Graduate School Newsblog

Tag: Finishing Fellowship

Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Fall 2017 Xu Zhang

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Xu Zhang
Electrical Engineering
Xu Zhang

My name is Xu Zhang. I was born in the northeast of China, the weather in my hometown is just like here. I received my BS and MS from Harbin Institute of Technology and began my doctoral study in Electrical Engineering at Michigan Tech. My research area is related to modeling, design, and simulation of metamaterial structures for previously unthought-of applications such as diffraction-unlimited imaging and stopped light. The five years of training and research broadens my horizons, expands my knowledge and develops my insight. It is a great honor to receive the finishing fellowship at the final stage of my doctoral study. After graduation, I will continue working in metamaterial area and live my life with all the experience I got at Michigan Tech.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Fall 2017 Amaneh Eslami Kenarsari

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Amaneh Eslami Kenarsari
Civil Engineering
Amaneh Eslami KenarsariI’m a PhD candidate in Civil Engineering working on a joint project with the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Department. I began my studies at Michigan Tech in Fall 2013 and will be finishing in Fall 2017.

The focus of our research is in developing techniques to accurately assess soil compaction from agricultural tires. A key factor in agricultural productivity is minimizing soil compaction. To meet the world’s food production needs by 2050, the world’s food production must increase at a rate of 2.4% per year. Current food production rates, however, are only increasing at 1.2% per year. In an attempt to minimize soil compaction, tractor tire manufacturers are developing “low aspect ratio” tires designed to minimize soil compaction. A major issue in assessing the effectiveness of these tires, however, is in accurately measuring the amount of soil compaction caused by the tires which is investigated in our research.

Receiving the finishing fellowship from Graduate School is a great honor and helps me focus on finishing my research and dissertation.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Fall 2017 Brandon Jackson

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Brandon Jackson
Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Brandon_Jackson_2My name is Brandon Jackson and I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at Michigan Technological University studying Mechanical Engineering. I received my B.S. degree from Milwaukee School of Engineering in 2012 and a M.S. from Michigan Technological University in 2014, both in Mechanical Engineering. My research is conducted within the Ion Space Propulsion Lab at Michigan Tech under the advisement of Dr. Brad King. The focus of my research is on electrospray of ferrofluids. Electrospray is a process by which a jet of electrically charged fluid is ejected from a liquid surface using an electric field. Electrospray has received considerable attention recently as a potential means to provide on-orbit propulsion for very small satellites.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Fall 2017 Shiva Bhandari

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Shiva Bhandari
Physics

Shiva Bhandari

Before starting my PhD program at Michigan Tech in Fall 2012, I completed my Bachelors and Master’s degree in Physics from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. My research focuses on synthesis and functionalization of Boron Nitride based nanomaterials for their electronic applications. With miniaturization of electronic devices, the size of silicon-based transistors are getting smaller. Insulating boron nitride nanomaterials functionalized with metallic nanoparticles or carbon-based nanomaterials could be the new class of transistors for future electronics.

The last 5 years at Michigan Tech has been a wonderful learning experience. Michigan Tech has provided me great learning opportunity and helped me develop personally and professionally. Besides learning to troubleshoot complex research problems, it taught me how to be a strong and a confident individual, how to be a team player and work in a diverse environment. I hope my learning experience at Michigan Tech will help me pave the way to a successful career in materials research. I am grateful to the Graduate School and the Dean’s Advisory Panel for this fellowship support. This fellowship helps me spend my full time on dissertation writing without any distraction from other teaching duties.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Fall 2017 Recipient Pei Hou

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Pei Hou
Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Pei Hou

I am an Atmospheric Sciences PhD candidate in the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences. I feel very lucky to have met my advisor Dr. Shiliang Wu, who gives me lots of help and guides me to clarify my abilities and interests. My research interests lie in data analysis and modeling about the atmospheric chemistry, more specifically, the impacts of extreme air pollution meteorological events on air quality and the related prediction. The extreme air pollution meteorological events include heat waves (extremely high temperature), temperature inversion (abnormal vertical temperature profile), atmospheric stagnation (low wind speed and precipitation rates), and so on. We try to figure out how the extreme air pollution meteorological events affect the concentrations and the high pollution episodes of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We also make an attempt to predict the high pollution episodes with the occurrences of the extreme events. We hope our research could encourage environmental management to plan the emission regulation with the consideration of the changes in the extreme air pollution meteorological events in the context of climate change. I sincerely appreciate the help from the Finishing Fellowship supported by Graduate School, which would be a great help on both my research and dissertation.

