Month: April 2018

Associate Vice Presidents Selected for the Research Area

by Vice President for Research Office

Vice President for Research David Reed announced the selection of two associate vice presidents—Jason Carter, associate VP for Research Development and James Baker, associate VP for Research Administration. Both will begin serving in their new roles on July 1.

Carter will provide strategic leadership with a focus on the coordination and promotion of excellence in research. This includes the facilitation of developmental opportunities, the oversight of academic/virtual centers and core facilities, and activities related to the translation of research discoveries into application.

Baker will also provide strategic leadership and direction, however, he will focus on the planning, implementing, improving and evaluating of the VPR administrative sponsored programs and sponsored accounting, industry contracting and the technology commercialization units while promoting operational improvements.

According to Reed, these two positions will help the overall unit strategize the best ways to efficiently handle the administrative needs of a growing research institution. The realignment in services will help to improve the coordination of activities across divisions and serve the researchers in a stronger capacity as the campus community works to achieve future institutional research goals.

Kamm’s Research Highlighted in Unscripted

Kelly Kamm 1

Small populations in rural areas of the Upper Peninsula mean big gaps in state health care data. Kelly Kamm’s research on infant feeding seeks to bridge those gaps.

What do Beyonce, Gisele Bündchen, Mila Kunis and Blake Lively have in common? Fame and fortune, check. Breastfeeding their babies, check.

Considering these celebrities’ public endorsement of breastfeeding, it might seem like breastfeeding is popular in the United States. But that’s not the case. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that has been trying to raise the national rate of women breastfeeding, race and socioeconomics heavily influence if a woman ever breastfeeds. The numbers are even lower for women who breastfeed for six months and longer.

Kelly Kamm, research assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology is unsatisfied by the CDC’s statistics. She hopes to better understand how families feed infants in the UP.

“The question ‘have you ever breastfed’ means, to some extent, did somebody try in the hospital, but it’s not really a good metric of what’s going on in the UP. We’re such a small percentage of the population, any state or national data doesn’t actually survey anybody up here, so there’s really not much known about what’s going on.”

Kelly Kamm,research assistant professor

The full article, “How Do Upper Michigan Mothers Get Breastfeeding Support?” was featured in Unscripted.

2018 Portage Health Foundation Making a Difference Scholarship Recipients

 Twelve students have been awarded the Portage Health Foundation Making a Difference Scholarship.  The scholarships are part of a Michigan Tech-Portage Health Foundation partnership established in 2015 to support health education. This year’s recipients have an average GPA of 3.87 and represent the breadth of health-related research happening on Michigan Tech’s campus.

The $8,000 scholarships went to:

  •    Bailey Poyhonen, Dollar Bay, medical laboratory science
  •    Brennah Wasie, Hancock, biochemistry and molecular biology
  •    Laura Lyons, Lake Linden, biomedical engineering
  •    Sarah Dix, L’Anse, exercise science

Receiving $1,000 scholarships were:

  •    Kierstyn Codere, Lake Linden, biological sciences
  •    Grace Liu, Houghton mechanical engineering
  •    Mara Hackman, Houghton, medical laboratory science.
  •    Jaden Janke, Dollar Bay, biological sciences
  •    Ally Fenton, Hancock, biomedical engineering
  •    Jada Markham, Houghton, exercise science
  •    Kellan Heikkila, Chassell, biomedical engineering
  •    Dawson Kero, Hancock, biological sciences

“The merit-based awards reflect the high caliber student talent we have locally, thanks to exceptional teachers, HOSA high school advisers, and Michigan Tech faculty and students who do outreach in the schools,” says Jodi Lehman, director of foundations at Michigan Tech.

At a dinner for finalists, the scholarship recipients had a chance to talk one-on-one with Michigan Tech researchers. Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics faculty Ye Sarah Sun shared with students how she develops new interfaces for heart monitoring that are reliable and won’t disturb a patient’s life at home, while driving or at work.

Biomedical engineer and health care entrepreneur, Megan Frost, shared  how she is working to improve wound care with a product designed to prevent infection and reduce the need for some post-acute care.

Scholarship recipients also heard from current students, Adison Cook, a 2016 Making a Difference scholar; Stephanie Bean and Maddie Morley, both PHF Undergraduate Research Interns; and Kelsey Saladin, a Portage Health Foundation and Randy Owsley Memorial Athletic trainer scholar.

“The Portage Health Foundation has also been very generous in granting need-based scholarships to students enrolling at Michigan Tech, Finlandia University, Gogebic College, Northern Michigan University, and Michigan State University in health-related degree programs,” says Joe Cooper, Director of Financial Aid at Michigan Tech, “These scholarships make a significant financial impact for students in our own local communities.  Thanks to the Portage Health Foundation, students from Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties have extra support so they can attend college and focus on health related careers.”

Portage Health Foundation Making a Difference Scholarship applications will open in the fall for incoming high school seniors and transfer students applying to Michigan Tech for fall 2019.  Questions about the scholarshipcan be directed to Rachel Connors, assistant director of admissions, 7-1880.

KIP Students and Faculty Receive Michigan Space Grant Consortium Awards

Ian GreenlundGraduate students Ian Greenlund (Bio Sci/KIP) and Kevin Phillips (KIP) along with KIP faculty member Steven Elmer were among the 2018-19 recipients of the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) Awards.  Greenlund and Phillips each received $5,000 research fellowships while Elmer received a $5,000 pre-college education grant.

Ian will work with Jason Carter on his project entitled, “Sleep in Space: Sleep Restriction, Neurovascular Control, and Orthostatic Intolerance.”  This project aims to compare nervous and cardiovascular responses between chronically sleep restricted individuals (most college students) and normal sleep individuals.  This will provide potential insight to how proper sleep may impact orthostatic challenges like standing, which is a problem for astronauts post-spaceflight.

Phillips
Kevin’s project entitled, “Cold Water Therapy as a Recovery Intervention during Spaceflight Operations” will focus on how cold water immersion may improve performance and its effect on the brain. Specifically, Kevin is examining how the prefrontal cortex responds to fatiguing exercise following cold water immersion.  He will work with Steven Elmer and Tejin Yoon on this project.
In addition to the two students, Assistant Professor, Steven Elmer was awarded $5,000 for pre-college education with his project entitled, “Introducing Space Medicine to High School Students in the Upper Peninsula”.  Elmer’s abstract states, “Our objective is to implement space medicine activities as part of existing regional, national, and international educational outreach events to highlight the integration of Health Science and STEM (H-STEM).  Through the construction of 3-D physical models, calculations/graphing, exercise, demonstrations, and teamwork, high school students will learn how astronauts live, move, and work in space.”  KIP Academic Advisor, Kathy Carter, and Portage Health Foundation Endowed Professor, William Cooke, will assist Elmer with this project.
MSGC provides funding opportunities each year for undergraduate and graduate fellowships, research seed grants, pre-college education, teacher training, and public outreach pertaining to space-related science and technology in an effort to support their vision and mission to “foster awareness of, education in, and research on space-related science and technology in Michigan.”