Alphabetical Faculty and Staff List

  • Assistant Director, Marine Operations
  • Manager, Marine Research Assets Shared Facility

Specialties

  • Oversee research buoys
  • Maintain and repair Remote Operated Vehicles
  • Maintain R/V Agassiz to USCG standards
  • Maintain and operate survey vessels
  • Provide electrical and mechanical support of specialized research equipment
  • Expanded Biography
  • Assistant Professor of Economics, College of Business

Teaching Interests

  • Principles of Economics
  • Microeconomics
  • Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Research Interests

  • Coupled human and environmental systems
  • Fishery economics and management
  • Computable General Equilibrium Modeling
  • Regional Natural Resource Economic Modeling 
  • Research Engineer

Specialties

  • Underwater acoustic remote sensing
  • Design, fabrication, testing & utilization of prototype field deployable instruments 
  • Application and deployment of advanced technologies and integrated observing systems
  • Quality assurance and control of in-situ data 
  • Provide strategic scientific and engineering support to partners
  • Scientific scuba diving

Research Interests

  • Surface and underwater autonomous or remotely operated research platforms
  • Acoustic signal processing
  • Optical engineering
  • Marine engineering
  • Business water risk
  • Professor Emeritus, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Surface water quality engineering

Research Interests

  • Limnology
  • Engineering approaches to lake and river management
  • Mathematical modeling of surface water quality
  • Emeritus Research Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Interests

  • Fish Biology
  • Zooplankton ecology
  • Limnology
  • Conservation Biology
  • Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Assistant Professor, Applied Computing

Links of Interest

Faculty Webpage

Research Interests

  • Robotics, Multi-robot systems
  • Coordination of Heterogeneous Robot Systems
  • Vehicle Routing Problems
  • Multi-robot System Control and Optimization
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • Unmanned Vehicles
  • Operational Research for Autonomous Vehicles
  • Associate Professor of Anthropology
  • Associate Dean of STEM Equity, Graduate School

Research Interests

  • Extractive zones
  • STEMM Equity in Higher ED
  • Forensic & Ethnographic methods
  • Interim Chair, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Dam Decommissioning
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Hydraulic Structures
  • River Mechanics
  • Sediment Transport
  • Stream Rehabilitation
  • Sustainability
  • Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Water and wastewater treatment
  • Biological treatment processes

Research Interests

  • Bioremediation of Contaminated Groundwater Environments
  • Microbial Ecology and Kinetics of Chlorinated Aliphatic Solvent Biodegradation
  • Conversion of Organic Solid Wastes and Cellulosic Feedstocks to Electricity via Microbial Fuel Cells
  • Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Interests

  • Chemical biology: development of novel molecular probes for DNA sequencing analysis and disease gene discovery
  • Medicinal chemistry: development of new imaging and therapeutic agents towards cancer and cardiovascular disease; Design and synthesis of novel prodrugs of peptides and peptide mimetics.
  • Chair and Distinguished Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Clean Snowmobile Team Faculty Advisor

Areas of Expertise

  • Vibrations
  • Unique Instrumentation/Data Acquisition
  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Noise Control

Research Interests

  • Dynamic Measurement Problems
  • Developing new digital signal processing algorithms to understand NVH type problems
  • Ways to improve the NVH characteristics of virtually any machine
Gregg Bluth

Gregg Bluth

  • Mi-STAR Senior Research Scientist: Assessment and Curriculum
  • Adjunct Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering

Links of Interest

  • Science Education
  • Science Assessment Development
  • Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
  • Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Areas of Interest

  • Electric power systems analysis
  • Utility applications of power electronics (HVDC, SVC, FACTS)
  • Power system dynamics
  • Power system transients
  • Renewable energy generation and integration in power systems
  • Student retention and success
  • Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Faculty Advisor, Robotic Systems Enterprise

Links of Interest

Areas of Interest

  • Atmospheric optics
  • Statistical optics
  • Quantum optics
  • Image and Signal Processing
  • Autonomous vehicles and vehicular networks
  • Industrial automation and controls
Jessica Brassard

Jessica Brassard

  • Director of Research Development and Communication
  • Associate Professor of Economics, College of Business

Teaching Interests

  • Environmental economics
  • International economics
  • Mathematical economics
  • Principles of economics

Research Interests

  • Non-market valuation
  • Discrete choice modeling
  • Benefit-cost analysis
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Senior Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Adjunct Lecturer, Biological Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Transportation Applications Including Road and Bridge Condition Assessment
  • Mapping of Changing Ecosystems
  • Agricultural Remote Sensing
  • Geohazard Evaluation
  • Invasive Species Mapping With a Focus on Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
  • Developing Unmanned Aerial System Capabilities
  • 3D Optical, Multispectral, Thermal, and LiDAR Sensing
  • Decision Support System and App Development
  • Integration of Remote Sensing Technologies Into Sponsor Workflows
  • Research Project Management

