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Howell receives international award for work in thermal analysis

April 22, 2013 - Central Michigan University professor of chemistry and polymer science Bob Howell has received the 2012 North American Thermal Analysis Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in thermal analysis research.

"Thermal analysis has to do with just the response of materials to a change in temperature," Howell said. "You can learn about the structure of the material based on the way it responds, and so that's the fundamental technique."

Howell applies his research in a number of ways, focusing primarily on studying polymer degradation at different temperature ranges. For example, his research to address the issue of foul taste and brown streaking in milk jugs - and his proposed solution - helped reduce the cost of milk production and was considered particularly noteworthy by the society. 

The solution to issues with milk containers linked back to Howell's research with The Dow Chemical Co., where in the mid-1980s he was asked by Dow to experiment with using polymeric materials in food packaging, and successfully adapted the materials to stop the streaking.

Most containers are made with different layers of various polymer materials, each with a different composition. The elimination of the streaking allows the milk to be stored at room temperature. "Because no oxygen gets in, the milk doesn't spoil," Howell said.

Howell has also worked to remove odors from degrading polystyrene, the plastic material used in packaging food, such as cookies and pastries.

The Outstanding Achievement award from NATAS is unique to a university of CMU's size. Given annually, it recognizes distinguished achievement in the field of thermal analysis, including but not restricted to thermogravimetry, differential thermal methods and effluent gas analysis. The award recipient must have performed outstanding work in the utilization, creation or refinement of thermal techniques of generally wide interest and impact. 

Howell is the 44th recipient of this award, which represents the highest honor bestowed by the Society.

Mathematics major Karleigh Cameron receives Goldwater Honorable Mention

April 18, 2013 - Karleigh Cameron has received a Goldwater Honorable Mention. Cameron is a junior Honors student from South Boardman majoring in applied mathematics and minoring in environmental studies.

About 150 Honorable Mentions are given to exceptional students each year who are not selected as Goldwater Scholars. According to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program's website, 271 scholarships were awarded to sophomores and juniors from institutions across the United States. Scholars and Honorable Mentions were chosen from a field of 1,107 applicants.

"I feel lucky to have gotten it," Cameron said. "It's really nice to know all my hard work has paid off, and it's nice to be recognized outside of my university."

Cameron said she hopes that being awarded an Honorable Mention will help her in the future when she applies to graduate schools and to jobs.

"Karleigh is very deserving of this recognition of an Honorable Mention from the Goldwater program," Dr. Lisa DeMeyer, one of Cameron's former professors, wrote in an email. "Karleigh enjoys a challenge and is doing everything she can to make the most of the opportunities she has at CMU. I have known Karleigh since her first semester at CMU and I am so happy that she is receiving this recognition for her outstanding academic work in mathematics."

After returning from Singapore, where she is spending the semester studying at Nanyang Technological University, Cameron will do research for her senior Honors research project, modeling growth using dynamical models. She will be working with Dr. Leela Rakesh in the Department of Mathematics.

"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have been nominated in the first place, and to actually have gotten an Honorable Mention is great," Cameron said, "and I'm thankful for everyone who has helped me along the way."

Cameron's Goldwater Honorable Mention is CMU's first in five years.

Biology major recognized with Young Botanist Award

April 8, 2013 - Let’s give her a big two thumbs-up! Junior and biology major Hillary Karbowski was just awarded the Young Botanist Award, Special Certificate of Achievement, from the Botanical Society of America!

Nominated by associate professor of biology Anna Monfils, Hillary is among 25 students in the United States and Canada selected for the award, which recognizes excellence and outstanding scholarship for the advancement of knowledge in the botanical sciences.

Chemistry professor Brad Fahlman selected as a 2013 IUPAC Young Observer

March 20, 2013 - Chemistry professor Brad Fahlman has been selected as a 2013 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Young Observer.

