Recognizing that not all students “go home” between semesters, International Programs and Services will be hosting a winter break social from 2 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 21, in the Memorial Union Ballroom. The campus community is invited to stop by and chat with international students and scholars who will be in the area over the break. No reservation needed; there will be food, fun, prizes and bingo.
For more information, contact Danny Wan at dcwan@mtu.edu.
Published in Tech Today.
Dishes from Thailand are on the menu this week at Khana Khazana (food treasure), a special ethnic lunch cooked by international students and served in the Memorial Union Food Court every Friday.
Parawee Pumwongpitak, a materials science and engineering graduate student from Thailand, will cook Spaghetti Pad Kee Mao, spaghetti with spicy Thai stir fried chicken and herb (soya balls for veggie dish); Tom Seap Muu, tasty spicy and sour soup of northeastern Thailand served with pork or mushrooms; Khao Niew Sang, sweet sticky rice topped with a slice of creamy egg custard.
A complete meal costs $6 and includes coffee, hot tea or a fountain soda. Items are available a la carte for $2.
Khana Khazana is a cooperative effort of international students and Dining Services.
Published in Tech Today.
Komar Kawatra couldn’t be prouder of the students on his research team. “We have developed a CO2 scrubber,” he says. “It was designed at Michigan Tech and built at Michigan Tech by Michigan Tech students.”
Kawatra, who chairs the chemical engineering department, has reason to be gratified by his proteges’ efforts. An 11-foot bench-model smokestack packed with glass beads is percolating away in a lab. Near the top, a proprietary liquid dribbles down. From below, carbon dioxide bubbles up. By the time the gas reaches the top, fully half of the CO2 has been gobbled up by the liquid.
The process not only captures carbon, it binds it in a solid form, making an undisclosed product that can be used as a construction material. The liquid itself can be recovered and used again. The group has applied for a patent and hopes to build a pilot plant in cooperation with an industry partner, Carbontec Energy Corp.
Other scrubbers remove up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a smokestack, Kawatra notes, but the liquid must be processed to strip away the carbon dioxide, which is generally compressed and stored. “This is a very expensive technique, which is probably why we do not see it commonly employed in industry,” says PhD student Brett Spigarelli of Iron Mountain, a member of the research team.
The group is working to make the scrubber remove even more carbon dioxide. In the meantime, it offers a significant benefit to industry. “Industry has a problem with CO2 capture and sequestration because it is an added cost with no direct benefit to them,” Kawatra says. “But, if it is possible for industry to both capture CO2 and produce a product from the CO2 that they can sell, then they will be much more interested. Our goal is therefore to not only capture the CO2 at the lowest possible cost, but also to manufacture useful, marketable products.”
Building the scrubber has been as much about education as research. In the beginning, Kawatra notes, the scrubber only removed 5 percent of the CO2, and the students were stymied. Then they had their first aha experience—and replaced their opaque pipe with clear plastic so they could see what was actually going on inside.
“You think research is going to be really complex and difficult,” says Spigarelli. “Sometimes, it’s just a matter of looking at things a little differently.” That small step led to big breakthroughs and, ultimately, to professional recognition. Their poster received second-place honors among the student entries at the 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Meeting, held in Salt Lake City.
The team included five chemical engineering undergraduates, Janelle Paddock, Paul Hagadone, Alison Springer-Wilson, Aliabbas Sherally and Russ Jungnitsch. Involving undergraduates in research does much more than prepare them for careers in academia, says Spigarelli. Research brings classroom lessons to life. “The sooner students can get familiar with these processes, the better prepared they are for the workplace.”
Kawatra’s graduate team members are Justin and Josh Carlson of Escanaba, Joe Halt of Calumet and Urvashi Srivastava of India.
“I have four Yoopers working for me,” Kawatra says, smiling broadly. “We’re one family, and it’s a lot of fun to work with them.”
Published in Tech Today.
The EISENHOWER GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP (provides funding for the pursuit of Masters or Doctorate Degrees in transportation related discipline. The program objectives are: 1) to attract the nation’s brightest minds to the field of transportation, 2) to enhance the careers of transportation professionals by encouraging them to seek advanced degrees, and, 3) to retain top talent in the transportation industry of the United States. The Program is intended to bring innovation and enhance the breadth and scope of knowledge of the entire transportation community in the United States. The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship Program encompasses all modes of transportation.
Individual students enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education located in the United States are eligible to apply.
Deadline March 12, 2011
Komal Tayal’s tandoori chicken recipe placed second overall in a cookbook competition sponsored by the Daily Mining Gazette.
Tayal won a gift certificate for one of the businesses that advertised in the cookbook. Her recipe and Sahil Thakkar’s phada lapsi are featured in the ethnic section of the 2010 cookbook, published just before Christmas.
