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Here’s Some Tax Help

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VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, is being offered on the Michigan Tech campus again this year.

VITA is a program that was developed by the IRS and is available on university campuses across the country during each tax season. The School of Business and Economics sponsors Michigan Tech’s program.

This free service is offered from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays; from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays; and from 3 to 5 p.m. on Fridays.

VITA sessions are held in Academic Office Building G010D. No appointment is necessary. You should bring your W-2s and other tax information, plus a copy of your tax return from last year.

In order to qualify as a VITA tax preparer, upper-division accounting students first complete an IRS self-study course, attend a tax seminar, and then pass an IRS test. The students prepare basic, individual income tax returns for other Michigan Tech students and for members of the local community who could not otherwise afford professional tax preparation services.

For further information, visit Vita .

Also, contact Joel Tuoriniemi at jctuorin@mtu.edu , or Anne Warrington at acwarrin@mtu.edu .

Published in Tech Today

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Winners of Rath Award for Research Announced

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Chee Huei Lee

For groundbreaking work in nanotechnology, Yoke Khin Yap and Chee Huei Lee have received the University’s Bhakta Rath Research Award.

The award, endowed by 1958 alumnus Bhakta Rath and his wife, Shushama Rath, recognizes a Michigan Tech doctoral student and advisor for “exceptional research of particular value that anticipates the future needs of the nation while supporting advances in emerging technology.”

Yap, an associate professor of physics, and then-PhD student Lee (he graduated in 2010) invented a technique for synthesizing boron nitride nanotubes. Compared to their carbon-based cousins, boron nitride nanotubes have alluring qualities but, before Yap and Lee’s pioneering work, had been notoriously difficult to grow.

The researchers created veritable nano-carpets of boron nitride nanotubes and discovered they possessed a number of interesting properties: They are perfect insulators, which means they could be doped to form designer semiconductors for use in electronics that operate at high temperatures. They are among the strongest materials known and can be dispersed in organic solvents, properties that could be useful in making high-strength composites and ceramics. Plus, they shed water like a duck’s back. This quality, known as superhydrophobicity, holds at all pH levels, which means they could be used as protective coatings to shield against the strongest acids and bases.

Yap said Lee played an important role in their collaboration. “I enjoy working with Chee Huei, as he is willing to listen, think and work hard on an idea, and then he comes back to tell you much more than what you were expecting,” said Yap. “My initial ideas mature and flourish with his feedback.”

Lee has authored or coauthored 12 peer-reviewed journal papers on their nanotube research, as well as three chapters and review articles and three papers in peer-reviewed proceedings. As recipients of the Rath Award, Yap and Lee will share a $2,000 prize. Their research work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

To find out more, visit the Michigan Tech News Site .

by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
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Two Michigan Tech Students Receive DOE Graduate Fellowships

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The US Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded graduate fellowships to two University students.

Colin Gurganus, a PhD student in atmospheric science, and Carley Kratz, who is earning her doctorate in forest science, are among the 150 fellows nationwide selected by the DOE from among 3,300 applicants. They will each receive $50,500 per year for up to three years to support tuition, living expenses, research materials and travel to conferences or to DOE scientific facilities.

“Competition for the DOE fellowships is intense; applicants are drawn from the nation’s finest universities,” said David Reed, vice president for research.  “The fact that two of our students were selected speaks both to the excellence of Michigan Tech’s research program and to the students’ outstanding qualifications, as well as their dedication and enthusiasm. I congratulate them both.”

The new DOE fellowship program is designed to strengthen the nation’s scientific workforce by supporting young students during the formative years of their research.

Visit the Michigan Tech News for the complete story.

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Tickets Available for Commencement, You’re Invited

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Spring Commencement begins at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 30, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in the Student Development Complex.

Members of the campus community may request tickets from Elizabeth Pollins in the Vice President for Student Affairs Office. Call 487-2465 or email epollins@mtu.edu .

The University will honor the achievements of 753 students receiving undergraduate degrees, 156 master’s degrees and 48 PhDs.

Mr. Norman R. Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and Martin Marietta Corporations, will give the commencement address, as well as receive an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Engineering, and Dr. Katerina E. Aifantis ’02 will be honored with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Commencement is not just a ceremony to honor our students and present degrees. It also serves as a time to reflect on and recognize the important contributions of our faculty and staff to the mission of the University to prepare students to create the future.

Parking, on a first-come, first-served basis, is available in Lots 22, 23 and 24. No parking pass is required.

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Safer Helmet, Safer Head

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Michigan Tech Team Takes Its Award-winning Invention to San Francisco Inventors Expo

by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations

In the heat of a football game, a player is tackled and pounded to the ground. His head takes a mighty sideways whack. What happens next–a concussion or some other kind of traumatic brain injury–is rarely good.

Now a team of inventive engineering students from Michigan Tech has designed a new and promising protective layer for sports and motorcycle helmets. They used the human head itself as a model for building a helmet lining that mimics the body’s own tricks for deflecting blows to the head. For example, the scalp, designed for redirecting oblique impacts; the skull, for absorbing normal impacts; and the cerebral spinal fluid, for dampening the final impact on the brain.

