Each year, the Academy of Sciences and Arts recognizes alumni who have brought distinction to themselves, the College of Sciences and Arts, their departments, and Michigan Technological University through their outstanding contributions to and leadership in their chosen professions and/or through distinguished public service.
Mark Rhodes, associate professor of geography in Tech’s social sciences department, is one of two scholars selected as a 2025-26 Fulbright US Scholar within the Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Program.
Rhodes’s research leverages Michigan Tech’s unique focus on industrial heritage and archaeology and environmental and energy policy to understand the policy process behind Europe’s industrial heritage. Tech offers the world’s only industrial heritage and archaeology PhD program in the world.
“So many communities around the world, including those in our own back yard and where I’m from in the Illinois Rust Belt, are struggling to navigate deindustrialization,” said Rhodes. “Europe seems to have gotten much more creative in how to not only continue sustainable industrial production but use those former facilities in innovative ways that preserve communities and economic livelihoods.”
Mark Rhodes is spending six months continuing his work on European heritage site policies, designation, and narratives.
Rhodes noted that Europe, known as one of the first regions in the world to begin a shift away from extractive and manufacturing economic activities, has also been a global leader in preserving, interpreting, and managing difficult cultural and economic transitions. Europe has 48 industrial World Heritage Sites, as designated by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In addition, the European Route of Industrial Heritage connects more than 2,400 individual sites. Rhodes’s work explores how EU policy shapes the relationships and laws impacting site designation and narrative, along with understanding how the two are interconnected. His research—spanning the EU—combines in-depth interviews, archival work, and institutional analysis to better understand and inform industrial heritage best practices.
He’ll spend six months in Halle, Germany, hosted by Martin Luther University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Area Studies and Institute of Geosciences and Geography. The Fulbright-Schuman Program, is administered by the Fulbright Commission in Belgium, is jointly financed by the US Department of State and the European Union’s (EU) European Commission. The fellowship aims to strengthen international relations between the US and EU by supporting policymakers and scholars focused on US-EU relations, EU Policy, or EU institutions.
Michigan Tech chemistry alumna Amiee (Larchar) Modic ’84 earned the 2025 James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching for her authenticity, enthusiasm, and ability to inspire.
Nyasha Milanzi wasn’t entirely surprised to win the Rising Black Scientists Award. She had a feeling. And she’d worked hard on her application.
“This is probably coincidental, but I actually wrote in my diary that I was going to win the prize after I submitted it,” said the graduate research assistant, who is slated to receive her master’s degree in sustainable communities this year. “I felt my essay was well written and thought I was going to win the prize, so I wrote it down.”
Sound design student Nate Lyons ’25 brought home a Bronze Award in the Audio Engineering Society (AES) International Student Recording Competition. Lyons won the award in the Sound for Visual Media category for his sound design audio replacement of a video game.
“I got the idea from one of my other classes where I was learning how to program sounds for video games. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to practice that skill with the programs that we use for video game sound design,” said Lyons.
Students have an opportunity to attend and present at the international AES convention in New York City as part of VPA career development and professional presentation travel and study away courses. This is the second year in a row sound design and audio production and technology students from Michigan Tech’s VPA have received awards in the prestigious international competition.