College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog

While the College of Sciences and Arts is approaching 50 years, several departments here have a longer history. One is Chemistry, which only came into the college in the late 1990s — before that it was joined to the Chemical Engineering unit. It is now an integral part of the college and an number of good things are happening there.

First, several new faculty who have joined the unit in the past 8 years are making their mark. Xaiohu Xia, who arrived in 2014, recently received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award to advance his studies of bimetallic nanostructures for medical diagnostic purposes. And earlier in the fall Loredana Valenzano, who came here in 2012, attended a workshop in India during which she lectured about modeling and fundamentals of electronic structure theory.  As the chair of physics noted, “she also charmed students in her own Italian way!”

Second, a few days ago word reached me that Cary Chabalowski, chair of chemistry, was recognized as the coauthor on one of 25 most cited papers in the  Journal of Physical Chemistry — “Ab-Initio Calculation of Vibrational Absorption and Circular-Dichroism Spectra Using Density-Functional Force-Fields”  that appeared in 1994, volume, 98 (45), 11623-11627. (See http://axial.acs.org/2016/12/15/physical-chemistry-most-cited/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email0117&utm_campaign=Axial) Cary explained that he was neither the lead nor the corresponding author, but that he  “spent several years doing the foundational research along with my colleague and dear friend, Dr. Philip Stephens (lead author & since deceased), at USC.”  Cary added, “working with Philip gave me some of my most enjoyable years as a scientist.”  Cary’s career in administration took him away from research for many years, but his arrival here 3 years ago was supposed to allow him to get back to it.  He’s been tied up in too many things administrative, but we’ll be trying to find ways to allow him back into research.  This news from the American Chemical Society shows the quality of work that explains why we asked Cary to chair the department. Congratulations, Cary!  He’s working to help other faculty match his record of accomplishment.  The potential is certainly there!

February 16, 2017

I’ve recently returned from a trip to India – my 6^th in the past eight years.  The purpose of the trips has been to develop connections between faculty and universities there and at Michigan Tech.

The primary connections so far have centered on computer science – a natural area of common interest given the strong information technology foundation there – and also physics.  The latter orientation grows from the fact that Ravi Pandey, chair of Tech’s physics department, is from India and has worked hard to facilitate my visits.

This time I attended a conference on the Interface of Physical, Chemical and Biological; Sciences at Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (University) in Sagar (Ravi’s hometown), and then visited the Noble College in Sagar, AISECT University in Bhopal, IIT Bombay in Mumbai, and the National Institute of Technology in Calicut (NITC).

At each place, I was warmly received, as has been true during each stop in my earlier visits.  Normally I deliver a seminar on a topic appropriate to the university; typically I have talked about the societal implications of nanoscale science and engineering. This subject matches the world-wide interest in nanotechnology, but often the audience hears for the first time the perspective of a historian of technology on this topic. The resulting discussions have been useful and interesting – and provide a springboard to examine ways in which Tech’s faculty and research activities might align with faculty and students at the universities in India. There are many other areas where the research interests of faculty in India and the U.S overlap, and developing collaborative arrangements built from that common interest are the primary target of these visits. This trip, Michigan Tech and NITC signed an agreement to strengthen shared research programs in atmospheric science and applied physics. Similar linkages seem very likely to emerge from the visits to AISECT and IIT Bombay as well.

Also on this trip I had two opportunities to address middle and high school students.  The Noble Public School in Deori (Sagar District in Madhya Pradesh) serves a rural community that until five years before had no school.  Most of the 1,000 students currently enrolled come from families in which no other person had ever attended school. As I walked through a number of classes, I found students who were amazingly confident, clearly hard-working, and possessing strong English language skills (they begin English in the first grade). The dedicated teachers (45 of them) were so proud of the students — as they should have been! The students had prepared a science fair for me, as well as crafts exhibit. And after a short talk from me, they asked questions for an hour about all kinds of topics. It was a wonderful experience, as was the second school visit, this time to the Government Girls High School in Balussery in Kerala State. I met with a group of 10^th graders from a gifted and talented program – and they certainly lived up to that billing! Self-assured and confident, these young women asked me about the differences between India and the U.S., about inequality, democracy and technology, and about the differences and similarities between our two countries. I was honored to be the first American to visit them, and urged them to never let anyone suggest they could not do something simply because they were women. Impressive!

Given these two snap shots, I have to think that the future of India will be in good hands!   Students like these are the reason I keep returning to India to build bridges from there to Michigan Tech.

Bruce Seely
January 26, 2017

I write with new year’s greetings from Houghton as we are about to embark upon another year. The campus is quiet this week before the students flock back to Houghton, although preparation for spring semester is underway everywhere.

Two bits of news caught my eye this week; signals of the excellent work that Tech students and faculty produce. The first concerns an alumna of the Humanities Department, Roxane Gay. She has become an award winning author since graduating, and also contributes regularly to the New York Times opinion page. Recently, Roxane published a new collection of short stories with the provocative title “Difficult Women.” You can read her interview with National Public Radio. You’ll find that her time at Michigan Tech is a clear influence on her continued writing efforts.

