Graduate School Newsblog

Category: Succeeding in Graduate School

Articles about professional development and seminar announcements.

Ten Times Over

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A sea of stories and support behind the Class of 2014
It’s never a snapshot of just one perspective.

On campuses across the country, students are ascending one side of a stage, shaking hands, and descending as graduates, careers and experiences and possibilities laid out before them.

These are a few snapshots of one. But not just one. Rebecca Miner is finishing her third Tech degree today, a doctorate in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Her family is seated in a skybox in the arena while she’s up near the stage with the rest of the newly minted PhDs. It’s quiet in the arena. Warm. The only constant sound, aside from the voices calling names, is the sound of camera shutters capturing every moment ten times over.

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Published in Tech Today by Kevin Hodur, content specialist

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Bhakta Rath Research Award Presented to Fang, Pokharel

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Michigan Tech has given its 2014 Bhakta Rath Research Award to two scientists who have developed a fast, effective and inexpensive way to purify synthetic DNA and peptide molecules.

Their discovery could ultimately be used to heal. Peptides have the potential to fight some of the most intractable diseases, and DNA is a critical element of gene therapy.

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Published in Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, senior content specialist

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Biomedical Engineering Announces 2014 Kenneth L. Stevenson Research Fellows

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The Department of Biomedical Engineering announces the recipients of the 2014 Kenneth L. Stevenson Research Fellows.  Two undergraduate and two graduate students are selected annually to receive these competitive research fellowships.  The Stevenson Fellows program provides an opportunity for upper-level undergraduate and early-stage graduate students to spend the summer in a total immersion research experience in a biomedical engineering research laboratory.  The annual competition is open to students from all academic departments who wish to explore biomedical engineering research and provides a generous research stipend.
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Michigan Tech Graduate Students Win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

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Three graduate students have received Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Christa Meingast in environmental engineering and Gregory Hardy and David Diesenroth in mechanical engineering won the competitive fellowships. Benjamin Winter in civil engineering received an honorable mention.

“NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are one of the oldest, most prestigious and competitive programs nationally,” said Jodi Lehman, assistant director for research development at Michigan Tech. “It is the fellowship program that other federal programs such as the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy use as a benchmark,” she noted.

“The Graduate School is happy to see our students honored for their scholarship and achievements in and out of the classroom,” said Debra Charlesworth, assistant dean of the Graduate School and coordinator of the NSF Graduate Research Fellows program at Michigan Tech. “These prestigious awards recognize not only our students, but the faculty and staff who have provided opportunities and mentoring for them to reach their potential. They join an outstanding group of Michigan Tech NSF scholars who are conducting research around the world.”

Charlesworth herself is a former NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

“The recent awards and honorable mention demonstrate the quality of a Michigan Tech education at all levels and disciplines,” said Craig Friedrich, director of graduate studies for the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and Richard and Bonnie Robbins Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “Our students are on par with the top research institutions in the US, and the support provided by Jodi Lehman helping students prepare fellowship applications continues to grow our success and recognition with the National Science Foundation and other agencies.”

Published in Tech Today by Jenn Donovan, director of news and media relations

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Duan a finalist in the Student Paper Competition

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Ran Duan, a PhD candidate in engineering physics, has been named a finalist in the Student Paper Competition of the 2014 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, cosponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society and the Union of Radio Science.

As a finalist, Duan has been been invited to present a poster on his paper titled “Multiband Unidirectional Cloaking Based on Geometric Optics” at the symposium in Memphis, July 6-11.  He will also receive a $1,250 award to help him attend the symposium.

Duan won Michigan Tech’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for the fall 2013 semester.

Duan’s research is on an invisibility cloak being developed by Associate Professor Elena Semouchkina (ECE/Physics).  An invisibility cloak is a device that allows electromagnetic waves such as microwaves or light to bypass objects, essentially making them invisible.

Published in Tech Today.

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2014 ACS Upper Peninsula Student Research Symposium

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On Saturday, March 29 the Upper Peninsula Local Section (UPLS) of the American Chemical Society hosted a research symposium at Northern Michigan University for undergraduate and graduate students across the UP. In total, 33 students presented research from Lake Superior State University, Northern Michigan University and Michigan Tech, and over 70 people attended the event.

Michigan Tech undergraduate student Daniel Beegle tied for the second place poster award for the Undergraduate Division and Michigan. Tech graduate students Suntara Fueangfung, Ashok Khanal and Melanie Talaga tied for first place in the Graduate Division.

Over $400 in awards were distributed to the best posters at the event, which was sponsored by ACS National, the Upper Peninsula ACS Local Section and Northern Michigan University. UPLS Chair Robert Handler (ChE/SFI) commented, “We were very pleased with the enthusiastic response of students from around the UP, and the UPLS is looking forward to hosting this event next year!”

Published in Tech Today.

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Scientists ID Genes that Could Lead to Tough, Disease-Resistant Varieties of Rice

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As the Earth’s human population marches toward 9 billion, the need for new varieties of grain crops has never been greater.

Now Michigan Tech scientists have pinpointed genes that could be key in the development of hardy, disease-resistant grains, including rice.

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Published in Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, senior content specialist

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Grad student attends first PhD Conference on Earth System Science

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Jianqiu Zheng, a PhD candidate in the atmospheric sciences, who is under the advisement of Paul Doskey (CEE), recently traveled to the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany to attend the first PhD Conference on Earth System Science. Zheng presented her research on soil emissions of nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide. She was the only attendee from a US University.

Published in Tech Today.

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