Graduate School Newsblog

Tag: MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award

Nominations open for the 2023 MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Thesis Award

Published
By

Nominations are now open for the 2023 MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Thesis Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, October 11, 2022, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. Social Sciences
  2. Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. Master’s students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022, are eligible. The fields of competition for 2022 will be humanities and biological and life sciences.

Nominations must be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on October 11, 2022. Please e-mail nominations to gradschool@mtu.edu.  Contact Debra Charlesworth (gradschool@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.

Continue Reading →

Nominations open for the 2022 MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Thesis Award

Published
By

Nominations are now open for the 2022 MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Thesis Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, October 6, 2021, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. Biological and Life Sciences
  2. Humanities and Fine Arts

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. Master’s students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021, are eligible. The fields of competition for 2023 will be Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering; and Social Sciences.

Nominations must be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on October 6, 2021; e-mail nominations to gradschool@mtu.edu are preferred.  Contact Debra Charlesworth (gradschool@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.

Continue Reading →

Nominee for MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award – Mitch Timm

Published
By

I arrived at Michigan Tech in 2017, after completing my bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota the previous year, deciding to pursue my graduate degree at Michigan Tech for its nationally ranked engineering program (and weather). I completed my masters at Michigan Tech in 2018 and am currently a Ph.D. student under my advisor Prof. Hassan Masoud.

My research consists of the study of complex fluids and transport phenomena; simply speaking I study the interactions of fluids with solid objects and how certain materials are transported within fluids by utilizing the combined tools of theoretical (mathematical), computational (computer simulation), and experimental analysis. Though to many people this may seem impractical or pointless, this research has numerous real-world applications. For example, for my master’s thesis, I researched the rate of evaporation of a liquid droplet when it rests on an inclined surface (sessile drop). Most people are familiar with sessile droplets from when it rains on your windshield or when you wash the dishes, however, most people don’t understand that it is these droplets that can lead to the stubborn stains on these surfaces. This is also known as the coffee ring effect. By understanding the way in which these droplets evaporate and deposit the suspended particles therein on these surfaces, we can develop ways to avoid this, or even utilize it to our advantage.

It is for this research and subsequent thesis that I have been nominated to represent the university for the MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Thesis Award Competition.

I am extremely grateful and humbled to be nominated for this competition, and I especially want to thank my advisor Prof. Masoud, Dr. Predebon, and the graduate committee for this nomination and for recognizing my hard work. It is times like these that I am reminded of the fantastic community at Michigan Tech and am glad I decided to come here for my graduate education.

Continue Reading →

Nominations open for the 2021 MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award

Published
By

Nominations are now open for the 2021 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. Please submit nominations to the Graduate School no later than 4pm, October 8. 2020, following our online instructions. This year, nominations are being accepted from dissertations in the fields of:

  1. Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
  2. Social Sciences

Michigan Tech may nominate one student in each field. Master’s students who have completed all of their degree requirements between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020, are eligible. The fields of competition for 2022 will be humanities and biological and life sciences.

Nominations must be delivered to Debra Charlesworth in the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on October 8. 2020; e-mail nominations to gradschool@mtu.edu are preferred.  Contact Debra Charlesworth (gradschool@mtu.edu) if you have any questions about the competition.

Continue Reading →

Nominee for MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award – Erin Eberhard

Published
By

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the nomination of two theses to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools 2020 Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition. These theses represent the best in their discipline at Michigan Tech, and represented Michigan Tech in the regional competition.


Erin Eberhard represents the field of Biological/Life Sciences.  She earned a Master of Science degree in 2017 in Biological Sciences, and is continuing her work at Michigan Tech as a PhD candidate.  Her thesis was entitled, “Co-Occurrence of Nitrogen Fixation and Denitrification Across a Stream Nitrogen Gradient in a Western Watershed.” She was nominated by her advisor, Dr. Amy Marcarelli.  Erin’s work sought to address several long-standing assumptions about nitrogen (N) cycling in stream ecosystems.  According to her advisor, “Her MS research has transformed research in our lab and broadened our ecological understanding of N cycling processes in stream ecosystems.”  Her work can be accessed on Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech.

Continue Reading →

Nominee for MAGS Distinguished Thesis Award – Emily Simmons

Published
By

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the nomination of two theses to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools 2020 Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition. These theses represent the best in their discipline at Michigan Tech, and represented Michigan Tech in the regional competition.