Research Interests

  • Aquatic and Landscape Ecology
  • Invasive Species Mapping
  • Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Monitoring
  • Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Assessment of Transportation Infrastructure Condition Using Remote Sensing
  • Automated Road and Bridge Condition Analysis
  • Multispectral Sensing
  • Development and Deployment of Decision Support Systems
  • Land Cover Change Mapping and Monitoring
  • Associate Professor, Computer Science
  • Associate Dean, Data Science Initiatives, College of Computing
  • Director, Data Science, M.S. and B.S. Programs

Area of Expertise

  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
  • Data Mining and Data Science
  • Applications of AI and ML to Energy (microgrids, power systems), Health, and other domains
  • Professor and Associate Chair, Applied Computing
  • Program Director, BS in Computer Network and System Administration
  • Affiliated Professor, Computational Science and Engineering

Areas of Expertise

  • Cybersecurity
  • Computer Network
  • Computing Education
  • Professor of Natural Resource Economics, College of Business
  • Director of MS in Applied Natural Resource Economics
  • Affiliate Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Teaching Interests

  • Natural Resource Economics
  • Principles of Economics
  • International Economics

Specialties

  • Metal markets
  • Sustainability of mining
  • Social decision-making about resource use
  • Associate Professor, Environmental/Energy Justice
  • On Sabbatical Fall 2023-Spring 2024

Areas of Expertise

  • Environmental & rural sociology
  • Community-based and participatory research
  • Social movements and social change
  • Gender & ecofeminism
  • Agrifood systems
  • Associate Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
  • Witte Family Endowed Faculty Fellow in Mining Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Mine Planning and Design under Uncertainties
  • Production monitoring and automated control using image sensors
  • Multi-point and multi-scale geostatistics
  • Mine safety, reliability, and occupational risk modeling
  • Statistical and artificial intelligence modeling

Teaching Interests

  • Mine Planning and Design
  • Geostatistics and Mineral Resource Estimation
  • Systems Engineering
  • Reliability and Safety Engineering
  • Blasting and Fragmentation
  • Visiting Scholar

Research Area

Utilizing machine learning techniques for the Great Lakes system, particularly for the projections of water levels,  waves, and coastal flooding regions

Rodney Chimner
"We are what we imagine ourselves to be."
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
  • Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Peatland and wetland restoration
  • Peatland and wetland carbon cycling
  • Mountain wetlands
  • Tropical peatlands
  • Ecosystem carbon cycling
  • Wetland ecohydrology
  • Assistant Professor of Economics, College of Business

Teaching Interests

  • Labor Economics
  • Economic Decision Analysis
  • Microeconomic Theory 

Research Interests

  • Labor Economics
  • Economics of Gender
  • Public Policy
  • Applied Microeconomics 
  • GIS Data Librarian

Areas of Expertise

  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
  • Geospatial Metadata
  • Cartography
  • Web-based GIS application development
  • Geospatial data management, discovery, and dissemination
Justin Cygan

Justin Cygan

  • Relief Captain, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Assistant Professor of Accounting Information Systems, College of Business
  • Richard and Joyce Ten Haken Faculty Fellow in Accounting/Finance

Teaching Interests

  • Accounting Systems
  • Accounting Analytical Methods
  • Business Database Management
  • Professor, Biological Sciences

Specialties

  • Plant Biochemistry
  • Environmental Remediation
  • Plant-Microbe Interactions
  • Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests

  • Mobility and postural control in aging and special populations
  • Ergonomics and design of built environments for special populations
Mary Durfee
"Good things come in small packages—you can get a GREAT liberal arts education from us. Our graduates get jobs and enroll in fine graduate programs at universities like Yale, Michigan, and Johns Hopkins."
—Mary Durfee
  • Professor Emerita

Areas of Expertise

  • Great Lakes of North America
  • International Law
  • Malta
  • Scholarship of Pedagogy
  • Arctic Affairs
  • Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Areas of Expertise

  • Solar photovoltaic and thermal power plants
  • Electricity grid operational modeling
  • Energy-water nexus

Research Interests

  • Impacts of climate change on electric power systems
  • Energy transitions in cold climates
  • Solar photovoltaic design for cold climates
  • Heat pump performance
  • Thermal power plant modeling
  • Director, University-Indigenous Community Partnerships, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Humanities

Research Interests

  • University-Community Partnerships, research engagement, and equitable practice and design
  • Environmental Justice and Policy, toxic substances, risk management, and promoting holistic health
  • Indigenous / Native American Studies, treaties and the government-to-government relationship, food sovereignty, and Indigenous wisdom in the Great Lakes region
  • Environmental Stewardship and the Seven Generations Philosophy
Jackie Gebhardt, PMP
"Start from a place of "we"; practice proactive sharing; foster personal awareness; be the educator, be the learner; live the agreements"
—Five Agreements of Organizational Sensitivity

Jackie Gebhardt, PMP

  • Institute Manager, Great Lakes Research Center

Roles and Areas of Responsibility

  • Pre-Award Proposal Development and Budgeting Support
  • Post Award Project Management
  • Implementation of Institute Initiatives
  • Website Development
Chris Geerer

