Pavlis Honors College Blog

Michigan Tech Teams to “Takeover” TCNewTech Pitch Contest

Published August 4, 2020

TCNewTech Pitch Contest, streaming live on Tuesday, August 4 at 6 p.m.

Join the TCNewTech Community as Michigan Tech and Husky Innovate takeover their August Pitch Contest for startups. TCNewTech is a community of tech enthusiasts, businesses, entrepreneurs, and Michigan policymakers building a culture of innovation, economic growth and opportunity for local talent in the Traverse City Region.

The competition will showcase three MTU student-generated “Bar Napkin” business ideas or innovations and three commercialized startups with roots connected to MTU and the Husky Innovate program.

This year six teams will present:

Idea pitch category

Kyra Pratley with MercyAid
Jacob Soter with SwimSmart
Mitch DeLong with FreightMate

Business model pitch category

Ranit Karmakar with Focus
Steve Tokarz, Yoke Khin Yap (Physics) and postdoc Nazimye Yapichi with StabiLux Biosciences
Steven Senczyszyyn and Andrew Barnard (GLRC) with Nanosound

Read more in Tech Today or register to watch the competition on Tuesday, August 4 at 6 p.m. EST.

Study Abroad Update for Fall 2020

Published June 23, 2020

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Dear Fall 2020 Study Abroad Students,

As you know, Michigan Tech has been monitoring the CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 and international travel.

Regrettably, in order to protect your health, and to minimize the financial impact to all involved, Michigan Tech is cancelling all study abroad programs departing August through December 2020 due to the continued spread of COVID-19. This includes both European Project Semester programs and study abroad programs operated by third-party providers.

Like you, we are deeply disappointed by the need to make this decision. We highly value the unique, soul-enriching, perspective-changing experience of study abroad. Ultimately, our higher priorities must be to protect your personal health, minimize disruptions to your academic success, and promote the well-being of the entire Michigan Technological University community.

We know that this decision will affect each of you in different ways and that you have each been preparing for the possibility that your program might be canceled by delaying your bookings and enrolling in Fall courses at Michigan Tech as a backup.

Students with questions about how this cancellation affects degree programs including minors and certificates, should contact academic advisors and faculty program leaders as soon as possible. Please also feel free to contact Vienna Chapin if you have any questions about this cancellation, or if you would like to meet virtually to plan an alternative future study abroad experience. Vienna can be reached by email, vrchapin@mtu.edu, or by phone (906) 487-1976.

Lorelle Meadows, PhD

Dean, Pavlis Honors College

Congratulations, Pavlis Honors College class of 2020

Published May 8, 2020

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Congratulations to our graduates! Watch our virtual medallion ceremony as we celebrate Adison Cook, Brad Dahm, Becky Daniels, Samantha Dertinger, Lucinda Hall, Lianne Novak, Clara Peterson, Cameron Philo, Brenna Rosso, Emily Rutledge, Addie Saltarelli, Joshua Undlin, and Amanda Vermeer.

Transforming a Michigan Tech Program into an Honors Program

Every Michigan Tech graduate has accomplished something amazing — Michigan Tech has prepared them to create the future in their fields. So how did our Honors graduates go above and beyond?

They had once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Took action. Learned and led. Developed relationships in the Michigan Tech community and around the world. Take a look at this photo essay to see how the Pavlis Honors College’s class of 2020 created their own definitions of success.

Husky Innovate Students Compete and Win at the New Venture Competition

Published May 4, 2020

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Awards

Each year, Central Michigan University and Michigan Tech’s CMU’s New Venture Competition. Due to COVID-19, this year the competition pivoted online and became the New Venture Online Competition — NVOC. Contestants pitched their ideas in either a 10-minute or two-minute pitch. Four Michigan Tech Husky Innovate students competed in the 10-minute pitch category and three won top prizes.

First Prize — Ranit Karmakar with FOCUS, $7,500
Second Prize — Mitch DeLong with FreightMate, $3,000
Honorable Mention — Jacob Soter with SwimSmart, $1,000

Watch the 2020 New Venture Competition awards ceremony

Student Feature: Addie Saltarelli on School Greenhouses and Gardens

Published April 30, 2020

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“When I was growing up, I could walk fifty feet out my back door and pick a fresh tomato to eat as an afternoon snack. Another fifty feet, I would find farm fresh eggs and beyond that there were blueberry bushes that our bee hives were pollinating. My family survived Michigan winters from persevering the food we grew in the garden from the summer before. I was fortunate enough to grow up watching my food grow and being a part of the system of planting, picking, and processing. I quickly realized not every kid grew up like this. …”

Sometimes the best way to teach really does involve getting your hands dirty. Read “Planting a Seed for Generations to Come: School Greenhouses and Gardens,” by Honors student Addie Saltarelli, on the Western Upper Peninsula Food System’s blog.

