Yoke Khin Yap’s research in high-brightness fluorophores earned him a place in Michigan Tech’s Research Magazine in the article “Commercialization“.
“We are expecting a huge impact to the field of flow cytometery…This will mean a lot for cancer and stem cell research.”
High-brightness fluorophores are dyes that fluoresce in different colors and degrees of brightness. They are used in machines called flow cytometers to detect diseased cells in blood.
Michigan Tech Magazine “Research” has released its 2017 issue detailing the recent discovery of Merelaniite by Dr. John Jaszczak and his team; with the article Meet the Minerals.
Merelaniite has a unique geometry made up of tiny whiskers of graphite-like spires extracted from the crooks of an albandanite crystal.
A
new research grant marks more than 30 years of continuous support of NSF to Professor Alex Kostinski.
In the scientific community, Kostinski is well-known as a “Scientist for All Seasons” due to his somewhat nomadic interests in diverse areas of physics including fluid mechanics, atmospheric science, radar meteorology, astronomy, optics and semiconductor physics. Specifically, the results of his research have broad impacts on cloud physics resulting in highly-cited publications in Nature, Phys Rev Letts, Geophys Res Letts. etc.
Kostinski was the recipient of the 2004 Michigan Tech Research Award and has helped the department establish a well-funded research group in atmospheric physics which includes Raymond Shaw, Will Cantrell, and Claudio Mazzoleni.
Physics student Teresa Wilson placed 2nd in the Oral Presentation Competition. Below is a complete list of winners.
The 2017 Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) was held on February 15-16 in the Memorial Union Ballroom. There were oral and poster presentation. The banquet was held on the evening of February 16
ABC 10’s Keweenaw Bureau Reporter Rick Allen reported on the colloquium. Read more and watch the video at ABC10 UP, by Rick Allen.
Complete list of winners:
The GRC is held each year by the Graduate Student Government at Michigan Tech.
Alexander Kostinski (Physics/EPSSI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $156,119 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.
This week’s Dean’s Teaching Showcase recipient is Raymond Shaw from the Department of Physics, winner of the 2016 Michigan Tech Research Award. Shaw was selected by College of Sciences and Arts Dean Bruce Seely precisely because his efforts in the classroom forcefully demonstrate the unity of teaching and research and signal no necessary tension exists between these two core faculty responsibilities.
Seely says “That past fall, the Physics Department honored Ray for the Research Award in the manner it had recognized several other research award recipients — assigning them to teach a large lecture class. In Ray’s case, this was PH 2200, which covered electricity and magnetism for 390 students. He discovered large classes requires ‘one part professor and two parts theater director.’
“Fortunately, he enjoyed significant assistance from a demo crew that prepared attention-grabbing experiments suitable for classroom use, a dedicated assistant who managed iClicker content and online homework systems, the office staff that printed and organized 400 exam booklets every few weeks, and the physics learning center coaches who assisted students with homework and exams.
“At the end of the term, student evaluations ranked the class at 4.36 on the seven dimensions reported on the evaluation form. This is a very good score for a large introductory class.
“Ray identified several keys to this success, including support from Physics faculty, John Jaszczak, Wil Slough, and Bob Weidman, with extensive experience in large-lecture sections, who shared lecture materials and staging tips, and provided occasional pep talks. In addition, help from the testing center and IT staff members further confirmed that such courses are taught by a team, not just a professor.
“When asked about his contributions to making this class work, Ray noted that because big classes can seem impersonal, he ‘took it as a challenge to let my students get to know me as a person.’
“He spiced up lectures with personal anecdotes related to the course, like his rapidly-flashing blinker (RC time constants) or electromagnetic phenomena in his research. Other times he used more random elements related to life in general. He once asked students to provide iClicker responses on possible ways of disciplining his son for breaking the TV. (Corporal punishment won, but he did not take that advice) His point — students respond when taught by faculty who are real people and who care about them. As one student commented, ‘Every class was enjoyable due to the somewhat ‘nerdy’ humor followed by funny references to his son (absolutely hysterical).’
“But perhaps as important was Ray’s enthusiasm for the class. Students clearly recognized his passion and excitement about physics. One student said, ‘Your enthusiasm for Physics is inspiring. It makes the lectures much more enjoyable.’ Another added, ‘Your enthusiasm was great. You were always passionate and in a good mood.’
“This might not seem like rocket science, but teaching seems to work better in environments where faculty exhibit their enthusiasm about their field and show how they care about students and their learning.”
Shaw will be recognized at an end-of-term luncheon with 11 other showcase members, and is now eligible for one of three new teaching awards to be given by the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning this summer recognizing introductory or large class teaching, innovative or outside the classroom teaching methods, or work in curriculum and assessment.
by Michael Meyer, Director, William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning
Left: Kevin Waters, Right: Shiva Bhandari
Congratulations to Kevin and Shiva for receiving the Fall 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. They have demonstrated their exceptional ability as teachers and commitment to their research. Next time you pass them in the hallway, congratulate them on their outstanding achievement!
Jesse Nordeng, Master Machinist, Physics
As one letter of support states “How many times have I walked into the Physics machine shop with a group of students to ask Jesse for assistance with an urgent challenge? I can’t count how many times and I positively and constructively Jesse responds. He inevitably is able to help us come up with a creative solution that is more practical, more cost effective, and more direct than we had in mind.” Jess is very collaborative in nature, he is very versatile, he routinely finds ingenious solutions to our problems efficiently and effectively and he often goes well beyond his expected role. He also excels in his role as safety liason in the department. His nominator also states “Often I will mention a project that I want to do in the near future and will pass Jesse in the hall and he will throw out 10 ideas that he was thinking about and how to make things better.”
Teresa Wilson’s monthly series “This Month in Astronomical History” has released its January publication “Remembering Bengt Strömgren”. Each month, as part of this new series from the Historical Astronomy Division of the AAS, an important discovery or memorable event in the history of astronomy will be highlighted. This month, we look at the scientific career and achievements of Bengt Strömgren in Stellar Astrophysics. You can read the compete article here or on aas.org.
Miguel Levy (Physics/MSE) and Dolendra Karki (Physics) authored a paper published this month in Scientific Reports — Nature, entitled “Nonreciprocal Transverse Photonic Spin and Magnetization-Induced Electromagnetic Spin-Orbit Coupling.”