Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Notes from Iraq

We had a chance to talk with Lt. Col. Otha Thornton via email and a 15-minute telephone call.

The former leader of the Army ROTC program, who also was our commencement speaker in May of 2009, is stationed in Iraq at Camp Victory in north Baghdad. He is helping facilitate the drawdown of troops, but his biggest and most challenging job is what he calls “casualty operations,” which involves taking care of the wounded and the deceased.

“Probably one of the toughest jobs I’ve had,” he says. “We track the fallen from the time they go down until they get to the US. To perform these duties–from the front of the spear–truly reinforces the gravity of our business.”

How is he treated by locals?

“Very well. I deal with both civilians and military. They’re appreciative of what we’re doing.”

The war is divisive on the home front. What’s the mood among the soldiers?

“The morale is pretty good. They’re highly disciplined. They understand why they’re here and what they’re doing. In the military, you pray for peace but prepare for war.”

Are you in harm’s way?

“Yes.”

Are you scared?

“No. I believe when it’s a person’s time to go, it’s time to go. I wake up and take care of my profession for the day. Then the next day I get up and do it all over again.”

Is the American public well-informed or misinformed about the war?

“Generally pretty well informed. They realize that Iraq can be a regional model of democracy.”

Where is your family?

“My wife and son are in Maryland. I talk to them at least once a week. The technology to do that from the battlefield is wonderful.”

Do you miss Houghton?

“Oh, yeah. I’m coming home in April and I’ll be up to visit in the spring or fall. I’m counting the days.”

Over 20 years in the military, Thornton has served in 22 countries but never traveled far from his values. “I am extremely proud to be an American,” he says.

He was stationed at Michigan Tech from 1999 to 2002 and served as a recruiter, public affairs officer and assistant professor of military science. While here, he earned a master’s degree in rhetoric and technical communication. He received the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003.

by John Gagnon, promotional writer
Published in Tech Today

Getting Rid of the Bad Stuff

MBA student Cynthia Hodur learned firsthand about getting rid of trans fats, those ubiquitous bad food particles. On a student team in Dana Johnson’s operations and quality management class, she researched and applied her knowledge to a local hospital project and got great results.

“Instead of reading about it, we actually did it in a real-world way that will help the community,” she says of her experience on behalf of Portage Health. The hospital was the first in the Upper Peninsula to go trans-fat free, with help from the Tech students.

Hodur appreciated the opportunity to tackle such a timely problem with her team’s two-pronged approach, especially since she works as a facilities and event coordinator at the Memorial Union.

“First, our research group focused on policy,” she says. “We looked at what had been done globally, with the United Nations, and then we researched further from there: federally, state, and at the organizational level.”

She says the American Heart Association’s trans-fat lawsuit with McDonald’s restaurants was important. In the suit, McDonald’s was supposed to change its oil, but it didn’t. She had inside knowledge there, having worked for the American Heart Association at the time.

“We were working with the schools then,” she says, “building on an existing program.”

That background information also helped her at Tech, where her second group–applying the information they’d gleaned–looked at recipes and various food products to get rid of the trans fats at Portage Health.

“We looked at everything from cookbooks to working with vendors to vending machines,” she says. “We found substitutes for cooking, like applesauce for oil, and for baking, where a substitute for shortening has been used successfully, for example.”

Along the way, she learned from her teammates.

“There was a variety of people, and we were paired by interests,” she says. “One of the women was a Six Sigma Greenbelt expert on flowcharts!” So, Hodur’s process-chart-producing expertise was accelerated.

And they weren’t all MBAs, said Johnson, an associate professor in the School of Business and Economics. They had graduate students from civil engineering, mechanical engineering and elsewhere. Focusing on the same goal, Johnson said, they would come at it from different angles.

Johnson also stressed the importance of “students working with a real, live project, instead of case studies, which become outdated very quickly.”

The project did indeed take a well-rounded approach to the problem. “The students looked at cost benefits, working with vendors Sysco and Reinhart, even Portage Point (the hospital’s long-term senior housing operation), and its food service customer relations,” she said.

They worked closely with Paul Skinner, director of Portage’s nutritional services, she said. He was important from a management perspective, and he was in charge of recipes.

“We looked at processes and procedures to make sure they are accurate,” Johnson said, noting that they even looked at the definition of “trans fat-free,” which can still include .49 grams of trans fats. Portage Health went below that measure, she said.

“The costs involved in going trans fat-free were not as significant as they thought,” she added.

She also sees potential for future work.

“We plan on helping them with their seating capacity at Portage Health,” she said. “We’ll be working with them as they expand their capacity, using a green perspective to identify environmentally friendly dinnerware.”

They also plan on looking at the recycling in the hospital to make it more cost effective and efficient, Johnson said.

“We’ll be looking at Styrofoam,” she said, “how it can work within a recycling system.”

This marks the fourth year for the class tackling problems for Portage Health, and she’s also placed three interns into the organization.

Hodur truly enjoys the graduate school experience, including the Portage Health project, and her position at the Memorial Union. She has her sights set on a future marketing position.

