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April 28, 2005--Michigan Technological University is more than a great research institution, its president, Glenn Mroz, told the Michigan House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education today. The university integrates students at all levels into its research, introducing them almost immediately to the knowledge creation process. Michigan Tech undergraduates participate in projects ranging from building a satellite to controlling exotic species to researching nanotechnology, Mroz said. Many projects also involve area high school and middle school students, paving the way for the scientists and engineers of the future. MTU leads all universities in the state in invention disclosures per dollar of research funding and in the percentage of research funded by industry, he said. Plus, Michigan Tech received $22 million in federal research funding last year, supporting projects involving hundreds of students. "These students graduate knowing how research and development is done," Mroz said. A parallel program that helps meet the needs of industry and prepare students for the realities of the workplace is MTU's trailblazing Enterprise Program, in which teams of students solve real-world engineering, manufacturing and design problems supplied by industry partners. The strategy seems to be working. Michigan Tech boasts a 94 percent placement rate among its graduating students. "Despite a slowly rebounding economy, we have had record-breaking numbers of companies visiting campus to recruit our graduates," Mroz said. In addition to educating skilled professionals for the state's workforce, MTU encourages economic development through the Michigan Tech SmartZone, a collaborative effort among the university and the cities of Hancock and Houghton. "And our research expenditures add approximately $30 million to the local economy and create some 1,000 jobs in the community," Mroz said. "This includes approximately $3 million to $4 million in annual sales by local companies licensing university technologies." While these programs are expensive--MTU has the greatest percentage of high-cost programs in the state--the university is still committed to meeting the financial needs of all qualified Michigan students who enroll and to keeping the cost of education as low as possible. Its graduates leave the institution with the 16th lowest amount of debt of any national university in the nation and the 11th lowest among public universities, he said, citing U.S. News and World Report. Lastly, Mroz stressed the importance of increasing state financial support to maintain the university as one of the state's great educational assets, since Michigan Tech has the costliest mix of academic programs in the state, with over 80 percent of its curriculum in science and engineering. "Michigan Tech is a place where students can be judged on what they do," he concluded. "It's a place where students from all walks of life can get a quality education that prepares them to do the extraordinary: to create the future." |