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1. Board of Control Honors Retiring Members |
by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations
At its regular meeting on Friday, Dec. 10, the Board of Control recognized two of its members, Ruth Reck and Russell Gronevelt, for their years of service. Their terms on the Board expire Dec. 31.
"Ruth and Russ have both given generously of their time and effort on behalf of Michigan Tech," said President Glenn Mroz. "Both have served as chair of the Board, as well as members of the Finance and Audit Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee. Ruth served for 20 years, and Russ served for seven. We can't thank them enough for their contributions to the University."
At the meeting, the Board was informed about Saturday's Midyear Commencement, when 292 undergraduates and 109 graduate students received degrees.
The Board was told that Perry Wilson Jr., one of the graduates, sang the national anthem. Wilson, who received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, sings with Praise in Effect, a campus gospel choir. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Wilson is from Birmingham, Ala. He has accepted a management training position with CSX, a railroad corporation.
The Board also learned that Congressman Bart Stupak was the commencement speaker and received an Honorary Doctorate in Environmental and Energy Policy. Stupak is retiring in January 2011 after 18 years of service as US Representative from Michigan's 1st Congressional District, which includes the Upper Peninsula.
In other business, the Board
* learned that eight professors working in the University's Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Institute have received a $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation to build a special chamber to study clouds and aerosol particles in a controlled environment. The cloud chamber will be in the Great Lakes Research Center, now under construction on the waterfront.
* appointed Ezra Bar-Ziv as a professor with tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.
* granted professor emeritus rank to two retiring faculty members: Anand Kulkarni of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Ted Lockhart from the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
* heard that a Michigan Tech professor, two alumni and an external advisory board member authored a paper that placed tops in the world at the recent Army Science Conference. The Siple Award is the highest honor the Army bestows for research. For the full story see Army award .
* praised President Mroz after a periodic performance review, saying that he received an "excellent performance evaluation, including particularly high marks for leadership and team-building." |
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2. New Residence Hall Celebrates Opening |
by Danny Messinger, student writer
The Michigan Tech campus community officially celebrated the opening of its new residential building, Hillside Place, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony held Friday, Dec. 10.
Attendees heard remarks made by President Glenn Mroz; Marty Richardson, chair, Board of Control; and Erik Stolberg, graduate student in the School of Business and Economics.
"This is the first new residence to be built on Michigan Tech's campus since 1968," said Mroz. "It was built to meet the student demand for on-campus housing. Students who live on campus have higher grades, more University involvement, and better retention, so this project is an extremely important step."
In attendance at the ceremony were members of the Board of Control; the project's principal architect, project manager, and project superintendent; and founding residents of the new building.
"As board members, we make a lot of decisions over the course of our terms," said Richardson. "We were very enthusiastic about this decision. To be here to see it completed takes the project full circle for us."
Richardson and Mroz agree that Hillside Place fills an important niche in campus housing. Providing an upscale on-campus housing option, the building's opening has been met with many positive student reviews.
"This residence provides the right kind of learning environment for Tech students," said Richardson. |
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3. An Element of Nobel-ity: Michigan Tech's Carbon Connection |
by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
Who ever would have guessed that the business end of Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils would someday be the next big thing?
John Jaszczak, perhaps. He was not all that surprised that the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was presented to two Russian-born scientists who created atom-thin sheets of carbon, called graphene, made from graphite.
Jaszczak, a professor of physics and adjunct curator of the Seaman Mineral Museum, is a longtime fan of the mineral and was familiar with the prizewinning work. In fact, he supplied the researchers, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester, with graphite crystals to use in their experiments. And, he appears as a coauthor on one of their papers, "Giant Intrinsic Carrier Mobilities in Graphene and Its Bilayer," published in Physical Review Letters.
Jaszczak's graphite is not your garden-variety pencil lead. For about ten years, he has been supplying scientists with rare forms of the mineral, especially high-quality single crystals, isolated from rocks from select localities ranging from New York and California to Tanzania.
Because of its potentially more-perfect crystalline structure compared to synthetic graphite, Geim and Novoselov likely thought that Jaszczak's natural graphite might help them produce even better quality graphene. Just one atom thick, it is the world's thinnest and strongest nanomaterial, almost transparent and able to conduct electricity and heat.
"When they make graphene from most graphite, the resulting graphene flakes are very small, typically only a few microns across," said Jaszczak. "Using our graphite crystals, which are well-ordered on a scale from 500 microns to several millimeters across, scientists hope to be able to obtain graphene that is not only of larger dimensions but of a higher degree of order. Dr. Geim was hopeful that the higher degree of order would lead to even more remarkable electronic properties for resulting graphene."