“My husband and I moved here because we love the area,” she said. “Working and taking classes at Michigan Tech have been a nice bonus.”

by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
Published in Tech Today

MBA Student Granted EcoCAR Graduate Fellowship

The School of Business and Economics professors Dana Johnson and Junhong Min have been awarded a fellowship to continue funding Eric Joseph, a current MBA student, with the second installment of the EcoCAR Outreach/Communications Graduate Fellowship.The grant of $7,500, made possible by Argonne National Laboratory and the American Society for Engineering Education, will continue to fund the EcoCAR project here at Michigan Tech. Each EcoCAR university is expected to match the contribution in order to fund a full-time Outreach/Communications person for the EcoCAR project.

To read the full story, see the SBE news website.

Graduate Students Schwartz and Stream Garner National Research

The American Physiological Society (APS) announced awardees for the 2010 Carolyn tum Suden/Francis A. Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity National Award, and two Michigan Tech graduate students were on that list. Christopher Schwartz (PhD candidate, biological sciences) and Sarah Stream (MS candidate, biological sciences) were two of 38 awardees announced this week. Over 140 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows throughout the US and beyond applied for the award.

Christopher and Sarah were not quite sure what to expect when they applied for this abstract-based award this past fall.

“I think in the back of our minds we were hopeful one of us would get recognized,” said Schwartz. “We were both somewhat surprised that each of us received the award. It is quite an honor.”

The two graduate students conduct research in the Integrative Physiology Laboratory under the advisement of Jason Carter, chair of the Exercise Science, Health and Physical Education department. Schwartz’s research aims to determine the neurovascular responses to mental stress in normotensive and prehypertensive humans. Stream’s research focuses on the influence of acute alcohol consumption on neural control of blood pressure and orthstatic stability in healthy humans.

“It is remarkable that both Christopher and Sarah received this award,” said Carter. “This is a prestigious, well-recognized research award in the field of physiology. They were competing with graduate students and postdocs from some of the top universities and medical schools in our country. This award is a testament to their hard work, dedication and high caliber of research.”

Christopher and Sarah will be honored during the 2010 Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, CA, this April. A full listing of all 38 awardees is available at the APS website.

Call for Abstracts for the Annual ESC/BRC Graduate Research Forum

Graduate students from any department conducting research related to ecology, the environment or biotechnology are invited to submit titles and abstracts for poster presentations at the sixth annual ESC/BRC Graduate Research Forum from 3 to 5 p.m., Friday, March 26, in the atrium of the UJ Noblet Forestry Building.

The purpose of the forum is to allow graduate students working in these fields an opportunity to present their research, provide valuable experience preparing for regional or national meetings, showcase new results and find out what others are doing.

Abstracts must be submitted electronically to esc@mtu.edu as an attachment in Word by noon, Friday, March 5.

Posters will need to be set up by noon, Thursday, March 25, to allow time for judging, and there will be a pizza social following the forum from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.

A poster presentation workshop will be given by David Flaspohler (SFRES) and Erik Lilleskov (SFRES) from 4 to 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 12, in the Noblet Forestry Building G002.

For more information, contact Jill Fisher at jhfisher@mtu.edu .

Graduate Students and Programs in the News

Humanities PhD candidate Roxane Gay’s father, Michael Gay, was interviewed on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” on Monday, Jan. 25. A Haitian-American contractor, Gay is in Haiti helping clear debris and plan for reconstruction after the island nation’s devastating earthquake. The NPR broadcast is available online.

Last week Ruth Archer, director of graduate business programs, was featured in the article, “How Online Universities Really Stack Up,” on Janine Swenson’s blog, internetevolution.com . According to their website, “Internet Evolution aims to view the future of the Internet through a prism of pragmatism.” The blog discussed online education and included input from a professor, course developer and student. More information is available on the SBE news website.

A news story about Michigan Tech’s research regarding the Haitian disaster was featured in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, Jan. 24.

Published in Tech Today

Record Enrollment for Spring 2010

The final preliminary spring 2010 enrollment numbers are out and the Graduate School is pleased to announce that  Michigan Tech has a record enrollment of graduate students.

Total graduate headcount is 1189 which is an increase of 212 or 21.7% over the spring 2009 numbers.

Total graduate student credit hours are 8162.5 which is an increase of 1411.0 or 20.9% over the Spring 2009 numbers.

Total 1st time master’s students are 71 which is an increase of 21 or 42.0% over the spring 2009 numbers.

Total 1st time doctoral students are 31 which is an increase of 6 or 24.0% over the spring 2009 numbers.

The Graduate School would like to thank everyone involved in achieving these numbers from our graduate students, faculty, directors and assistants, to the Registrar’s office for diligently working to recruit and enroll the newest students in our programs.  These numbers are very encouraging and are moving us closer to our goal of having 1250 graduate students at Michigan Tech.

For more information about future recruiting efforts and ways the Graduate School can assist programs with recruiting, please contact Jacque Smith, director of graduate marketing and advancement.