The team was one of 16 chosen from more than 200 colleges and universities to introduce their invention at a national inventors conference in San Francisco this week. Michigan Tech undergraduates and graduate students will be demonstrating a prototype Enhanced BioMorphic (EBM) helmet layer at March Madness for the Mind, sponsored by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and Inventors Digest magazine at the Exploratorium science museum.

In their prototype, they simulate the skull with a light composite sandwich shell, the scalp with thin elastic discs, and the spinal fluid with a soft padding system. The protective layer can be inserted into a helmet in addition to the regular helmet liner. It protects the head inside the helmet against both oblique and normal impacts.

“Normal helmets are designed for direct, straight-on impact,” explains Wayne Bell, a graduate student at Michigan Tech and helmet team member. “They aren’t designed to protect against rotational acceleration, even though ‘normal’ impacts in football often involve rotation.”

In an online competition, viewers have already voted a two-minute video about the helmet produced by Michigan Tech’s team one of the top three videos of student inventions. The top three videos will be shown today. A panel of independent reviewers and NCIIA and Inventors Digest staff will choose the winning video, and a People’s Choice Award will be presented to the team that receives the most votes from conference attendees.

The Michigan Tech team and advisor Gopal Jayaraman, a professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics at Michigan Tech, have been designing, building, testing and refining prototype helmets for several years. Their latest prototype has passed drop-test standards set by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), preventing damage at 155 times the force of gravity (155 g’s), the maximum load the brain can take without sustaining injury. They are also evaluating their invention using a mathematical model that enables them to optimize performance based on the properties of the materials they use.

Michigan Tech’s Technology and Economic Development Office is working with the students to patent and license the new helmet technology. They hope to license their invention to a commercial sports equipment manufacturer, paving the way for a full-fledged athletic equipment research center at Michigan Tech.

Sponsors of the helmet research and development are Michigan Tech’s Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Athletics, and Exercise Science, Health and Physical Education Departments; the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative; and NCIIA.

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International Programs and Services Workshop

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The International Programs and Services Office will be offering a workshop entitled, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Optional Practical Training (OPT): Before, During, and After” on Tuesday, March 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Seating is limited, and registration is required.

International students may receive up to 12 months of work authorization from the US government to gain practical experience in their field of studies.  The workshop is designed for students who are graduating this spring and wish to learn more about how they can obtain this benefit with the assistance from IPS.  Although the session is geared towards students, anyone interested in learning more about the topic is invited to attend. Seating is limited and registration is required.  Please register online.

For more information about Optional Practical Training and other employment related benefits for F-1 and J-1 students, see the link.

For more information about the workshop content, contact Thy Yang at thyy@mtu.edu

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MSGC Funding Opportunities

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There’s still time to apply for Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) funding. The internal Michigan Tech deadline is noon on Wednesday, Nov. 6. MSGC offers funding opportunities in the following categories: Undergraduate fellowship, Graduate fellowship, Pre-college education, Public outreach, Teacher training and research seed grant.

Last year, 11 out of 12 graduate students who applied for MSGC grants received funding.

Only U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for fellowship grants. Visit our MSGC page for instructions detailing proposal submission procedures and requirements.. If you have further questions, contact Paige Hackney in the Pavlis Honors College in M&M 722 or at phackney@mtu.edu. Proposals must be submitted electronically after being approved by the Office of Sponsored Programs.

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Hearst Fellowships

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Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation Accepting Applications for Hearst Fellowships

The Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation (PSI) in Washington, D.C., offers the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fellowship three times a year to introduce a diverse group of students to issues and challenges affecting philanthropy, social enterprise, nonprofit organizations, and other actors in the social sector.

The fellowship, which is based on academic excellence and need, is open to both undergraduate and graduate students of color. The Hearst Fellow serves as an intern with PSI and undertakes research, writing, logistical, and administrative support for PSI’s leadership initiatives, public programs, and convenings. Recipients may arrange with their colleges or universities to receive academic credit for the experience.

The student must be able to intern for twelve to fifteen weeks at the Washington, D.C., office of the Aspen Institute. Fall and spring internships will be part-time (fifteen to twenty hours a week) and summer internships will be full-time. All travel and housing costs must be covered by the student.

A fellowship grant of approximately $2,000 will be awarded to the fall and spring fellows and approximately $4,000 will be awarded to the summer fellow.

The deadline for the spring 2010 fellowship is December 15, 2009; the deadline for the summer 2010 fellowship is March 15, 2010; and the deadline for the fall 2010 fellowship is July 15, 2010.

Complete application guidelines are available at the Aspen Institute Web site.

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Federal Funding General Information Session

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Michigan Tech students have an impressive success rate at being awarded some of our nation’s most prestigious and competitive graduate fellowships.

Michigan Tech’s Sponsored Program Enhancement office will host a general information session on  federal funding opportunities.

When: Wednesday April 20th at 6:00 in Fisher Room 131

Please join us if you are interested in finding out how you can fund your graduate education (@ Michigan Tech or at another university) through fellowships/scholarships offered by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA, and EPA.

Who should attend: Current juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have a competitive GPA, some research experience, and are a US citizen, US national, or permanent resident alien.

Please contact Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu) with any questions.

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