The second new item concerns a faculty member in Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Myunghoon Jeon (Philart to everyone here). He’s deeply engaged in studies at the intersection of cognitive psychology and computer science, with special attention to sound and human responses. His Mind Music Machine Lab is the subject of an article in the January/February issue of “Interactions,” a leading journal in the area of human-computer interaction.

I remain deeply impressed by the accomplishments of our students and faculty and am sure you will share my feelings. What a great way to start out the new year! Best wishes, everyone!

01/6/2017

In September 2016, the College of Sciences and Arts inducted three new distinguished alumni into the Academy of Sciences and Arts.  Academy members must meet two primary criteria. They must have graduated from a program of the College or one of its predecessors and they must have brought distinction to themselves, their academic department, the College of Sciences and Arts, and Michigan Technological University through participation, commitment, and outstanding leadership in their profession and through public service.  The Academy, established in 1995, now numbers 61 members.  These exemplary individuals include distinguished academics, leaders of industry, members of the National Academy of Sciences, a Hollywood executive, and the University’s sole Nobel Prize winner, Melvin Calvin (1964).

The first inductee in 2016 was Robert W. Lane, who enrolled in Tech’s chemistry program (then part of the chemical engineering department) in 1968. After taking almost every chemistry course offered, he graduated with high honors in chemistry in 1972.  Bob moved on to MIT, earning his PhD in Chemistry in 1976, exploring macromolecules and simple models of the redox centers in iron-sulfur electron transport proteins. A postdoc at IBM’s Central Research Lab in San Jose followed before Bob joined the Shepherd Chemical Company as a research chemist in 1977.  Promoted to the position of Technical Director in 1979, he combined managerial and research activities and both developed and oversaw the introduction of many new products that keyed the company’s growth. By 1988, he was General Manager of Shepherd Color Company and went on to become President and CEO. Bob’s technical background was essential in helping move the “color business” from art to science, and the Shepherd Color Company grew to be one of the world’s largest manufacturers of complex inorganic pigments. From 2007 until 2011, Bob served simultaneously as the president of the Shepherd Chemical Company and the Shepherd Color Company but in 2011 returned exclusively to the Shepherd Chemical Company as its President and Operations Manager until his retirement in 2013.  He continues to serve on the board of directors of both companies.

The second inductee in 2016 was Otha E. Thornton, Jr.  Otha came to Michigan Tech as a Captain in the U.S. Army to join and then lead the Army ROTC unit in 1999. Although he initially asked the Army to send him anywhere else (hoping to avoid the winter weather), Otha took full advantage of his time at Tech by enrolling in the Humanities Department’s graduate program in Rhetoric and Technical Communication.  He received his MS in 2001, but a further indicator of his contribution to Tech came in 2009, when he received  an honorary doctorate in 2009. All the while, Otha remained in the Army, completing his service at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel assigned to the White House Communications Agency and to United States Forces-Iraq in Baghdad, where he earned the Bronze Star for exceptional performance in combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom 2009-2010. Now retired from the United States Army, Otha is a committed volunteer for numerous agencies related to communities and schools throughout the country and the world. Most significantly, he is the Immediate Past National President of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and member of the organization’s Board of Directors.  He also has worked closely with state-level PTA’s in Georgia and Maryland. Other educational activities have included service on an Advisory Group for Georgia’s Partnership for Excellence in Education; similarly, he served on the Maryland Education Task Force. In addition, as a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association, he has devoted more than 25 years to that organization. Otha also is principal consultant and owner of the Thornton Consulting Group, and also serves as a senior operations analyst with General Dynamics in Fort Stewart, Georgia.

The third inductee, Sarah E. Cowie, is recognized as a Distinguished Young Alumna, a category reserved for Tech graduates who have begun to bring distinction upon themselves and to their department and the university at early stages of their careers.  Sarah graduated in 1996 with a MS in Industrial Archaeology from the Department of Social Sciences. She worked initially as a professional archaeologist in cultural resource management before pursuing graduate work and earning her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2008.  Currently Sarah is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Nevada-Reno, where she specializes in industrial and historical-period archaeology of the American West.  Her research and teaching interests fall on the archaeology of working communities such as mining towns, social theories of power relations, and collaborative archaeology with American Indian communities.  Her first book, entitled The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism, is based on research conducted at Michigan Tech on the company town of Fayette, Michigan.  Other projects have included historic Creek Indian farmsteads, heritage management practices in the US, and the industrial archaeology of mines and grist mills. Sarah is now collaborating with American Indian stakeholders in publishing an edited book on the archaeology and heritage of the Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nevada. This record has earned Sarah recognition among her peers, including the early career award in 2013 from the Society for Historical Archaeology, the world’s largest organization dedicated to the archaeology of the modern world. Even more significant came in early 2016, when Sarah received a Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which the White House describes as the “highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.” There are few more prestigious awards for faculty to receive.   Indeed, in Michigan Tech’s history, a total of four faculty have earned this distinction! Clearly, Sarah is on the road to academic success and leadership!

In their remarks, all three Academy inductees for 2016 emphasized how the courses they took and the faculty and students they interacted with at Michigan Tech prepared them wonderfully for their careers. These new members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts clearly are bringing distinction to the college and their programs, and inspiring us to continue to do our best.

Bruce Seely

12/16/2016