Chris Geerer

  • Mi-STAR Professional Learning Coordinator
  • Associate Research Scientist

Specialties

  • K-12 Educational Leadership
  • K-12 Professional Development
  • K-12 Science Education
  • Research Engineer

Research Interests

  • Applied mathematics 
  • Computer vision
  • Machine learning
  • Benthic substrate mapping
  • AUV data analysis
  • Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
  • Affiliated Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Hydrogeology
  • Ground water Engineering
  • Contaminant Transport
  • Subsurface Remediation

Research Interests

  • Field performance of air sparging for removing volatile organic chemicals from ground water
  • Volatile organic vapor transport in unsaturated soils
  • Sulfur dioxide interactions with volcanic ash
  • Associate Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Instructor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Director of Research and Evaluation, Michigan Science Teaching and Assessment Reform

Areas of Expertise 

  • Design and implementation of professional development for K-12 and undergraduate STEM teachers
  • K-12 STEM education research 
  • Program evaluation 

Amanda's CV

Research Interests

  • Instructional practices that support environmental literacy and stewardship
  • Integration of computing into STEM education
  • Teachers beliefs about reforms-based science instruction including nature of science, inquiry, engineering, Next Generation Science Standards, and technology integration
  • Professional development elements (remote and face-to-face) that support instructional change, teacher leadership and reforms-based science instruction
  • Using levels of inquiry to support teachers' understanding and integration of mathematical and scientific inquiry in k-12 education
  • Teachers' understandings regarding key concepts in science including respiration and photosynthesis
  • Professor Emeritus of Environmental History and Policy

Fields

  • Environmental Policy and History
  • History of Technology
  • History of Science
  • Economic History

Research Interests

  • The historical interaction between technological change, uses of the environment, and systems of governance
  • Adaptive governance
  • Sustainable energy and environmental policy
Katie Gray

Katie Gray

  • Logistics Coordinator, Great Lakes Research Center

Roles and Areas of Responsibility

  • Safety Liaison
  • Pre-award Proposal Development Support
  • Facility Space Coordination
  • Event Planning and Management
  • Professor Emerita, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Climate change communication
  • Science-policy interface
  • Youth engagement in climate policy
  • Response of aquatic systems to climate change
  • Great Lakes
  • Fluorescence-based analytical methods
  • Aerosol chemistry
  • Origin and fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in terrestrial, lake, and marine environments
  • Methods for detection of free radicals, photochemical transformations of natural and anthropogenic organic compounds in the environment
  • Integration of biological, geological, physical, and chemical data for understanding global cycles.
  • Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Director, Chemical Advanced Resolution Methods Laboratory

Research Interests

  • Algal Extracellular Polymers and Biocomposites - Regulation of Biogenesis
  • Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Qualitative and quantitative mass spectrometry application
  • Persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic pollutants (PBTs) monitoring
  • Fate and transport of PBTs in aquatic environment
  • Biomarkers of DNA damage induced by carcinogens
  • Professor Emeritus, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Development and application of physical and chemical processes for the recovery, removal, or destruction of organic compounds from air and water streams in industrial processes and the environment
  • Senior Research Engineer, Chemical Engineering
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Faculty Advisor, Green Campus Enterprise

Research Interests

  • Sustainable water and energy systems
  • Life-cycle assessment
  • Bioproducts and bioenergy
  • Sustainable materials and manufacturing
  • Aquaponics and hydroponics
  • Ecosystem services
  • Director, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Director, Institute of Computing and Cybersystems
  • William and Gloria Jackson Professor

Links of Interest

Areas of Interest

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Signal and Image Processing
  • Sensor and Data Fusion
  • Heterogeneous Data Mining
  • Research Engineer
  • Relief Captain

Areas of Expertise

  • Limnology and physical oceanography
  • Application, fabrication, and deployment of advanced technology and integrated observing systems
  • Surface and underwater autonomous or remotely operated research platforms
  • Meteorological and biogeochemical sensor instrumentation
  • Quality assurance and control of in-situ data 
  • USCG 100 GRT Master Captain

Research Interests

  • Establishment of long-term climate observations
  • Great Lakes acidification
  • Ship based flow-through systems
  • Nutrient cycling and subsequent productivity
  • Advanced technologies for increasing public safety
  • Data science and tool building
  • Professor of Practice, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • UAV Uses and Geomatics Applications
  • Spatial Data Adjustments
  • Multibeam/Single Beam Hydrographic Surveying and Bathymetric Surveys
  • Boundary Determinations and Legal Principles
  • Terrestrial LiDAR integration and GIS
Elizabeth Hoy

Elizabeth Hoy

  • Director, Business & Program Development
  • Great Lakes Research Center

Specialties

  • Pre-award Proposal Development and Budgeting Support
  • Post Award Project Administration
  • Institute and Department Budget Administration
  • Institute and Department Reporting
  • Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships
  • Assistant Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Area of Expertise

  • Hydrodynamic modeling
  • Regional climate modeling
  • Physical limnology
  • Nearshore processing