Jaszczak gave up the graphite sales business in 2008, handing it over to the student-run Nanotech Innovations Enterprise for one of their projects. Since then, the team has established Naturally Graphite, "supplying high-quality, natural graphite crystals for research and education" from their website, graphitecrystals.com . Among their customers are NIST, the Sandia and Brookhaven national labs, Georgia Tech and MIT, which use the crystals for graphene research as well as substrates for scanning tunneling microscopy. With their profits, the students support the work of the Enterprise, including educational programs for high school students and teachers.
No Michigan Tech graphite was used in the making of the Nobel Prize-winning graphene, Jaszczak sighs. Nevertheless, students in the Nanotechnology Enterprise are more than satisfied with their business outcomes.
"We are supplying scientists with materials that otherwise would be unavailable," said Jaszczak. "We also enjoy demonstrating our scanning tunneling microscope during numerous outreach events. We use it to show the atomic-scale network of carbon atoms on a graphite crystal and measure the carbon-carbon bond distance. The kids think it's amazing. So do I!"
To view pictures of the graphic, see pictures . |
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4. HuskyPAW: Feel Better, Be Wiser |
submitted by Benefits
Looking to get happier, healthier and more productive?
Take advantage of HuskyPAW, a program offered by the TechCommunity Wellness Committee, that encourages employees to live a healthy lifestyle.
Specifically, losing weight, quitting smoking, tracking physical activity and nutrition, assessing health risk, joining a gym, organizing cardio regimes, setting goals, achieving results, and getting ideas from lunch and learns--all the while earning incentive rewards.
The more you participate, the more points you earn, and the more incentives you get. Participants are also entered in a drawing for a wellness gift basket at the end of each semester.
HuskyPAW is open to benefit-eligible employees. Get a good steer to a healthy life at SparkPeople, a helpful website: www.sparkpeople.com .
Here is one person with high praise for this wellness initiative:
HuskyPAW (Physical Activity and Wellness Program) has really helped to change my life.
In May of this year, I weighed nearly 35 pounds more than I do now. Living a couch-potato lifestyle, I didn't want to even think about diet and exercise, but all of the extra weight I had packed on was taking a toll on my health, my body and my self-esteem.
At my last medical checkup, my blood tests came back with bad news--high triglycerides, high cholesterol. It was a huge wake-up call for me. My doctor wanted me to go on a cholesterol-reducing medicine. I really did not want to take another prescription medication, especially when I knew exercise and eating healthier foods could help to remedy the situation.
Some of my friends were talking about the HuskyPAW program and asked me if I was participating in it. I had heard about it, but wasn't actively participating in it.
I started logging onto SparkPeople and looking into the site more. I knew it had a lot to offer, but I didn't realize to what extent. I began to track my daily food intake on the nutrition tracker. I logged my exercise on the fitness minutes tracker. I tracked my water intake on SparkPeople as well.
I also began looking through the site and reading articles and finding recipes. I joined teams and contests. I found the more I learned on the site, the more involved I became with my own exercise and eating plan.
The HuskyPAW Program, with all of its reward incentives, was just the little additional push I needed. The incentives were just enough motivation to get me moving in the right direction. It helped motivate me to exercise and pay attention to my body and my food choices.
I have another checkup with my doctor in a month or so. I know more blood tests will be ordered. I am anticipating better results this time around . . . and I won't dread stepping on the scale. I still have more weight to lose--I'm only about halfway to my goal--but I know I'll keep up with my healthier lifestyle and make it to my goal.
Yeah, HuskyPAW did that for me. It can do the same for you, too, if you put a little bit of time and effort into it. Try it! You just might be pleasantly surprised, and you can pick up some pretty nice stuff along the way with the incentives.
That's the "icing on the cake," so to speak. That's not even to mention the main reason this program exists . . . a healthier, better you!
To be a member of PAW, see TechCommunity Wellness .
For more information, contact Benefits at 487-2517 or at benefits@mtu.edu . |
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5. Student Rating of Instruction Due |
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The Student Rating of Instruction instruments are due in the CTLFD by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 14, in Library 219. |
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6. Reminder: Michigan Tech Blood Drive Tomorrow |
Appointments for the blood drive are still available from 11:15 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 14.
To make an appointment, email or call Arlene Collins at 487-1779 or acollins@mtu.edu .
Donors are asked to eat a good meal within two hours of donating, be well hydrated, in good health and to bring a picture ID (driver's license or passport).
NOTE: release time will be provided for hourly staff with the approval of their supervisor. |
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7. Payroll and Benefits Have Moved |
submitted by Benefits
The Payroll and Benefits departments have moved to a new location, Lakeshore Center suite 220.