The National Academy of Sciences is the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the IUPAC. The committee selects outstanding U.S. chemists under the age of 45 with interests and expertise related to the work of IUPAC to become involved in the work of the union, develop and international network of scientists and engineers, and represent U.S. colleagues in the chemical sciences. To date, the program has supported over 200 scientists, many of whom have continued to serve on IUPAC activities and contribute at the international level.

As a selected Young Observer, Fahlman will attend the 44th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress and 47th IUPAC General Assembly from August 8-16 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The IUPAC Young Observer program is extremely competitive and held once every two years. Less than a dozen U.S. chemists are chosen to participate.

Biology graduate student earns honors at international symposium

March 20, 2013 - Biology graduate student Jennifer Bergner recently received Honorable Mention for best student presentation at the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society symposium for her talk, "Spatially explicit genetic structure of two unionid species, Lampsilis cardium and Lasmigona costata, in the central Great Lakes." This international symposium was held March 10-14 at Lake Guntersville State Park in Guntersville, Alabama.

Advised by assistant professors of biology Daelyn Woolnough and David Zanatta, Bergner was one of four CMU students who attended the symposium and presented four posters and three oral presentations to the 250+ attendees. 

The Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (FMCS) is dedicated to the conservation of and advocacy of freshwater mollusks, North America's most imperiled animals. The society organizes international symposiums each year, holds workshops on alternating years and produces a newsletter three times a year.

Biology undergraduate Jaime Coon is CMU's 2013 Udall Scholarship nominee

March 14, 2013 - Jaime Coon, a Centralis Scholar, Honors student and junior from Hamilton majoring in biology and minoring in global justice, is CMU's 2013 Udall Scholarship nominee.

The Morris K. Udall Foundation was established by Congress in 1992 to honor Morris Udall's 30 years of service in Congress. The name was amended in 2009 to include his older brother, Stewart L. Udall, also a career civil servant.

The foundation will award approximately 50 scholarships of up to $5,000 to outstanding sophomore and junior college students committed to careers in environmental or Native American policy. Additionally, scholars gain access to a vast network of like-minded individuals at seminars offered in Tucson, Arizona.

Coon was CMU's Udall nominee last year. Since then, Coon says she has strengthened her application by expanding her research in the biology department and her environmental public service.

After 200 hours of volunteering with the Wildlife Recovery Association, a nonprofit birds of prey rehabilitation organization, she became an intern there and lived on-site during the summer.

Coon has worked in associate professor of biology Kirsten Nicholson's phylogenetics lab for over two years studying a tropical lizard species complex. Discovering the cause of the species' divergence and confirming potential new species is vital - "If a species doesn't have a name, you can't write a law protecting it," she says.

Growing up on a farm instilled in Coon a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. But she says she did not make the connection between biology and environmentalism until she was in college. "Now I have this major in biology, and I'm going to be a biologist with an environmental value behind every question I ask, and I think that's really important," she says.

Coon emphasizes interdisciplinary thinking - as a global justice minor she has taken courses in sociology and political science, and her capstone project focused on advocating replacing the magnolia trees that once grew in front of Anspach Hall. "We're just trying to understand how we can help the world be more sustainable - and issues of poverty and environmental issues are so interrelated sometimes you can't even separate them," she says.

As an active member of the CMU College 101 program, Coon gives several "Passion for Wildlife" presentations a year. The goal of these speeches, which incorporate live wildlife, is to inspire at-risk students to make positive life choices and live sustainably with wildlife.

Additionally, Coon has been involved in CMU's New Venture competition with a nonprofit project called "Energize Education," which focuses on better energy efficiency in public schools.

Coon plans to pursue a Ph.D. in conservation biology.

Three CST faculty among those to receive university honors at Faculty Excellence Exhibition

March 14, 2013 - Central Michigan University will honor several outstanding faculty at the 2013 Faculty Excellence Exhibition at 3 p.m. March 20 in the Park Library Auditorium. President's and Provost's Awards, Excellence in Teaching Awards and the Lorrie Ryan Memorial Teaching Award will be given to 11 faculty members. 

Among the recipients are three CST faculty members - two receiving top honors for their outstanding research and creative activity and one for her excellence in teaching.