Research Interests

  • Great Lakes cross-scale hydrodynamics
  • Integrated Earth modeling system
  • Long-term climate change and projection over the Great Lakes
  • Short-term hydrodynamic forecasting in the Great Lakes
  • Interactions between atmospheric and lake processing
  • Interim Department Chair, Biological Sciences
  • Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interest

Google Scholar Profile

Research Expertise

  • Ecology of lakes, streams, and their riparian interface with terrestrial systems
  • Fish ecology, biology, functional morphology
  • effects of land use on ecological systems
  • Biomonitoring for research and restoration
  • Effects of Invasive Species
Chandrashekhar Joshi
"Cellulose is the fiber of human civilization."
  • Emeritus Research Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Affiliated Professor, CFRES

Research Interests: Biological Sciences

  • Plant Molecular Genetics

Areas of Expertise: Biology and Forestry

  • Cellulose and lignin biosynthesis in trees
  • Wood formation
  • Tree growth and development
  • Engineering trees
  • Forest bioinformatics/computational biology
  • Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Soil carbon
  • Plant/soil relationships
  • Decomposition
  • Dissolved organic carbon
  • Wildfire
  • Black carbon
  • Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Antibiotic resistance dissemination and treatment in engineered and agricultural environments
  • Establishing standards for microbiome research
  • Pathogen detection and control
  • Microbial ecology and molecular epidemiology
  • Emeritus Research Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Adjunct Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Research Interests

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Paleoecology
  • Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Photogrammetry
  • Remote Sensing
  • GIS
  • Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure
  • Application of geospatial technology to agriculture and environmental science
Erik Kocher

Erik Kocher

  • Research Engineer - Electrical Engineer
  • Department Chair, Social Sciences
  • Director, Geospatial Research Facility
  • Professor of Geography and GIS

Research Interests

  • Environmental Change and Life Course Epidemiology
  • Urban Environments and Population Health
  • Public Participatory GIS
  • Historical GIS & Deep Mapping
  • Spatial Humanities 
  • Deindustrialization and Shrinking Cities
  • Time-Space Integration and Modeling in GIS
  • Demography and Historical Record Linkage
  • Sense of Place and Neighborhood Construction
  • Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Social Sciences
  • Affiliated Professor, CFRES

Areas of Interest

  • Toxics, forested watersheds, and northern lakes
  • Environmental history
  • Watershed change and water quality
  • Mining history
  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Integrated geospatial technologies for sustainable development
  • Mobile mapping platforms for geographical and environmental studies
  • SAR- and LIDAR-based remote sensing and GIS
  • Geosensorics, real-time networks of geosensors
  • Human-computer symbiosis for knowledge extraction and expertise transfer
  • Visual perception in remote sensing and GIS
  • 3-D geospatial visualization and augmented reality
  • Visual and automated feature extraction in multispectral and hyperspectral image interpretation
  • Geospatial-sensor modeling and calibration
  • Image processing and automated feature extraction from aerial and satellite imagery
  • Automated systems for vision-based autonomous navigation and control of manned/unmanned robotic platforms
  • Image fusion and analysis
  • Photogrammetry of aerial and high-resolution satellite imagery

Teaching Interests

  • Earth observation systems
  • Geodesy
  • Photogrammetry
  • Geospatial technologies, data, and systems
  • Global positioning systems
  • Remote sensing
  • LIDAR-, SAR-/InSAR-based remote sensing
  • Geospatial 3-D visualization
  • Geospatial imaging: perception and interpretation
  • Introductory and advanced GIS
  • Spatial analysis and modeling
  • Spatial decision support
  • Cartography and cybercartography
Fengjing Liu
"Water is the new oil: a resource long squandered and soon to be overwhelmed by insatiable demand."
—The Economist
  • Associate Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Ecohydrology and forest hydrology
  • Hydrological and biogeochemical processes in snowmelt-dominated watersheds
  • Black ash wetland ecosystem processes 
  • Geospatial Research Scientist

Areas of Expertise

  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geostatistical Analysis
  • Lake Superior Geology, Coastal Geomorphology, and Geoheritage
  • GPS, GIS Data Collector Applications, and Mapping Technologies
  • Web-based GIS Data Dissemination and Applications
  • Interdisciplinary GIS Project Management
  • Professor Emerita of Anthropology, Social Sciences

Research Interests

  • Environmental anthropology/political ecology
  • Anthropology of industry (mining, sugar)
  • Hawai`i and the Pacific
  • Anthropology of public policy
  • Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Areas of Expertise

  • Vibrations; Modal Testing
  • Anechoic Traveling Waves
  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Data-Analytics
  • Smart Materials 

Research Interests

  • Adaptive Systems and Meta-structures
  • Internet-of-Vibrations
  • Environmental Testing
  • Human-structure Interaction
  • Piezoceramics and SMAs
  • Wave Propagation
  • Structural Health Monitoring
  • Bio-inspired Dynamics
  • Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Director, Ecosystem Science Center
  • Director, Aquatic Analysis (AQUA) Shared Facility

Research Interests

  • Limnology
  • Ecosystem Ecology of Streams and Rivers
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Professor Emeritus of Archaeology

