Graduate School Newsblog

Category: News

Interesting stories about and for our students.

Tech and Portage Health to Offer Medical Discount for Peace Corps Students

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Graduate students in Michigan Tech’s Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) programs will be able to get their required medical exams and lab tests at a major discount, thanks to a new partnership between the University and Portage Health.

The health care provider will offer PCMI students at Tech a 20 percent discount on any balance they owe after insurance payments for exams and tests required by the Peace Corps, plus an additional 10 percent prompt-pay discount, for a total discount of 30 percent.

That can add up to quite a sum. “The personalized medical exams and tests that the Peace Corps requires of each applicant can, in the most expensive cases, cost up to $5,000,” said Blair Orr (SFRES), director of the University’s seven PCMI programs. “The Peace Corps only reimburses $125 to $290, so the cost can be a serious obstacle to many students who would like to enroll in the program.”

Portage Health is pleased to be able to offer the discount, said Brian Donahue, chief financial officer. “We have a strong history of collaboration with Michigan Tech, and this is an excellent program that we are proud to be able to support.”

Michigan Tech President Glenn D. Mroz praised Portage Health for the partnership. “Each volunteer goes abroad to make a positive influence in people’s lives,” he said. “We are grateful that the people of Portage Health recognize the importance of facilitating the global reach of our Peace Corps Master’s International programs at Tech by making a positive contribution to our student volunteers’ lives.”

The PCMI programs accept approximately 20 new students a year, a number that Orr hopes to see increase to approximately 35.

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New theses and dissertations in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations from our recent graduates in the J. R. Van Pelt Library and John and Ruanne Opie Library.  The names of our graduates, their degrees, advisors, and titles of their research are listed below.

Carrie Andrew
Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Science
Advisor: Erik Lilleskov
Dissertation title: Response of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 and O3 within Northern Deciduous Forests

Yolanda Beltran Vargas
Master of Science in Industrial Archaeology
Advisor: Patrick E Martin
Thesis title: Industrial Archaeology of the Hacienda Santa Brigida, Mineral de Pozos, Guanajuato, Mexico

Abigail Clarke-Sather
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Co-advisors: John W Sutherland, and Qiong Zhang
Dissertation title: Decentralized or Centralized Production: Impacts to the Environment, Industry, and the Economy

Gregory Albert Galicinao
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Martin T Auer
Thesis title: Determination of Methyl mercury Flux from Onondaga Lake Sediments using Flow-Through Reactors

Russell Johnson
Master of Science in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Advisor: Erin Marie Smith
Thesis title: “Father I had a Feeling Today”: Postmortem Educational Media Fandom

Ming Ning
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
Co-advisors: Richard E Brown, and Bahne C Cornilsen
Dissertation title: Molecular Interaction between Perthiolated Beta-cyclodextrin(CD) and the Guests Molecules Adamantaneacetic Acid (AD) and Ferroceneacetic Acid (FC); and the Effect of the Interaction on the Electron Transition of CD Anchored Particles

Lucas Spaete
Master of Science in Forest Ecology and Management
Advisor: Ann L Maclean
Thesis title: Utilizing FIA Data for Mapping Standing Biomass in the Upper Great Lakes Region: An Evaluation

Andres Tarte
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Co-advisors: Kurtis G Paterson, and Qiong Zhang
Thesis title: Identifying Indicators of Sustainable Development Using the Global Sustainability Quadrant Approach

Laura Walz
Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Michael Robert Neuman
Dissertation title: Microfabricated Thermal Sensors for Skin Perfusion Measurements

Jing Zhong
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Chunxiao Chigan
Thesis title: Development of NS-2 Based Cognitive Radio Cognitive Network Simulator

Peng Zhou
Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science
Advisor: Soner Onder
Dissertation title: Fine-grain State Processors

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Lutch Selected as UTC-MiSTI Student of the Year

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The University Transportation Center for Materials in Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure (UTC-MiSTI) has selected Russell Lutch as its Student of the Year. He receives a $1,000 award, travel and registration expense reimbursement to attend the annual Transportation Research Board conference in Washington DC, and a certificate from the US Department of Transportation.

As one of the first students funded in collaboration between Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program (RTP) and the UTC-MiSTI, Lutch evaluated the sustainable use of concrete ties in arctic conditions. He participated as a graduate student mentor in the 2009 UTC-MiSTI Summer Scholars Program, and as co-advisor of an undergraduate team he investigated the material and the life-cycle of cross-tie alternatives for rail applications. For his graduate work, Lutch investigated railroad track structure, focusing on prestressed concrete railroad ties for heavy haul freight transportation. His study is a part of the project, “Synthesis of Railroad Engineering Best Practices in Deep Seasonal Frost and Permafrost Areas,” sponsored through the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and conducted under Michigan Tech’s RTP.

