Author: College of Engineering

Sue Hill is the Digital Content Manager for the College of Engineering.

Onder Recognized as Top Woman Professor

Nilufer Onder
Nilufer Onder

Associate Professor Nilufer Onder (CS) was included in the Top Women Professors at Affordable Colleges by Affordable Colleges Online, a website devoted to helping prospective students and their families find good colleges at a reasonable cost.

The top professors lists highlights post-secondary educators at affordable colleges who have been honored for excellence in the classroom, on campus and/or in the community. Onder was recently awarded Michigan Tech’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

“Our goal with the top professors project is to recognize today’s truly stand-out educators and mentors,” said Dan Schuessler, founder of Affordable Colleges Online. “We focused on professors at colleges with tuition rates below $20,000 per year to show that a quality education from top professors can be affordable.”

From Tech Today.

Charlesworth Honored with Faculty Distinguished Service Award

Paul Charlesworth
Paul Charlesworth

Paul Charlesworth, associate professor of chemistry, has received the Faculty Distinguished Service award for the 2012-13 academic year.

In the nominations, Charlesworth was cited for spending “countless hours, outside of regular work duties in service to the campus community and beyond, by giving generously of his time, talents and expertise to support the growth and development of individuals and campus organizations. His work goes beyond campus in his outreach and work with community students and organizations.”

Charlesworth is also an undergraduate advisor and holds an adjunct associate professor position with the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, a reflection of his research interest in education.

Read more at Tech Today.

College of Sciences and Arts Names Three New Department Chairs

Chandrashekhar Joshi
Chandrashekhar Joshi

Bruce Seely, dean of Michigan Tech’s College of Sciences and Arts, has announced appointment of three new department chairs. Cary Chabalowski will join the Department of Chemistry as chair and professor of practice as of July 15. On July 1, Anne Beffel will assume chairmanship of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPS), and Chandrashekhar Joshi will become chair of the Department of Biological Sciences.

All three new department chairs, Seely added, have had distinguished careers that demonstrate academic and administrative accomplishments and a commitment to education that promises success in their new roles. “I am deeply gratified at their willingness to take on one of the hardest roles in academic administration. But I am even more excited about the chance to work closely with these three energetic and enthusiastic new chairs,” the dean said. “I ask the campus community to help them feel welcome as they arrive in Houghton over the next month.”

Read more at Tech Today.

Tech Graduation and Officer Commissioning

Tech Graduation 2013Thousands of people packed the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena Saturday morning to hear how a dish washer became a strategist for a $104 billion technology company and watch almost 1,000 Michigan Technological University students become alumni.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Stephen Anderson.

Service saluted from beginning to end Saturday

Nineteen Air Force and Army ROTC cadets were commissioned as second lieutenants.

Read more at the Mining Gazette.

Three Humanities Scholars are Retiring

Elizabeth Flynn
Elizabeth Flynn

Three senior scholars in composition studies are retiring from the humanities department this year: Elizabeth Flynn, professor of reading and composition; Marilyn Cooper, professor of humanities; and Nancy Grimm, professor of Humanities. Grimm retired in December 2012, while Flynn and Cooper will retire in May 2013. All three contributed in major ways to the development and success of the graduate program in rhetoric and technical communication, which has graduated 88 doctoral and 139 master’s students to date.

To read more: http://blogs.mtu.edu/humanities/2013/03/07/humanities-department-retirements/

From Tech Today.

Marilyn Cooper
Marilyn Cooper
Nancy Grimm
Nancy Grimm

19th Annual Student Leadership Awards

Student Leadership Awards 2013Congratulations to the following students, student organizations, and advisors for inspiring community, scholarship, possibilities, accountability and tenacity within Michigan Tech as well as our community.

Here are your 2013 Student Leadership Award recipients within the College of Sciences and Arts:

Undergraduate Students:

Melanie Hoffman, President’s Award for Leadership (Exercise Science)
Michael Adler, Provost Award for Scholarship (Physics)
Claire Meneguzzo, Vice President’s Award for Service (Clinical Lab Science)

Graduate Student:

Kevin Cassell, Exceptional Leadership in Student Governance (Rhetoric & Tech Communication)

Read more at Tech Today.

Research Excellence Fund Awards

ResearchThe vice president for research is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Research Excellence Fund Awards, and would like to thank all of the review committee members for participating in this important internal award process. Recipients in the College of Sciences and Arts include:

Infrastructure Enhancement Grants
Will Cantrell, EPSSI/Physics
Michael Gretz, Bio Sci

Scholarship and Creativity Grants
Ramon Fonkoue, HU
Kalen Larson, VPA
Emma Norman, SS
Steven Walton, SS

Mentoring Grants
Stefka Hristova, HU
Rebecca Schmitz, Math

Research Seed Grants
John Durocher, KIP
Adam Wellstead, SS

Technology Commercialization Grants
Lanrong Bi, Chem

Creative Canvas Course Contest (C-4) Results

Creative Canvas CourseThe Center for Teaching and Learning’s first Creative Canvas Course Contest (C-4) saw students nominate more than 100 different courses from almost every department. In the College of Sciences and Arts, the creative faculty recognized were:

Karin Schlenker (HU3280), Lecturer, Humanities
Richelle Winkler (SS3315), Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
Brigitte Zielinksi (BL2920) Instructor, Biological Sciences
Claire Zuraw (ESL0330), Instructor, ESL

View their video course tours.

From Tech Today.

Michigan Space Grant 2013

MSGCMichigan Tech faculty, staff members, and students received awards tallying $ 96,635 in funding through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Undergraduate students in the College of Sciences and Arts receiving $2,500 research fellowships include:

  • Ashima Chhabra (Chem): “Measuring surface roughness of mineral dust for comparison to Martian dust”
  • Nathanael Green (Chem): “A sequencing technology capable of monitoring variations of DNA methylation induced by travel in space”

Graduate student Colin Gurganus in Physics is receiving a $5,000 fellowship for his project entitled “Examining the Role of Surface Roughness on Atmospheric Nucleation Processes.”

Chemistry faculty member Loredana Valenzano is receiving a $4-5,000 seed grant for “Revealing the Performance Barrier: First Principles Prediction of the Physical-Chemical Properties of New Co-Crystals for Rocket Propulsion.”

Read more at Tech Today.