Areas of Expertise

  • Industrial archaeology
  • Industrial heritage
  • Historical archaeology
  • Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering—Engineering Mechanics
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Transport Phenomena
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Scientific Computing

Research Interests

  • Interfacial and Multiphase Flows
  • Fluid-Structure Interaction
  • Mechanics of Soft Matter
  • Biological and Bio-Inspired Fluid Mechanics
  • Flow Through Porous Media
  • Micro and Nano Fluidics
  • Professor Emeritus, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Teaching Interests

  • Groundwater flow and transport and subsurface remediation

Research Interests

  • Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Contaminant Transport in Groundwater Vadose Zones
  • Mathematical Optimization of Groundwater Remediation Systems: Multi-Objective and Uncertainty Problems
  • Surfactant-Enhanced Dissolution of Nonaqueous Phase Liquids in Subsurface Systems
  • Groundwater Flow in a Fault Zone in the Vicinity of Desert Hot Springs, California
  • Simulation of Saltwater Intrusion in the Guaymas Valley, Sonora, Mexico California
  • Associate Professor, Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Understanding the identities, occurrence, and transformation of aerosol organic compounds
  • Identifying organic aerosol constituents from a variety of atmospheric environments
  • Exploration of new LC column chemistries with ultrahigh pressure pumps for fast and thorough separations
  • Aqueous reaction pathways
  • Director, Marine Engineering Laboratory
  • Robbins Professor of Sustainable Marine Engineering
  • Research Professor, ME-EM, and Adjunct Professor, GMES

Research Interests

  • Large scale field experimentation in the Inland Seas of the Great Lakes and coastal oceans
  • Nearshore hydrodynamics and prediction
  • Autonomous and semi-autonomous environmental monitoring platforms (surface and sub-surface)
  • Underwater acoustic remote sensing
  • Marine engineering
Jay Meldrum

Jay Meldrum

  • Executive Director, Michigan Tech Traverse City Research Center

Teaching Interests

  • Renewable and Alternative Energy
    • Solar
    • Pumped Hydro
    • Heat Pumps
    • Battery Storage
  • STEM with Art (STEAM)
  • Sustainability
  • Competition-based Engineering Education

Research Interests

  • Electrification of Vehicles
    • Boats
    • Snowmobiles
    • Off-Road and Utility Vehicles
    • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
    • Charging Systems
  • Solar Energy
    • Community Solar
    • Snow Shedding
    • Improving Production in Snowy Climates
  • Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Department of Physics

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Physical-Chemical Treatment Processes
  • Environmental Process and Design
  • Computational Environmental Engineering and Chemistry

Research Interests

  • Sustainable water and wastewater treatment and management
  • Development of assessing and predicting tools for water treatment technologies
  • Innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies for energy saving and harvesting
  • Systematic and integrated understanding of water and wastewater reuse
  • Application of computational chemistry and molecular modeling
  • Research Engineer

Areas of Interest

  • Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
  • Image Processing
  • Data Science and Analytics
  • Dean, College of Engineering
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Water and Wastewater Treatment
  • Water reclamation systems and Fate of personal products in treatment systems
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor of Economics, College of Business

Teaching Interests

  • Natural resource economics
  • Environmental economics
  • Water resource economics
  • Microeconomics
  • Econometrics

Research Interests

  • Water management and drainage in agriculture
  • Groundwater management
  • Forest use in developing economies
  • Groundwater quality externalities
  • Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Interests

  • Community Ecology
  • Trophic Interactions
  • Marine Ecology
  • Ecogeochemical Tracer Techniques
  • Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering

Links of Interest

Courses Taught

  • CM5300 – Advanced Transport Phenomena
  • CM3979/ENT3979 – Alternative Energy Processes and Technologies
  • CM4125 - Bioprocess Engineering Lab

Research Interests

  • Lignocellulosic-Based Biofuels and Biomaterials
  • Sustainability of Bioenergy Production Systems
  • Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering

Research Interests

  • Particulate Separation
  • Surface Chemistry
  • Process Modelling
  • Research Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Multi-Robot System Control
  • Robot/Autonomous Vehicle Navigation
  • Control of Large Scale Stochastic Process
  • System Modeling and Optimization
  • Design of Automated Material Handling
  • System in Smart Factory
  • Reinforcement Learning
  • Data Analytics
  • Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Legacy and emerging pollutants
  • Ecotoxicology
  • Great Lakes fisheries
  • Multiple stressors
  • Fisheries bioenergetics

Research Interests

  • Using pollutants as ecological tracers
  • Overwintering bioaccumulation and bioamplification
  • Energy dynamics in Great Lakes food-webs
  • Energetic costs of multiple stressors
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Teaching Interests

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Transport & Transformation of Organic Chemicals
  • Boundary Layer Meteorology
  • Sustainability

Research Interests

  • Air and Water Quality
  • Atmosphere-biosphere Exchange of Chemicals
  • Micrometeorology
  • Environmental Analytical Chemistry
  • Sustainability
  • Electrical & Computer Engineer, Great Lakes Research Center

