Tag: Awards

Graduate School Announces Award Recipients for Fall 2014 and Spring 2015

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the following students have earned:

Doctoral Finishing Fellowships:
Spring 2015
Adam Coble, PhD Candidate in Forest Science
Khanh Cung, PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics
Jie Zhou, PhD Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering
Fall 2014
Yaoxian Huang, PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering
Gary Kaunonen, PhD Candidate in Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Sandra Owusu, PhD Candidate in Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
Venkata Ramana Pidatala, PhD Candidate in Biological Sciences
Jingtuo Zhang, PhD Candidate in Chemistry
Finishing fellowships provide support to PhD candidates who are close to completing their degrees. These fellowships are available through the generosity of alumni and friends of the University. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD candidates who are in need of financial support to finish their degrees and are also contributing to the attainment of goals outlined in The Michigan Tech Plan.

Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award
Azad Henareh Khalyani, PhD Candidate in Forest Science

Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Distinguished Thesis Award
Xu Yang, PhD Candidate in Civil Engineering

Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Excellence in Teaching Award
Elaheh Gorgin, PhD Candidate in Mathematical Sciences
Amanda Shaw, MS Candidate in Physics

??Dean’s Fellowships

??DeVlieg Foundation Fellowships

??King-Chaves-Parks Future Faculty Fellowships

Recipients for fall 2011 were:

Irfan Ahmed, PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering
Surendar R. Dhadi, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences
Neluka K. Dissanayake, PhD candidate in Engineering Physics
Shu Wei Goh, PhD candidate in Civil Engineering
Amber M. Roth, PhD candidate in Forest Science

Recipients for spring 2012 are:

Zeyad T. Ahmed, PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering
Kefeng Li, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences
Charles L. Lawton Endowed Fellowship
Saikat Mukhopadhyay, PhD candidate in Physics
Zhiwei Peng, PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering
Doctoral Finishing Fellowship
Lindsey M. Shartell, PhD candidate in Forest Science
Neil V. Hakala Endowed Fellowship

Nominations are currently open for summer 2012 finishing fellowships. Materials are due no later than 4pm, March 14th. See complete details online about the application and review procedure.

Graduate School Announces Summer 2014 Doctoral Finishing Fellowship Awardees

The Graduate School is pleased to announce that the following students have earned the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship:

  • Douglas Banyai, PhD candidate in Physics
  • Rasika Kishor Gawde, PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering
  • Ryan Lemmens, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
  • Seyedmehdi Morazavi Zanjani, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
  • Ranjeeth Naik, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
  • Ruiqiang Song, PhD candidate in Civil Engineering
  • Ehsan Taheri, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
  • Khrupa Vijayaragavan, PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering
  • Anqi Zhang, PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
  • Yunzhu Zhao, PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering

Photographs and details of awards and fellowships coordinated by the Graduate School can be found online.

Nominations are currently being accepted for spring 2015 finishing fellowships. Nominations are due Oct. 21 by 4 p.m. to Debra Charlesworth. Please see the website for full details.

Graduate Student Government Travel Grant Award Winners for Summer 2014

Travel Grants for Summer 2014 have been awarded. The full list of Graduate recipients can be seen at Travel Grant Results.

Travel grants are awards that help subsidize cost of attending and presenting at conferences. These awards are sponsored by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) and the Graduate School. For more information on Travel Grants, please see Graduate School Travel Grants.

Should you have any questions, contact the GSG Treasure–Jennifer Winnikus at jawiniku@mtu.edu.

ICAD 2014 ThinkTank (Doctoral Consortium) Scholars

PhD students Maryam Fakhr Hosseini and Steven Landry, both in the Mind Music Machine Lab, applied cognitive science and human factors graduate program, have been selected as ICAD 2014 ThinkTank (Doctoral Consortium) Scholars. They will present their research at a special pre-ICAD 2014 ThinkTank Symposium with leading scholars in the field of auditory display and sonification. The students will receive generous travel support for the conference from the National Science Foundation.

Bhakta Rath Research Award Presented to Fang, Pokharel

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.

Read the full news story.

Published in Tech Today by Marcia Goodrich, senior content specialist

Biomedical Engineering Announces 2014 Kenneth L. Stevenson Research Fellows

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.

Michigan Tech Graduate Students Win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

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

Grad student selected for Robert and Mary Buttle Scholarship

Steven Sarich, MS student in social sciences, was selected as a recipient of the Robert and Mary Buttle Scholarship which will provide $4,000 toward tuition and other expenses. This is one among several funding opportunities provided by the Southwest Section of the American Ceramic Society which focuses on material science research of historic and modern ceramics.

Published in Tech Today.

Deisenroth Receives NSF Fellowship

David Deisenroth, a graduate student pursuing an MS in Mechanical Engineering, has received an National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship to travel to Korea this summer to conduct research.

Deisenroth will conduct an in-depth study on the collision of a falling drop of water and a resting drop of water. He will film the drops at high speeds and observe their characteristics. The results can be used to further the understanding of thermal management systems, aerosols and fuel injection.

An EAPSI award provides science, engineering and education research experiences in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, or Taiwan; an introduction to the science, science policy and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture, and language. EAPSI awards help students initiate professional relationships to enable future collaboration with foreign counterparts.

Deisenroth’s award includes a stipend of $5,000 and travel expenses. His advisor is Jeff Allen, the John and Joan Calder Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.

Published in Tech Today.

Duan a finalist in the Student Paper Competition

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.