President's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity
Created for peers to select and recognize outstanding senior faculty members for scholarship of national and international merit.

• Donald Uzarski, associate professor of biology, has been a principal investigator on 15 funded external grants for a total of $11.7 million

Provost's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity
Created for peers to select and recognize less experienced faculty members for scholarship of national and international merit.

• Andrew Mahon, assistant professor of biology, widely recognized for his work identifying invasive species in freshwater and research in Antarctica

Excellence in Teaching Award
Created by the Academic Senate to provide special recognition to faculty members who exceed the usual standards and expectations.

• Kathy Blystone, chemistry, shows her enthusiasm for the subject using real-life examples to demonstrate how chemistry impacts students' lives every day.
  
  

Four CST students named CMU's 2013 Goldwater Scholarship nominees

February 27, 2013 - Karleigh Cameron, Amanda Clark, David Hicks and Randall Hoyle are CMU's 2013 Goldwater Scholarship nominees.

Each is one of the nearly 1,100 college and university students across the nation to be nominated.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986, and is the namesake of Barry M. Goldwater, who served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. The award is given annually to approximately 300 college sophomores and juniors who demonstrate excellence in their fields and are committed to pursuing a career in mathematics, engineering or natural sciences. Each institution is permitted to nominate up to four candidates each year.

Karleigh Cameron

Karleigh Cameron is a junior Honors student and Centralis Scholar from South Boardman, majoring in applied mathematics with a minor in environmental studies. She is spending the spring 2013 semester studying at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Cameron participated in CMU's Long-term Undergraduate Research Experience (LURE) program in the summer of 2011, and conducted research on second generation wavelets with three other students and a faculty advisor.

She presented her work with LURE at a national and an international conference - MathFest in Lexington, Ky. and Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston, Mass. The research was later published in the International Journal of Applied Mathematics.

Cameron entered the Summer Undergraduate Research in Experimental Mathematics (SURIEM) program at Michigan State University in May 2012. She worked with one other student and used bifurcation analyses to develop a more effective estimation technique for dynamical systems. She presented her work with SURIEM at MathFest 2012 in Madison, Wisc.

Cameron has also served as a mentor for HON 100: Introduction to Honors and as treasurer of Larzelere Hall, has been a member of the Science and Technology Advisory Committee, and plays on several intramural sports teams. She has worked as a tutor at the Mathematics Assistance Center, as a grader for the CMU Department of Mathematics, and as a desk receptionist in Larzelere Hall.

She said that CMU associate professor of mathematics Lisa DeMeyer, having had Cameron in her class and seen some of her work, first encouraged her to apply. "I'm so thankful to Central for all the support they've given me," Cameron says. "I know that if I hadn't gone to CMU, I wouldn't have had the same opportunities. All of my advisors have been a huge help in getting me to where I am today."

Cameron plans to go to graduate school for engineering or applied mathematics and work for government or industry.

Amanda Clark

Amanda Clark is a sophomore from Three Oaks majoring in biochemistry. She is vice president of the CMU Student Chapter of the American Chemical Society and a CMU McNair Scholar.

Clark has been working under CMU associate professor of chemistry Choon Lee for about a year. Dr. Lee's lab is working on the organic synthesis of antioxidant dendrimers, with the goal of creating a new antioxidant dendrimer which will be more effective against free radicals than those naturally occurring, helping to prevent cancer and other diseases.

Another professor noticed Clark's interest in being involved in research on the synthesis of new medicines, and suggested that she contact Dr. Lee. She started off in Lee's lab cleaning beakers and shadowing graduate students, and was gradually assigned more responsibility in the lab, such as learning how to run column chromatography to purify the antioxidant dendrimers being made.

Clark says the money from the Goldwater Scholarship would help ease some of the financial burdens of school. With both of her parents deceased, she bears the full responsibility of financing her education. Winning a scholarship would allow her to give up her part-time job and spend more time on her research and studies.