Specialties

  • Support GLRC research programs
  • Focus on measurements of the over water and in-water environments
  • Support design, fabrication, testing & utilization of prototype field deployable instruments, including programming and decision support algorithms
  • Statistical analysis of remote sensing and in situ data sets
  • Expanded Biography
  • Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interests

Research webpage

Research Interests

  • Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) and Nanotechnology
  • Microfluidics for cancer research
  • Microenvironment platforms to characterize cellular interactions
  • Sensors and devices for biomedical sensing and implantable devices
  • Assistant Professor, Applied Computing
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Member, Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) and Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC)

Teaching Experience

  • Programmable Logic Control (PLC)
  • Digital Electronics
  • Analog Electronics
  • Image Processing
  • Automatic Control Systems
  • Instrumentation & Measurement
  • Mechatronics Senior Design
  • MATLAB Programming

Research Interests

  • Image Processing;
  • Autonomous Vehicles Perception;
  • Mobile Robot Applications;  
  • Mechatronics;
  • Applied Machine Learning.
Mark Rhodes II
"Every artist, every scientist, must decide NOW where they stand. They have no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction-in certain countries-of the greatest of human literary heritages, through the propagation of false ideas of racial and national superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged. The struggle invades the formerly cloistered halls of our universities and other seats of learning. The battlefront is everywhere. There is no sheltered rear. The artist must take sides. They must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative."
—Paul Robeson, 1958, Here I Stand
  • Assistant Professor of Geography

Research Interests

  • Post-Industrial Geographies & Heritage
  • National Identity in the 21st Century
  • Cultural Sustainability and Sustainable Tourism
  • Political Ecology, Place, & Memory
  • Critical Geographies & Memorial Landscapes

Areas of Expertise

  • Memory and Memorialization
  • Heritage Institutions
  • Cultural Landscape
  • Welsh Studies
  • Historical Geography 
  • Cultural Geographies
  • Associate Professor, Social Sciences
  • Graduate Director, Social Sciences

Research Interests

  • Interdisciplinary studies
  • Social simulation (agent-based modeling)
  • Policy analysis
  • International relations
  • Sustainability assessment
  • Complex adaptive systems
  • Norm evolution and social influence
  • STEM education evaluation
  • Research design and methods
Rachel Rulison

Rachel Rulison

  • Department Coordinator, Great Lakes Research Center

Roles and Areas of Responsibility

  • Department Payroll and Timesheets 
  • Financial Transactions
  • Website Maintenance
  • Purchase Requisitions and Invoices
  • Department/Shared Facilities Data/Reports
  • GLRC Events
  • Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Multiscale, multiphysics modeling of aging in polymers & polymer composites
  • Degradation of metallic implants in physiological environment
  • Fracture, damage and impact behavior on materials
  • Analysis, design and testing of novel multifunctional lightweight polymer composite materials
  • Assistant Professor, Applied Computing
  • Affiliated Faculty, Computational Science & Engineering

Teaching Interests

  • Data Acquisition and Signal Processing
  • Senior Design
  • Mechatronics system design and integration
  • Modeling and simulation of complex systems
  • Sensors and actuators
  • Hydraulic and pneumatic systems
  • Control system design
  • Instrumentation and measurements

Research Interests

  • UAV-based Remote Sensing 

  • Drone-based oil spill detection in Ocean
  • Artificial Intelligence Applications in Remote Sensing

  • Computer Vision and AI

  • Data acquisition and real-time control
  • Robotics system design and Integration

  • Control of Pneumatic Systems
  • Associate Professor of History

Research Interests

  • Spatial, material, and experiential aspects of social power in industrial communities
  • Historical GIS for Community-Engaged Scholarship
  • American Vernacular Architecture and Material Culture Studies
  • Public History, Historic Preservation, and Museums
  • History of Design, Craft, and Production in the United States
  • Cultural Landscapes and Historic Architecture of the Keweenaw
  • Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences
  • Affiliated Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Director of Research, Center for Innovation in Sustainability & Resilience

Research Interests

  • Socio-technological systam transitions
  • Technology adoption
  • Energy policy
  • Energy practices
  • Sustainable communities
  • Self-provisioning
  • Environmental education
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Environmental biotechnology, including in situ bioremediation of contaminated subsurface environments, monitoring and evaluation of the performance of biological treatment processes, development of in situ biological treatment systems for urban storm water runoff, innovative reuse of waste materials, and in situ improvement of soils properties via microbially-mediated processes.
Marianne Semones

Marianne Semones

  • Senior Research Scientist
  • Mi-STAR Program Director
  • Research Engineer, Great Lakes Research Center

Specialties

  • Program Management
  • Proposal Development
  • Technology Commercialization

Research Interests

  • Acoustics and Vibrations
    • Thermoacoustics
    • Carbon Nanotube Speaker Design and Fabrication
    • Underwater Acoustics
    • Active Noise Control
  • Image and Signal Processing
  • Autonomous Vehicles
  • Professor, Chemical Engineering
  • Robbins Chair in Sustainable Use of Materials