Still located on the second floor of the center, departments have moved to the northwest corner of the building; (previously occupied by Gundlach Champion).
If you need to meet with one of our staff members in payroll or benefits, please stop by the main reception desk in Human Resources on the second floor, and we will direct you from there.
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8. SFRES Seminar |
Where is Tasmania? What kinds of forests does it have and how are they managed?
Sue Baker, from Tasmania, Australia, will present a seminar, "Improved Biodiversity Outcomes with Variable Retention Compared to Clearcutting: an Example of Adaptive Management from Tasmania, Australia," at 3:30 p.m., today, in Noblet G002.
The seminar is sponsored by Visiting Women and Minority Lecturer/Scholar Series and SFRES. For questions, contact Sigrid Resh at 487-1139 or at scresh@mtu.edu . |
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9. Healthy Tip of the Week |
brought to you by HuskyPAW
What's in your brown bag lunch? Try a natural peanut butter sandwich topped with sliced apples, bananas or raisins on whole wheat bread. |
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10. Proposals in Progress |
Chris Roussi (MTRI), Robert Shuchman (MTRI), Colin Brooks (MTRI), K. Arthur Endsley (MTRI) and Tim Colling (MTTI), "Remote Sensing of Unpaved Road Conditions with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)," US DOT-RITA
Thomas Oommen (GMES/EPSSI), John Gierke (GMES/EPSSI) and Wayne Pennington (GMES/EPSSI), "Development of Regional Liquefaction Hazard Evaluation for Locations with Sparse Geotechnical Data," NSF
Shiliang Wu (GMES/EPSSI) and Nancy French (MTRI/EPSSI), "Impacts of Biomass Burning Emissions on Tropospheric Composition and Oxidizing Capacity in the Past and Future Decades," NASA
Yue Li (CEE/SFI) and Howard Qi (SBE/SFI), "A Holistic Methodology for Assessing and Mitigating Hurricane Risk and Socioeconomic Impact in Light of Climate Change," NSF
John Gershenson (ME-EM), Greg Graman (SBE) and Amlan Mukherjee (CEE), "Over Time and Across Domains: an Integrated Model for Product Platform Simulation," NSF
Yue Li (CEE/SFI), "Integration of Mainshock-aftershock Sequences into Performance-based Engineering Using Publicly Available NEEShub Data," NSF
Reza Shahbazian-Yassar (ME-EM/MuSTI) and Gregory Odegard (ME-EM/MuSTI), "Collaborative Research: Stronger then Glass Fibers, Stiffer then Steel Wires: A New Perspective into the Mechanics of Cellulose Nanocrystals," NSF
Latha Poonamallee (SBE/SFI), Richard Donovan (ChE/SFI), Mohan Rao (ME-EM/SFI) and Amlan Mukherjee (CEE/SFI), "Examining the Impacts of Collective Socio-ecological Beliefs, Values and Identities on Effective Intersectional Disaster Management through Event Structure Analysis," NSF
Qingil Dai (CEE/MTTI), "Analysis of Live Traffic Pavement Response Data," MnDOT
Kim Fook Lee (Physics), "Quantum Entangler Based on Silicon Waveguide for Chipscale Quantum Processing," NSF
Fabrizio Zanello (MSE), "Problems in Algebraic Combinatorics, Combinatorial Algebra, and Enumerative Combinatorics," NSF
Erik Nordberg (Library) and Julie Blair (Library), "Extracting Buried Treasure: Enhancing Access to Manuscripts about Michigan's Copper Country," National Historic Records and Publications Commission
Ashok Goel (ECE) and Durdu Guney (ECE), "Plasmonic Interconnection for Nanotechnology Circuits," NSF-EPDT Program
Jindong Tan (ECE/CISSIC), "Active Sensing with Mobile Sensing Networks," NSF
Seyed Zekavat (ECE/CISSIC), "Collaborative Research: Very-Near-Ground Wireless Channel Modeling: Theory and Practice," NSF
Desheng Meng (ME-EM/MuSTI) and Abhijit Mukherjee (ME-EM/MuSTI), "Hydroelectirc Plant on Chip: Energy Harvesting and Storage in an Injection-Driven Nanofluidic Loop," NSF
Norma Veurink (Engineering Fundamentals) and AJ Hamlin (Engineering Fundamentals), "GSE/EXT: Collaborative Research: Envisions-Enhancing Visualization Skills-Improving Options and Success," NSF
Tammy Haut Donahue (ME-EM), Sheryl Sorby (ME-EM) and William Endres (ME-EM), "International Capstone Senior Design: Building Assistive Devices for Handicap Living in India," NCIIA
Terry McNinch (MTTI), "RoadSoft 2011," MDOT, FHWA funding through MDOT, and State funds
John Sandell (ChE), "Establishment of Native American Science and Engineering Team (NASET) Program," NSF
