Advocates Team

The Advocates Team is a group of majority men individuals in positions of influence at Michigan Tech who have committed to:

  1. continuously learning,
  2. using that knowledge to educate their majority men colleagues to be allies of women, underserved/marginalized, and gender diverse individuals,
  3. advocating with their women, underserved/marginalized, and gender diverse colleagues, and
  4. advocating for policies and practices that move Michigan Tech culture to achieve equity for all.

When advocating for policies and practices, the Advocates and Allies Advisory Board (A3B) and Advocates Team will work closely together with the goal of transitioning well-intentioned ideas into policies and practices that most effectively achieve the goals of equity. Please reach out to us at deis-advocates@mtu.edu if you would like to learn more about the Advocates Team! 

Co-Chairs

Robert Handler

  • Senior Research Engineer, Chemical Engineering
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Faculty Advisor, Green Campus Enterprise

Yoke Khin Yap

  • University Professor, Professor of Physics
  • Affiliated Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MTU Faculty Fellow
  • Director of Applied Physics Graduate Program, Osaka University Global Alumni Fellow
  • ykyap@mtu.edu
  • 906-487-2900
  • Office: Fisher 219, Labs: Fisher B013, B009, B031, B034

Team Members

Jim Baker

Jim Baker

  • Associate Vice President for Research Administration

Specialties

  • Intellectual property/patents
  • Technology licensing
  • Corporate research
  • Spin-off/start-up business development
  • Interim Dean & Professor
  • Director of Undergraduate Programs

Areas of Expertise

  • Conservation biology
  • Avian ecology and reproduction
  • Cascading effects of deer overbrowse
  • Island ecology
  • Associate Teaching Professor, Nursing, Biological Sciences

Teaching Interests

  • Mental health/mental illness
  • Mental illness stigma
  • Substance use/abuse
  • Substance abuse stigma
  • Psychiatric pharmacology
  • Social Determinants of Health/Disease
  • Spirituality in Healthcare
  • Associate Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Affiliated Associate Teaching Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Research Interests

  • Window Glass Strength Design
  • Wind loads on Structures
  • Finite Element Modeling of Brittle Materials
  • Large Scale Data Processing and Data Mining
  • 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
  • Associate Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology

Links of Interest

Lab Website

Research Interests

  • Cognitive Aging
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Motor Learning
  • Sensorimotor Control
  • Memory
  • Cognitive Control
  • Assistant Professor, Computer Science
  • Assistant Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Coordinator, College of Computing Learning Center

Area of Expertise

  • Software Engineering
  • Computer Science Education
  • Intelligent Tutoring Systems
  • 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

Michigan Tech is a globally recognized technological university that educates students, advances knowledge, and innovates to improve the quality of life and to promote mutual respect and equity for all people within the state, the nation, and the global community. 

MTU Strategic Planning Framework for DEIS