 

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Spring 2018 Finishing Fellowship Nominations Open

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Applications for Spring 2018 finishing fellowships are being accepted beginning September 5, 2017 and are due no later than 4pm, October 18, 2017 to Dr. Debra Charlesworth in 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.
  2. Must expect to finish during the semester supported as a finishing fellow.
  3. Must have submitted no more than one previous application for a finishing fellowship.
  4. Must be eligible for or in Research Mode at the time of application.

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. The Graduate School anticipates funding up to ten fellowships with support ranging from $2000 to full support (stipend + tuition). Students who receive full support through a Finishing Fellowship may not accept any other employment. For example, students cannot be fully supported by a Finishing Fellowship and accept support as a GTA or GRA.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Summer 2017 Recipient Yiping Mao

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Yiping Mao
Biological Sciences 
Yiping Mao

My name is Yiping Mao, and I am from a small town in China. After finishing my bachelor’s degree at a medical college, I came over to the United States to start my graduate study on diabetes research. I did not have a clear, planned picture of my career goals, I truly just wanted to be my best in everything I was going to do. The five years of training and researching here at Michigan Tech has been a  very valuable and important part of my college experience. It not only gave me the ability  to identify scientific problems and strengthen my professional research, more importantly, it has taught me to think as an individual, be a  team player, be brave when having failures, persist on doing things even they are tough to do, be grateful to all the people and to always believe in myself.

Currently, I am pursuing a career in research and later plan to be a research physician. I will always remember the experience and lessons I got from the five years of study at Michigan Tech and I truly appreciate all the opportunities and help from everyone.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Summer 2017 Recipient Rachel Martin

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Rachel Martin
Chemical Engineering
Rachel Martin

I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Carthage College in May 2013 and began my doctoral studies at Michigan Tech in Chemical Engineering in September 2013. My research involves materials design and manufacturing for scaffolding material that can be used to help regenerate neural tissue in the spinal cord after injury. I will finish up this summer. I have been a TA on campus for 3 years for junior level Chemical Engineering classes. I hope to find a job doing Research and Development in industry and will be getting married in 2018.

 

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Summer 2017 Recipient Shuo Wang

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Shuo Wang
Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Shuo Wang_Finishing Fellowship 2

I am a Ph.D candidate working with Dr. Chang Kyoung Choi in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics. My research focuses on how to treat joint diseases, like osteoarthritis, from an engineering point of view. We attempt to solve one critical problem in cartilage tissue engineering: how to help chondrocytes (cartilage cells) to re-grow their pericellular matrix (PCM) to maintain their cellular stability in vitro (out of human body). PCM is a thin-layer structure surrounding the chondrocytes and has been proven to play many key roles on maintenance of cellular functions. Departing from current methods where cells are cultured in macroscale scaffolds, we are encapsulating single cells in hydrogel microbeads same scale as the cells to assistant the PCM regeneration with the National Institute of Health grant. We expect our new approach to impact and advance the current cartilage engineering by providing a better cell source, chondrocytes with regenerated PCM.

The Finishing Fellowship, supported by Graduate School, helps me to focus on my research so that I can expect to graduate much sooner. Please allow me on behalf of my family and my advisor to sincerely thank the Graduate School and the Dean’s Advisory Panel at Michigan Tech.

I came from Beijing, China in 2010, followed by my wife (girlfriend back then) in 2011. Now I am a father of two kids, who were born in Portage Health Hospital in Hancock in 2014 and 2016. For the long time we have been living here, we also proudly consider ourselves as Yoopers.

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Doctoral Finishing Fellowships Summer 2017 Recipient Le (Emma) Zhao

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Le (Emma) Zhao
Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Emma Le Zhao

Emma’s main Ph.D. research involves computational fluid dynamics and high-performance computing. The highly configurable combustion vessel provides researchers the opportunities to explore the spray and combustion activities. The experimental data will be used to validate the physics and mechanisms of spray/combustion in Internal Combustion Engines.

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