Graduate School Newsblog

Shane Ferrell Presents at International Conference

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Pasi Lautala, director of the Rail Transportation Program, and graduate student Shane Ferrell (CEE) recently presented the paper “Cold Climate Freight Railroads” at the International Heavy Haul Conference in Shanghai, China. Ferrell was one of six students worldwide sponsored by the IHHA to participate in the conference.

Lautala and Ferrell also made invited presentations about Michigan Tech and its Rail Transportation Program at Shijiazhuang Railway Institute and the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), in Lanzhou, China.

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Facilitators sought for Graduate School Orientation

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The Graduate School needs your help in welcoming our new graduate students and helping them successfully begin their career at Michigan Tech.  Faculty, staff and student volunteers are needed to facilitate discussion during orientation.  This is your opportunity to help enhance graduate education at Michigan Tech.

The training will help graduate students and advisors set expectations for graduate education and introduce students to basic concepts in responsible conduct for research.  The program centers around an interest based approach that has been developed by Michigan State for use in their graduate programs.

Volunteers will help facilitate discussion at a table with six or seven new graduate students.  The discussion will center around two vignettes that depict typical graduate student and faculty interactions.  Volunteers will participate in one of the training sessions offered on Monday, August 24th from 1:00 – 3:00pm and Tuesday, August 25th from 10am – noon.

Orientation begins at 9am on Wednesday, August 26th.

If you would like to volunteer, please register at:

http://www.gradschool2.mtu.edu/registration/events/

After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with the locations for the training and orientation, along with reminders as we get closer to the event.

Please contact Debra Charlesworth with any questions about orientation.

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July 7(2pm): An Introduction to Adobe Acrobat

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This seminar along with handouts is now available online.  Look in the Archives for the July 7, 2009 seminar.  It will be online for approximately one year.

Join the Graduate School to learn the basics of Adobe Acrobat.  Michigan Tech has a site license for this software, and all theses and dissertations are required to be submitted using this file format.  We’ll talk about how to generate a pdf, how to edit a pdf file, how to embed fonts, and all about hyperlinks and bookmarks.

Please register for the event at our online registration site:

http://www.gradschool2.mtu.edu/registration/events/

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation with the location and a reminder of the date and time.  Space is limited, so register early! The seminar will be taped and available online for those unable to join us at this time.

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Graduate School Orientation – August 26th

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Michigan Tech looks forward to welcoming our new graduate students from summer and fall semester. All new degree seeking students will be invited to orientation on August 26th beginning at 9am in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Registration and light snacks will be available beginning at 8:30am. Lunch is included in the program, and will be followed by a round table session designed to introduce students to the services available on campus.  Online registration is now closed.  Students may register onsite, and will be accommodated as space permits.

In addition to the orientation session sponsored by the Graduate School, students may also be required to attend sessions sponsored by:

Questions about Graduate School orientation may be directed to Debra Charlesworth or Carol Wingerson.

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Proposals in Progress

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Simon Carn and William Rose (GMES/RSI), “CDI-Type II Proposal: VHub: Collaborative Research: Cyberinfrastructure for Volcano Eruption and Hazards Modeling and Simulation,” NSF, Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) Program

Eugene Levin (School of Technology/RSI) and William Helton (Cognitive and Learning Sciences), “CDI-Type I: Multidisciplinary Research: From Geospatial Data to Knowledge,” NSF, CDI

Andrew J. Storer (SFRES/ESC), “Evaluation of Sugar Maple Dieback in Upper Michigan,” GMO Renewable Resources

Judith Perlinger, Noel Urban (CEE/RSI) and Shiliang Wu (GMES/RSI), “Predicting Effects of Climate Change on Atmospheric Loading of Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxicants to the Great Lakes,” Great Lakes Commission

Ulrich H. E. Hansmann (Physics/IEM), “Probing Folding and Assembly of Proteins through High-Performance Computing,” DOE

Elizabeth J. Hager (Biological Sciences), “Role(s) of the Mevalonate Pathway in Embryogenesis,” NIH

David Reed (VPR Office), James Heikinnen (Facilities), Bradley Baltensperger and J. Christopher Brill (Cognitive and Learning Sciences), “Complex Human Systems Research Center,” NIH

Germain Rivard, Joanne Polzien (VPR Office) and Greg Richards (Facilities), “Green Vivarium Expansion at Michigan Tech,” NIH

Patrick Martin (Social Sciences), “Archaeological Monitoring, Wastewater System Improvements, Franklin Township, Quincy Hill Area,” Franklin Township

Claudio Mazzoleni (Physics/RSI), “Analysis of Aerosol Optical Property from Data Collected during ISDAC (Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign), Fairbanks, Alaska, April 2008,” Los Alamos National Laboratory

S. K. Kawatra (Chemical Engineering), “State of the Art Modeling of Steelmaking Raw Materials Production,” American Iron and Steel Institute

