Graduate School Newsblog

Tag: Copper Shores Community Health Foundation

formerly known as Portage Health Foundation

Copper Shores Community Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship – Spring 2026 – Brandon Woolman

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Brandon Woolman, PhD in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors, 2026

I joined the Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors department at Michigan Tech in Fall 2021. With a background in cognitive neuroscience, I was interested in joining the Aging, Cognition, and Action lab. After some training I was onboarded for a project, funded by the National Institute of Health, investigating early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease and long-term retention in two types of movement adaptation: visuomotor rotation and force-field adaptation. The ultimate goal of this work was to identify behavioral markers of cognitive impairment in pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease that could facilitate earlier diagnosis. This work helped me not only learn valuable research skills but fueled my passion for research.

I have spent my years at Tech investigating the impacts of aging and cognitive decline on motor learning. My dissertation seeks to distinguish the overlapping- and unique- neural networks involved in motor sequence learning and movement adaptation. We plan to measure changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in the pre-frontal cortex using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We expect this region to be of importance to the explicit memory systems involved in motor learning. This work will contribute to our understanding of how healthy aging impacts motor learning, and how this knowledge may help us improve cognitive assessment and neuropsychological evaluations in neurodegenerative diseases in later adulthood.

I am grateful for the support from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation for helping fund my final semester at Michigan Tech. I would also like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kevin Trewartha, for his support and guidance throughout my graduate school journey. I am excited to complete my PhD and continue my passion for health-related research.

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Copper Shores Community Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship – Spring 2026 – Natalia Krakhaleva

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Natalia Krakhaleva, PhD in Chemical Engineering, 2026

With sincere gratitude, I would like to thank the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation and the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for selecting me to receive the Graduate Assistantship. It is an honor to have my work recognized in this way.


My name is Natalia Krakhaleva, and I am a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. I am working on developing electrochemical biosensors that can be used for non-invasive vitamin D screening with tear fluid. Vitamin D deficiency is a common health concern linked to metabolic, immune, and neurological disorders. Improving access to early diagnostic technologies, particularly for rural populations in the Upper Peninsula with limited healthcare access and reduced sunlight exposure, is the long-term aim of this work to support preventive health strategies and improve regional well-being.
Through my graduate studies, I have had the privilege of working under the guidance of Dr. Adrienne R. Minerick and Dr. Yixin Liu, whose mentorship has shaped my scientific approach and encouraged the purposeful alignment of my research with community health needs. I am thankful to the Department of Chemical Engineering for their continuous support and for creating an environment that promotes scientific excellence and collaborative growth.


Alongside my academic work, my commitment to community engagement and student support is reflected in my role as Chair of the Graduate Society of Women Engineers and as a Student Mental Health and Well-Being Ambassador, where I promote inclusion, leadership development, and resilience.
This assistantship will allow me to dedicate focused time to advancing my dissertation research and further strengthening the public health relevance of my work, particularly its application within local communities. I am grateful for the Foundation’s confidence in my work and remain determined to contribute engineering solutions that improve quality of life within the region.

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Copper Shores Community Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship – Spring 2026 – Shuo Sun

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Shuo Sun, PhD in Statistics, 2026

I began my Ph.D. journey in Statistics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Michigan Technological University in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, just after welcoming my newborn baby. Balancing academic life, research responsibilities, and family has been both challenging and deeply rewarding. Over the past several years, I have greatly enjoyed my experiences at Michigan Tech—teaching undergraduate statistics courses, assisting in math labs, conducting research, and engaging with the university community.

My research focuses on developing and applying advanced statistical and computational methods for biomedical and clinical data analysis. Specifically, I work on high-dimensional gene network modeling, machine learning–based fracture-risk prediction, domain adaptation for cross-cohort data, and reinforcement learning for personalized cardiac therapy. These projects combine theory, computation, and real-world health data to create interpretable and generalizable models that advance precision medicine and biomedical discovery.

Outside of academics, I enjoy sports and have been an active member of the Michigan Tech Basketball Club for three years. I also spend my free time reading, exploring music, and staying active with my family.

I am sincerely grateful for the support of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation (CSCHF), which provides me with the valuable opportunity to focus more deeply on my research and complete meaningful work that connects statistical innovation with real-world health improvement.

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Summer 2026 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

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Proposals for Summer 2026 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, February 23, 2026 to the Graduate School. Instructions on the application and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Previous recipients of a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship are not eligible to reapply.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment, except for employment required from the matching funds provided by the University.