Research Interests

  • Bioprocess engineering
  • Alternative energy/Biofuels
  • Sustainability
  • Founding Institute Co-Director (retired)
  • Senior Fellow, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Research Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications
  • Multispectral and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing
  • Applied Photo Imaging
  • Sea and Lake Ice
  • Environmental in situ Sensing

Research Interests

  • Great Lakes Remote Sensing
  • Ocean Optics
  • High Latitude Oceanography
  • Dynamic Decision Support Systems
  • Water Quality of Inland Lakes
  • Associate Professor, Energy Policy

Research Interests

  • Sustainable Energy Systems
  • Energy Security and Justice
  • Risk Governance of the Energy Sector
  • Arctic Energy Development
  • Russian Energy Policy
  • U.S. Energy Policy

Areas of Expertise

  • Energy and Environmental Policy
  • Comparative and International Energy Law
  • U.S. Energy Law
  • U.S. Environmental Law
  • Russian Energy and Environmental Law
  • Energy Geopolitics
  • Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Links of Interest

Areas of Interest

  • Power Systems
  • Distributed Energy Resources
  • Optimization
  • Interconnected Critical Infrastructure Systems
  • Professor, Biological Sciences

Specialties

  • Gene Silencing
  • RNA Interference (RNAi)
  • MicroRNA (miRNA) and miRNA Eveolution
  • RNA Silencing in Plant Germ Extract and Drosophila Embryo Lysate.
  • Fungal RNAi and microRNA
  • MicroRNA Technologies: Small Tandem Target mimic (STTM) and MicroRNA Array
  • Plant Electrophysiology in Plant microRNA STTM lines and Venus flytrap.
  • Wild Blueberry Improvement
  • Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Associate Director, Great Lakes Research Center

Research Interests

  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Next-generation sequencing technology and bioinformatics/computational biology
  • Microbial physiology and biochemistry
  • Microbes as sensors for the environmental impacts of oil and gas production
  • Microbially-mediated remediation of crude oil contamination
  • Sustainability and plastic biodegradation
Shardul Tiwari

Shardul Tiwari

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
  • Postdoctoral Scholar
  • PhD, Environmental and Energy Policy - 2022

Education

  • PhD, Environmental and Energy Policy, Michigan Technological University
  • MSc, Power Engineering, Brandenburg Technological University, Germany
  • B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering, Uttarakhand Technical University, India 

Research Interests

  • Energy and Environmental Policy
  • Energy Security and Energy Justice
  • Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
  • Power System Economics and Demand Side Management
  • Energy Transition
     
  • Senior Geospatial Research Scientist
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Social Sciences

Education

  • PhD, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, Michigan Technological University
  • MS, Industrial Archaeology, Michigan Technological University
  • BS, Anthropology and History, Cleveland State University
  •  

Research Interests

  • Industrial and Urban Archaeology
  • Historical GIS
  • Deindustrialization
  • Industrial Landscapes
  • The Archaeology of Brownfields
  • Spatial Analysis of Historical Industrial Pollutants
  • Big Data Approaches to Archaeology
  • Publicly-engaged Scholarship
Stephanie Tubman

Stephanie Tubman

  • Mi-STAR Senior Research Scientist

Research Interests

  • Teacher leadership development
  • Science teacher beliefs, attitudes, and practices around effective science instruction
  • Decision-making and power sharing in instructional and organizational settings

Specialties

  • Design of curriculum for Next Generation Science Standards in the middle (6-8) and high school (9-12) gradebands
  • Design and evaluation of inquiry-based curriculum for grades 6-12
  • Environmental and place-based education
  • Integration of Next Generation Science Standards into place-based educational frameworks
  • Design and implementation of professional learning for STEM educators
  • Coaching and facilitation of teacher leaders
  • Earth science, water resource, and natural hazards education
  • Project Management
  • Research Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Environmental cycles of major and trace elements
  • Sediment diagenesis and stratigraphy
  • Chemistry of natural organic matter
  • Wetland biogeochemistry
  • Environmental impact and fate of pollutants
  • Influence of organisms on the chemical environment
  • Role of chemical environment in controlling populations
  • Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Interests

  • Microbial Ecology
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Limnology
  • Cryosphere 
  • Geosciences Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Areas of Interest

  • Geosciences Education
  • Geoconservation
  • Geoheritage
  • National Marine Sanctuary
  • Great Lakes Indigenous Knowledge
  • University-Indigenous Community Partnerships
  • Emeritus Professor of Rhetoric, Humanities
  • Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Seismic source mechanisms of tectonic and volcanic earthquakes
  • Mantle and crustal-scale seismic tomography
  • The relationship of seismic anisotropy to fluids and strain
  • Active-source investigations of magmatic systems
  • Triggering of earthquakes by magmatic and hydrous fluid migration
  • Relationship between shallow syneruptive volcanic earthquakes and degassing
Charles Wallace
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool."
—Richard Feynman
  • Associate Professor, Computer Science
  • Associate Dean for Curriculum & Instruction, College of Computing
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Links of Interest