Clark plans to earn a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry or pharmacology and pursue as career as a researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - or another cancer institute - and work to develop better treatments for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

David Hicks

David Hicks is a junior Honors student from Farmington Hills majoring in physics with a minor in mathematics. He is a member of the Society of Physics Students and the American Physics Society.

Hicks is currently conducting research with CMU assistant professors of physics Veronica Barone and Matthew Redshaw.

Since January 2012, Hicks has been working with Dr. Barone doing computational and experimental battery research. He applied for a summer research grant to continue his work in the lab during the summer of 2012 and presented his research at an undergraduate poster session during the 2012 American Chemical Society Conference held in July in Dearborn, Mich. The research results are expected to be published sometime this year.

In January 2013, Hicks began working with Dr. Redshaw, a nuclear physicist. Their work involves a collaborative effort with Michigan State University to build a Penning trap for atomic nuclei, which will allow physicists to gather more accurate data on the masses of fast-decaying radioactive isotopes.

Outside of his studies and research, Hicks is involved in music, serving as a vocalist for CMU's Advanced Vocal Ensemble, Chamber Singers, and Central Harmony - an a cappella group.

He plans to earn a Ph.D. in physics and pursue a career at NASA.

Randall Hoyle

Randall Hoyle is a junior Honors student from Midland majoring in biochemistry, and a member of the CMU Student Chapter of the American Chemical Society.

Hoyle has been working with CMU associate professor of chemistry Minghui Chai since the end of his freshman year and the summer of 2011. His research focuses on using dendrimers - commercially available hyper-branched polymers - with commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, to improve their efficiency and reduce side effects.

It was Dr. Chai who encouraged Hoyle to apply for the scholarship, after hearing from a college at another university who recently had two students win the award. During her time at CMU she had been searching for a student qualified enough to compete, and found one in Hoyle.

Winning the Goldwater Scholarship would enable Hoyle to live in Mount Pleasant during the summer and focus exclusively on his research. "It's expensive living here in the summer," Hoyle said. "I tried working as a painter last summer and spent all of my time and energy on my job and not on my research."

Outside the lab, Hoyle is an active musician. He has played the trumpet in the CMU Marching Band for 3 years and is currently a rank captain. He is also a member of the CMU basketball band, and for the past 5 years or so, has been in the rock band, Archana, with his sister, brother and two other close friends.

Despite the long application process, Hoyle says he is thankful for the opportunity and remains optimistic, hoping to be the first CMU student to earn the scholarship. "I've had a lot of support from my family and friends, from Dr. Chai, and from the university, and I appreciate it all," Hoyle says. "Fingers crossed. I think this is going to be our year."

Hoyle plans to earn a Ph.D. in biochemistry and work in the private sector to develop new medicines.

Rebeccah Woodke has been named the 2013 CMU Truman Scholarship nominee

February 21, 2013 - Rebeccah Woodke, a junior Honors student and Centralis Scholar from Flushing with a major in biomedical sciences, has been named the 2013 CMU Truman Scholarship nominee.

Created by Congress in 1975, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation's purpose is to recognize college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in public service and provide them with financial support, leadership training and a network of like-minded individuals committed to the greater good.

Each applicant must be nominated by his or her university. In their applications, candidates complete a series of essays, including a proposed solution to a major public policy issue. The foundation reviews over 600 applicants each year and awards between 60 and 65 scholarships.

Woodke plans to pursue a career in public health, specifically in the areas of health behavior and health education. She intends to earn her Masters of Public Health and then her Ph.D., with the hopes of attaining a university faculty position where she will be able to prepare future public health workers, conduct research, and advocate for policies that will help erase current racial and ethnic health disparities.

In her policy proposal, Woodke addressed these disparities by suggesting greater fiscal support for a program whose focus is to implement evidence-based public health improvement initiatives at the community level. She proposed using the increased funding to give more communities access to the program, promoting greater equity in public health.

