Graduate Education Event April 23 Will Highlight Michigan's Best and Brightest

Graduate students from colleges and universities throughout Michigan will attend Michigan Graduate Education Day, Thursday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the West and South Wings of the Capitol building in Lansing.

More than 60 graduate students from 15 Michigan colleges and universities will display their graduate research and discuss with legislators such issues as innovation, economic development and environmental protection. Michigan House Representative Pam Byrnes and Senator Randy Richardville will attend the event and speak in support of Michigan Graduate Education Week, April 20-24.

Representing Michigan Tech will be: Amber Roth, Forest Science PhD candidate; Steven Johnson, Chemistry PhD candidate; Roxanne Gay, Rhetoric and Technical Communication PhD candidate; Nils M. Stenvig, Electrical Engineering MS candidate; Christopher Weingartz, Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate; and Matt Swanson, Materials Science and Engineering PhD candidate.

"It's great to see this event highlight the special role that graduate education plays in our nation," said Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz. "The work of graduate students paves the way to the future through their discoveries that frequently can be implemented to solve problems. In the long term, the communication, reasoning and analytical skills honed in graduate school enable these people to serve as innovators for a lifetime, finding novel solutions that benefit all of us. It takes selfless determination on the part of grad students to do what they do, and we’re proud of them."

The event will highlight the importance of graduate education in Michigan and the impact it will have on employment opportunities and the quality of life throughout the state in years to come. Michigan graduate programs prepare students to be leaders in a wide array of fields including microelectronics, engineering, multimedia and digital arts, biomedicine, environmental protection and remediation, new energy sources, ultra-efficient energy systems and digital information management.

"To attract and grow quality jobs, we must have the best trained, best educated workforce," said Governor Jennifer Granholm during her State of the State Address Feb. 3, 2009.

For more information about Michigan Graduate Education Day, please contact Jacque Smith at 906-370-0641 or jacque@mtu.edu.

Presented by the Michigan Council of Graduate Deans, Michigan Graduate Education Day is a collaborative effort of the following colleges and universities: Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Madonna University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Saginaw Valley State University, The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint, the Van Andel Institute, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.