Areas of Expertise

  • software usability & accessibility
  • gerontechnology
  • smart & connected communities
  • communication in software development
  • agile development methods
  • applied formal methods
  • computing ethics
  • sustainable computing
  • computer science & software engineering education
Steven Walton
"I find it astonishing that any man can regard fine machinery without admiration."
—John William Stone (in Stones Fall, by Iain Pears)
  • Associate Professor of History

Areas of Expertise

  • history of technology
  • history of science
  • artillery, fortification, ordnance
  • history of engineering
  • military history
  • Early Modern European history
Lindsey Watch

Lindsey M Watch

  • Mi-STAR Research Scientist

Research Interests

  • STEM/CS/CT K-12 curricular integration
  • STEM educator professional development

Specialties

  • K-12 NGSS curricular design
  • Professional development for STEM educators
  • Place-based environmental education
  • Distinguished Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Google Scholar Profile

Teaching Interests

  • Water resources planning and management
  • Environmental systems analysis
  • Hydrologic and hydraulic engineering
  • Optimization methods
  • Learning through service

Research Interests

  • Integrated water resources planning
  • Hydrologic modeling and forecasting
  • Flood risk management
  • Climate change mitigation and adaptation planning
  • Food-Energy-Water Nexus
  • Systems optimization under uncertainty
  • Sustainable development engineering
  • Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)

Areas of Expertise

  • Physics Based Modeling
  • Electromagnetic Analysis
  • Signal and Image Processing Techniques

Research Interests

  • Applications in Remote Sensing and Imaging Systems
  • Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Probability and statistics
  • Stochastic hydrology
  • Numerical methods
  • Water resources
  • Risk analysis and management

Research Interests

  • Water resources
  • Uncertainty analysis
  • Flood frequency and analysis of extreme events
  • Impacts of climate and land use changes
Adam Wellstead
"Academics are the only people I can think of for whom this sentence makes sense: 'I'm hoping to get some time off so that I can get some work done.'"
—Sidney Verba
  • Professor of Public Policy, Social Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Policy advisory systems
  • Governance and political mechanisms
  • Survey research
  • Policy process frameworks

Areas of Interest

  • Canadian Energy and Environmental Issues
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Oil Sands Development
  • Forest Policy
  • Canadian Studies
  • Policy Innovation Labs
  • Policy Design
  • Associate Research Scientist

Research Interests

  • Enhance our understanding of processes driving landscape and environmental change in complex environments and habitats.
  • Improve our ability to efficiently and accurately map complex environments and habitats with emerging technologies (AUVs, ROVs, remotely sensed data).
  • Predict coastal change (and environmental change more broadly) by integrating geography, geology, geophysics, machine learning, and other disciplines.
  • Engage communities via citizen-science opportunities to better understand community-driven research needs and help apply active research to address real-world challenges.
  • Research Engineer, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Relief Captain, Great Lakes Research Center

Specialties 

  • Responsible for administration of the Marine Autonomy Research Site and Smart Ships Coalition and coordination with the Marine Research Assets Shared Use Facility (MRAF) in support of client needs.
  • Provide scientific and engineering support to faculty, staff, partners, and sponsors with expertise in design, manufacturing, and integration of marine systems. Support budget and proposal development, project management, and strategic planning.
  • Over 10 years' experience as a licensed captain on the Great Lakes with expertise in navigation systems, marine electronics, mechanical systems, and maintenance, repair, and operations.
  • Expanded Biography.
  • Assistant Director, Geospatial Research Facility

Areas of Expertise

  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Database Development
  • GIS Tool and Process Development
  • Integrating Web, GIS, Database and Analytics Tools
Christopher Wojick

Christopher Wojick

  • Senior Researcher, Program Evaluation
  • Great Lakes Research Center
Bruce Woodry

Bruce Woodry

  • Relief Captain, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Associate Professor of Forest Biomaterials

Areas of Expertise

  • Carbon materials derived from wood, lignin, and cellulose
  • Integrated thermochemical conversion and fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass
  • Carbon-polymer composites and hybrid materials
  • Wood protection and preservation
  • Wood properties, quality, and modification
  • Associate Director, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Director, Numerical Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Great Lakes Research Center

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Introductory Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
  • Hydrodynamic Modeling
  • Water Resources Engineering
  • Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling

Research Interests

  • Hydrodynamic modeling
  • Regional climate modeling
  • Coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics
  • Data assimilation and machine learning
  • Biophysical processes in the Great Lakes
  • Estuary and coastal ocean processes
  • Research Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Hydrodynamic Models in the Great Lakes
  • Regional-scale Climate Modeling
Lucille Zelazny

Lucille Zelazny

  • Research Assistant, Biological Sciences
  • Postdoctoral Scholar

Research Interests

  • Great Lakes hydrodynamic modeling and data assimilation
  • Coastal disaster prevention and mitigation
  • Waves and currents interaction with vegetation
  • Sediment transport in vegetated regions