Read more in Tech Today.

Graduate Student’s Testimonial Stands Out

When YouTube reached out to users recently asking them to share which of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words they found most memorable, graduate student Justin Ayers felt compelled to answer that call. “I remember reading King’s speech, “Loving Your Enemies,” in high school and I really enjoyed it,” says Ayers, who is pursuing his master’s in computer engineering. “I wanted to revisit the speech that I had found so inspirational, and this seemed like an awesome way to respond.” So awesome, in fact, that the video Ayers created was featured on YouTube’s homepage Monday–MLK Day–for thousands to see.

See for yourself–check out the YouTube video and get inspired .

Michigan Tech Rallies Around Haitians

Far from their devastated homeland, Haitian members of the Michigan Tech community struggled to track down family members and friends in the wake of last week’s disasterous earthquake. Here is the story of Fredline Ilorme, a graduate student in civil engineering, who writes about the longest 24 hours of her life.

“Hello Global Citizens,

“The day looked like any other day to me as I woke up and got ready, thinking about everything I needed to accomplish. I was far from thinking about my family in Haiti, how long it had been since I talked to them and the last things we said.

“However, sometime in the evening, everything changed. I had just gotten to my office when I received a call from a friend about an earthquake in Haiti. A quick Google, and I had an idea of the magnitude of the situation. My first thoughts: my family. Are they okay? Did the house fall on them?

“Quickly rushed back home and spent the entire night trying to reach any one of them by phone. To no avail. News was bad. Many of our most cherished historical buildings–the national palace, the ministries, the cathedral, some hospitals and schools–had fallen. All in thirty seconds. Did my people have time to escape? As I gathered info from my friends on Facebook and through some other friends by phone and online, things seemed dire. Some of my friends had been able to reach their families; they were okay. But still I could not reach any of mine.

“As I watched the videos, the images of the fallen structures, I thought I was losing all I have ever had: my family, my friends, my country. How could this happen? What had we done to deserve this? Weren’t the past year’s four hurricanes enough?

“My friends on Facebook, the ones who called or emailed trying to give me hope, told me to keep trying, and tomorrow I might reach them. I felt hopeless. Why hadn’t they answered till now if other people had found out about their loved ones? They must be gone as everything around them.

“I got tired of staying inside. Went for a drive, but the car could not get me to my people. Could only get me around Houghton. Wasting gas, polluting the environment, and putting myself at risk for nothing. That’s not what my parents would have wanted me to do.

“Went back home. Got some rest and continued the calls. And early the next morning, a miracle happened. I got through. I reached Jessie, a former Tech student. She was alive. Quick talk as no electricity to recharge phones, but she said she’s okay. Continued trying. I got one of my aunties for five seconds. FIVE seconds. But I heard her voice. She was alive. Could the other ones still be? Continued calling and found her again. She said everyone was fine except for two they had not heard from, but that did not mean they were not okay. Sigh of relief. This was good news. They had survived. I regained strength.

“As emails of comfort and support kept pouring in, I continued to regain more strength. I had not lost everything. The country was still worth being rebuilt, for them, with them. Now that I was stronger, I could help others. Tried to locate their loved ones for them and offered advice and comfort. During the next day, got confirmation that all of my family was okay.

“Still, not everyone was as lucky as my family. Casualties are high, and there is lots of damage. But I have hope. Hope for Haiti. Because its citizens acted bravely in the face of this terrible tragedy. Because they were there for each other, and because since everything has started, every country in the world has been with us, from the closest ones–Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, United States, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia; some further away, like France and Spain; and some even further, like China.

“But closer to me, the response has also been amazing–the number of emails and calls from students, faculty and staff at Tech and organizations like NOSOTROS [Tech’s Hispanic Student Organization] have given me hope. Rebuilding will be tough, but we will do it together, with our countrymen and our friends and partners from around the world.

“Thanks to you all, and thanks for keeping Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.”

New theses and dissertations in the Library

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations in the Van Pelt and Opie Library.

Stephanie Groves
Master of Science in Biological Sciences
Advisor: Susan T Bagley
Thesis title: Optimization of Ethanol Production by Yeasts from Lignocellulosic Feedstocks

Juan Morinelly
Master of Science in Chemical Engineering
Advisor: David R Shonnard
Thesis title: Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass from Forest Resources: Kinetic Characterization of Xylose Monomer and Oligomer Concentrations and Reactor Performance Mathematical Modeling

Madhana Sunder
Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering
Advisor: Peter Dane Moran
Dissertation title: Growth of Heteroepitaxial Single Crystal Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate Thin Films on R-Plane Sapphire Substrates

Andrew Waisanen
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Jason R Blough
Thesis title: The Application of Experimental Transfer Path Analysis to the Identification of Vehicle Sensitivity to Tire Cavity Resonance

Peipei Zhao
Master of Science in Applied Natural Resource Economics
Advisor: Mark C Roberts
Thesis title: Duration and Co-Movement Analysis of Energy Price Cycles