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Hands, Minds–and Trees–Across the Sea

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The forests of North America are different from those in Finland and Sweden, and the management of these forest resources differs historically and culturally. But environmental and forest resources issues are no respecters of national borders and global solutions are needed in today’s global economy. So Michigan Tech’s ATLANTIS program at the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES) is preparing graduate students on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to tackle the world’s forest resources challenges.

ATLANTIS (Actions for Transatlantic Links and Academic Networks for Training and Integrated Studies) is an educational program jointly funded by the US Department of Education and the European Union. Only 16 such grants were awarded in 2008. Michigan Tech’s partner universities are North Carolina State, the University of Helsinki in Finland and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Graduate students from each university spend up to a year at a foreign partner university, as well as up to a year at their home institution, earning dual master of science degrees from both their home and host universities. The program provides for faculty exchanges as well. So far 10 Michigan Tech faculty have spent time at the Swedish or Finnish universities to establish new collaborations, and a total of 24 graduate students will earn their degrees through this program.

An Estonian Student Comes to Tech

Tõnis Tõnisson, 25, is one of the ATLANTIS graduate students. An Estonian, he was studying in a cooperative program between the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Life Sciences when he heard about the ATLANTIS program.

Tõnisson’s father works in forestry, and he wants to work in forest management. More than 50 percent of his native Estonia is covered with forests. “I grew up in the forest,” he explains, “and I wanted to study abroad.”

The fact that Michigan Tech courses are taught in English was no stumbling block for Tõnisson. He has studied English for 11 years, and the courses at the Swedish University of Life Sciences were taught in English. However, “I never had to speak English before. People here speak so fast, and they use more vocabulary than I know. But everybody has been really understanding and helpful.”

Another challenge was the high academic standards at Michigan Tech. “It is very different here,” Tõnisson says. “The university’s expectations of the students are much higher. I think I am learning much more here.”

Students here also have a lot more freedom than students in Estonia or Sweden, says Tõnisson. “And I am surprised at how open the people are here. They are much more talkative and friendly.”

Living on his own in Houghton, the Estonian student plunged right into campus life, playing soccer with international students over the summer and joining a bowling league.

Tõnisson spent a semester in Sweden and one in Finland before coming to Tech in January 2011. He is doing his graduate work with Kathy Halvorsen, a professor who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Social Sciences and the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. He will finish his dual master’s degree program in December and return to Estonia to complete another master’s degree for which he is already enrolled.

A Michigan Tech Student Goes to Scandinavia

Kassidy Yatso, a graduate student who also earned her Bachelor of Science in Applied Ecology and Environmental Science at Tech, spent one ATLANTIS semester at the University of Helsinki and the second semester at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She is back on campus now, completing her master’s degree work.

Yatso learned some surprising things while she was in Scandinavia, which she shared with the Tech community through a blog. (See Abroad.) For example, “No one in Sweden stands in line,” she discovered. “You push a button, and a paper slip comes out with a queue number. A large board shows which number they are serving, so you can guesstimate when to return for service.”

She also found that Swedish postage stamps, at 12 krona–approximately $1.85–are the most expensive stamps in the world. But the Swedish postal service is much more efficient and reliable than the one in Finland, the American student says.

Yatso’s academic experiences don’t reflect Tonisson’s impression that graduate school is more demanding in the US than it is in Scandinavia. In her April 17 blog, she describes a week that included a thesis defense; three demanding assignments for an intensive, two-week silviculture course; and an all-day field trip to Snogeholm to study multiple forest management techniques and current landscape architecture trends.

She still found time and energy to hear some live music by an all-girl Swedish band at a club in Malmo. “I was absolutely blown away,” she blogged. “They are now one of my favorite bands.”

No More Funding for ATLANTIS

The ATLANTIS program, a victim of federal budget cuts, won’t be funding any new programs, although Tech has already received the funds to complete its project. But Michigan Tech is going to try to find a way to continue the joint degree program with the Scandinavian universities.

