Author: kampe

2021 Order of the Engineer inductees

Order of the Engineer logo.

Eight MSE seniors were inducted into the Order of the Engineer, an organization established underscore and celebrate the important role engineering plays in maintaining the safety and welfare of the public, through the ethical and dedicated commitment to the products that they design and produce. 

Inducted were Lauren Bowling, Nate Carey, Michael Claiborne, Morgan Drumm, Sidney Feige, Michael Gazdecki, Anna Isaacson, and Ryan Weiss.

2021 MSE Scholar Awards

Lauren Bowling

2021 Academic Achievement Award

Lauren Bowling was announced as the recipient of the 2021 MSE Academic Achievement Award at the MSE Senior Banquet festivities on April 23rd, 2021. The Achievement award is given to the graduating student with the highest grade point average following the previous fall semester.


Nate Carey

2021 Richard Sharrow Award

Also at the MSE Senior Banquet, Nate Carey was announced as the recipient of the Richard Sharrow Award. The Sharrow award is given to the graduating MSE senior that demonstrating the most improvement in grade point average over the course of their studies at Michigan Tech.


Tori Nizzi

2021 MSE Department Scholar

Rising MSE senior Tori Nizzi was selected by Michigan Tech Provost Jacqueline Huntoon as the 2021 MSE Department Scholar. Torri was selected on the basis of her academic achievements to date, her participation in research as an undergraduate, and for her service to the department, college, and university.

2021 Alpha Sigma Mu inductees

The logo of Alpha Sigma Mu.

Five students were inducted into Alpha Sigma Mu, at the MSE Senior Banquet on April 23rd, 2021. Inducted were MSE seniors Signey Feige and Maria Rochow, and MSE juniors Megan Huggett, Sophie Mehl, and Haley Papineau.

Congratulations MSEers!

Alpha Sigma Mu is the international academic honor organization of the materials discipline. It was established in 1933 at the Michigan College of Mining and Technology; Michigan Tech holds the distinction of being the alpha chapter of this widely recognized and highly respected organization!

2021 MSE Capstone Design Presentations – 15 April 2021

Project:  Aluminum-scandium alloy design for wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM)
Team: Devin Deaton, Morgan Drum, and Ross Patterson
Sponsor:  Relativity Space; Sam Tonneslan, sponsor liaison

Project:  Decreasing corrosion in steel fasteners for pressure treated lumber
Team:  Nate Carey, Anna Hildebrandt, Jason Seeterlin, and Henry Vandermark
Sponsor:  Altenloh, Brinck & Company; Derek Krueger, sponsor liaison

Project:  Development of a beta brass alloy for co-extrusion
Team:  Lauren Bowling, Sidney Feige, Anna Isaacson, and Maria Rochow
Sponsor:  MTU College of Engineering and Mueller Industries, Todd Kidder, sponsor liaison

ASM Undergraduate Design Competition Nominee!

Project:  Effect of manganese on weld strength and drawability in 5xxx series aluminum weld wire
Team:  Michael Gazdecki, Spencer Hunt, Tyler Latta, and Ryan Weiss
Sponsor:  Hobart Brothers, LLC; Carson Williams, sponsor liaison

External Advisory Board Best Project Award!
Students’ Choice Award!

Project:  Wire arc additive manufacturing of steel diecasting hardware
Team:  Noah Ekdom, Mike Groeneveld, and Ty Timmerman
Sponsor:  Mercury Marine; Alex Monroe, sponsor liaison

MSE Staff S·I·R·I·F Award*!
* Safety · Innovation · Resourceful · Industrious · Fundamentals

Professor Yun Hang Hu: 5X Fellow and More

Professor Yun Hang Hu

MSE Professor Yun Hang Hu was honored with an impressive set of recognitions during the last year. Professor Hu was elected Fellow of both the American Chemical Society (ACS) and ASM International for his impactful contributions and developments in materials synthesis and catalyst science. In addition, Professor Hu received the Distinguished Service Award from the Energy and Fuels Division of the American Chemical Society. For more information:

With the two latest Fellow recognitions, Professor Hu is a now a Fellow of five organizations.   He was previously named Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC, 2013), Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE, 2013), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2014).  

Professor Hu is the Charles and Carroll McArthur Endowed MSE Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He joined MSE and Michigan Tech in 2007, and has made impactful contributions in the area of the science and engineering of materials for energy applications. He received the Michigan Tech Research Award in 2017 and was a co-recipient (an award shared with his graduate student Wei Wei) of the Bhakta Rath Research Award in the same year.

TMS Symposium Honors Professor Jim Hwang

Jim Hwang stands in his lab.

A celebration of Michigan Tech MSE Professor Jiann-Yang (Jim) Hwang’s career of innovative contributions to the field of materials processing was the subject of an honorary symposium sponsored by the Extraction and Processing Division (EPD) at the 2021 TMS Annual Meeting.

Prof. Hwang was honored for his pioneering research on microwave-assisted metallurgy; for engineering and commercialization of environmental technologies to the electroplating industries; his outstanding innovations on mineral processing, and crucial achievements to the power, automobile, steel, and aluminum industries on materials recycling; his great contributions on hydrogen storage materials; significant developments on clean coal technologies; and last but not least, for excellent student mentoring.