Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Mining History Comes to Life at Michigan Tech Commencement

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Excerpt from Michigan Tech News – read the full article online and see a picture of Cameron Hartnell wearing the hood.

In 1932, a distinguished Michigan mining engineer named Scott Turner received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Michigan Technological University, at that time called the Michigan College of Mining and Technology.  At Michigan Tech’s midyear Commencement on Dec. 12, 2009—77 years later— one of the first recipients of the University’s PhD in industrial heritage and archeology will wear Turner’s historic academic hood to accept his degree.

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Climate Change Conference: Graduate Student Dispatch from Copenhagen

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Two Tech students are visiting Copenhagen this week during the UN’s international climate change conference. One of them is Adam Airoldi, a graduate student in forest ecology and management. His advisor is Associate Professor Andrew Burton (SFRES). Airoldi is doing research in Norway this semester, collaborating with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on changes in the alpine tree line around a small copper-mining town in central Norway. Airoldi earned his bachelor’s in forestry in 2008. He is in Copenhagen on a graduate travel grant from the Ecosystem Science Center.

Read his entire report and see pictures from Copenhagen.

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Physics Graduate Student Wins Awards in International Meetings

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Published in Tech Today

Chee Huei Lee, a physics graduate student, has won awards in two international conferences. Lee was one of the 50 finalists in the Science as Art competition at the fall meeting of the 2009 Materials Research Society . These finalists were chosen from nearly 200 artistic entries. Lee’s entry, titled “Dandelion Parachute Ball in the Nano World,” was artificially composed of multiple scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of boron nitride nanotubes.

After the on-site voting during the meeting, Lee won a second place in the competition. The MRS meeting was held in Boston from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4, with nearly 6,000 participants. Lee presented two talks in the Symposium K (Nanotubes and Related Nanostructures) of the meeting. Earlier, Lee also won a student travel award in the 1st Nano Today Conference held in Singapore. He is a senior graduate student in Professor Yoke Khin Yap’s research group. He is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.

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Fall 2009 Finishing Fellowship Recipients

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The Graduate School has awarded its Finishing Fellowships for fall 2009.

The following PhD candidates have received a one-time finishing fellowship:

  • Venkat K. Donuru, Chemistry
  • Valerie J. Fuchs, Environmental Engineering
  • Steven Johnson, Chemistry
  • Sarah N. Kiemle, Biological Sciences
  • Mark D. Rowe, Environmental Engineering
  • Madhana Sunder, Materials Science and Engineering
  • Zhonghai Wang, Electrical Engineering
  • Jill C. Witt, Forest Science

The fellowships are made possible by the Graduate School.

Application procedures for finishing fellowships, photographs of recent recipients, and descriptions for all of the school’s fellowship programs can be found on the Graduate School’s web page.

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GMES Students Receive Fellowships

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Tech Today

The Stan Dyl Geology Fellowship has been awarded to Elisa Piispa, a PhD student in geology, for her work on improving the proterozoic continental reconstructions based on combining characterizations of the paleomagnetism, geology, mineralogy and geochronology of mafic dike swarms in India. This fellowship will be used to support her travel to India to present her work. She is advised by Assistant Professor Aleksey Smirnov.

Joshua Richardson, MS student in geophysics, has been awarded the P. M. Thorton Endowed Fellowship for his work on emerging seismic structural imaging techniques involving active and passive source imaging of the upper crust. Richardson has conducted seismic surveys at the Bering Glacier in Alaska and on Fuego Volcano in Guatemala. He is advised by Assistant Professor Gregory Waite.

Elisabet Head, PhD candidate in geology, has received the Seaman Museum Fellowship for her work on fluid inclusions in olivines erupted by Nyamuragira volcano. She is advised by Assistant Professor Simon Carn and the fluid-inclusion aspects were conducted in collaboration with Professor Paul Wallace at the University of Oregon.

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Over 400 Students Graduating at Midyear Commencement

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By Marcia Goodrich

Tech Today

December 3, 2009—

Michigan Technological University will honor the achievements of over 400 graduates at Midyear Commencement Saturday, Dec. 12.

A total of 308 bachelor’s, six associate, 91 master’s and 24 PhD degrees will be awarded.

George Butvilas, a member of the Board of Directors of Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc., will be the commencement speaker. At the ceremony, he will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Business.

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