money in the local economy, Smith said. “In a town of 7,000, that’s a large economic impact.”

Graduate education also contributes to Michigan’s economy by creating a highly skilled workforce, technology transfer with cutting-edge research, and future faculty to teach in Michigan schools, from K-12 through universities, Smith said.

by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
Published in Tech Today

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Tech Professor, Grad Students Introduce School Children to Life in Lake Superior

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Today and Tuesday, April 18-19, Professor Martin Auer (CEE) and his graduate students will bring hands-on science investigations about Lake Superior to CLK Elementary School students in Calumet. Each grade level will spend 55 minutes with the scientists, learning about Lake Superior.

This special event is part of CLK’s Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative Heritage Garden project and the school’s monthlong celebration of Earth Month, “3LK at CLK: Living, Learning and Loving the Keweenaw.”

The Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative connects schools and communities in the stewardship of Lake Superior and its watershed. The initiative is one of eight hubs statewide that are part of the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, with support from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust and the Wege Foundation.

The Auer team’s activities will include

  • Lake Superior: big, deep, cold, and beautiful
  • Riding the Waves: field sampling equipment demo
  • Plankton: Lake Superior’s vegetable garden
  • From the Lake: sediment, benthos and fish

Auer’s research focuses on modeling of Great Lakes and inland waters and field monitoring and laboratory studies related to water quality modeling and management. He is familiar to many in the Keweenaw for his work with the Agassiz, which has become Tech’s floating ambassador, bringing people to the water and the water to people in the Lake Superior basin. Each year, Auer and colleagues host hundreds of K-12 students aboard the R/V Agassiz, where they learn how the Great Lakes are studied by scientists.

Published in Tech Today

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Tech Students Receive NSF Awards for Grad Study, Research

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The National Science Foundation has selected three Michigan Tech students and a recent graduate to receive highly competitive awards that support their research and graduate study. Another student, now at Northern Michigan University, will use his award to pursue an advanced degree at Michigan Tech.

Master’s student Chris DeDene and recent graduate David Schaeffer have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. DeDene will pursue a PhD in Civil Engineering at Michigan Tech. Schaeffer will continue work on his PhD in Psychology at the University of Georgia.

Fellowship recipient Erich Petushek is completing his master’s at Northern Michigan University and will be coming to Tech, where he expects to pursue a doctorate degree in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors focusing on Biomechanics.

Graduate Research Fellowships support students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based degrees. Each fellow receives a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance and access to the TeraGrid supercomputer network. The NSF selected 2,000 fellows from more than 12,000 applicants.

An additional 2,064 applicants received honorable mentions. Among them are Tech students Eric Peterson, a physics PhD student; Eric Wesseldyke, an environmental engineering PhD student; mechanical engineering student Andrew Tulgestke; and Jonathan Ebel, a master’s student in biological sciences. Anieri Morales of the University of Puerto Rico, who plans to pursue a graduate degree at Michigan Tech, also received an honorable mention.

Tech students Erin Thomas and John Lyons, who are earning PhD degrees in mathematical sciences and geophysics, respectively, were selected to participate in NSF’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes. The institutes place US graduate students in research labs throughout East Asia and the Pacific, to help students initiate scientific relationships that will lead to future international collaborations. The awards include airfare, lodging, living expenses and a $5,000 stipend.

Thomas will be conduct research in Beijing, while Lyons will travel to Japan.

To learn more about federal funding opportunities for graduate students, attend an information session at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in Fisher 131. Faculty, advisors, undergraduates and graduate students are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Jodi Lehman at 487-2875 or at jglehman@mtu.edu.

Published in Tech Today.

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Sustainability: at the University, in Town, and around the World

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Somewhere in Honduras, in a little village, on a white wall, there is this graffiti:

Ingenieros Sin Fronteras

That’s Spanish for “Engineers Without Borders.”

And the graffiti is signed, in a bold black stroke, Michigan Tech, USA.

That’s how far afield Michigan Tech takes its message–and makes its name known—as students reach out to help people in developing countries—all with an eye on sustainability.  The Sustainable Futures Institute alone is comprised of nine groups, 90 faculty and staff, 21 departments and 90 graduate students. Overall, on campus, there are 41 sustainability groups.

The list of their projects on campus and in the community are ambitious. Scores of recycling containers; firewood sales; solar water heating; using carpets and furniture with recycled components; harnessing wind energy; using biomass to make diesel fuel; planting herbs; protecting wetlands (“Dump no waste. Drains to Portage”).

See Tech Today for the complete news story highlighting the second annual gathering on campus sustainability that was held this week.

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MSGC Awards Announced

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Faculty and students have received awards totaling $72,500 through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Michigan Tech submitted 30 proposals, 16 of which received funding.  See the Tech Today posting for all awardees.

Graduate students receiving $5,000 fellowships are:

  • Dulcinea Avouris (Geology, GMES): “Triggering of Volcanic Activity by Large Earthquakes”
  • Baron Colbert (Civil Engineering, CEE): “Using Nonmetals Separated From E-Waste in Improving the Mechanical Properties of Asphalt Materials”
  • Sarah Gray (Mechanical Engineering, ME): “Bear Parathyroid Hormone as a Treatment for Osteoporosis in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy”
  • John Moyer (Mechanical Engineering, ME): “Effect of Simulated Low Gravity on Compressive Material Properties of Porcine Meniscus”
  • Alicia Sawdon (Chemical Engineering, ChE): “Production of Astaxanthin by Haematococcus pluvialis for Astronauts”
  • Christina Ylitalo (Biomedical Engineering, BME): “Controlling Inflammation Following Traumatic Injury Will Help Prevent Osteoarthritis”
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New Theses and Dissertations Available

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Environmental Policy
  • Forestry
  • Geology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Rhetoric and Technical Communication
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