Ranit Karmakar
President
gsg-president@mtu.edu
Office Hours: M-F, 12:00 – 1:00PM, Admin 405 or Zoom
Ranit is a 5th year Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering. His research focus is on computer vision and medical AI. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, photography, playing guitar, and reading.
The GSG President chairs meetings and works as GSG’s liaison with the Michigan Tech administration.
Shreya Joshi
Vice-President
gsg-vp@mtu.edu
Office Hours: TR, 11:00 AM to Noon, Admin 405 or Zoom
Shreya is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Atmospheric sciences and Meteorology in the department of physics. His research focus is on studying effects of cloud processing on Black carbon particles. In his free time he enjoys playing badminton, tennis, volleyball, soccer, hiking, butchering guitar chords, playing open world adventure games, FIFA and watching A24 movies.
The Vice-president assumes the duties of the President in his/her absence at any GSG or Executive Board meetings; serves as liaison with the standing committee chairs, and is the administrator of the First Contact program.
Matt Sisson
Secretary
gsg-secretary@mtu.edu
Office Hours: Friday, 09:00 – 10:00 AM, Grad Commons
Matt is a 2nd year PhD student in Materials Science & Engineering studying aluminum-scandium alloys. He enjoys motorcycling, building computers, being heartbroken by the Detroit Lions, fantasy football, board games and card games, and retro video games, especially Mega Man.
The Secretary records and prepares minutes for all GSG meetings; maintains the Constitution and Bylaws, including any amendments; maintains member and committee rosters; coordinates the poster-board rentals; and oversees yearly elections.
Karlee Westrem
Treasurer
gsg-treasurer@mtu.edu
Office Hours: TR, Noon to 1:00 PM, Grad Commons
Karlee is a Ph.D. candidate in the Mathematical Science with focus on representation theory. Her hobbies include painting/drawing, hiking/kayaking/camping, doing CrossFit/exercise, and music-playing various instruments. A fun fact about Karlee is that she can play the accordion
The treasurer maintains all income, disbursements, and financial records of the GSG; plans the coming year’s budget in conjunction with the Executive Board; provides monthly financial status reports to the Executive Board and to GSG; manages committee-related expenditures, providing monthly reports to committee chairs.
Michael Maurer
Research Chair
gsg-research@mtu.edu
Office Hours: W, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Admin 405
Michael is a Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering. His research focus is Electro-optics and photonic integrated chips. His current research project is miniaturizing a quantum communication system. Outside of GSG his hobbies include woodworking, board games, biking and camping.
The Research Chair is responsible for organizing the major research events on campus. These include the Graduate Research Colloquium, the 3 Minute Thesis Competition, the Merit Awards Program, and more.
Travis Wavrunek
Professional Development Chair
gsg-prodev@mtu.edu
Office Hours: TR, 5:00- 6:00 PM, Grad Commons or by appointment
Travis is a second-year Ph.D. student in Mechanical engineering. His research focus is on prospecting for water ice on the lunar surface and the development of lunar infrastructure. Outside of research, Travis enjoys hiking, photography, working out, and reading.
The Professional Development Chair is responsible for organizing and running the standing seminar program. They organize the Academic Seminar series and the Professional Development series in conjunction with the Graduate School.
Roya Bagheri
Social Chair
gsg-social@mtu.edu
Office Hours: W, 11:00 – Noon, MEEM 1008
Roya is a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Department. She joined MTU in Spring 2020 and started her research in the bio-research area. Her research focuses on biomaterial for heart tissue engineering. Outside of GSG, her hobbies include hiking, camping, dancing, swimming, tennis, and board games.
The Social Chair helps build a sense of community among graduate students by organizing social events each semester; assists the vice-president as necessary with Fall and Spring orientation; organizes the Graduate Student Orientation Picnic; and works with other committees, as requested, with the social aspects of workshops, such as catering and reservations.
Laura Vidal Chiesa
Public Relations Chair
gsg-pr@mtu.edu
Office Hours: W, 4-5 PM, Admin 405
Laura is a Ph.D. student in the Rhetoric, Theory and Culture program. Her research draws from Writing Program Administration Studies, Composition Studies, and Emotional Labor to look at the working conditions of Writing Program Administrators in the US. She loves to travel, music and concerts, working out, and hanging out with friends.
The Public Relations Chair promotes awareness of GSG in the University community by crafting publicity materials in a variety of communications media, especially the GSG website, and responds to requests for general information from the graduate student body at large.