“The European-American perspective provides invaluable benefit–a global perspective–to our students and the students from overseas,” says Chandrashekhar Joshi, professor of plant molecular genetics in SFRES. Joshi, who was graduate program director for SFRES when Michigan Tech applied for funding for the transatlantic master’s program, heads ATLANTIS at Tech.

“On return from abroad, the students’ vision has changed,” he says. “They become more outgoing. They transform into leaders. They seek more interactions with others. They act like global citizens.”

Yatso enthusiastically agrees. “The ATLANTIS program changed my life,” she says, “by giving me an opportunity to learn about science, culture and myself–while earning two master of science degrees. I have learned invaluable life lessons, skills and vocabulary along the way as well. The people I have met through ATLANTIS will forever be in my life and heart.”

Joshi points out that the dual degrees that the students earn are another benefit “of tremendous value in today’s job market.”

Since ATLANTIS began in 2008 in SFRES, two other international dual-degree programs funded by the same agencies have been established at Michigan Tech. One is in rail transportation; the other is in volcanology.

by Jennifer Donovan, director, public relations
Published in Tech Today

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DOE Graduate Fellowship Program NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

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The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) established the DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE SCGF) Program (http://scgf.orau.gov/overview.html) in 2009 to support outstanding students to pursue graduate training in basic research in areas of physics, biology (non-medical), chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computer and computational sciences, and environmental sciences relevant to the Office of Science and to encourage the development of the next generation of scientific and technical talent in the U.S who will pursue careers in research critical to the Office of Science mission at DOE laboratories and in academia.

The fellowship award provides partial tuition support, an annual stipend for living expenses, and a research allowance for full-time graduate study and thesis/dissertation research at an accredited college or university in the United States or its territories for three years.

DOE Fellows receive a yearly stipend (for up to 3 years) of $35,000.  Additional benefits are listed here: http://scgf.orau.gov/benefits.html

You are eligible to apply if one of the following circumstances applies to you at the time of applying:

  • You are an undergraduate senior, planning to apply to qualified graduate programs (see below) this year and be enrolled by Fall 2012.
  • You are a first year or second year Master’s or Ph.D. student in a qualified graduate program.
  • You are in your last year of a BS/MS program and plan to be enrolled in a qualified Ph.D. program by Fall 2012.
  • You are not currently enrolled in a graduate program, but have been accepted into a qualified graduate program that will begin in the Spring or Fall of 2012.
  • You have completed your undergraduate degree and are not currently enrolled in a graduate program, but plan to apply to qualified graduate programs and be enrolled in Fall 2012.

Applicants to the DOE SCGF program must meet all of the requirements in the following areas to be eligible to apply:

  • Minimum age and U.S. citizenship
  • Academic Status
  • Enrollment in a Qualified Graduate Program
  • Other Federal Graduate Fellowships

You are NOT eligible to apply if one or any combination of the following describe your graduate education status:

  • You will be in your third year of a Master’s program in Fall 2012.
  • You have completed more than 6 semesters/9 quarters (*) of cumulative graduate work at the time of applying.
  • You have completed more than 3 semesters/5 quarters (*) of cumulative graduate work in a Ph.D. program at the time of applying.
  • You seek to pursue a second Ph.D. degree.
  • You are currently in your second Master’s degree program and will not be in a qualified Ph.D. program by Fall 2012.

*Full or part-time

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ORAU provides funding for Lindau Meeting in Germany

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Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine convene annually in Lindau, Germany, to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers.  These students will travel to Lindau to participate in discussions with the Nobel Laureates, as well as other graduate students and junior researchers from around the world.

The 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to physiology or medicine will be held June 29 through July 4, 2014.   Nomination deadline is Friday, November 1, 2013 4:00 pm, Eastern Time..

The 5th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences will be held August 19 through August 23, 2014.  Nomination deadline is Friday, November 15, 2013 4:00 pm, Eastern Time.