Lutch’s advisor is Devin Harris (CEE). In his graduate scholarship, Lutch presented, “Causes and Preventative Methods for Rail Seat Abrasion in North America’s Railroads,” at the 14th ASCE Cold Regions Engineering Conference, and “Prestressed Concrete Railroad Ties in North America,” at the 2009 American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) Conference.

Upon the completion of his MS in Civil Engineering, Lutch will be a structural engineer with Kiewit Construction Company in Omaha, Neb.

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Grad Student Takes Aim at Sugar Maple Dieback

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When Tara Bal brings a 12-gauge into the woods, she doesn’t worry about exceeding her limit.

Bal, a Michigan Tech PhD student in forest science, isn’t a hunter. She is more of a gatherer, using the shotgun to bring down sugar maple leaves from the forest canopy.

With Andrew Storer, a professor of forest resources and environmental science, she aims to find out why so many Upper Peninsula sugar maples are in trouble. To find out more, click here.

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Tech MBA Honored Again by the Aspen Institute

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The MBA program of the School of Business and Economics has been honored by the Aspen Institute’s 2009-10 edition of, “Beyond Grey Pinstripes,” a biennial survey and alternative ranking of business schools.

The SBE is rated 58 on a list of the top 100 business schools and has “demonstrated significant leadership in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues into its MBA program,” according to the Aspen Institute.

“Our faculty earned this recognition through their commitment to teaching and research in social, environmental and ethical stewardship as it relates to business,” said Darrell Radson, dean of the School. “Our MBA program focuses on conducting sustainable business in a technologically rich, constantly changing world and our faculty and students rise to that challenge.” The Michigan Tech MBA was previously honored by the Aspen Institute in 2007.

“The Tech MBA students are very concerned about a sustainable future,” said Ruth Archer, director of graduate programs. “They appreciate receiving a first-class MBA in managing technology and innovation at the same time that they learn how to integrate social value with corporate profitability. This recognition will enable us to attract more like-minded students.”

The Aspen Institute surveyed 149 business schools from 24 nations over 18 months in an effort to map the landscape of teaching and research on issues pertaining to business and society. Relevant data collected in the survey, as well as the entire “Global 100” list of business schools, is available at, www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org . For more information on the Tech MBA, visit www.mtu.edu/business/mba/overview .

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SFI Event Recognizes Scholars and Students

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The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) held its fifth annual poster session and banquet in the Rozsa Lobby last Friday.

“The event offered SFI students, staff and faculty an opportunity to review some of the many successes throughout the year,” reports Denise Heikinen.

Professor Alex Mayer (GMES) and Professor Michael Mullins (Chemical Engineering) were recognized as 2009 distinguished fellows for their long-term leadership, scholarship and support in areas central to sustainability and to SFI.

Mayer, director of SFI’s Center for Water and Society, was honored for his passion and commitment to sustainability and water issues. Mullins, director of SFI’s Center for Fundamental and Applied Research into Nanostructured and Lightweight Materials, was recognized for his contributions to energy and human health.

The keynote speaker was Charles Kerfoot, professor in Biological Sciences and director of Lake Superior Ecosystem Research Center, who spoke about the new Great Lakes Research facility and how it will facilitate research and education about pressing issues in the Upper Great Lakes.

Seventeen graduate students and postdocs were inducted into the SFI’s Scholar Program. They are: Zeyad Ahmed, Felix Adom, Brandon Ellefson, Akhilesh Reddy Endurthy, Rabi Gyawali, Jiqing Fan, Robert Handler, Christopher Hohnholt, Meral Jackson, Azad Henareh Khalyani, Jennifer Lind, Jifei Liu, Xuhong Liu, Jarod Maggio, Jacob Midkiff, Ali Mirchi, and Fengli Zhang.

The Graduate Student Council announced the People’s Choice First Place Poster Award of $150. Actually there was a tie and two awards were made. One went to four physics graduate students for a poster, “Miniature Energy Sources: Biofuel Cells Based on Carbon Nanotube Arrays,” designed by Archana Pandey, Abhishek Prasad, Jason Moscatello and Abhay P. Singh. Their advisor is Associate Professor Yoke Khin Yap. The other award went to Craig Gossen and Stefan Marek (mechanical engineering), Ashley Thode (civil engineering), and Kim Landick, Krissy Guzak, and Cara Hanson (environmental engineering), for “Improving Airflow in Ventilated Improved Pit Toilets.” Their advisors are Assistant Professor Kurt Paterson and Associate Professor David Watkins (both CEE) and Associate Professor and Assistant Provost Donna Michalek (ME-EM).