Tayal is a graduate student in mechanical engineering. Thakkar is an undergraduate in electrical engineering technology. Both are from India.
Published in Tech Today.
First-time international graduate student enrollment is up 3 percent nationwide this year. At Michigan Tech, it’s increased more than 16 percent.
Why is Michigan Tech bucking the trend?
“There are a couple of reasons,” says Jacque Smith, director of marketing for the Graduate School. “First, it has to do with the types and quality of programs we offer.” Many of Michigan Tech’s programs are in STEM fields. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. These specialties–which have long been a focus at Michigan Tech, especially in graduate education–are in growing demand around the world. Also, interest in the MBA program is growing, according to recruiters worldwide. The MBA program is offered through the School of Business and Economics.
“Our programs and research are what the world wants,” Smith says, and the numbers seem to be proving that point. The largest gains among first-time international graduate student enrollment nationwide were in the physical and earth sciences, at 9 percent, while engineering rose 3 percent. However, at Michigan Tech, first-time international graduate student enrollment in engineering rose 20.4 percent.
The Council of Graduate Schools, which released the enrollment report, also said that overall (not just first-time) international graduate student enrollment rose only 1 percent nationally in 2010, down from 2 and 3 percent in 2009 and 2008, respectively. During the same time, Tech’s overall international graduate student enrollment increased 13.5 percent. Michigan Tech’s growth also bucked a trend among Midwest schools, whose international graduate student enrollment showed no growth overall.
Nationally, the countries contributing the largest number of first-time international grad students were China, with 20 percent, and the Middle East and Turkey with 7 percent. India and South Korea showed 3 percent declines nationwide. At Michigan Tech, however, numbers of first-time international graduate students from India increased 18.5 percent.
“It’s a reflection of our global recruiting efforts,” Smith says. “For example, our faculty members’ research is growing in prominence, and our alumni are making impacts all over the world that help us to recruit students in their home countries.” And when those international students do enroll at Tech, they bring some impressive credentials with them.
According to the Graduate School, international students are often among the top candidates for admission to graduate programs nationwide. “They bring global perspectives to our campus and community and help our domestic students gain experiences with other cultures,” Smith notes. “They also help everyone on campus learn more about what is happening in other parts of the world and how events are viewed by people from different cultures,” says Dean Jackie Huntoon (Graduate School).
Approximately 45 percent of Michigan Tech’s graduate students are from abroad, and India and China make up more than 70 percent of international graduate student enrollment here. “The international students who come to our campus continue to help the University become better known and respected around the world,” Huntoon adds. “They also contribute to economic development, in Michigan and elsewhere, where they help fill corporations’ needs for STEM-educated people.”
Published in Tech Today.
The Daily Mining Gazette is publishing a cookbook, and it invited readers to submit recipes for consideration. A panel of judges at the newspaper has chosen finalists from more than 100 recipes submitted, and Tech international student Komal Tayal’s tandoori chicken was one of the top three selected. She and the other finalists will cook their dishes for a taste-off at the Gazette next week. Winners will have their recipes, photos and stories included in the cookbook.
Tayal is a graduate student in mechanical engineering. She cooked tandoori chicken for Khana Khazana last week.
Published in Tech Today.
With a view to promoting international exchanges in the field of education, culture, communication, science and technology, and to enhancing friendship among peoples of the world, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has placed at the disposal of UNESCO, under the sponsorship of the organization, 25 fellowships for advanced studies and two more fellowships on agriculture-related subjects specially at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. These fellowships are for the benefit of developing Member States in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and certain countries in the Arab States.
The fellowships, tenable in a selected number of Chinese universities, are of one year duration or less. These fellowships, which are in most cases to be conducted in English, are offered to senior advanced students wishing to pursue higher studies or intending to undertake research mainly independently with periodic guidance from the assigned supervisor. In exceptional cases, candidates may be required to study the Chinese language prior to taking up research/study in their field of interest.
When completing the form, each candidate is requested to specify three possible host institutions in China indicating one field of study as personal preference. Applicants may wish to visit the China Scholarship Council website (www.csc.ed.cn) for details regarding these host institutions. In addition, fields of studies proposed in selected universities can be found at the following URL:
http://portal.unesco.org/unesco/ev.php?URL_ID=44172&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1236180904#1
Ambassadorial Scholarships Program of The Rotary Foundation is the largest privately funded international scholarships program. The program sponsors several types of scholarships for graduate students. While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country. For additional details, you may visit the Rotary Foundation website.
The program awards grants of up to $1,000 to students from all areas of the sciences and engineering. Designated funds from the National Academy of Sciences allow for grants of up to $5,000 for astronomy research and $2,500 for vision related research. Students use the funding to pay for travel expenses to and from a research site, or for purchase of non-standard laboratory equipment necessary to complete a specific research project.
Submission deadlines:
March 15 and October 15
