May 5, 2022

John “Jack” and Phyllis Seaman celebrated Jack’s 103rd birthday with a gift to Michigan Technological University that ensures the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum will continue to impact students, scientists and the public for generations to come.

The John and Phyllis Seaman Endowment for Curation of the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum will provide perpetual support for a museum curator. Current director and curator John Jaszczak (Physics) has been named the inaugural appointee to the newly endowed position. The Seamans also established a Student Support Fund for students involved with the museum in honor of Jean Petermann Kemp Zimmer ’39, who served as museum curator from 1975-86, and Jack’s sister, Jeanne Seaman Farnum. These two pioneering women studied geology under Wyllys Seaman.

“Many members of the Seaman family have served as pioneers in Michigan Tech history, and we’re proud to carry on their tradition of excellence here,” said Bill Roberts, Michigan Tech vice president for advancement and alumni engagement. “We are thankful to Jack and Phyllis for this gift and their longtime commitment to Tech. Their exceptional generosity will leave a lasting legacy on the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, which provides benefits to the University and greater community. We deeply appreciate their support and friendship.”

Read the full story on Michigan Tech News.

The Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs is pleased to congratulate Jeffrey Naber (ME-EM) as this year’s University Professor and Andrew Burton (CFRES), Petra Huentemeyer (Physics) and Christopher Plummer (VPA) as Distinguished Professors.

The University Professor title recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding scholarly contributions to the University and their discipline over a substantial period of time. The Distinguished Professor title recognizes outstanding faculty members who have made substantial contributions to the University as well as their discipline and are not presently recognized through an endowed position.

2022 University Professor: Jeffrey Naber 
Naber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and Richard and Elizabeth Henes Professor in Energy Systems, has been named this year’s University Professor.

Following a 10-year career in industry, Naber joined Michigan Tech in 2004 at the rank of associate professor. Naber has published six book chapters, 67 journal articles and 110 conference papers, and holds 15 patents. He has successfully advised 18 Ph.D. students and 67 M.S. students to completion, and is currently advising 12 Ph.D. and four M.S. students. It likely comes as no surprise that he has received the Best Graduate Student Mentor Award twice and the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award for classroom innovation.

Naber has also been extremely successful in his research area, which includes alternative energy, combustion, power generation and mobility in application of connected and automated vehicles. He has been awarded more than $40 million in funding as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI and has written nearly 400 proposals, of which over 200 have been funded.

Since 2008, Naber has served as the director of the Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC) at Michigan Tech. This Tier I research center employs 16 staff and includes three research facilities: the APSRC Building, the Alternative Energy Research Building and the Mobile Laboratory. Among service to both internal and external committees, he also leads the Tech Forward Initiative in the area of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. Naber is also a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (ASE), the most prestigious society in his area of research. He is also a board member of the Michigan Alliance for Greater Mobility Advancement (MAGMA), and the Michigan Tech Graduate Program director/advisor for the hybrid electric vehicle curriculum and graduate certificate.

One reviewer identified Naber as a world-class researcher, calling him “an incredible experimentalist, leader, research project fundraiser and mentor of colleagues and students.”

2022 Distinguished Professor: Andrew Burton
Burton, a professor in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, is recognized both nationally and internationally for his research in forest ecology, leading to Michigan Tech’s recognition in a global context. He has served as PI or co-PI on $25 million in research awards and published numerous papers in high-impact journals, which in total have been cited over 10,000 times.

Highly regarded in the classroom, Burton was inducted into Michigan Tech’s Academy of Teaching Excellence in 2011 and has been named a finalist for Michigan Tech’s Distinguished Teaching Award five times. In addition to classroom excellence and advising both undergraduates and graduate students, he also participates in programs bringing awareness in STEM fields to high school students and teachers. This included leading the Global Change Teacher’s Institute from 2004-16, which introduced 145 middle school and high school teachers to the latest in global change news and research.

Burton is a leader in service outside and within Michigan Tech. He served as the director of the Ecosystem Science Center for over 10 years and is currently director of the Microanalytical Facility, as well as leading the Tech Forward Initiative for Natural Resources, Water, and Energy.

2022 Distinguished Professor: Petra Huentemeyer
Huentemeyer, a professor in the Department of Physics, is the director of the Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI) at Michigan Tech. She is also the spokesperson for the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) — an international collaboration of more than 130 scientists from 37 institutions in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, South America and Asia.

Since joining the physics department in 2009, Huentemeyer has been instrumental in revising the course curriculum related to optics. She introduced a student poster presentations session, which has helped students learn to communicate their results. 

In the area of particle astrophysics, her nominator called her a “star-in-the-making,” as she is regarded as an expert in high-energy gamma-ray astronomy and galactic cosmic rays both nationally and internationally. Huentemeyer has a Google Scholar h-index of 61, where the average research-intensive faculty member in physics has an h-index 20. She has invited undergraduate and graduate students to collaborate with her, providing them the opportunity to participate in meetings and conferences and contribute to publications.