2020 Michigan Space Grant Consortium Award Recipients Receive $90,500 in Funding

Published February 24, 2020

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Awards
News

Michigan Tech faculty, staff members and students received awards totaling $90,500 in funding through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the 2020-2021 funding cycle.

Michigan Tech Undergraduates receiving $3,000 research fellowships:

Troy Maust (ECE): “Auris: An RF Mission” with Lyon Brad King (ME-EM)
Lea Morath (BME): “Evaluating Zinc Alloys for Biodegradable Arterial Stents” with Jeremy Goldman (BME)
Victoria Nizzi (MSE): “The Use of Computer Modeling to Simulate and Predict the Biodegradation of a Magnesium Alloy Fracture Plate” with Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE)
Collette Sarver (Chemistry): “Accurate Theoretical Prediction of Anharmonic Infrared (IR) Spectra of Neutral Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)” with Loredana Valenzano-Slough (Chemistry)
Tyler Strauss (ME-EM): “Effects of Optogenetic Stimulation of the Subthalamic nucleus on Stress-Induced Depression” with Chunxiu Yu (Biological Sciences)

Michigan Tech Graduate Students receiving $5,000 research fellowships:

Kelsey LeMay (BME): “Processing of Porcine Internal Mammary Arteries for Hyman Bypass Graft Applications” with Jeremy Goldman (BME)
Sophie Mueller (GME): “Keweenaw Fault Geometry and Slip Kinematics: Mohawk to Lac La Belle, MI Segment” with James DeGraff (GME)
Elise Rosky (Physics): “Freezing of Droplets in Mixed-Phase Clouds: Understanding Mechanisms of Ice Nucleation” with Raymond Shaw (Physics)
Steven Stelly (KIP): “The Impact of Food Deprivation on Cardiovascular Physiology” with William Cooke (KIP)
Mitchel Timm (ME-EM): “Transport, Self-Assembly, and Deposition of Colloidal Particles in Evaporating Droplets” with Hassan Masoud (ME-EM)
Emily Tom (MSE): “Investigation of Novel Mg-Zn-Ca Alloys for Bioresorbable Orthopedic Implants” with Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE)
Issac Wedig (KIP): “Arm Cranking with Blood Flow Restriction: A Potential Exercise for Use in Space?” with Steven Elmer (KIP)

Faculty and staff members receiving $5,000 or more for pre-college outreach and research seed programs include:

Glen Archer (ECE): “Michigan Tech Electrical Engineering Outreach Program for Pre-College Students to Build Early Interest in STEM Areas” (includes augmentation)
Joan Chadde (CEE): “Engaging High School Women and Native Americans in Rural Communities in Environmental Science & Engineering STEM Careers” (includes augmentation)
Lloyd Wescoat (CEE): “Celebrating Lake Superior: A 2020 Water Festival for Grades 4-8” (includes augmentation)
Elena Giusarma (Physics): “Learning to Simulate the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe with Convolutional Neural Networks”
Kathyrn Perrine (Chemistry): “Influence of Water Vapor and Cationic Species in Corrosion Reactions on Iron Interfaces”
Lorelle Meadows (Pavlis Honors College): MSGC Administrative award ($3,675)

Michigan Tech Receives Bronze Seal for Excellence in Student Voter Engagement

Published November 21, 2019

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At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Michigan Technological University received a bronze seal for achieving a student rate between 20% and 29%. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here.

“Civic engagement is on the minds of faculty, staff and students at Michigan Tech,” said Bonnie Gorman, Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs. “Our students are on the forefront of solving some of our nation’s most vexing problems and it is critical to have them engaged in the political process as well.”

Student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%. Michigan Tech’s data reveals a student voting rate in the 2018 midterm of 26.9 percent, a 17.5 point increase from 2014 (9.4% rate in that midterm).

The growth is encouraging, and student leaders are identifying ways to increase participation in coming years. “While working on Voter Registration Day, I realized that there are a lot of questions students have regarding voting that otherwise go unanswered,” said Anna Ellis (forestry ‘20), chair of the Undergraduate Student Government’s Political Affairs Committee. “Michigan Tech has made great strides in increasing political involvement, but if we want to continue this we will need to create resources that make the process less confusing for busy students.”

