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.