2022 Distinguished Professor: Christopher Plummer
Plummer, a professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, is a consistent leader in creative activities, teaching and service in the area of sound. His outstanding contributions to the discipline of sound design and sound design education have been recognized by a number of awards. He has contributed to expanding funding, writing the first successful National Endowment for the Arts grant at Michigan Tech, and was selected as a sound design expert on a recent project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Culture.

Plummer spearheaded the implementation of two new degree programs: the B.A. in Sound and B.S. in Audio Production and Technology, now the largest programs in the department and showing continued growth. The sound program at Michigan Tech is unlike any other — the positions held by alumni working with some of the biggest artists, museums and entertainment venues across the globe are a testament to its quality. Plummer advises, on average, over 30 students each year and serves on graduate committees related to acoustics and noise control.

In the most recent program review, an external reviewer made specific mention of Plummer's work in the department: “Christopher Plummer, for instance, is to be commended for maintaining a more than full faculty schedule while also building a national reputation for his research.”

Michigan Tech IT invites the campus community to a retirement social to honor Dave Fredrickson, who will retire May 27.

The social will be held from 2-4 p.m. May 18 in the MUB Ballroom. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Fredrickson has served Michigan Tech for 34 years and has been instrumental in the success of IT's Enterprise Application Services team. Join us in celebrating his career, thanking him for his service and wishing him all the best in his retirement.

The film discussed this month for the 2022 Sustainability Film Series will be the recently released documentary "The Ants and the Grasshopper" (2021, 74 minutes).

"The Ants and the Grasshopper" asks probing questions: How do you change someone’s mind about the most important thing in the world? What do we owe each other in the face of an existential crisis like the climate emergency? That’s the one big question at the heart of the film, which explores how power and privilege shape climate justice and food justice from Africa to America — and how we might move forward together.

Register to receive the Zoom link to participate in the facilitated discussion from 7-8 p.m. May 19 and to receive the link to the film (available Wednesday, May 11).

There is no charge to participate in the discussion. A $5 suggested donation per film to support the film series is appreciated. Make your donation online.

Discussion Facilitators
Discussion facilitators will be interim department chair Sarah Green (Chem), and senior research engineer Robert Handler (ChE). 

Green is interested in all aspects of environmental chemistry from molecular analytical methods to global climate change, including the science policy interface. Green served as co-vice chair for the Scientific Advisory Panel on the Sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6), United Nations Environment Programme. She is the faculty mentor of Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action, an MTU student organization, and has also helped arrange MTU participation in United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings.

Handler is involved in a variety of research and educational efforts involving sustainability and resilience at Michigan Tech. He helps companies and research teams evaluate the environmental impacts of their new products and production systems, with a longstanding focus on alternative fuel and chemical production. He is the faculty advisor for the MTU Green Campus Enterprise.

Film Series
The Sustainability Film Series and Facilitated Discussions are cosponsored by MTU's Sustainability Demonstration House; Great Lakes Research Center; College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; Department of Social Sciences Sustainability Sciences Program; Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering; and Students for Sustainability. Cosponsors outside MTU include the Friends of the Land of Keweenaw, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Keweenaw Land Trust, Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and Refill UP.

For more information, contact Joan Chadde at jchadde@mtu.edu or Robert Handler at rhandler@mtu.edu. 

The following Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) students, faculty and staff were recognized for their excellence:

Undergraduate Student Awards

• Nicole Bloom Award for Environmental Sustainability: Brian Goldberg
• Departmental Scholar: Thomas Pastell
• David W. Hand Environmental Process Engineering Award (two teams):
  
  • Team 1: Aden Clark, Margaret Purvis, and Evan Rye
  • Team 2: Malina Gallmeyer, Jack Hoffman, and Anabel Needham

Graduate Student Awards

• Danielle Ladwig Award for Graduate Excellence: Rose Daily
• Wilbur Haas Graduate Research Excellence Award: Dongzhao (Kobe) Jin and Yunxiang Ma

Departmental Citizenship Award: Jeffery Hollingsworth and Henrique de Melo e Silva (Kiko)

Student Voted Awards

• GTA of the Year: Tyler LeMahieu
• Faculty of the Year (civil and environmental):
  • Civil: Stan Vitton
  • Environmental: Noel Urban

Read more about the awardees on the Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering News blog.

Please join the Great Lakes Research Center in congratulating the Spring 2022 GLRC Student Research and Travel Grant recipients.

The GLRC student grants are intended to provide undergraduate and graduate students advised by GLRC members an opportunity to gain experience in writing competitive grants, to perform research they would not be able to attempt due to funding limitations or to travel to a professional conference to present a poster or paper about their research.

Student grants also provide seed research data for advisors to use in pursuing externally funded research support, and travel grants help amplify areas of research expertise at Michigan Tech. Funded students are expected to participate/volunteer for at least one GLRC activity during the grant period.