Transportation, lodging and registration expenses are arranged and paid for by the sponsoring agencies.  Participants meet in Washington, D.C., for an orientation meeting and travel as a group to Germany.  A student awardee will be committed to travel from June 27 or 28, 2014 until July 5 or 6, 2014.  The final dates will be determined at a later date.

Federal budget uncertainties prohibit a formal announcement of an internal due date for applications.  ORAU member institutions may nominate one student per university.  Your institution will also be invited to nominate additional students by our partnering organizations.

Further information about the program, and the web site for submission of nominations, can be found online at http://www.orau.org/lindau/.

The meetings will feature recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology and Economics.

Eligibility:

  • U.S. citizens currently enrolled at a university as full-time graduate students;
  • Completed by June 2014 at least two academic years of graduate studies toward a doctoral degree in the discipline of medicine/physiology or a related discipline, but not be planning a dissertation/thesis defense before December 31, 2014  (Note: eligibility requirements for the Economics Meeting will vary)

We are especially interested in receiving nominations from a diverse group of students, including women, minorities and people with disabilities.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Sam Held (sam.held@orau.org) or me (ann.farler@orau.org).

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Spring 2019 Recipient – Jinlin Zhang

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Jinlin Zhang
Physics

I am a PhD candidate working with Dr. Jae Yong Suh and Dr. Yoke Khin Yap in the Physics Department. I joined Michigan Tech in summer of 2015 after finishing my master’s degree from Lanzhou University, China. My research interests lie in linear and nonlinear optical properties of low dimensional materials including novel metallic films and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which are promising for applications in nanophotonic and nanoelectric devices. I do fabrication, characterization and simulation of these materials. I am also interested in building setups for detecting optical properties of materials. My long-term goal is to pursue an academic career in optical and materials physics, extending what I have learned from Michigan Tech. I am passionate about teaching as well and have more than three years of experience of PH1200 lab as an instructor in Michigan Tech.

I would like to thank Graduate School for granting me the Finishing Fellowship. It allows me time to write my dissertation, defend my thesis and graduate with a doctoral degree. Meanwhile, I am thankful for Dr. Jae Yong Suh and Dr. Yoke Khin Yap for their guidance, and the group members who have helped me during research work as well. I am also grateful to the department chair, Ravindra Pandey, and the Physics Department for their support.

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If You Have a Michigan Tech Degree, Bhakta Rath Knows You Can Do the Job

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Bhakta Rath ’58 is the associate director of research and head of the Material Science and Component Technology Directorate of the US Naval Research Laboratory. He and his wife, Sushama, a computer analyst for the Virginia Community College System, have endowed an annual research award to an outstanding graduate student and faculty adviser for work that will help meet the nation’s needs and the challenges of emerging technologies. Attending the University’s 2011 Spring Commencement, Rath reminisced about his days at Michigan Tech more than 50 years ago and his vision for the future.

Luckily for Michigan Tech–and generations of graduate students and researchers here–Bhakta Rath never did get the hang of speaking German.

“After finishing my bachelor’s degree in India, I got a full scholarship to study in Germany,” Rath recalls. “But after six months trying to learn German, when all I could say was hello, good-bye and where is the bathroom, I realized that this was not the way to get a graduate education.”

So he came to Michigan Tech instead, with a BS in physics and mathematics and not a shred of engineering. When he sat down with the chair of the metallurgical engineering department, Corbin Eddy peered at Rath’s transcript and inquired: “Have you ever had a course in blast furnace?”

“No,” Rath replied.

“Open hearth?”

“No.”

“Welding?”

“No.”

He asked about several other undergraduate courses. The response was the same, “No.”

Eddy shook his head.

“You are going to have to take all the undergraduate courses you would need in preparation for this degree and earn at least a 3.0 in them, plus your graduate courses and thesis,” he said. “It’s going to take you nearly six years to get a master’s.”

