Gregg Janowski

Michigan Tech was a family affair for Gregg. His mother grew up in Houghton and his parents were married in St. Ignatius Loyola church in Houghton and he had uncles who graduated from Tech as well.

When he was looking at universities, he felt more comfortable in a smaller town and a school that is more focused on engineering. The Michigan Tech scholarship he received made the choice easy. He met his wife Karen Banasiak, who graduated in '83 with a degree in medical technology. After graduation, when he was considering graduate schools, he didn’t see anything elsewhere that he could not get at Michigan Tech, so he stuck around for his master’s and his Ph.D. Bruce Pletka was his thesis and dissertation advisor who taught him how to be a faculty member, researcher, and teacher.

"Michigan Tech did a good job at all degree levels," explained Gregg. "Graduate education remains one of the last apprenticeship-based career trainings, and my experience in what is now MSE gave me the knowledge and the other tools it took to succeed in an academic career."

Gregg’s first position, post-PhD, was as a post-doc at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He then went to the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an assistant professor where he rose through the academic ranks to professor, with various administrative positions including associate dean and associate provost.

Excellence in engineering education is important to Gregg. He has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses and received the 1999 Presidential Award for Excellence
in Teaching for School of Engineering at UAB and the 2013 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching, which is the highest teaching award at UAB. He has mentored/co-mentored 12 doctoral students, five of whom are university faculty.

Gregg's research has involved composite materials, metals, and dental materials, with over 80 total publications. He also led the university through its 2015 regional accreditation reaffirmation and has been responsible for several successful EAC/ABET reviews for his department and school. In addition, he has served as an ABET program evaluator and team chair and has recently joined the Engineering Accreditation Commission Executive Committee.

Gregg serves on Michigan Tech's College of Engineering Advisory Board. "A university education,
especially in engineering, can lead to a great career, with many professional and financial rewards. Anything we can do to provide that education to a larger, diverse population is important to improving our society." He advises young alumni to "be willing to do the tough jobs that make your organization better. Those tasks need to be done and doing them well gets your noticed and makes you invaluable."

Updated September 2021