SFI’s operations manager, Richard Donovan, awarded the Inaugural Operations Manager Award of $200 to the Efficiency Through Engineering and Construction Enterprise. Members are: Ashley Brown, Dianna Cacko, Stephen Chartier, Patrick Green, Jordan Huffman, Eric Kinonen, Markus Manderfield, Andrew Manty, Michael D. Powers, and Tyler Sutkowi. The ETEC team submitted three posters: “Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad”; “Habitat for Humanity”; and “Generations of Energy.” For some of their work, these students collaborated with Melissa Davis, an SFI staff member and director of a local nonprofit called New Power Tour. Davis also was recognized as a scholar of SFI. The advisor for ETEC is Lynn Artman of the School of Technology.

In keeping with the spirit of the event, sustainability, Chef Eric Karvonen prepared a dinner of fresh roasted trout from Lake Superior, vegetables from Chip Ransom’s organic farm on the Houghton Canal, grass-fed bison from northern Wisconsin and wild blueberries from Gay. Pictures of the event are available at the following URLs: http://www.doe.mtu.edu/news/2009/sfi_october2009/index.html .

http://www.doe.mtu.edu/news/2009/sfi_october2009/posters.html .

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New theses and dissertations in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations from our recent graduates in the J. R. Van Pelt Library and John and Ruanne Opie Library.  The names of our graduates, their degrees, advisors, and titles of their research are listed below.

R Adam Blankenbicker
Master of Science in Geology
Advisor: William I Rose
Thesis title: Video Analysis of Small Vulcanian Explosions at Santiaguito, Guatemala

Elizabeth Boisvert
Master of Science in Applied Ecology
Advisor: Thomas Grant Pypker
Thesis title: Initiation and Development of Three Lake Superior Coastal Peatlands

Daw Don Cheam
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Paul L Bergstrom
Dissertation title: Integration of Room Temperature Single Electron Transistor with CMOS Subsystem

Brandon Dilworth
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Advisor: Jason R Blough
Dissertation title: Identification of Ground and Environmental Effects to the Pass-by Noise Testing of Snowmobiles

Varun Gouthaman
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Reza  Shahbazian Yassar
Thesis title: Micro-Fabrication of a Bio-MEMS Based Force Sensor to Measure the Force Response of Living Cells

Erik Hayenga
Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Advisor: Marilyn M Cooper
Dissertation title: Ethics in Illustruction: Safety Cartoons in John Deere Tractor and Combine Harvester Operator’s Manuals, 1945-2007

John Hribljan
Master of Science in Biological Sciences
Advisor: Janice M Glime
Thesis title: The Influence of Moss and Litter Chemical Traits on Bryophagy in a Northern Temperate Forest Invertebrate, Porcellio scaber LATR.

Nicholas Jensen
Master of Science in Forest Ecology and Management
Advisor: Christopher Raymond Webster
Thesis title: Ungulate Winter Habitat Selection as a Driver of Heterogeneity in Ground-Layer Plant Communities

Samuel Johnson
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Jeffrey Donald Naber
Thesis title: Premixed Lean Gas Combustion and HPCR Rate of Injection used with a Constant Volume Combustion Vessel

Eric Kalenauskas
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Jeffrey  Allen
Thesis title: Calibration Methods of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler & Investigations of the Critical Wavenumber in Unstable Evaporating Thin Films

Keong Aik Lau
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Tony Neal Rogers
Dissertation title: Theoretical and Experimental Studies of the Temperature Dependence of the Henry’s Law Constant of Organic Solutes in Water

Shannon Lerner
Master of Science in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Co-advisors: Marilyn M Cooper and Jnan Ananda Blau
Thesis title: Martin Buber and Luce Irigaray: Liminality and Historical Spiritual Moments

Kathryn Marlor
Master of Science in Forest Ecology and Management
Advisor: Rodney A Chimner
Thesis title: Determining the Role of Environmental Factors and Disturbance in the Distribution of Reed Canary Grass within Wetlands

Benjamin Melitz
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Charles D Van Karsen
Thesis title: Feasibility Assessment of Inverse Frequency Based Substructuring to Obtain Automotive Powertrain Mount Properties

