Humanities News, Features, and Other Updates

Category: Graduate

Presentation Focuses on User Experience Collaborations In the Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory

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Timothy Keirnan, Assistant Teaching Professor of Humanities
Timothy Keirnan, assistant teaching professor of humanities
Liz Miller, Director of The Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL)
Liz Miller,
ACMAL director

Presented by the RTC Brown Bag Program
November 8th, 2024, noon–1:00 p.m.
Petersen Library, Walker 318

Timothy Keirnan, assistant teaching professor in the Humanities Department, and Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL) Director Liz Miller will present a case study of collaboration between Humanities and Material Science at the next Brown Bag Program presentation. ACMAL is a facility serving both Michigan Tech and external researchers that houses an extensive array of electron microanalytical and X-ray instruments. Services are available for user training, sample preparation, and sample analysis. The collaboration with ACMAL focuses on the piloting of a new software application, Facility Online Manager (FOM), to help facilities across Michigan Tech manage their equipment and lab spaces to better serve students, faculty, and staff.

In cooperation with Assistant Teaching Professor Jenni Nance and her HU3121 students, Keirnan wrote FOM user guides for both students and lab supervisors. Nance and her students will be on hand for the presentation to lend their perspectives on the combination of service work and student projects for Michigan Tech’s Scientific and Technical Communication program. Keirnan and Miller are currently collaborating on the navigation and UX (user experience design) writing of the new FOM website, which will be rolled out to the university in the near future. They’ll also discuss future collaborations to measure and enhance the ACMAL customer experience.

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Lindsay Hiltunen Appointed to Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee

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RTC PhD student and archivist in the University Archives, Lindsay Hiltunen, has been appointed to the advisory committee for the Ottawa National Forest.


University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen (VPOL) has been appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to the new Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee (RAC). Members of the RAC are vetted and designated by the secretary of agriculture and meet under Federal Advisory Committee Act regulations. All meetings are open to the public.

A Secure Rural Schools RAC provides recommendations to the U.S. Forest Service on the development and implementation of special projects on federal lands as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools Act and Community Self-Determination Act in Public Law 110-343. This act was most recently reauthorized for two years by section 41202 of Public Law 117-58 (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15, 2021.

Vilsack appointed Hiltunen, along with 14 others, to serve four-year terms on the Ottawa National Forest RAC. The inaugural meeting will be called in summer 2024.

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Brown Bag Talk: The “High-Risk” Migrant: Re-Evaluating (Algorithmic) Automated Decision-Making in the Public Sector

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What:

Abstract:

For almost a decade, the Netherlands secretly used the variables of gender, nationality, and age, to profile migrants as “high-risk,” subjecting them to extensive investigations and eventual visa denial in many cases. Drawing from frameworks of algorithmic episteme, and algorithmic inclusion and exclusion, this presentation examines algorithmic deployment in the public sector.

Who:

Presented by PhD Student Genius Amaraizu

All are welcome to attend!

When:

Friday, January 19 2024

Where:

Petersen Library, Walker Arts & Humanities Center

Play The “High-Risk” Migrant: Re-Evaluating (Algorithmic) Automated Decision-Making in the Public-Sector video
Preview image for The “High-Risk” Migrant: Re-Evaluating (Algorithmic) Automated Decision-Making in the Public-Sector video

The “High-Risk” Migrant: Re-Evaluating (Algorithmic) Automated Decision-Making in the Public-Sector

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Brilynn Janckila Awarded Finishing Fellowship

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A hearty congratulations to RTC PhD candidate Brilynn Janckila, who has been awarded a finishing fellowship for the summer of 2024!

Finishing fellowships are awarded by the graduate school to outstanding PhD students in their final semester. During that time, the student’s work is fully funded as they finish and defend their dissertation.

Brilynn’s research topics include girlhood studies, Barbie and Barbie media, feminist research methods, fan culture, writing studies, and writing program/writing center administration, usability and social justice in technical communication.

Great work, Brilynn!

