Assistant Professor Kevin Trewartha (CLS/KIP) was recently published in Cognition, an international journal that publishes theoretical and experimental papers on the study of the mind. His article titled “Linking actions and objects: Context-specific learning of novel weight priors” is a fun read that explores how context impacts our memory for objects.
His work was also featured in Michigan Tech News.
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Steve Elmer for his recognition from College of Sciences and Arts Dean, Bruce Seely, as the final member of the Spring 2017 Dean’s Teaching Showcase.
Elmer continues to strive for excellence in his teaching approach. Students studying and working with him experience hands-on learning and are encouraged to be involved in his research.
You’ll find his students everywhere on campus and around town. His students lead area visiting high school students through experiments, they can be seen buying parts at local hardware stores to make a model for his lab, predicting when a runner will break the two hour barrier for a marathon, or pushing each other to find their VO2 max.
The full story about Steve’s nomination by Dean Seely can be read on Tech Today.
The Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Kinesiology & Integrative Physiology hosted students from Houghton High School’s Anatomy and Physiology class last week. Department chairs Dr. Shekhar Joshi (BIO) and Dr. Jason Carter (KIP) kicked off the visit with an informational session about the many ways each department prepares students for health-related careers. Students then toured labs in both departments engaging in lab activities.
The Daily Mining Gazette also covered this visit.
Students from Dollar Bay High School were on campus Thursday, April 6 to participate in National Biomechanics Day. Steve Elmer and Tejin Yoon‘s laboratories lead students through experiments demonstrating methods of biomechanics research.
National Biomechanics Day is Thursday (April 6), a world-wide event for high-school teachers and students to advance the science and education of human biomechanics.
This year’s theme is, “Science Meets Fun on National Biomechanics Day.” The Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP) Department has collaborated with several departments across campus to invite local students to engage in fun, hands-on activities focused on biomechanics research.
Students will start their visit with KIP faculty, Steve Elmer and Tejin Yoon. Elmer will engage students in building a wooden apparatus that they will use to investigate the influence of rotational inertia on turning performance. To do this students will navigate a slalom course with and without the wooden apparatus. Yoon will demonstrate the many tools used to analyze and describe human motion during exercise, and students will even get a chance to test their strength compared to Michigan Tech football players.
Students will also have the opportunity to visit additional biomechanics laboratories across campus. Physical Therapist, Caroline Gwaltney, and several Central Michigan University doctorate of physical therapy students will demonstrate how foot position can alter posture.
Students will also make imprints of their foot type and analyze how different foot type impacts movement across multiple joints.
In Mo Rastgaar’s (MEEM) HIROlab, students will place EMG sensors on their arms and move a robotic arm, as well as investigate an agile robotic prosthesis as it moves on a circular treadmill.
Finally, students will wear trackable sensors to experiment with creating sound from their own movement and dance in Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon’s (CLS) Mind Music and Machine lab.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday with lab activities scheduled to begin at 9:10 a.m.
Four students who are entering Michigan Tech this fall to pursue health-related careers have received $8,000 Making a Difference scholarships from the Portage Health Foundation. Another 10 entering first-year students received $1,000 awards.
The $8,000 scholarships went to:
Receiving $1,000 scholarships were:
The students are from Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga or Ontonagon counties.
The 14 recipients of the 2017 awards have an average GPA of 3.81. Their interests reflect a broad spectrum of majors including biological sciences, exercise science, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, medical laboratory science and mechanical engineering. The scholarship winners flip Michigan Tech’s male to female ratio of 3:1, with 10 female and 4 male recipients.
The scholarships are part of a Michigan Tech-Portage Health Foundation partnership established in 2015 to support health-related research and education, jobs and community health. The scholarships were first awarded in 2016.
“The awards reflect the high-caliber student talent we have locally, thanks to exceptional schools, outreach programming and parent support,” says Jodi Lehman, director of foundations at Michigan Tech. “We know that student talent is key in supporting the success of college peers and inspiring K-12 students to pursue health science and engineering pathways.
The Portage Health Foundation and Michigan Tech share the long-term goal of retaining or recruiting back local workforce talent — whether that be orthodontists, doctors, physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons, biomedical engineers or professionals in the field of medical informatics. Scholarships ultimately play a critical role in helping to grow our local economy while fostering healthy communities.”
At a dinner for finalists, the scholarship recipients heard from current students also supported by the Portage Health Foundation through the Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP). Both speakers shared their internship experiences and career goals.
Read the full story.
Stephanie Dietrich’s research, Subjective and Objective Assessments of Sleep Differences in Male and Female Collegiate Athletes, was presented at Michigan Tech’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium this past week.
With the assistance of Jason Carter, she hypothesized that female athletes would demonstrate improved objective, and worse subjective, assessments of sleep when compared to men.
A number of studies report that sex (i.e., male vs. female) can influence subjective and objective assessments of sleep. Specifically, women tend to report lower subjective sleep quality compared to men, yet objective assessment via actigraphy have shown a paradoxically higher sleep duration and sleep efficiency in women compared to men. The vast majority of work in this area has been limited to middle-age and older adults. Despite the importance of sleep in athletic performance, no studies to date have focused on young, healthy athletes.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium highlights the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.
The students showcasing their work today have spent a significant portion of the past year working alongside Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students to explore, discover and create new knowledge. They’ve spent long hours in the lab or out in the field designing experiments, gathering data, creating new models and testing hypotheses. They’ve applied their classroom knowledge in new and sometimes unexpected ways, and developed new skills that will propel them forward in their careers.
Thomas Bye presented his research, The Effects of Respiratory Muscle Fatigue on Upper-Body Exercise Performance, at the 2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium.
With the assistance of Dr. Steven Elmer, Bye evaluated the effects of respiratory muscle fatigue on upper-body exercise performance. Through his research, we will have a better understanding of the respiratory system, elite sport performance, and exercise prescription for patients with COPD and asthma.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium highlights the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.
The students showcasing their work today have spent a significant portion of the past year working alongside Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students to explore, discover and create new knowledge. They’ve spent long hours in the lab or out in the field designing experiments, gathering data, creating new models and testing hypotheses. They’ve applied their classroom knowledge in new and sometimes unexpected ways, and developed new skills that will propel them forward in their careers.
Sydney Smuck’s research, Smart Exercise Application with Wearable Motion Sensor: Validity & Usability, was presented at Michigan Tech’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium this past week.
With the assistance of Tejin Yoon, Smuck looked to improve the commitment levels of a home-based exercise program, a smart exercise application with a wearable motion sensor.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium highlights the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.
The students showcasing their work today have spent a significant portion of the past year working alongside Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students to explore, discover and create new knowledge. They’ve spent long hours in the lab or out in the field designing experiments, gathering data, creating new models and testing hypotheses. They’ve applied their classroom knowledge in new and sometimes unexpected ways, and developed new skills that will propel them forward in their careers.
KIP students received awards tallying $10,000 in funding through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the 2017-18 funding cycle.
Michigan Tech Undergraduates receiving $2,500 research fellowships:
Michigan Tech Graduate Students receiving $5,000 research fellowships:
NASA implemented the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in 1989 to provide funding for research, education and public outreach in space-related science and technology. The program has 52 university-based consortia in the United States and Puerto Rico.
As an affiliate of the Michigan Consortium, Michigan Tech has been an active participant in MSGC for approximately 20 years. MSGC funding is administered through Michigan Tech’s Pavlis Honors College.
For more information, contact Paige Hackney in the Pavlis Honors College at 7-4371 or visit the MSGC website.