Rath politely but firmly disagreed. “I can’t do that,” he said. “My parents are paying for me to study here. I promised to come home in two years with a master’s degree, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

It took a staggering load of over 30 courses a year, but Rath did what he said he’d do. Then his advisor, Roy Drier, dropped another bombshell. “You need to stay one more quarter and take the mandatory course in Michigan history, so we can give you a BS as well as an MS,” Drier told Rath.

But Rath, who had already been accepted to a PhD program at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, said no thanks. “I came here for a master’s; I’ll settle for the master’s,” he decided.

Despite his course load, Rath has happy memories of his time at Michigan Tech. He recalls staying in the old Scott Hotel in Hancock over Christmas break, when the University residence halls were closed. “It cost a lot–$1 a day–but with two of us sharing a room, it was only 50 cents each,” he says.

He’ll never forget his first ski adventure either. Some classmates took him up Mt. Ripley. Since Rath had never skied, they wanted to leave him on the easy slope. Rath was having none of that.

“If you are riding the lift to the top, I am, too,” he said. It took his friends about two minutes to ski to the bottom. “It took me two hours,” he says, “on my belly.”

Rath’s determination to complete his graduate degrees took another hit when he actually arrived at IIT. “You can start by forgetting everything you’ve learned at Michigan Tech,” he was told. “You’ll have to start all over and pass a 10-hour oral exam before you can even start on your PhD work.”

At the time, Michigan Tech was known as a practical engineering school, training students to work in heavy-industry settings. “The basic engineering Michigan Tech taught was the best in the country, but the University wasn’t preparing students to think about the basic science behind the engineering,” Rath explains. “Now a Tech education is much more science-based, and that’s a good thing, because we are not training students to work in blast furnaces and open hearths any more. We are preparing them to solve engineering problems, to create entirely new materials, processes and products.”

The engineering challenges are different now, Rath points out. “We used to focus on extracting raw materials and converting them to useable products. In what was then called the metallurgy department, it was all about metals, from mining to mineral dressing to processing. Now the spectrum is much broader, including polymers, ceramics, composites, semiconductors and all kinds of novel materials.”

One of the most serious challenges facing Michigan Tech and the nation today is the need to motivate more young people to go into science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM fields. Rath has made a commitment to help on that front through his work with the American Society for Materials (ASM) International Education Foundation. He is past president of the foundation and now serves on its board of trustees.

ASM develops nearly 50 summer camps for high school students and teachers, sponsored by the foundation, local industries and universities. Michigan Tech sponsored one in 2008.

“We need to excite American students about the STEM fields, and if you excite the teachers, they excite the students,” Rath explains. He has successfully talked the Office of Naval Research into funding summer teachers’ camps.

He’s a big fan of the hands-on approach to motivating the next generation. “Kids need to do things, to analyze real-world problems,” he says. “They need to look at a failed auto part and ask: ‘Why did this shaft fail, and how could we make it better?'”

The challenge of attracting young people to STEM studies is compounded by the trend in American business and industry to outsource not only manufacturing, but research and development.

“There aren’t enough American graduates to fill the STEM jobs,” says Rath. “Universities are training more and more foreign students in STEM fields, but they are returning to their homelands, not contributing to the intellectual capital of the US. This is a very serious challenge for the future of our country.”

by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations
Published in Tech Today

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2021 Recipient – Sriram Valluri

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Statement

Firstly, I want to thank MTU for awarding me the prestigious doctoral finishing fellowship award. I was born and brought up in south India. I did my undergraduate and master’s degree at IIT-Dhanbad, which accepts only the top 1% of students of India every year. For my Ph.D., I was offered a full scholarship at University of Queensland, Australia, and Penn state university, but I rather chose MTU to work under Dr. S. Komar Kawatra.

