Category: News

Allison Hein Goes Above and Beyond

Allison M. Hein
Allison M. Hein

At an awards program in the Memorial Union Ballroom Wednesday (Jan. 9, 2018), staff members were honored with the Staff Council Making a Difference Award.

The Above and Beyond Award was given to Allison Hein, research engineer and scientist, Materials Science and Engineering.

Her nominator says, “Allison’s competence and effectiveness is revealed by the inarguable impact that it has had on the productivity of the MSE department and its faculty.”

A letter of support states, “In our roles we work with researchers from across campus. When a large of complicated project is initiated, one of the things we regularly hear is ‘how can we involve Allison in this project?'”

Read more at the Staff Council blog.

Ben Almquist ’04 Speaks for Five Under 35

Ben Almquist
Ben Almquist ’04

HOUGHTON — Five accomplished alumni of Michigan Technological University (MTU), who all have graduated from the institution in the last 15 years, returned to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday afternoon to tell students about their paths to success. MTU’s inaugural Five Under 35 event has been more than two years in the making, according to moderator and MTU vice president of student affairs Les Cook.

Ben Almquist was the first speaker of the evening. Almquist graduated from MTU’s Materials Science and Engineering program in 2004.

“Michigan Tech made me a baby,” he said.

He continued to say that he didn’t cry a lot, but his work at MTU made him curious again.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Joshua Vissers.

CGS GradImpact Story on Jeffrey Brookins ’17

Jeffery Brookins
Jeffery Brookins ’17

The Graduate School, with the help of Dr. Jaroslaw Drelich and Jeffery Brookins, submitted a GradImpact story on one of our Michigan Tech alums and veterans, Jeffrey Brookins.

GradImpact is published by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

GradImpact: Finding a Path from Afghanistan to Materials Science

One of the challenges facing many graduate students is to find a project that will have practical application. Even more difficult, is to find a project that will help people on days that are painful and frightening. Jeffrey Brookins, a Master of Science graduate in Materials Science and Engineering from Michigan Tech University, is the rare student with a project that does both. Brookins worked on developing improved surgical clips for use during laparoscopic surgeries – minimally invasive procedures designed to minimize external scarring, often within the abdominal or pelvic cavities.

Read more at GradImpact.

Amberlee Haselhuhn ’11 on STEM Education

Amberlee Haselhuhn
Amberlee Haselhuhn ’11

Michigan Tech alumna Amberlee Haselhuhn, who received her bachelor’s of science in Materials Science and Engineering in 2011 and her PhD in ’16, appears in “Industry Faces,” a feature of Modern Casting.

Haselhuhn earned her PhD under the advisement of Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and Paul Sanders (MSE).

Haselhuhn showing value of STEM education

Haselhuhn has worked with an all-girls First Robotics team and volunteers with AFS Foundry in a Box demonstrations through the Saginaw Valley chapter.

By doing what she has professionally, Haselhuhn is also a role model for young girls and women considering a career in STEM. That’s not something she takes lightly.

“I’ve been surrounded by incredibly talented, smart and innovative people at General Motors and when I was at Michigan Tech. There are so many intelligent people in the world,” she said. “You’re always hoping to improve your skills, innovate and to continue to be the best that you can be.”

Read more at Modern Casting.

Related:

Amberlee Haselhuhn ’11 is a Future Leader of Manufacturing

Amberlee Haselhuhn ’11 is a Future Leader of Manufacturing

Amberlee Haselhuhn
Amberlee Haselhuhn ’11

Michigan Tech alumna Amberlee Haselhuhn, who received her bachelor’s of science in Materials Science and Engineering in 2011 and her PhD in ’16, appears in “30 Under 30: Recognizing the future leaders of manufacturing,” in SME’s advancedmanufacturing.org.

Haselhuhn earned her PhD under the advisement of Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and Paul Sanders (MSE).

30 Under 30: Recognizing the Future Leaders of Manufacturing

Manufacturing Engineering’s 2018 Class of 30 Under 30 honorees are in a class all their own. This is the sixth year Manufacturing Engineering is recognizing 30 individuals under the age of 30 that are leading the manufacturing industry into the future. These individuals exemplify extraordinary promise in manufacturing and the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills that underpin the discipline, plus much more.