Jonathan Mellor
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Advisor: David W Watkins
Thesis title: Water and Sanitation Accessibility and the Health of Rural Ugandans

Bode Morin
Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology
Advisor: Terry S Reynolds
Dissertation title: Reflection, Refraction, and Rejection: Copper Smelting Heritage and the Execution of Environmental Policy

James Nugent
Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Advisor: Robert R Johnson
Dissertation title: United States Certificate Programs in Technical Communication: A Feminist-Sophistic Investigation

Paul Pawelzik
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Advisor: Qiong  Zhang
Thesis title: A Life Cycle Analysis Methodology: Incorporating Technological Advances Over Time A Study of the Environmental Impact of Cellulosic Ethanol with Technological Advances over Time

Russell Stacy
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Jeffrey  Allen
Thesis title: Contact Angle Measurement Technique for Rough Surfaces

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Graduate Student to appear in National Geographic

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Alex Guth, PhD student, online lecturer, and Kenyan geology researcher, served as an expert for a National Geographic television show airing next spring.

The focus of the TV special is the concept of Pangea, the super continent that once existed before the current continents parted ways. The region of Kenya where the film crew worked is an important, and famous, marker in the theory, as it was once connected to the island Madagascar. The proof is in the animals, lemurs to be exact, that exist in both spots.

“I couldn’t speak as a biologist,” Guth said. But she could discuss her areas of expertise:

  • mapping a visual history of the rift (her master’s research).
  • tracking the history of climate change, paleo-climatology, in the region (her PhD focus).

These are 10-million-year histories.

For more information, and a picture of Alex in action, see an extended article on the Michigan Tech news site.

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New theses and dissertations in the Library

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The Graduate School is pleased to announce the arrival of new theses and dissertations from our recent graduates in the J. R. Van Pelt Library and John and Ruanne Opie Library.  The names of our graduates, their degrees, advisors, and titles of their research are listed below.

Ganesh Kumar Arumugam
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
Advisor: Patricia A Heiden
Dissertation Title: Controlled Nanostructures for Optoelectronic and Other Advanced Applications

Xin Bai
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
Advisor: Richard E Brown
Dissertation Title: Ab Initio Studies for Solvated Electrons in Hydrogen Fluoride, Water and Ammonia, The Dipole-Electron Interaction and Hydrogen Bonding

Emily C Fossum
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics
Advisor: Lyon B King
Dissertation Title: Electron Mobility in ExB Devices

Jennifer M Heglund
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Brian D Barkdoll
Thesis Title: Effects of Climate Change Induced Heavy Precipitation Events on Sediment Transport in Lower Michigan Rivers

Laura E Hernandez
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
Advisor: Stanley J Vitton
Thesis Title: Integrating the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Body of Knowledge into Soil Mechanics Laboratory Curriculum

Xiukui Li
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Seyed A Zekavat
Dissertation Title: Cognitive Radio Based Dynamic Spectrum Sharing

Joseph Miller
Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering
Advisor: William M Bulleit
Dissertation Title: Design and Analysis of Mechanically Laminated Timber Beams Using Shear Keys

Sowmya S Moily
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Co-advisors: Jindong Tan and Byung K Choi
Thesis Title: PayOne: Incentive for Epidemic Protocol-based Anonymity System

Puspamitra Panigrahi
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics
Advisor: Ranjit Pati
Dissertation Title: Controlling Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Ultra Narrow Multilayered Nanowires

Raja S Payyavula
Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
Co-advisors: Chung-Jui Tsai and Scott A Harding
Dissertation Title: An Investigation of Phenolic Glycoside and Condensed Tannin Homeostasis in Populus by Salicyl Alcohol Feeding to Cell Cultures and by Transgenic Manipulation of the Sucrose Transporter, PTSUT4, IN PLANTA

Tongquan Wei
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Piyush Mishra
Dissertation Title: Energy-Efficient Fault-Tolerance Schemes for Multi-Core Hard Real-Time Systems

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Michigan Tech EcoCAR Team Hits the Road

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For over a year, Michigan Technological University’s EcoCAR Enterprise team members have been brainstorming and building a next-generation hybrid vehicle on their computers. Now they are ready to roll.

The team has taken delivery on a 2009 Saturn Vue Hybrid, a cross-over vehicle. General Motors, a major sponsor of EcoCar, donated new Vues to Michigan Tech and the 16 other US and Canadian universities participating in the competition.

To read more about EcoCAR and the Tech team’s strategy, see this story on the Michigan Tech News site.

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