Prof Komar Kawatra is leading the CO2 capture and utilization research team at Michigan Tech University. Our goal is to capture CO2 from coal-fired power plants at minimal cost and convert CO2 into value-added products like Syn-gas, Oxalic acid, etc. For the last four years, I have worked extensively on carbon capture and utilization projects. I and my team of undergraduate researchers have continuously improved the efficiency of our CO2 scrubber system and also tested the prototype in a pilot-scale environment. We presented our work at International Conferences representing MTU and received applause. I have published several papers on chemical absorption CO2 capture, in high-impact journals.

I Worked on multiple CO2 capture projects and successfully submitted reports. Successfully captured CO2 from Michigan Technological University steam plant as part of my Ph.D. thesis project. I have installed our pilot-scale CO2 scrubber system at the Michigan tech Power plant and reduced the CO2 emissions from 8% to 4%. I have trained Sam Root, a Chem Eng. Freshman on this project, who won national awards in Poster competitions.

Photography and rock climbing are two of my favorite pastimes. I am extremely pleased with my decision to pursue my Ph.D. at MTU. The upper peninsula of Michigan is a photographer’s dream, both in winter and in fall. When I have free time, I like to explore different parts of UP and take some landscape pictures. 

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Guidance from the Graduate School during the COVID -19 pandemic (1)

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Dear Graduate Program Directors, Chairs, and Deans,
Please distribute to appropriate people

Graduate students are currently experiencing a high degree of stress from the uncertainty of funding, changes in instruction, academic progress, fulfilling their research and teaching duties, and the safety of their family and friends across the world. We are charged with providing them the best educational experience that we can, and part of our responsibility this semester is to include ways to mitigate the stress and anxiety they are facing.  

While graduate programs should continue to maintain academic standards, please make allowances for the extraordinarily stressful times our graduate students are facing. Some items you might consider:

  • BC/C grades: The Graduate School allows up to six credits of BC/C grades to be used toward completion of a graduate degree. If your graduate program does not allow some BC/C grades to be used, you might consider whether that requirement can be relaxed for spring and summer 2020.
  • Deadlines for completion of exams: Your graduate program may have deadlines in place for completion of qualifying exams and research proposal examinations. Relaxing these deadlines and postponing exams until students can adequately prepare for them and perform well might be something you could consider.
  • Number of attempts for completion of exams: For students who took a qualifying exam this semester, you might consider an additional attempt if the student did not successfully pass the exam.  
  • Q grades: Research is graded as progress (P) or no progress (Q). For research grades, please consider whether your students have made adequate progress, based on the circumstances in your research group this semester. As we are all well aware, this is  not a “normal” semester with an uninterrupted schedule. Therefore, although we encourage “Q” grades when no progress has been made, please account for the difficult circumstances that we are all working under when considering student progress this semester.
  • Research progress: Student progress on research is likely to be impacted due to the disruptions on campus. We would encourage faculty to consider whether changes to the research project can be made to allow students to complete their degree in a timely manner.  
  • Delay in graduation for research-based MS degrees: Master’s students whose graduation is delayed because of research progress this semester may want to consider the coursework option. The Graduate School can allow research credits to be considered toward a coursework option. In order to do so, the department would provide the Graduate School with a statement of learning outcomes achieved, work accomplished, evaluation process, letter grade, the number of research credits completed, and the number of equivalent coursework credits requested. Please reach out to us for additional details.

The Graduate School will make the following adjustments to policies to support student success and lessen their anxiety:

  • Probation and suspension: The process to place students on probation or suspension will be placed on hold for spring 2020. Students will maintain their current academic standing after semester grades are posted and no student will be suspended. Students currently on probation may return to good standing if their academic performance has improved in spring 2020. Dismissals (if any) will be handled on a case-by-case basis after consulting with the graduate program.
  • Extensions given: The Graduate School normally places registration holds if students fail to complete the following in a timely manner: select an advisor, complete basic RCR training, and provide original proof of degree(s). For this semester, all the holds on registration will be released. This will give students additional time to complete these requirements and allow them to register for future semesters.