Woodke is a student leader for the Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. She has spent time abroad doing service work in Oaxaca, Mexico and in Belize, which she says helped to "reaffirm how much I want to be involved in public health and in improving the health of communities." This passion for health equity led to volunteer service at the McLaren Free Health Clinic in Mount Pleasant. Additionally, she has been a participant and site leader for the Alternative Breaks program. 

Woodke is currently working in biology professor Elizabeth Alm's laboratory on an EPA-funded study evaluating the effectiveness of a public health intervention which used border collies on beaches to deter gulls, which may carry pathogens potentially harmful to humans.

Although Woodke acknowledges that it might be awhile until she makes significant contributions to public health, she confidently reports that, "All of my service and background education is preparing me to make the change I hope for in the world - to ultimately improve the health of communities and realize health equity for all."

Graduate student Harris receives 2012 IEEE-DEIS Fellowship

November 27, 2012 - Graduate student Scott Harris has been awarded a $5,000 fellowship from the Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The fellowship is awarded to students pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the area of insulating materials, breakdown, charge transport, electrostatic phenomena, high voltage effects and related subjects.

Harris, who is doing his research with assistant professor of physics Axel Mellinger, received the award for his innovative project on studying dielectric barrier discharges in micrometer-sized voids. The data will help to improve so-called ferroelectrets, i.e. polymer foams where electric charges have been embedded into the internal voids. These piezoelectric materials have a wide range of applications as pressure sensors, actuators and energy harvesters. Unlike many of the currently used ceramic materials, they are flexible, can be manufactured in large sizes and do not contain toxic metals.

Harris is currently a Ph.D. student in CMU's Science of Advanced Materials program. He earned an M.S. degree in physics from CMU and a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. 

Part of this award is reserved for travel support and will be used to present his research at the 2013 Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena in Shenzhen, China.

Meteorology student places first at National Weather Association annual meeting

November 9, 2012 - CMU senior and meteorology major William A. LaForce recently won the best undergraduate student poster award at the 2012 National Weather Association annual meeting held from October 6-11 in Madison, Wisc. Second and third place awards went to students from the University of Missouri at Columbia and the University of Miami.

LaForce's project was entitled, "Comparison of Two Forecasts for Tornadoes Associated with Cold-Core 500-mb Lows: Surprise and Bust." Associate professor of meteorology Martin A. Baxter served as LaForce's faculty advisor.

In 2005, the NWA Weather Analysis and Forecasting (WAF) Committee initiated the addition of Best Student Presentations to the annual NWA Awards Program. At each yearly meeting, students (undergraduate and graduate) submit their abstracts to be considered for these awards. Members of the WAF Committee review each presentation and recommend their choices of the best to the NWA President for approval, who awards the students with a congratulatory letter, a cash stipend and complimentary NWA membership for the following year.

This is the third year in a row that a CMU student has won first place at this event.

CST graduate earns award at International Association of Great Lakes Research meeting

October 20, 2012 - College of Science and Technology biology graduate Lindsay Kolichhas been awarded the HYDROLAB/IAGLR Student Poster Paper award from the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) meeting in June 2012 in Cornwall, Ontario. Her poster was titled, "Effects of the dreissenid invasion on the genetic structure of Lasmigona costata (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in the Lake St. Clair delta and surrounding tributaries," and was co-authored by biology graduate student Matthew Rowe and Institute for Great Lakes Research scientist and assistant professor of biology David Zanatta.

Kolich will receive her award - a $250 check, a one-year membership in IAGLR (for 2013) and a subscription of the Journal of Great Lakes Research - at the 2013 IAGLR conference to be held in Purdue, Indiana from June 2-6. 

Kolich's award-winning poster can be downloaded here. 

Funding for this project came from the Michigan DEQ Coastal Zone Management Program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act.

Mahon receives EPA grant to battle invasive species in 
Great Lakes

October 2, 2012 - IGLR researcher and assistant professor of biology Andrew Mahon is leading the CMU research team that recently received a $356,154 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to combat invasive species in the Great Lakes basin, including the much-feared Asian carp.