“We are excited to honor Michigan Tech with an ALL IN Challenge bronze seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like Michigan Tech are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus.

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

If you want to get involved in the Michigan Tech ALL IN Democracy Challenge and help with voter registration, contact Kari Henquinet at kbhenqui@mtu.edu.

Four Michigan Tech Students Named University Innovation Fellows

Published October 29, 2019

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Congratulations to Abigail Kuehne (Psychology and Communication, Culture, and Media/ Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors ’21), Sam Raber (Psychology ’22), Lindsay Sandell (Biomedical Engineering ’21), and Gary Tropp (Computer Network and System Administration ’22), who have been named University Innovation Fellows by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). This global program trains student leaders to create new opportunities for their peers to engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking, and creativity.

Michigan Tech’s team of University Innovation Fellows support student interests, create an ecosystem for innovation, and encourage environmentally sustainable practices on campus. They aim to preserve a culture of inclusion, encourage creativity and self-authorship, and help students create lasting connections. Current UIF proposals include a university-sanctioned gap year program, updates to campus wellness opportunities, student ambassador programs, and creating a space to reduce waste and encourage students to share and reuse common school items.

Darnishia Slade Recognized at Dean’s Teaching Showcase Luncheon

Published April 24, 2019

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Awards
News

By Michael R. Meyer

Darnishia Slade (left) was recognized at the Dean’s Teaching Showcase luncheon event by Lorelle Meadows (right).

Lorelle Meadows, dean of the Pavlis Honors College (PHC), selected Darnishia (Dar) Slade, manager of Global Engagement Programs, as a showcase member earlier this month.

Meadows selected Slade because she “embodies the values of the Pavlis Honors College in her teaching. She exemplifies the honors abilities, and is a great role model for students who are working to develop these important skillsets and mindsets.”

Slade teaches the first Honors Seminar (HON 2150), as well as the Capstone Courses for students in the Global Leadership Pathway, pursuing their Leadership Minor. In this role, Meadows praises Slade’s “remarkable ability to adapt as class time evolves, targeting opportunities for visiting important points that pop up at unexpected times” as well as her “use of a variety of interactive techniques to assess student understanding of a concept.”

Meadows said Slade is also, importantly, able to “assess the climate of the classroom as students encounter challenging topics.” These exceptional facilitation skills have also been noticed by her PHC colleagues. In their words, “Her ability to facilitate learning in a way that embodies the mindsets we are encouraging in our students serves as a model for the rest of us, who are also trying to facilitate student learning and development.”

In the short time Slade has been a part of the Honors College, she has continuously explored ways to improve the classroom experience for students, evolving course materials and methods of delivery to increase student engagement and learning outcomes. As an example, she has observed the flow of the semester through the energy level that students bring to class. At a low energy period, she stopped class and simply went around the room asking every student to say one word that exemplified how they were feeling. It was a quick activity to gauge how students were experiencing their semester, and it was revealing.

It was around Week 5 or 6, and students were feeling the pressure of looming exams and a long stretch until a break from coursework over Thanksgiving. Synthesizing this, she created and introduced a handout at the next session that focused on campus resources for self-care, aligning this with a session on the physiology of mindfulness. Several students reflected on the timeliness and value of this simple act.

Slade’s excellent sense of the student experience likely stems from her previous work in both academic and student affairs departments of the University. Meadows, describing this unique perspective, says “Her compassion for the students, not just their learning, but for their personal well-being, is inspiring. Her teaching doesn’t stop at the classroom or office door. She takes time to talk individually with students and solicit their experience, then she synthesizes all that, and brings that knowledge to our discussions of college matters.”

One PHC faculty member noted that, “When Dar joined our team, I felt that every meeting she brought up an excellently formulated point that surprised me — mainly drawn from her approach to students.”

The students themselves have also indicated an appreciation for Slade’s openness and personal interest. Recent student comments include “I have known Dar to take time out of her day to get to know students and to be there for them and to get to know what is going on and what’s wrong,” and “Dar is someone who I can go to for any reason without any fear of judgment.”

Meadows summarizes Slade’s contribution this way: “Darnishia Slade brings creativity and compassion into her teaching. She has influenced students both inside and outside the classroom, and uses these experiences and insights to affect change in our programs.”

All of the Dean’s Teaching Showcase members pictured at Recognition Luncheon.

Slade was recognized at the end-of-term luncheon with other showcase members, and is now eligible for one of three new teaching awards to be given by the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning this summer recognizing introductory or large class teaching, innovative or outside the classroom teaching methods, or work in curriculum and assessment.