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Rhetoric, Theory, & Culture Students Recognized for Academic Achievements

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Several of our graduate students in the Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture program have been recognized this spring for achievements in both teaching and research!

Basanti Timalsina was awarded a Spring 2024 Finishing Fellowship by the graduate school, which is funding her research for the spring semester as she finishes her doctoral dissertation and prepares for her thesis defense. Click Here too learn more about Basanti’s research and the topic of her dissertation. Congratulations and good luck, Basanti!

Reid Devoge has been recognized with the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, which is granted to graduate student instructors who have displayed excellence in teaching within their department. Reid is a PhD student in the Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture program, as well as the Deputy Director of Michigan Tech Public Safety and Police Services. Congratulations, Reid!

Brilynn Janckila has been awarded the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship, which recognizes excellence among graduate students in the year of their graduation. Students may be nominated for the award who display outstanding qualities in areas such as research, teaching, leadership, dissertation quality, and departmental involvement, to name a few. Brilynn is scheduled to complete her PhD in Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture this year. Congratulations and good luck, Brilynn!

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GSG Merit Awards – Winners Announced

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This years awardees for the Graduate Student Government Merit Awards have been decided. A total of 88 nominations were received from departments all across campus. The decision process was not an easy one as there was a very strong pool of nominations this year. We are very grateful to all of our nominees for all of the work they put in to improve and enrich the life of our graduate students.

Without further ado, here are the award winners:

  • Exceptional Staff Member – Claire Wiitanen, Administrative Aide from the Physics Department
  • Exceptional Graduate Mentor – Victoria Bergvall, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Humanities
  • Exceptional Student Leader – Jacob Blazejewski, a PhD student from Mathematical Sciences
  • Exceptional Student Scholar – Nancy Henaku, a PhD student from Humanities

Congratulations to our winners and all you have done for our graduate students!

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PhD Candidates Celebrated at Advancement to Candidacy Ceremony

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RTC PhD candidates were celebrated at the first annual Advancement to Candidacy Ceremony conducted by the Graduate School for all ABD students. Attending the ceremony with their advisors were the following:

Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo (advisor Dr. Vicky Bergvall)
Nada Mohammad A. Alfeir (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Joshua Chase (advisor Dr. Abraham Romney)
Marina Choy (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Geethu Madeckal Jose (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Sara T. Potter (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Hua Wang (advisor Dr. Marika Seigel)

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RTC PhD Candidate attends Europe Games Research Summer School

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Over the summer of 2019, RTC PhD Candidate, Lyz Renshaw, participated in the Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) Europe Games Research Summer School held in The University of Skövde, Sweden from August 21 to 23. The school was attended by PhD students and graduate students who are working in areas connected to digital games — Renshaw’s dissertation falls within this research area.

Lyz shared her experience:

The experience was great, working alongside other graduate students from schools such as University of California Irvine, Wisconsin-Stout, IT Copenhagen and Uppsala University. We had speakers from all over Scandinavia attend, including scholars from University of Skovde, Uppsala, and Gothenburg. I was given the opportunity to present a chapter of my dissertation and receive feedback from senior researchers and peers, including a graduate student who works directly with many of the scholars I base my work on.

Outside of the intended goals of the program, it was also enlightening to see how higher education is different internationally, how curriculum is designed, courses run, expectations of graduate students.

I also left the program with a collaboration project in the works, taking a previous paper I had present at the e-sports conference at UCI last year (and at an RTC colloquium last year) and pairing up with a graduate student from that university who had seen my earlier work.

 

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RTC Best Conference Paper Award

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The RTC program is excited to launch the Graduate Student Best Conference Paper Award. This award seeks to recognize and promote excellence in RTC graduate students’ research and scholarship and is made possible thanks to support from the Humanities department. All current students are eligible for the award, which comes with a $500 fund. The RTC encourages students to submit their recent papers for consideration. A student may submit only one paper per year. To apply, please follow these submission guidelines (PDF).

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