The Energy News Network’s 40 Under 40 awards program highlights emerging leaders and their work in the United States’ transition to a clean energy economy. Read More…
Marie Richards (PhD student, IHA) has been awarded one of eleven Tribal Food Systems Graduate Fellowships from the Intertribal Agricultural Council and the Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability. This competitive program provides direct financial support and mentorship for graduate research during the 2020/21 academic year, including mentorship from outside MTU, monthly cohort sessions, and dissemination of project results. The experience and networks fellows will gain through participating in this inaugural Indian Country food systems cohort will expand their network and exposure to scholars multifold. IAC is the nation’s largest and longest standing Native American agriculture and natural resources organization. IAC’s efforts over the past 30 years have supported programming and policy work impacting hundreds of Tribal communities and thousands of individual Tribal producers across the country. INFAS is a national network of food systems academics and institutions. This cohort consists of members from rural communities in South Dakota, to urban populations in California; from the islands of Hawaii, to the vast landscapes of Alaska. This inaugural fellowship year is guaranteed to impact food and agriculture scholarship nationally and beyond!
Alexis Pascaris, Environmental and Energy Policy MS student, and and Joshua Pearce recently published U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emission Bottlenecks: Prioritization of Targets for Climate Liability in the journal Energies.
Kathleen Brosemer, EEP Ph.D. student, Chelsea Schelly (SS), Val Gagnon (GLRC), and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE), with colleagues from Michigan State — Kristin L. Arola, Douglas Bessette, and Laura Schmitt Olabisi —published “The energy crises revealed by COVID: Intersections of Indigeneity, inequity, and health” in Energy Research and Social Sciences.
Adewale Adesanya (EEP Ph.D. candidate), Roman Sidortsov, Chelsea Schelly have published “Act locally, transition globally: Grassroots resilience, local politics, and five municipalities in the United States with 100% renewable electricity” in Energy Research & Social Science.
On Friday, May 1st the Department of Social Sciences held a virtual commencement celebration honoring its 2019-20 graduates.
“We are marking an important milestone in the lives of our graduates. Graduates, you are ending one phase of your formal education and beginning a new phase of your lives.”
Speakers
- President Richard Koubek
- Dean David Hemmer
- Dr. Mayra Sanchez Morgan
- Ph.D. Candidate Will Lytle
- Professor Emerita Dr. Carol A. Maclennan
Professor Mark Rhodes provided a musical interlude “Theme from Star Trek Voyager” on trumpet and recent anthropology graduate, Charles Fugate read the poem “In April” by Rainer Maria Rilke. Undergraduate awards were presented and the names of our graduates were read. The musical closing was provided by the Pep Band and Blizzard.
Congratulations to all. We wish you continued success.
“You persevered, and along the way you made a lasting imprint on our campus community.”

Social Sciences Graduates 2019-2020
Doctor of Philsophy
Erin Burkett, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Brent J. Burns, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Mayra Sanchez Morgan, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Andrew Mueller, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, PhD
Master of Science
Karuna Rana, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Sun Van Nguyen, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Michael Levi Ryan, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Azat Turegeldin, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Robert John Zupko, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Tyler D. Allen, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS
Brendan J. Doucet, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS
Josef Thomas Iwanicki, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS
Bachelor of Science
Charles R. Fugate, BS Anthropology
Bridget E. Quesnell, BS Anthropology
Trenton X. Woodcox, BS Social Sciences -Law and Society
Jessica M. Berryman, BS Social Sciences -Law and Society
Catherine A. Carra, BS Social Sciences -Education
Jason D. Sutherland, BS Social Sciences-Education
Undergraduate Awards
Outstanding Senior Award
Jessica Berryman and Charles Fugate
Undergraduate Research Awards
Alannah M Woodring and Lynette S Webber
Community-Based Research Prize
Angela Gutierrez and Timothy Stone
Departmental Scholar 2020
Timothy Stone