Miguel Levy (Physics/IMP) and Kim Fook Lee (Physics/IMP), "Magneto-Optic Material-Based Waveguide Entangled-Photon Source for Ultra-Fast Applications," NSF
Kurtis Paterson (CEE) and John Gershenson (ME-EM), "Development of an Improved Biomass Briquette Cooking Fuel and Press in Tanzania," NCIIA
Steve Hackney (MSE), "Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Characterization of Battery Materials," University of Chicago-Argonne, LLC, USDOE
Lyon King (ME-EM), "All-sky Optical Sensor for Spacecraft Attitude Determination," USDOD, AFOSR
Chin-An Peng (ChE), "Enhanced Suicide Gene Therapy Using Multifunctional Nanocarriers," NIH
Wan Jin Jahng (BioSci/BRC), "Mitochondrial Phosphoproteome in Aged RPE," National Eye Institute/NIH
Kim Fook Lee (Physics), "Fiber Based Quantum Entangler for Quantum Phase-Space Imaging," NSF, Physics at the Information Frontier
Vladimir Tonchev (MSE), "Combinatorial Designs, Error-Correcting Codes, and Hamada's Conjecture," DOD, NSF
Fabrizio Zanello (MSE), "Problems in Algebra and Combinatorics," DOD, NSF
Iosif Pinelis (MSE), "Precise Probabilistic Tools for Statistical Practice," DOD, NSA
Tim Colling (MTTI), "MERL 2011," MDOT
Karen Roemer (Exercise Science/BRC), "Influence of Mass Distribution on Gait Biomechanics in Obesity," NIH
Wan Jin Jahng (BioSci/BRC), Megan Frost (BME/BRC), Chang Kyoung Choi (ME-EM/BRC) and Mie Hye Song (BioSci/BRC), "Nitric Oxcide Induced Erythropoietin," National Eye Institute/NIH
Jindong Tan (ECE/CISSIC), "Framework/Architecture for the Coordination of Human and Robot Formations," University of Michigan, TARDEC (DOD)
Ramakrisha Wusirka (BioSci) and Wan Jin Jahng (BioSci), "Anti-HIV Activity of Plant Callus Suspension Cultures, " Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Nancy Auer (CSA/MTCWS) and Casey Huckins (CSA/MTCWS), "Evaluation of Suitability for Native Species Restoration in the 1836 Treaty Area with Prescriptions Developed for Arctic Grayling," Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Gordon Parker (ME-EM/MuSTI) and Jason Blough (ME-EM/MuSTI), "Preview Control for Load-Leveling Robotic Vehicle Operation," University of Michigan, TARDEC/DOD
Yun Hang Hu (MSE), "Studies of MgO-based Solid Solution Catalysts for C02 Reforming of Methane," DOE
Jason Carter (Exercise Science), "Utilizing Autoregulatory Stress Capacity to Recognize and Manage Appropriate Circulating Blood Volume," University of Pittsburgh/DOD
Yoke Khin Yap (Physics/MuSTI), "Synthesis, Characterization, and Discovery on One-Dimensional Boron Nitride Nanostructures," NSF
Yu Wang (MSE/IEM) and Stephen Hackney (MSE/IEM), "Kinetic Pathway of Martensitic Transformation via Adaptive Modulations," NSF
Laura Bourgeau-Chavez (MTRI), Gregory Waite (GMES), Thomas Oommen (GMES), Mike Falkowski (SFRES), K. Arthor Endsley (MTRI) and Chris Roussi (MTRI), "Application of InSAR and LiDAR Geodetic Imaging for Volcanic Hazards Monitoring," NASA |
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11. In the News |
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The Tech Trails are featured in the November-December edition of National Geographic Traveler. The story, "Going Cross-Country," highlights only five trail systems in the US and Canada, including Tech's. To view the article, see Tech Trails . |
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12. Job Posting |
Staff job descriptions are available in Human Resources or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings . For more information regarding staff positions, call 487-2280 or email jobs@mtu.edu .
Faculty job descriptions can be found at www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/facpers/facvac.htm .
For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.
Staff Posting
12/13/2010
Staff Assistant N6
Student Activities
UAW Internal Posting
Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer. |
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13. Notables |
The Graduate School announces that Andrew Willemsen is Michigan Tech’s nominee for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award.
Willemsen was nominated by his advisor, Professor Mohan Rao (ME-EM).
To read more about Andrew's work and about the other nominees, please visit thesis .
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