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Spring 2026 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

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Pre-proposals for Spring 2026 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, September 10, 2025 to the Graduate School. Students who best meet the foundation’s criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will be due on October 22, 2025.  Instructions on the pre-proposal, full application, and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Previous recipients of a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship are not eligible to reapply.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

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Fall 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

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Pre-proposals for Fall 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, May 20, 2025 to the Graduate School. Students who best meet the foundation’s criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will be due on June 25, 2025.  Instructions on the pre-proposal, full application, and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Previous recipients of a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship are not eligible to reapply.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

Continue Reading →

Summer 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

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Pre-proposals for Summer 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, January 21, 2025 to the Graduate School. Students who best meet the foundation’s criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will be due on March 4, 2025.  Instructions on the pre-proposal, full application, and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

Continue Reading →

Spring 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

Published

Pre-proposals for Spring 2025 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, September 10, 2024 to the Graduate School. Students who best meet the foundation’s criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will be due on October 22, 2024.  Instructions on the pre-proposal, full application, and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

Continue Reading →

Copper Shores Community Health Foundation Assistantship – Summer 2024 – Libia Hazra

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Libia Hazra leaning against a tree
Libia Hazra – Environmental Engineering

With sincere gratitude I extend my heartfelt thanks to Copper Shores Community Health Foundation (CSCHF) for providing me with the opportunity to receive the Graduate Assistantship in Summer 2024.

I am Libia Hazra, a 3rd year full time Ph.D. candidate of Environmental Engineering at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE), Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA. I work with Dr. Judith A Perlinger and Dr. Noel R. Urban at the Environmental engineering Department. My current research focuses on determining contaminant concentrations of Polychlorinated biphenyles (PCBs) and Mercury (Hg) in fish from Lake Superior and adjacent inland lakes, home to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), a federally recognized Ojibwe tribe, deeply connected to the land. I am trying to understand the factors such as food web structure and resource availability leading to variations in contaminants concentrations in different lakes by using ecological tracers like Stable Isotope Analysis, e-DNA Metabarcoding. Additionally, I am working on the health for people and fish. Amidst numerous environmental concerns, the difficulties encountered by aquatic life, especially fish, are often overlooked. This transdisciplinary research conducted in partnership with social scientists and tribal members and governmental units will provide critical data about persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in fish. These findings will assist in planning stocking and harvesting practices, reducing exposure to pollutants, ensuring the nutritional and socio-cultural benefits of fish consumption, ultimately improving the public health of the local communities.

I am originally from Kolkata (WB), India. I joined Michigan Technological University in 2022, spring. I stay here with my husband and 6 years old daughter. Before I moved to Michigan Tech, I completed my M.Sc. in Environmental Science at GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, India and worked on toxic analysis in bird and fish tissue from an eminent institute-Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), India. I served as a lecturer in an undergraduate college, where I taught Environmental Studies. I also have experience working as an administrative assistant in the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. My long-term goal is to contribute significantly to the field of environmental engineering and become a leader in building a sustainable environment and society, by the practical application of scientific and technological solutions. I grew up in a rural part of India and have witnessed firsthand the environmental degradation in all sectors (e.g., air/water/soil pollution) and thoughtless misuse and abuse of natural resources. My state West Bengal, eastern part of India, the cherished cultural connection between fish and humans is facing a formidable challenge due to increasing contamination of aquatic environments. The profound cultural significance of fish, deeply embedded in Bengali traditions and cuisine, is now strained as environmental pollutants jeopardize the health of fish populations. Rampant industrialization, discharge of pollutants, and the presence of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in water bodies raise alarming concerns about the safety of consuming fish. This contamination not only poses a threat to the nutritional value of fish, a staple in the Bengali diet, but also undermines the livelihoods of fishing communities and breaks the intricate link between fish and ceremonial practices. In future, I would like to extend my research in my country and contribute significantly.

At Michigan Tech, I am not only gaining valuable knowledge and skills through coursework, literature review, and research endeavors but also emphasizing the importance of effective communication. I firmly believe that fostering community awareness and engagement is essential for promoting environmental health and sustainability. This fellowship provides me with the opportunity to further expand my research and engage in meaningful community outreach efforts. I am eager to leverage this assistantship to advance my research objectives and contribute positively to both academia and society.

Once again, thank you very much CSCHF for your generous support and confidence in my research endeavors. I am tankful to my advisors for their valuable support. I am also thankful to my husband and my daughter for their constant support and love.

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Fall 2024 CSCHF Graduate Assistantship Nominations Open

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Pre-proposals for Fall 2024 CSCHF Graduate Assistantships are being accepted and are due no later than 4pm, May 21, 2024 to the Graduate School. Students who best meet the foundation’s criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will be due on June 25, 2024.  Instructions on the pre-proposal, full application, and evaluation process are found online. Students are eligible if all of the following criteria are met:

  1. Must be a PhD student conducting a research or outreach project that will promote and/or improve the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities.
  2. Must be 2 years after starting the graduate program at the time of application.
  3. Must not be a prior recipient of a PHF or CSCHF Graduate Assistantship.
  4. Preference will be given to applicants with long-standing local connections to Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon county.

Priority will be given to students originally from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, or Ontonagon counties. Non-resident students and international students are encouraged to apply if their health research is applicable to health needs and job shortages of our local community (obesity research, rural health, medical informatics, drug delivery and lab testing, physical therapy, etc.).

These assistantships are available through the generosity of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants should be a catalyst for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:

  • health research and technology development
  • health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
  • rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care

Students who receive full support through a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a CSCHF Graduate Assistantship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

Continue Reading →