An article co-authored by Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and Michigan Tech alumna Amberley Haselhuhn along with Lucas Osborne titled “The Case for Weaker Patents” was published by the St. John’s Law Review.
Quincy smelting works was selected for a 2016 Historical Landmark Award from ASM International the world’s largest association of metals-centric materials engineers and scientists.
The citation reads “The Quincy Smelting Works is uniquely capable of interpreting the final stage of copper production for one of the few native copper ore mining regions on earth.”
The nomination letter was submitted by faculty from Michigan Tech Departments of Social Sciences and Materials Science and Engineering.
Outstanding alumni and friends will be recognized at the Alumni Reunion Awards Dinner on August 5, 2016. Among those with degrees related to materials science and engineering or metallurgy are:
Outstanding Young Alumni Awards
Benjamin Almquist ’04 Materials Science and Engineering, London, England
Presented to alumni under the age of 35 who have distinguished themselves in their careers. The award recognizes the achievement of a position or some distinction noteworthy for one so recently graduated.
Almquist examines life at nano-scale, but thinks big. Currently a Lecturer at Imperial College in London where he leads his own research team. At Michigan Tech the award-winning researcher developed and refined an admirable life philosophy: “Leave the world a better place than when you arrived and find a way to enjoy making it happen.”
After earning a PhD from Standford, Almquist eventually moved on to MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies where he was awarded an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship. “My research at MIT focused on new self-assembled biomaterials for treating non-healing diabetic foot ulcers, one of the most devastating complications of diabetes that actually carry a lower 5-year survival rate than breast and prostate cancer,” he explains.
Outstanding Service Award
Joshua ’03 and Jana Fogarty ’05 Materials Science and Engineering, Plymouth, Wisconsin
Presented to alumni and friends making significant contributions to the success of the Association and/or the University.
The Fogarty’s love story is Pure Michigan Tech. They met during Resident Assistant orientation in McNair Hall. In addition to the same college major, materials science, they found common ground in their passion for the outdoors. Josh graduated in spring 2003 and proposed to Jana at the 2004 Winter Carnival All Nighter.
In Winter 2007, they decided it would be fun to gather a few Michigan Tech alumni together for broomball, a tradition that continues. By 2013 more than 100 Michigan Tech Huskies and friends were arriving from seven states to enjoy broomball, chili and each other’s company.
Distinguished Alumni Award
William Bernard, Jr. ’69 Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Perrysburg, Ohio
This award recognizes alumni who have made outstanding contributions both in their careers and to Michigan Tech over a number of years.
Bernard is tenacity personified. A local boy without resources to afford schooling and living expenses elsewhere, he stayed close to home and worked nearly 40 hours a week while completing his studies. He’s been with the same company for more than 40 years, ascending to sole owner and CEO of Surface Combustions, Inc in 1997.
His first job after graduation was field engineer in the Surface Combustion division of Midland and he progressed into engineering design, contract engineering, marketing, chief engineer and business unit manager roles.
When his division was threatened with closure, Bernard spearheaded a successful buyout, creating Surface Combustion, Inc. and in 1997 became the sole owner.
The 2000 Michigan Tech Academy of Material Science and Engineering Inductee and 2011 ASM International Fellow has earned numerous honors, including the 2009 Center for Heat Treating Excellence Distinguished Service Award and the 2013 ASM International Distinguished Life Membership Award.
Pearce (MSE/ECE) authored an article “What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar?” in the Harvard Business Review.
In Print
Joshua Pearce’s (MSE/ECE) work on replacing coal work with solar was reprinted in Industry Week as well as being covered widely in the media including Politico and in articles covering both the US (One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every US Miner to Work in the Solar Industry– Greentech Media) as well as the Australian coal industries: What to do with coal workers? Retrain them for solar, says study.
In the News
Joshua Pearce’s (MSE/ECE) research on solar employment has been covered widely including by MIT Technology Review, Epoch Times, Indiana Public Radio, Grist, Clean Technica and Vox in an article: New study: it would be cheap to retrain coal workers for solar jobs
The story has also been picked up in Europe:
- Het kost niks om mijnwerkers om te scholen tot installateurs van zonnepanelen – Groene Courant (Dutch)
- Mindenkinek megérné, ha átképzés után napelemekkel dolgoznának az amerikai szénipari munkások. Állásaik már amúgy sem biztosak. – Hirado — which is the main news program of MTVA, the Hungarian public broadcaster.
Solar Energy Is Powering New Careers And It Could Be Absorbing Coal Sector Job Losses
“The coal industry is on a downward slope from which it won’t get off,” Pearce, who teaches electrical engineering, told this reporter. “There is too much competition from not just natural gas but also renewables, and especially solar.”
Read more at Forbes, by Ken Silverstein.
In the News
Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) was quoted on energy industry employment in “One Year of a Coal CEO’s Salary Could Transition U.S. Coal Miners to Work in Solar Industry” in EcoWatch and also in “US solar industry hailed as ‘light at end of tunnel’ for jobless coal miners” in Mining.
In the News
Research by Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) was covered by the U.S. Department of State’s Share America.
In Print
André Laplume (SBE) and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) co-authored the article “Global value chains from a 3D printing perspective,” which was published in the Journal of International Business Studies.
DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2015.47
In the News
3D Print ran a story on 3-D printing research co-authored by Michigan Tech alumni Amberlee Haselhuhn (MSE) and Bas Wijnen (MSE), undergraduate student Michael Buhr (ME), with faculty Paul Sanders (MSE) and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE). The story is titled “Aluminum Alloys: Researchers Explore the Microstructure-Property Relationship in Metal 3D Printing.”
In Print
The article “Structure-Property Relationships of Common Aluminum Weld Alloys Utilized as Feedstock for GMAW-based 3-D Metal Printing” was co-authored by Michigan Tech alumni Amberlee Haselhuhn (MSE) and Bas Wijnen (MSE), undergraduate student Michael Buhr (ME), with faculty Paul Sanders (MSE) and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE). The article was published in Materials Science and Engineering: A.
Joshua Pearce’s (MSE/ECE) work on alternative foods during global catastrophes was covered in Science.
Here’s how the world could end—and what we can do about it
In the end, no amount of research can do much to prevent or mitigate supervolcanoes, or other freak events such as nearby supernova explosions and cosmic blasts of gamma rays. Our only hope of surviving them is a fallback plan. And the bottom line in that plan is food.
At least two scientists have already sketched out a blueprint. In their 2015 book Feeding Everyone No Matter What, David Denkenberger and Joshua Pearce propose several ways to feed billions of people without the help of the sun.
Read more at Science, by Julia Rosen.
In Print
Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) co-authored an article in “Solutions” with Seth Baum and David Denkenberger of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute titled “Alternative Foods as a Solution to Global Food Supply Catastrophes.”
The Times of London’s Higher Education Section ran an article about a paper by Joshua Pearce (MSE) published in the journal Tertiary Education and Management, scoring university vice presidents for research and other senior university executives on their own research productivity.
Research scores of US top brass fail to shine
Many university leaders would struggle to get even a junior academic job in their own institution if they were judged on their research record alone, a study has claimed.
The paper, titled “Are you overpaying your academic executive team? A method for detecting unmerited academic executive compensation”, was written by Joshua Pearce, associate professor in material science and engineering at Michigan Technological University, who compared the h-index scores of vice-presidents for research at America’s 10 largest universities against their remuneration.
Paul Sanders (MSE/IMP) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $170,042 research and development grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research.
Erik Herbert (MSE) and Stephen Hackney (MSE) are Co-PIs on the project “High Temperature Plasticity of Microalloyed Aluminum: Influence of Rapid Solidification and Wrought Processing on Precipitation Strengthening and Deformation Mechanisms.”
This is the first year of a potential three-year project totaling $502,467.
Approximately 25 science teachers from across the state will be on the Michigan Tech campus today (June 20, 2016) to June 24 to participate in the ASM Foundation’s Materials Camp for Teachers. The Materials Science and Engineering Department at Tech will host the event on ASM’s behalf. ASM Teachers Camps are idea-generating workshops that show educators new ways to make teaching math and core science principles more exciting and accessible to students and provides a way to show students how science links to careers in engineering. ASM has found that teachers are effective mentors and counselors for students with interests in STEM-based careers.
Represented will be science teachers of all K-12 grades representing subjects including chemistry, physics, earth science, biology, environmental sciences and math. The curriculum includes hands-on modules in topics such as materials chemistry and physics, the science of metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites, materials processing strategies and applications of materials.
The ASM Foundation provides the instructors, curriculum and supplies for the camp and subsidizes most of the expenses for the teachers’ attendance, travel and lodging. Teachers are eligible to earn graduate level credits. The Michigan Tech camp is one of 43 workshops that are offered nationally each summer and one of nine residential experiences.
A new study focused on solar-hybrid energy systems using cogeneration, photovoltaics and battery technology and its potential impact in the Upper Peninsula was picked up by several media outlets including Solar Thermal Magazine, Phys.org and e! Science News.
The research was conducted by Abhilash Katamneni (CS), Richelle Winkler (SS), Joshua Pearce (ECE/MSE) and Lucia Gauchia (ECE/ME).
Net metering changes could drive people off grid, Michigan researchers say
“The results imply that economic circumstances could spur a positive feedback loop whereby grid electricity prices continue to rise and increasing numbers of customers choose alternatives,” the report says.
Read more at Midwest Energy News, by Andy Balaskovitz.
Research by Abhi Katamneni (CS), Richelle Winkler (SS), Joshua Pearce (MSE, ECE), and Lucia Gauchia (MEEM, ECE) about the economic feasibility of going off grid in the Upper Peninsula continues to get media coverage. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) News put the study’s Michigan case study into a national power grid context. See the article here.
Smart Grid News also covered the story.
In Print
Michigan Tech alumni Edward Louie and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) co-authored “Retraining Investment for U.S. Transition from Coal to Solar Photovoltaic Employment,” published in Energy Economics.
doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2016.05.016
In the News
Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) was quoted in several articles in the latest Consumer Reports about purchasing solar photovoltaic systems including “Shedding Light on Solar Power” and “The Real Cost of Leasing vs. Buying Solar Panels.” He was also quoted in other news agencies on solar power issues including Yahoo News.