Mahon's project, "Assessing Aquatic Invasive Species Risk in the Erie Canal Corridor" will assess the risks presented by aquatic invasive species (AIS) to the Erie Canal Corridor (ECC). Mahon and CMU researchers will catalogue non-native species in the Mohawk-Hudson River and Lake Champlain basins and identify currently restricted AIS that have potential to spread into the ECC. By using environmental DNA surveys, they will help identify the current range of priority AIS, potential invasion pathways and future surveillance needs.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. Over the last three years, the GLRI has provided $172 million for the prevention, detection and control of invasive species in the Great Lakes ecosystem.

A full list of EPA 2012 grants for projects to combat invasive species is available online here.

Howell receives GLS grant and NATAS Outstanding 
Achievement Award

October 2, 2012 - Chemistry professor Bob Howell recently received a $255,541 grant fromGreat Lakes Solutions to study environmentally-friendly, non-migrating flame retardants based on renewable resources.

In addition, Howell also received the North American Thermal Analysis Society (NATAS)Outstanding Achievement Award sponsored by Mettler Toledo. This prestigious award recognizes distinguished achievement in the field of thermal analysis, including but not limited to thermogravimetry, differential thermal methods and effluent gas analysis.

Howell is the 44th recipient of this award, the highest honor bestowed by the Society.

CST Outstanding Teaching, Research & Service Awards

2012 Recipients

Outstanding Teaching • Christine Phelps, mathematics assistant professor

Christine Phelps, assistant professor of mathematics, has been an outstanding teacher since coming to CMU in 2009. She mostly teaches elementary-education mathematics courses and continually strives to improve learning, which is appreciated by her students. Christine is also active in curriculum revision and mentoring doctoral students conducting projects in mathematics education research.

Outstanding Research • Felix Famoye, mathematics professor

Kiya Felix Famoye, professor of mathematics, has been at CMU since 1989. His research in theoretical and applied statistics has led to 14 journal articles, numerous presentations and three doctoral dissertations in the past three years. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods and was recently honored with a Fulbright Fellowship that allowed him to conduct research in Nigeria.

Outstanding Service • Don Uzarski, biology associate professor

Don Uzarski, associate professor of biology, serves as director of the CMU Biological Station and director of CMU's Institute for Great Lakes Research. He was appointed by Governor Granholm to serve on the Michigan wetlands advisory council and regularly advises federal and state legislators and government agencies, including the U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission about Great Lakes water level and wetland issues. Uzarski is active in outreach to the Beaver Island community and his recent service includes helping emergency medical technicians assist a commerical fisherman who was injured while fishing close to Beaver Island.

2000-2011 Recipients

• 2011: Steven W. Gorsich (Biology), Brad Safnuk (Mathematics), Philip L. Hertzler (Biology), Axel Mellinger (Physics)
  
• 2010: Brian DeJong (Engineering and Technology), Sid Graham (Mathematics), David Patton (Geography), Jennifer Schisa (Biology), Chris Tycner (Physics)
• 2009: James Gillingham (Biology), Carl Lee (Mathematics), Anna Monfils (Biology), Sivaram Narayan (Mathematics)
• 2008: Elizabeth Alm (Biology) and Tracy Galarowicz (Biology)
• 2007: Lisa DeMeyer (Mathematics) and David Pape (Engineering and Technology)
  
• 2006: Peter Vermeire (Mathematics) and Mona Sirbescu (Geology)
• 2005: Felix Famoye (Mathematics) and Terry Lerch (Engineering and Technology)
• 2004: Sivaram Narayan (Mathematics) and Andrzej Sieradzen (Physics)
• 2003: Estelle Lebeau (Chemistry) and Sven Morgan (Geology)
• 2002: Rich Fleming (Mathematics) and Alan Jackson (Physics)
• 2001: Reed Wicander (Geology) and Doug Lapp (Mathematics)
• 2000: Gongzhu Hu (Computer Science) and Joe Finck (Physics)
  

Jackson receives President's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity

March 15, 2012 - Central Michigan University honored several outstanding faculty at the 2012 Faculty Excellence Exhibition March 14 at Park Library. Nine faculty members were presented with President’s Awards, Excellence in Teaching Awards, the Faculty Distinguished Service Award and the Lorrie Ryan Memorial Teaching Award.