• Michelle Kelly, Ph.D. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Amy Marcarelli
  Research proposal: “Quantifying whole-stream denitrification and nitrogen fixation with integrated modeling of N2 and O2 fluxes”
  
  
• John McCall, M.S. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Gordon Paterson
  Research proposal: “Evaluating genotoxicity of mine tailings (“Stamp Sands”) on two game fish in a spawning reef in Lake Superior (MI)”
  
  
• Benjamin Reuss, M.S. student — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  GLRC member advisor: Cory McDonald
  Research proposal: “Effects of Climate Change on Polymictic Lakes: A Case Study of Goose Lake, Marquette Co. MI”
  
  
• Laura Schaerer, Ph.D. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Stephen Techtmann
  Research proposal: “Impact of Diversity on Resistance to Invasion in Plastic Degrading Microbial Communities”
  
  
• Gary Swain, M.S. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Charles Kerfoot
  Research proposal: “Stamp Sand Toxicity LD50 Test using Daphnia”
  
  
• Tessa Tormoen, B.S. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Jill Olin
  Research proposal: “Using DNA Metabarcoding to Evaluate Resource Partitioning Among Two Sympatric Tilefish”
  
  
• Aritra Chakrabarty, Ph.D. student — Social Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Richelle Winkler
  Event: International Public Policy Association: Third Workshop on Public Policy
  Presentation: “Decentralized Climate Policy: Role of Community in Policy Making”
  
  
• Carleigh Lenard, B.S. student — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  GLRC member advisor: John Lenters
  Event: Advancing Earth and Space Science, ASLO, The Oceanography Society
  Presentation: “Assessing the Accuracy of Wave-Derived Wind Velocity Data Collected by Spotter Buoys on the Great Lakes”
  
  
• Julia Petersen, Ph.D. student — Social Sciences
  GLRC member advisors: Nancy Langston and Richelle Winkler
  Event: Population Association of America Annual Meeting 2022
  Paper: “Pandemic Migration in Rural America” co-authored with Winkler, 
  who will present it at an oral session titled "Covid-19 in Rural America.”

GLRC Student Travel Grant applications are accepted anytime and reviewed on the last Friday of each month. Applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance of travel.

GLRC Student Research Grant applications are accepted three times each year: November 1, March 1 and July 1.

Please join us at 11 a.m. Monday (May 9) via Zoom to learn about the work of HRI fellowship recipients Adelina Oronova (Chem), Shobhit Chaturvedi (Chem) and Isaac Flint (CLS).

For more information on the HRI Fellowship Program and other HRI student resources, please visit the Student Resources page on the HRI website.

Michigan Tech track and field's Clayton Sayen has been named the GLIAC Track and Field Athlete of the Week.

Sayen has consistently been the top runner for the Huskies in both cross country and outdoor track this season. His closing speed helped him top the Michigan Tech 1,500-meter school record for the second time this spring at the Drake Relays. Sayen had set the previous record earlier in the year at the Raleigh Relays.

Read about Sayen's season outlook at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech hockey coach Joe Shawhan honored eight different Huskies with the program's annual team awards.

• Brian Halonen was named the Merv Youngs Most Valuable Player and also received the Gary Crosby Memorial Award as the team's leading scorer. 
• Colin Swoyer was awarded the Gitzen-Loutit Memorial Award as the team's most outstanding defensive player for the third straight season.
• Trenton Bliss was recognized with the George McCarthy Performance Award for Scholastic and Athletic Achievement. 
• Justin Misiak received the Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award. 
• Logan Pietila was named the Elov Seger Memorial Most Improved Player. 
• Blake Pietila received the Rick Yeo Unsung Hero Award. 
• Michael Karow was honored with the John MacInnes Slide Rule Award as he held a 3.9 GPA while pursuing his MBA. 
• Trevor Russell received the Norbert Matovich Memorial Award as the team's outstanding freshman.

Read more about the players and awards at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech men's basketball player Owen White has been named to the 2021-22 Men's College Academic-Athletic Team by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM).

Also named to the team were Justin Fischer (Lake Superior State), Dorian Aluyi (Ferris State), Cole Kleiver (Alma College) and Evan Thomas (Hope College).

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

HRI Research Scientist Candidate Seminar

The Health Research Institute (HRI) is pleased to invite you to a seminar given by research scientist candidate Xiaochu Ding.

Ding received his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the Michigan Technological University Department of Chemistry in December 2013. Between 2014 and 2020, he pursued postdoctoral training in biomedical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University.

Ding will give his seminar, titled "Polymeric Biomaterials for Bioresorbable Synthetic Grafts and Protein Delivery Platforms," from 12-1 p.m. today (May 5).

Attendance is invited in person in ATDC 101 and virtually via Zoom.

The seminar recording will be available upon request.

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