Carl Anderson, Leonard Bohmann (College of Engineering), Jeffrey Naber, John Beard and Chris Passerello (ME-EM/APSRC), “An Interdisciplinary Program for Education and Outreach in Transportation Electrification,” DOE

Michele H. Miller, John K. Gershenson, Ibrahim Miskioglu, Gordon G. Parker and Charles H. Margraves (ME-EM), “Fundamental Manner in Which Students Solve Problems,” NSF

J. Y. Hwang and J. W. Drelich (MSE/IMP), “Design and Evaluation of a Novel Process Strategy for Water and Energy Conservation in the Oilsand Processing Industry,” Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development (CONRAD)

Dana Johnson (SBE/SFI), William Endres (ME-EM), James Pickens (SFRES), David Shonnard (Chemical Engineering/SFI) and John Sutherland (ME-EM/SFI), “Development of Supply Systems to Handle and Deliver High Tonnage Biomass Feedstocks for Cellulosic Biofuels Production,” DOE

Terry McNinch (LTAP/TDG MTTI), “City of East Tawas–Sign Data Collection Project,” City of East Tawas, Mich.

Brad King (ME-EM), “Hall Thruster Plume Studies,” Aerophysics Inc.

Victor Busov and Yordan Yordanov (SFRES/BRC), “Role of LOB Domain Transcription Factors in Regulation Wood Formation in Populus,” USDA

Chandrashekhar P. Joshi (SFRES/BRC), “Wood Cell Wall Analysis of Transgenic Poplars Altered in Cellulose Synthesis Genes,” USDA-AFRI: Plant Growth and Development

Abdulnasser Alaraje and Aleksandr Sergeyev (School of Technology), “Developing an Industry-Driven Digital Logic Design Curriculum for Electrical Engineering Technologists” and “Promoting Robotics Education: Curriculum and the State-of-Art Robotics Laboratory Development,” NSF

Jean Mayo and Steven Carr (Computer Science), “Exploring Access Control,” NSF

Ching-Kuang Shene (Computer Science), “The Design of Course Materials and Visualization and Programming Environment for an Undergraduate Cryptography Course,” NSF

Zhanping You, Shu Wei Goh (CEE/MTTI) and Qingli Dai (CEE/ME-EM/MTTI), “Development Guidelines for Warm Mix Asphalt Construction and Maintenance,” MDOT

Devin K. Harris, Jacob Hiller and Yue Li (CEE/MTTI), “Development and Validation of Deterioration Models for Concrete Bridge Decks,” MDOT

Devin K. Harris and Theresa M. Ahlborn (CEE/MTTI), “Evaluation of Constructed, Cast-in-Place (CIP) Piling Properties,” Wisconsin DOT

Rudy L. Luck, Sarah Green, Shiyue Fang and Dario Stacchiola (Chemistry), “Implementing Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction throughout the Chemistry Undergraduate Curricula at Michigan Tech,” NSF

Zhanping You (CEE/MTTI) and Qingli Dai (CEE/ME-EM/MTTI), “Alternative Materials for Sustainable Transportation” and “Cost Effective and Sustainable Recycled Asphalt Mixtures in Michigan,” MDOT

Amlan Mukherjee, Yogini Deshpande and Jacob Hiller (CEE/MTTI), “Sustainable Recycled Materials for Concrete Pavements,” MDOT

Timothy Colling (LTAP/TDG MTTI), “Impact of Non-Freeway Rumble Strips–Phase 1,” Texas Transportation Institute; and “Cost Effectiveness of the MDOT Preventative Maintenance Program,” Applied Pavement Technology Inc.

Zhanping You, Shu Wei Goh, Julian Mills-Beale and Baron Colbert (CEE/MTTI), “Extending Life of Asphalt Pavements,” MDOT

David Watkins and Veronica Griffis (CEE/MTTI), “Snowmelt Intensity-Duration-Frequency Analysis for Highway Drainage Design,” MDOT

Jacob Hiller (CEE/MTTI), “Extending Life of Concrete Pavements,” MDOT

Timothy Colling (LTAP/TDG MTTI), “Educating the Public to Negotiate Michigan Roundabouts,” MDOT

Nikola Subotic (MTRI), “Comprehensive Infrastructure Reconnaissance (CIR),” Foster-Miller

Andrew J. Storer (SFRES/ESC), “Project Coordinator for the Slow Ash Mortality (SLAM) Project”; “Phloem Reduction in Support of the Slow Ash Mortality (SLAM) Project”; and “Ash Inventory, Trapping and Treatment in Support of the Slow Ash Mortality (SLAM) Project,” USDA Forest Service

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Summer 2009 Finishing Fellows Announced

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

The following PhD candidates will receive one-time finishing fellowships:

* Carrie J. Andrew (School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science)
* Cameron Hartnell (Social Sciences)
* Emily B. McCarthy (Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences)
* Bode J. Morin (Social Sciences)
* Alicia A. Thorsen (Computer Science)
* Tongquan Wei (Electrical Engineering)
* Zijun Xu (Biological Sciences)

Application procedures for the School’s fellowship programs and photographs of recent recipients can be found at www.mtu.edu/gradschool/administration/academics/honors-awards/ .