FYI: The following policy changes have been previously announced and are already in place:

  • International students: May be registered for fewer than nine credits this semester without approval from International Programs & Services (IPS) and without impacting their student status.
  • Supported students may be registered with fewer than nine credits without losing their support. 
  • Drop deadline extended: The deadline to withdraw from classes with a “W” grade has been extended to 5 p.m. on April 24. W grades do not impact cumulative GPA calculation, and any graduate student with a CD, D, or F in a class should strongly consider dropping classes to help maintain good standing.
  • Deadlines for completing a dissertation, thesis, or report have been extended by the Graduate School.

We hope you are taking the time to take care of yourself and your family. We wish you the very best as we navigate through these extraordinary times. Please reach out to us with any questions or suggestions you may have. 

Sincerely,

Pushpa Murthy

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Summer 2019 Recipient – Nupur Bihari

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Nupur Bihari
Materials Science and Engineering

I moved to the beautiful city of Houghton as a Master’s student in Electrical Engineering and worked on my thesis (under Dr. Paul Bergstrom) on a microfabricated blood typing sensor. Continuing to explore semiconductor microfabrication and vacuum systems, I joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Fall 2016 under Dr. Joshua Pearce. I began my PhD research on integrating the disparate worlds of additive manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication.

Additive manufacturing is radically changing the way polymer-based components are manufactured. It has enabled customization, reduced costs and led to unprecedented growth in the acceptance and use of polymers in scientific research equipment. Despite the ubiquity of 3-D printed materials in research applications, they have remained conspicuously absent from semiconductor research, primarily due to their apparent incompatibility with vacuum equipment. This incompatibility is mainly in terms of outgassing of volatile organic species. Outgassing in polymers arises when low molecular mass entities present in the material matrix escape when exposed to vacuum. If polymers are coated with a conformal, crystalline, inorganic film introduced with atomic layer deposition (ALD), then outgassing can be reduced to a large extent because the surface layer acts as a seal to prevent these low molecular weight species present in the bulk of the material from escaping. Going a step further, I am in the process of building a first of its kind ALD system almost entirely out of 3-D printed polymeric materials.
I would like to express my gratitude to Graduate School for the finishing fellowship. I am honored to have my research get this recognition.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship – Fall 2021 Recipient – Prithvi Reddy

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I started my Ph.D. in the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Department at Michigan Tech in May 2018 under the guidance of Profs. Mahdi Shahbakhti and Darrell Robinette. My research work is in the field of automotive powertrain controls and focuses on developing physics-based control systems for reducing undesirable noise and vibration characteristics called clunk and shuffle, respectively, in automobiles. The goals of this project are to improve the driving comfort in passenger vehicles while simultaneously reducing vehicle development time and calibration effort. Therefore, our work aims at providing benefits to both the customer and the manufacturer of the vehicle. This is an industry-focused project and we have been collaborating with an automotive OEM to exchange ideas and our results from this work.

I am thankful to the Graduate school, the MEEM department, and our industry partner for supporting me throughout my Ph.D., through assistantships, and this fellowship. This fellowship will help me focus on wrapping up my Ph.D. deliverables and finishing my thesis.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Spring 2018 – Aref Majdara

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Aref Majdara
Electrical Engineering

Aref MajdaraI came to Michigan Tech in August 2013 to pursue my PhD in Electrical Engineering. I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in my home country, Iran.

My PhD research is focused on developing computationally efficient algorithms for non-parametric high-dimensional density estimation, with applications in density-based data mining and machine learning techniques.

Besides research activities, since Fall 2014, I have been working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, and I had the opportunity to teach five different ECE labs during seven semesters, which has been an invaluable experience for me.  

I am truly grateful to the Graduate School for providing me with financial support through the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship. This fellowship has made it possible for me to put my entire focus on publishing my research and completing my thesis, towards completion of my PhD degree this semester.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to MTU Alumni and Friends, for making this fellowship possible through their generous donations.

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