The Advocates and Allies Advisory Board (A3B) is a group of women, minorities, and gender diverse individuals who work with the NSF-funded ADVANCE team to guide and advise the Advocates Team. Guidance comes in the form of communicating and prioritizing issues that women, minorities, and gender diverse individuals experience at Michigan Tech that impede their career growth and success. Guidance and oversight also come in the form of structuring and directing the education of the Advocates via published resources and lived experiences, the best topics, and approaches for the Advocates.
When advocating for policies and practices, the goal is that the A3B and Advocates will work closely together with the goal that well-intentioned ideas translate into policies and practices that most effectively achieve the goals of equity.
Advisory Board
- Assistant Professor, Creative Writing
- stcarpe@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2540
- Walker 327
- Assistant Teaching Professor, Applied Computing
Research Interests
- Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
- Single electron devices
- Charging-effect-based tunneling devices
- Quantum electronics
- Circuit design
Teaching Interests
- Electronics
- Circuits and instrumentation
- Physical electronics
- Digital logic

Danielle Meirow
- Assistant Director of Student Leadership and Involvement
- Pronouns: she, her, hers
- dlmeirow@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1963
- 112 Memorial Union Building

Specialties
- Coordinates community service initiatives, leadership programs, and departmental assessment.
- Coordinates and implements the LeaderShape Institute and Catalyst programs.
- Assists with advising the Undergraduate Student Government (USG).

Madeline Mercado Voelker
- Senior Immigration and Visa Services Specialist
- mmercado@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3681
- Lakeshore Center
Specialties
- Coordinate immigration services and related employment processes.
- Oversee and process faculty and staff employment based immigration petitions (H-1B, I-140 (EB-2), I-485 faculty special handling permanent residency and TN visas)
- Provide hiring departments with information about immigration and employment regulations affecting foreign nations; file relevant immigration petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as appropriate
- Act as liaison between the University, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of State (DOS), and Department of Labor (DOL) with respect to foreign nationals
- Liaison to immigration counsel retained for immigration support
- Fluent in Spanish
- Teaching Professor, Visual and Performing Arts
- Director, Music Composition Program
- ecmeyer@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3015
- Rozsa 206
Links of Interest
Specialties/Activities
- Classical music composition
- Violin/viola performance, instruction
- Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
- Director, Graduate Programs, Chemical Engineering
- rgong1@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2662
- Chem Sci 401E
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

Jill Patterson
- Manager for Career and Corporate Events
- jspatter@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2313
- Administration Building 220
Responsibilities
- Manage CareerFest and Career Fair events
- Supports Tech students' readiness for their careers
- Asssist with Student Development
- First Destination Survey Collection
- Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
- jperl@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3641
- Dow 863
Links of Interest
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
- Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
- Affiliated Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences
- smithar@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3230
- M&M 410A
Links of Interests
Research Interests
- Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)
- Nanotechnology
- Microfluidics for cancer research
- Microenvironment platforms to characterize cellular interactions
- Sensors and devices for biomedical sensing and implantable devices
- Piezo-based polymeric sensors
- Microscale devices for biomedical sensors
- Electrospun fibers for scaffold and electrical sensing
- Professor of Sociology and Demography, Social Sciences
- rwinkler@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1886
- AOB 217 (Spring 23' Office Hours Wednesdays 9:30-11:30am)
Areas of Expertise
- Rural Sociology
- Population and Environment
- Environmental Sociology
- Community Engaged Scholarship
- Internal Migration
- GIS and spatial analysis