Nominations for the fall finishing fellowships will be accepted until 4 p.m. on Friday, June 26.

If you have any questions, contact Debra Charlesworth at ddc@mtu.edu or Heather Suokas at hlsuokas@mtu.edu .

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Sustainable Futures Institute Poster Session on Monday

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Published in Tech Today

submitted by Denise Heikinen, Sustainable Futures Institute

The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) is sponsoring a poster session on Monday, June 22, in Memorial Union Ballroom 2 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. The event is open to the campus and local communities.

Both undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members from across the campus community will be displaying posters illustrating sustainability research and initiatives. These posters represent a broad range of sustainability action taking place at SFI and on the Michigan Tech campus.

Several posters in this year’s session will highlight the progress of ongoing research by the students involved in the Sustainable Futures Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeships program and its Wood-to-Wheels projects.

Since the poster session coincides with meetings of the SFI Advisory Board, members will be on hand. Attendees will have the chance to meet and mingle with board members, who represent the following: Caterpillar, Dow Corning, General Motors, The Great Lakes Commission, Kimberly-Clark, US Air Force, Steelcase, Motorola, Los Alamos National Laboratory of the Department of Energy, Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University and A&M College, and the USDA Forest Service.

This poster session is intended to strengthen the network of scholars interested in promoting the important research, education and outreach work in sustainability on the Michigan Tech campus and in the community.

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Graduate Students Present at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial Archaeology

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An incoming faculty member and several Michigan Tech graduate students of the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology program of the Department of Social Sciences presented papers at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, held May 28-31 in Pittsburgh.

  • master’s student Seth DePasqual, “Winning Coal at 78 Degrees North: Mining, Management and Negotiations at Old Longyear City”
  • master’s student Megan Glazewski, “Discovering Landscape Gardening Practices within Industrial Landscapes of the 19th Century: William Kemble’s Cottage, Cold Spring, New York”
  • doctoral candidate Cameron Hartnell, “High Arctic Coal Mining: The Strategy of the Arctic Coal Company”
  • doctoral student Marc Henshaw, “The Steamboat Industry in Brownsville, Pa.: The Beginnings of the Industrialization in the Upper Monongahela Valley”
  • doctoral student Erik Nordberg, “The Nordberg Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee: History, Archives and Research Potential”
  • incoming Associate Professor Fredric Quivik (Social Sciences), “What Has Happened to Other Gritty Cities: Putting Paterson into Context”
  • doctoral candidate Scott See, “National Heritage Area Candidate: The Iron Ranges of Lake Superior”

The society awarded Michigan Tech alum Marco Meniketti ’98 (MS in Industrial Archaeology) its 2009 Robert M. Vogel Prize. The award honors the author of the best article to appear in the society’s journal, IA, every three years.

Conference organizer and doctoral candidate Bode Morin (Industrial Heritage and Archaeology) was quoted in the May 29 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here.

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Michigan Tech Tops in the Nation for Women Earning Engineering PhDs

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From Tech Today

by Jennifer Donovan, public relations director

Michigan Tech’s College of Engineering graduates a higher percentage of women with PhDs in engineering than any other engineering school in the nation, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) reports.

Forty percent of Michigan Tech’s engineering doctoral degrees were awarded to women, according to the ASEE’s annual report, “Engineering by the Numbers.” The report is based on data from 2008. The next highest percentage of women PhD recipients in engineering was 38.7 percent, at the University of Rochester.

“What great news,” said Jacqueline Huntoon, dean of the Graduate School. “I congratulate the faculty in our College of Engineering and the Graduate School staff on recruiting and retaining these outstanding women. Michigan Tech’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) focus makes it challenging for us to maintain high levels of gender diversity on our campus because STEM programs tend to attract males. We plan to build on this success and continue to increase the diversity of our students.”

According to the report, only engineering schools that award at least 25 doctoral degrees during the year are ranked. There were 100 engineering schools nationwide that awarded 25 or more PhDs during 2008.

In undergraduate engineering degrees, Michigan Tech ranked third in the nation in numbers of bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering; 11th in numbers of civil engineering bachelor’s degrees; 16th in both computer engineering and electrical engineering; and 22nd in the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded by the College of Engineering.

“At a time when the state, nation and world need more women in engineering, I am pleased that the percentage of women receiving engineering PhDs at Michigan Tech is the highest in the nation,” said Tim Schulz, dean of the College of Engineering. “As these young women rise to leadership positions in industry, government and academia, they will serve as excellent role models for future generations.”

View the full ASEE report at www.asee.org/publications/profiles/upload/2008ProfileEng.pdf .

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