Koblar Alan Jackson is the winner of the 2012 President's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity at CMU. This award was created by CMU for peers to select and recognize outstanding senior faculty members for scholarship of national and international merit.

Jackson’s research in the field of cluster physics and nanoscience, specializing in computational condensed matter physics and theory of atomic clusters are, considered critical to improving the understanding of cluster physics. His contributions to the field, including the discovery of shape transitions in intermediate-sized silicon clusters, have been lauded as important for its scientific merit and its potential applications for commercial use. His research, which has been presented at more than 120 conferences and seminars worldwide, has received $1.7 million in grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Paliewicz receives President's Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments

March 28, 2012 - Geology major Cory Paliewicz was recently nominated by Dr. Ian Davison, dean of the College of Science and Technology, for the Provost's Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments.

The nominees for the Provost's awards (up to two from each academic college) are also considered for the President's Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments. Only three CMU students receive this award each year.

Paliewicz is one of the recipients of this year's President's Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments, and received a framed certificate presented by CMU President George E. Ross at the Student Research and Creative Endeavors Exhibition (SRCEE) on April 18th in Finch Fieldhouse. He also received a monetary award of $500 applied to his student account.

CMU meteorology students place first and second at national meetings

February 8, 2012 - CMU meteorology students recently received first and second place honors at the national meetings of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.

American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (January 2012)

Undergraduate Poster Competition

• First Place: Adam Picard, Evaluation of the Mesoscale Convective Vortex and Heavy Flooding of August 11-12, 2010
  Advisor: Marty Baxter (CMU)

This work was an Honors Program project. There were a total of 150 students (undergraduate and graduate) in the competition.

National Weather Association Annual Meeting, Birmingham, AL (October 2011)

Undergraduate Poster Competition

• First Place: Aaron Mayhew, Critical Sounding Parameters for Severe Pulse Thunderstorms in Coastal South Carolina
  Advisor: Frank Alsheimer (NOAA/National Weather Service, Charleston, SC)
• Second Place: Scott Ozog, Patterns that Produce Large and Small Snowfall Events for Homer, Alaska
  Advisor: James Nelson (NOAA/National Weather Service, Anchorage, AK)

Both posters were completed as part of the NOAA Hollings Scholarship and Internship Program. There were 20 undergraduate students in the competition.

Maraskine named CMU Goldwater Scholarship nominee

February 3, 2012 - Marina Maraskine of Midland is Central Michigan University’s 2012 Goldwater Scholarship nominee. She is one of nearly 1,100 college and university students from across the nation to be nominated for this honor.

Congress established the Goldwater Scholarship program in 1986 to honor the late Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona, who served for 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The awards go to outstanding college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. Institutions are permitted to nominate a limited number of students each year with the nomination representing a significant recognition in itself.

Maraskine, a junior in biomedical sciences and chemistry, proposed research on “A nanomedical solution to targeted drug delivery.” She is currently and will continue conducting her research under the direction of Professor Ajit Sharma in the Department of Chemistry. At this time, she is working on the preparation and characterization of a nanomedical delivery vehicle. She plans to formally present her work within the next year.

Upon graduation, Maraskine plans to pursue a combined M.D./Ph.D. program and continue nanomedical research. She is interested in targeted drug delivery as a method of treating diseases while reducing side effects that can pose risks to otherwise healthy systems. Following graduate school, she hopes to work as a medical scientist developing new drug delivery techniques and working with patients. 

The CMU Goldwater Scholarship committee this year was composed of David Ash, professor and chairperson of the Department of Chemistry; Kathleen Benison, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Phame Camarena, director of University Honors and the National Scholarship Program; Koblar Alan Jackson, professor and chairperson of the Department of Physics; Kristina Lemmer, assistant professor in the School of Engineering & Technology; and Bin Li, professor and chairperson in the Department of Geography.