Pavlis Students Shine at 25th Annual Student Leadership Awards

Published April 22, 2019

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Awards

The 25th Annual Student Leadership Awards were held Friday, April 19 in the Memorial Union Ballroom. The Student Leadership Awards celebrate and reward the individual and group efforts of students involved in organizations across campus. There are awards for student employees, student organizations, programs and more. Among the awards that were presented and announced at this year’s ceremony, five of the winners and ten of the nominees were Pavlis Honors College students.

Tessa Steenwinkel won the Provost’s Award for Scholarship.

Tessa Steenwinkel, nominated by the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded the Provost’s Award for Scholarship. The Provost’s Award for Scholarship is given to a student who best represents student scholarship at Michigan Tech. This outstanding student is considered excellent not only by academic standards, but also for participation in research scholarship activity, levels of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and communication skills. Steenwinkel was also nominated by the Pavlis Honors College for the Rising Star of the Year.

Tessa Steenwinkel recognized for her research.

Logan Alger, nominated by the Pavlis Honors College, was awarded Rising Star of the Year. Rising Star of the Year is awarded to a student that shows great potential for leadership and who attempts to develop themselves personally in everything they do. Logan is currently working on his honors project in which he is developing a mentorship program for Pavlis Honors Pathway students.

Logan Alger, pictured with his nominator and Honors advisor Darnishia Slade, received the Rising Star of the Year award.

Elise Cheney-Makens was awarded the Dean of Students Award for Service and also Exceptional Community Service Project. Elise volunteered at the Ronald McDonald Home in Rochester, MN to support critically ill children and their families during the summer 2018 while she was a research intern at Mayo Clinic. Giving back in her own community of Houghton, she developed the Science Fair Mentoring Program to help 4th and 5th graders at Houghton Elementary plan, develop, and execute their science fair projects. Elise, in addition to creating this program, was responsible for recruiting 20 undergraduate volunteers. Elise has also volunteered as a Young Women Leaders Program mentor (a Center for Diversity and Inclusion program) for a year, working with middle school girls to develop leadership skills.

Elise Cheney-Makens was awarded both the Exceptional Community Service Project and the Dean of Students Award for Service.

Magann Dykema was awarded the Outstanding Future Alumni Award. This award recognizes the contribution of a student volunteer who supports the Alumni Association’s mission of “Celebrating Traditions. Creating Connections.” Dykema demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the success of Tech traditions during her time on campus. She was also nominated for the Exceptional Enthusiasm as a Student Leader award. Magann is graduating this semester with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. She is then headed to the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse to start a master’s program in Student Affairs Administration.

Magann Dykema awarded Outstanding Future Alumni.

In addition to our winners, Pavlis would also like to acknowledge the following nominees:

Cameron Philo was awarded Departmental Scholar by the Pavlis Honors College and therefore nominated for the Provost’s Award for Scholarship
Clara Peterson was awarded Departmental Scholar for Chemical Engineering and therefore nominated for the Provost’s Award for Scholarship
Joshua Jay was nominated for Student Employee of the Year
Marcello Guadagno and Corrina Kostrzewa were nominated for the President’s Award for Leadership

The Undergraduate Research Symposium winners were also recognized at Friday’s Award ceremony. Ceily Fessel Doan (environmental engineering) took first place for her research, Comparison of Nannochloropsis and Chlorelle Vulgaris Algae to Energy Efficiency in the Rio Grande Watershed. Jacob LeBarre (chemical engineering) placed second for his research entitled, Improvement of Virus Purification Method using Cation Exchange Chromatography. Third place was awarded to Pavlis Honors College student Kaylee Meyers (biomedical engineering) for Nitric Oxide Releasing Composite Hydrogels for Tendon Repair Via Matrix Metalloproteinase Controlled Pathways.

Kaylee Meyers at the 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

The Pavlis Honors College would also like to acknowledge our 2019 Dean’s Scholarship Award recipient, Madi Vachon. Madi is a very active member of the Pavlis Honors Ambassadors group. She volunteers her time to design, plan, and implement recruitment efforts to grow the Pavlis community. Madi goes above and beyond to engage with students on a meaningful level which has significantly added to our enrollment and retention. Thank you for your continued support Madi! The Pavlis Honors College Dean’s Scholarship is awarded annually in the amount of $1,000 to recognize an Honors student’s outstanding commitment to our programs and pathways.

Congratulations to all of the award nominees and winners.