Emily Simmons represents the field of Humanities.  She earned a Master of Science degree in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture in 2018.  Her thesis was entitled, “Accessing Library Space: Spatial Rhetorics from the U.S. to France and Back Again.” She was nominated by her advisor, Dr. Andrew Fiss. In his nomination, Dr. Fiss said that Emily’s work “…provided a framework for the development and implementation of a new evaluation tool that linked urban public libraries in Toulouse, France with those in the small, rural communities local to Michigan Tech.” Her work, “… strengthened both our opportunities for international, inter-university exchange and also the research profile of the Humanities department as a whole.”  Her work can be accessed on Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech.

Continue Reading →

Nominations sought for 2020 MAGS Thesis Award

Published
By

The Executive Committee of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) is soliciting nominations for the 2020 MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Awards to recognize and reward distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.  Michigan Tech may nominate one candidate in each disciplinary category.

Eligible students:

  • will have earned a master of science degree between July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019 in the fields of
    • Biological/Life Sciences OR
    • Humanities (history is considered with humanities)
  • will have completed an original thesis that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline
  • will not have earned a PhD (or comparable research degree) in any discipline prior to the writing of the master’s thesis

The 2021 competition will seek nominees in the fields of Social Sciences or Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering.

Please see our web page for complete details on eligibility and application procedures.

Nomination packets are due by 4pm, October 3, 2019 to the Graduate School via e-mail (gradschool@mtu.edu) or campus mail (address to Debra Charlesworth). Eligible students with a complete nomination packet will be evaluated by a panel of faculty from the University.

Continue Reading →

Nominations sought for 2019 MAGS Thesis Award

Published
By

The Executive Committee of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) is soliciting nominations for the 2019 MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Awards to recognize and reward distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.  Michigan Tech may nominate one candidate in each disciplinary category.

Eligible students:

  • will have earned a master of science degree between July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018 in the fields of
    • Social Sciences OR
    • Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
  • will have completed an original thesis that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline
  • will not have earned a PhD (or comparable research degree) in any discipline prior to the writing of the master’s thesis

The 2019 competition will seek nominees in the fields of Biological/Life Sciences or Humanities.

Please see our web page for complete details on eligibility and application procedures. Each department or school may nominate one student from either or both categories.

Nomination packets are due by 4pm, October 18, 2018 to the Graduate School via e-mail (gradschool@mtu.edu) or campus mail (address to Debra Charlesworth). Eligible students with a complete nomination packet will be evaluated by a panel of faculty from the University.

Continue Reading →

MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Masters Thesis Award 2018 Nominee – Alexis Newton

Published
By

Alexis Newton
Rhetoric, Theory and Culture

Alexis Newton 201708While in the Rhetoric, Theory and Culture Master’s program at Michigan Technological University, my thesis research focused on the relationships between hardware, software, and wetware – namely, looking at how video games virtually and physically effected the way we understand and engage with play. By defining and distinguishing between “gamespaces” (the virtual spaces players engage with to play a game) and “playspaces” (the physical spaces players inhabit while playing a game), I explored the various ways in which hardware constrains, encourages, and/or politicizes play. This research not only guided my work as a student, but also informs my work as an instructor of Rhetoric and Composition, where I focus on teaching students to be critical readers and writers of culture, both popular and otherwise. In the future, I plan to expand upon my thesis work and explore how these concepts apply to and flourish specifically in museum and gallery spaces.

Continue Reading →

Nominations sought for 2018 MAGS Thesis Award

Published
By

The Executive Committee of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) is soliciting nominations for the 2018 MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Awards to recognize and reward distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.  Michigan Tech may nominate one candidate in each disciplinary category.

Eligible students:

  • will have earned a master of science degree between July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017 in the fields of
    • Biological/Life Sciences OR
    • Humanities
  • will have completed an original thesis that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline
  • will not have earned a PhD (or comparable research degree) in any discipline prior to the writing of the master’s thesis

The 2019 competition will seek nominees in the fields of Social Sciences or Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering.

Please see our web page for complete details on eligibility and application procedures.

Nomination packets are due by 4pm, October 10, 2017 to the Graduate School via e-mail (gradschool@mtu.edu) or campus mail (address to Debra Charlesworth). Eligible students with a complete nomination packet will be evaluated by a panel of faculty from the University.

Continue Reading →