SPOTLIGHT
ON STUDENT SUCCESS IMAGINING A BRIGHT FUTURE Hannah Mize is a chemistry major and math minor who will graduate in May 2013. With an eye already on her Ph.D., and ultimately a plan to work in a government-based research setting, it’s easy to think Hannah’s a bit over-confident when she mentions that getting into a top-flight grad school should be very do-able. Hannah’s confidence is grounded in her undergraduate preparation, along with her co-op position at Dow Corning, the conference and poster presentations she has given, and the work she is doing alongside H.H. Dow Endowed Chair David Karpovich as a student research assistant. She believes that in the end all this will help set her apart from others. She also draws confidence from the advice she’s received from faculty “as to where they think I will find the best fit – just because they know me so well.” The Caro native is a President and University Foundation scholarship recipient. Graduating virtually debtfree is another advantage she mentions when she talks about her undergraduate experience. “Can you imagine?” she
asks, adding that she and other chemistry students presented research at a national conference (the 2012 American Chemical Society Chemistry for Life 243rd National Meeting and Exposition). She offers yet another “can you imagine?” when she shares that her name will be included in Karpovich’s soon-to-be published research article on turning crude glycerin, a by product with limited application, into an alternative fuel. “I’m doing many of the experiments,” Mize said. “Dr. Karpovich even lets us decide what experiments to conduct. When I get to grad school, I’ll be ready to do my own research. And I’m part of the writing process, too. Learning how to write about chemistry, present about chemistry and conduct research is a great experience.” Asked to sum up her SVSU experience, Hannah smiles. “My education…I’m proof that you don’t have to go to a Big Ten research school to be successful. I’m going to have the future I want, and it all started right here.”
HANNAH MIZE & DAVID KARPOVICH
ENGINEERING PROJECT REDUCES COMPOST DRYING TIME Three recently-graduated mechanical engineering students completed a successful project that received support from the Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow Student Research & Creativity Institute. Todd Andrezejewski (Bay City), Dustin Finn (Akron, Mich.), and Joshua Hand (Midland) created a vermicompost dryer for the SVSU greenhouse. All three students graduated in August 2012, B.S.M.E. (Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering). Edward Meisel, lecturer of chemistry and greenhouse manager, requested a solution to his need to reduce compost drying time so that compost could more quickly be readied
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for packaging. The students – under the guidance of Tom Mahan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering – began the project in the winter 2012 semester and completed it prior to their August 2012 graduation. All three students agree that the project gave them great experience. According to Finn, it even helped him land an engineering position post-graduation. “I had multiple job offers just based on this project,” he added. According to Andrezejewski, “The calculating, designing, writing, fabricating – the process of starting the project and bringing it to a conclusion – was the real value.” Echoed Hand, “This was a completely
independent project we had to own, from start to finish.” According to Meisel, the project to reduce drying time has met his expectations. A bonus outcome is that the compactness of the dryer has eliminated the need for about half the physical space in the greenhouse. This is because since the former drying system required that the soil by spread to dry naturally. Andrezejewski has accepted an engineering position with Means Industries, while Finn will work for Merrill Technologies Group and Hand for Nexteer Automotive.