Professional Development

Host: Margaret Plank, GSG PD Chair

Many advisor/advisee relationships are positive and productive; others can be challenging and difficult. Communication, power dynamics, different expectations, and more, can make these relationships difficult to navigate, and even negatively impact graduate students’ experiences at the professional and personal levels.

The Professional Development Committee at the Graduate Student Government and MTU’s Career Services are collaborating to bring you a three part seminar dedicated to navigating careers for scientists. Panels will be made up of professionals across academia and industry within different departments and disciplines. These panels will feature brief speaker introductions, questions about their backgrounds, public Q&A, and breakout rooms for discipline specific questions.

The third panel on March 17th, 2022 at 6 pm EST will feature MTU affiliates from departments of cognitive learning, social sciences, and humanities. Our prestigious panelists include:

Cognitive learning:

Dr. Brandon Perelman – earned his PhD in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors from MTU and is now the Human-Autonomy Teaming ERP Program Manager at Army Research Laboratory.

Hannah North – earned her MS in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors from MTU and now is a Senior UX researcher at Sleep Number corp. Between her MS and current job she also was employed as a senior human experience researcher at Kohler and a User Experience Designer/Analyst at Imperial Supplies

Social Sciences:

Dr. John Arnold – earned his PhD in Industrial Heritage and Archeology from MTU and is now the historical architect at the Keweenaw Historical National Park.

Humanities:

Dr. G. Edzordzi Agbozo – earned his PhD in Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture from MTU and is now an assistant professor of English at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington.

Dr. Hua Wang – earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from MTU and is now the senior lecturer in the Engineering Communications Program at Cornell University.

Dr. Maria Bergstrom – earned her PhD in English Language and Literature from University of Michigan and is now a lecturer and academic advisor here at MTU in the department of Humanities.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Register here: https://mtu.libcal.com/calendar/gsg/scp3

Host: Hongjing (Truda) Xie; PhD Candidate, Statistics, MTU

Hongjing Xie is in her final year as a PhD student in Bio/Genetic Statistics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at MTU. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Changchun University in China in Statistics. She has a master’s degree from Northeast Normal University, China, in Applied Statistics and a master’s in Statistics from MTU. Her research interests are studying the association between complex diseases and genetic variants.

The Professional Development Committee at the Graduate Student Government and MTU’s Career Services are collaborating to bring you a three part seminar dedicated to navigating careers for scientists. Panels will be made up of professionals across academia and industry within different departments and disciplines. These panels will feature brief speaker introductions, questions about their backgrounds, public Q&A, and breakout rooms for discipline specific questions.
The second panel on February 23rd, 2022 at 6 pm EST will feature MTU graduates from departments of forestry, biology, geology and mining, and chemistry. Our prestigious panelists include:

Dr. Adam Coble earned his PhD in Forest Science from MTU and is now the Manager of Forest Health and Monitoring for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Dr. Kelsey Carter earned her PhD in Forest Science from MTU and now is Post-Doctoral Associate at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Department of Energy.

Dr. Rapsa Basu earned her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from MTU and now is the Lead Scientist in Precision Immunotherapy at Humane Genomics.

Dr. Aparupa Sengupta earned her MS in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology and her PhD in Biological Sciences from MTU, worked as a Biosafety Officer at Rutgers University, and is now a BioSafety officer at UofC-MERCED.

Dr. Matthew Songer earned a BS in Biological Sciences from MTU and an MD from University of Illinois, Chicago and is now an orthopedic spine surgeon and entrepreneur. He also earned a master of business administration from Northwestern University and taught at MTU and MSU.

Dr. Elisa Piispa earned a PhD in Geophysics from MTU, was an assistant professor at Yachay Tech University, and now is a Research Specialist and Lab Manager at the Paleomagnetism Laboratory of Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.

Dr. Chet Hopp earned an MS in Geophysics from MTU, a PhD in Geophysics from Victoria University of Wellington, and is now a Postdoctoral Scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Energy Geoscience Division.

Dr. Bhaskar Halami earned his PhD in Chemistry from MTU, worked as a Senior Scientist at PPD in Thermo Fisher Scientific, and is now a Senior Scientist at Sirnaomics, Inc.

Dr. Chelsea Nikula earned her PhD in Chemistry from MTU and now works as a Higher Research Scientist in the National Physical Laboratory in the UK.

Don’t miss this opportunity to discuss careers with these knowledgeable people!

The Professional Development Committee at the Graduate Student Government and MTU’s Career Services are collaborating to bring you a three part seminar dedicated to navigating careers for scientists. Panels will be made up of professionals across academia and industry within different departments and disciplines. These panels will feature brief speaker introductions, questions about their backgrounds, public Q&A, and breakout rooms for discipline specific questions.

The first panel on February 2, 2022 (Wednesday) at 6:00 pm EST will feature MTU graduates from departments of Math, Physics, and Computing. Our prestigious panelists include:

Derek Dykens – graduated with a BS in computer system networking and telecommunications from MTU and is now a Global Retail Industry Strategist for Splunk

Dr. Alexandria Johnson – graduated with a BS in Physics from MTU and went on to Purdue to get her PhD in Atmospheric Science. She is now an Assistant professor at Purdue University.

Dr. Manish Kulkarni – graduated with a MS in Physics from MTU and went on to Case Western Reserve to get his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He is now working as a Senior Staff Scientist at Diagnostic Solutions and Systems.

Dr. Ruihao Huang – graduated with a PhD in applied mathematics from MTU and is now working for the FDA as a pharmacometrics reviewer.

Don’t miss this opportunity to discuss careers with these knowledgeable people!

Do you ever find yourself wondering how to be an effective Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) or Graduate Teaching Instructor (GTI)? The Professional Development Committee at GSG will be hosting Dr. Meyer as a speaker for our “How to be an effective GTA/GTI” Webinar.

Dr. Meyer works with the Center for Teaching and Learning at MTU and teaches a course about this very thing, so don’t miss this invaluable material!

As graduate students, managing finances is important and oftentimes difficult. We are delighted to bring you guest speaker Mike Kolasa, certified financial planner and advisor and Vice-President of the Marquette Trust and Investment Service Office, for an informative seminar on financial management.

Mike opened the Marquette Trust and Investment Service Office in 2012 and has 24 years of financial and legal experience. As a long-time resident of the Marquette area, his primary focus is on financial, tax, and estate planning as well as account investment management for clients in Upper Michigan and beyond.

Topics covered during the seminar will include:

• Managing cash flow,
• Negotiating your job contract,
• Renting or buying,
• Retirement planning,
• Ensuring Life options.

Questions are welcome, and we hope to see you there!

Public speaking and effective communication skills are paramount to success in the workplace! The GSG Professional Development committee is excited to announce an interactive seminar on public speaking hosted by Marina Choy and Veena Namboodri, communication instructors and PhD candidates in the Rhetoric, Theory and Culture program at the Department of Humanities.

We will actively discuss speech anxiety management as well as tips for improving delivery, clarity, organization, audience engagement, and more. Join us next Wednesday, October 27th at MEEM 111 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

There will also be a dedicated Q&A time–feel free to come with questions!