Amberlee Haselhuhn, Age: 29

General Motors Company, Warren, MI

Amberlee Haselhuhn may have a BS and PhD in materials science engineering as well as a BS in biomedical engineering, but that is not the path she set out on.

“I originally wanted to be a medical doctor when I started my undergraduate education in biomedical engineering, but after spending time shadowing a doctor, I realized this really wasn’t for me,” she said. “Around the same time, I was required to take an introduction to materials science course and absolutely loved it, so I added a BS in materials science and engineering. A summer internship with a metal casting house showed me the type of innovative work I could do with an advanced degree, and I decided to pursue my PhD.”

While Haselhuhn has her name on 11 peer-reviewed publications and has delivered six conference presentations, she is not about theory alone. She also has a passion for applied research.

Haselhuhn applies the fundamentals of materials science and engineering to the joining of dissimilar materials for automotive body lightweighting. She is currently working on understanding the physics of spot welding of dissimilar metals.

The daughter of a machinist, Haselhuhn is the first in her family to earn an engineering degree or an advanced STEM degree. Perhaps because of this, she is eager to “spread the gospel” of a STEM education. Haselhuhn mentors a local all-girls FIRST Robotics team and volunteers at science festivals with the American Foundry Society’s “Foundry in a Box” demonstrations.

Read more at advancedmanufacturing.org, by Candace Roulo and James Sawyer.

Stephen Mashl is a 2018 APMI Fellow

Stephen Mashl
Stephen Mashl

Research Professor Stephen Mashl has been named a 2018 American Powder Metallurgy Institute (APMI) Fellow by APMI International.

The APMI Fellow Award is the organization’s highest and recognizes APMI members for their contributions to the goals, purpose, and mission of the organization, as well as for expertise in the technology, practice, or business of the industry.

Mashl is a research professor of materials science and engineering and has dedicated over three decades to the powder metallurgy (PM) industry, working primarily in particulate materials and PM product and processes development, APMI says. Most of his career has been in industry during which time he has developed process simulation models, worked to identify particle formation mechanisms, and developed an integrated hot isostatic press (HIP) plus solution heat treat process for the treatment of aluminum castings. He is co-inventor on several patents, his research appears in over 50 papers and publications, and he has served as technical reviewer for multiple journals.

Read more at Metal Powder Report in Materials Today.

Cost Optimized Solar Water Pasteurizer

Flow-Through Solar Water Pasteurizer with components labeled
Flow-Through Solar Water Pasteurizer

Joshua Pearce coauthored “Design Optimization of Polymer Heat Exchanger for Automated Household-Scale Solar Water Pasteurizer,” published in Designs.

doi:10.3390/designs2020011

The study offers a promising approach to reducing the >870,000 deaths/year globally from unsafe water through the use of flow-through solar water pasteurization systems (SWPs). The high cost of the heat exchanger (HX) is addressed with the introduction of of a polymer microchannel HX as a substitute for coiled copper. The polymer microchannel HX is designed for a 3-D printed collector. The paper focuses on SWP systems fabricated using fully open-source distributed manufacturing.

Erik Herbert is an Outstanding Reviewer

Erik G. Herbert
Erik G. Herbert

Erik Herbert (MSE) was listed among “Acta Journals’ Outstanding Reviewers in 2017,” published in Materials Today. Herbert is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He was recognized with other reviewers of Acta Materialia and Scripta Materialia.

Peer review is a cornerstone of science, and Elsevier and Acta Materialia, Inc. are dedicated to supporting and recognizing the journals’ reviewers. The Acta Journals are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2018 Outstanding Reviewer awards for excellence in reviewing in 2017, as selected by the Editors of Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia and Acta Biomaterialia. Each recipient receives a certificate and honorarium as thanks for their support of the titles, and for their help in ensuring the continued high quality of the journals.

 

S-TEM Analysis Funding for Pinaki Mukherjee

Pinaki Mukherjee
Pinaki Mukherjee

Pinaki Mukherjee (MSE/IMP) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $25,000 research and development contract from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The project is “S-TEM Analysis of Ni-Rich Positive Electrode Materials in Li-Ion Batteries.”

This is a five-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

S-TEM refers to the FEI 200kV Titan Themis Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope operated by the Applied Chemical and Morphological Laboratory. The instrument is housed in the ATDC Building.