Tech Again Ranked Among Top Universities:

US News & World Report has again ranked Michigan Tech in the top half of 248 national universities. The 2004 rankings also placed three of the university’s undergraduate engineering programs among the top 25: environmental engineering (16th), materials science and engineering (18th), and mechanical engineering (15th).

Faculty Affiliate with AAUP:

The Michigan Tech faculty (tenured and tenure-track) have voted to unionize, selecting the American Association of University Professors as their bargaining agent. The vote was 152-134 in favor of the union.

Revenue, Budget on Target:

Revenue for Michigan Tech’s current fiscal year meets the university’s projections, and the budget is on target to be balanced. During a campus forum, President Glenn Mroz said tuition revenue for this fall is projected to exceed budget estimates by about $230,000. State appropriations will total $50.2 million, including a one-time $1.5 million “rebate,” provided to universities that keep tuition below the rate of inflation. With a 2.3 percent tuition increase for 2004-05, Tech posted the lowest percentage increase in the state.

Campus Tours Seal the Deal:

Seeing is believing: 99 percent of the potential students that tour Tech’s campus file an application. Of those who apply and are accepted, 90 percent enroll. Bill Roberts, who coordinates the campus visit program, attributes the success to well-trained student tour guides and the general friendly atmosphere at Tech and in the Keweenaw.

New Technology Dean:

Scott Amos, formerly head of the industrial management department at Southwest Missouri State, is Michigan Tech’s new Dean of the School of Technology. He will also direct Michigan Tech’s distance learning program. Before moving to Southwest Missouri in 2000, Amos had developed and directed the construction management technology program at Weber State University in Utah.

New Programs Added to the Curriculum:

Michigan Tech’s Board of Control has approved 14 new degree programs.

The new undergraduate programs include:
 
• BS in Wildlife Ecology and Management
• BA in Communication and Culture Studies
• BS in Electrical Engineering, concentration in photonics
• BS in Mathematical Sciences, concentration in education preparation
• BS in Biological Sciences, concentration in fish biology
• BS in Engineering Technology, concentration in construction management

The new graduate programs include:
 
• PhD in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology
• Master of Engineering, Civil Engineering
• Master of Engineering, Environmental Engineering
• MS in Applied Ecology
• MS in Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
• graduate certificate in sustainability

Master’s in Business Program Back

Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics has re-introduced its master of science degree in business administration (MSBA). The program is designed to meet the demands of today’s technologically-rich workplace.

MSBA students can choose from among three concentrations: finance, operations management, and entrepreneurship. Full-time students can complete the course work in one year.

Minimum enrollment requirements include a 2.7 GPA as an undergraduate and a 550 on the GMAT (or a 480 verbal and 620 quantitative on the GRE).

For more information, see www.sbe.mtu.edu or contact Dana Johnson (dana@mtu.edu or 906-487-2803).

Using Math to Bet on the Futures

Igor Kliakhandler (shown right), an associate professor of mathematical sciences, has developed sophisticated algorithms to study the futures market. He uses the information to bet, or, in the parlance of money managers, to speculate. Futures speculators buy and sell contracts to purchase products at some specific time in the future for a specific price. With this expertise, he manages small funds for himself and a handful of acquaintances.

Kliakhandler uses robots—computer programs that perform one narrow task—to gather and analyze information from a variety of commodities databases. At the end of each trading day, the entire set of market information is automatically retrieved.

Study Looks at Future of Northern Forests

Forests are like giant pumps. Tree roots take up water from the soil, and the leaves release it into the air as vapor. No one knows how those dynamics may change in the next 50 years as concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and ozone continue to rise.

John King (shown standing left), an assistant professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, has received a $450,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture to explore how atmospheric change may affect tree physiology and, in turn, water resources in the Upper Midwest.

The research will be conducted at Aspen FACE, in Rhinelander, Wis., the world’s largest, open-air climate change research facility.

Underground Lab to Reveal the Secret Life of Trees

The US Forest Service lab at Michigan Tech is digging two eight-foot tunnels, each 75 feet long, into the nearby woods, providing a view of the surrounding soil.

“The facility gives you the ability to study the roots of big trees, which is hard to do from the surface without significant disturbance,” said Alex Friend, project leader at the North Central Research Station.

Scientists will also use devices ranging from microscopes to webcams, using time-lapse photography to track seasonal ebbs and flows from a different perspective.

The tunnels will be among a tiny number of such facilities worldwide, said Professor Kurt Pregitzer (forest resources and environmental science), whose research focuses on underground processes. The Forest Service is funding the facility, which is expected to be completed by September 2005.

Frankenstein Visits Orientation

New on the orientation agenda this year: Frankenstein. No, it wasn't a senior design project, but required reading of all entering freshmen.

“During orientation, the first-year students had group discussions led by a faculty or staff member about the book,” said Beth Wagner, assistant dean of first-year programs.

The idea was to provide students with an idea of how a 90-minute discussion between students and faculty feels. Groups of 20-25 students were led by faculty and staff facilitators.

According to Bonnie Gorman, associate vice provost for student life, the intent was to have participants “feel more like students here rather than visitors to the campus.”

Why Frankenstein?

“It’s a classic, it’s inexpensive, and it is available on-line,” Gorman said.

Remembering Harold Meese

Editor's Note: This notice was inadvertently left out of a previous issue of the Alumnus magazine.

He came to Michigan Tech to teach metallurgy. He left his mark as one of the most popular and effective deans of students in the university's history. He retired with the Pep Band still shouting, “Hi Dad!” across the ice arena at every hockey game.

Harold Meese passed away, at the age of 83, in December 2003.

Meese arrived at the Michigan College of Mining and Technology in 1950 as an assistant professor of metallurgical engineering. He was later promoted to associate professor, then became dean of students in 1959.

For the next 25 years, he was responsible for all student affairs, including counseling, discipline, orientation, financial aid, the student health service, placement, enforcing academic standards, and student activities.

He touched the lives of thousands of students, through his service with various student organizations and through his attempts to help keep them in school.

Meese retired in 1984, but remained as academic advisor for the athletic department for 10 years. The university honored him with its Distinguished Service Award, the Claire M. Donovan Award, the alumni association's Outstanding Service Award and, ultimately, naming a building in his honor.

Alberta Marks 50th with Dedication

Michigan Tech marked the 50th anniversary of the Ford Forestry Center at Alberta, Michigan, by dedicating the conference center to two long-time supporters of the facility who happen to be father and son. The center was dedicated in honor of Ted and Roger Rogge.

Roger (at left with plaque) is shown with President Glenn Mroz and Peg Gale, dean of forest resources and environmental science.

Ted Rogge, who ran some of Ford’s UP operations from Iron Mountain, was instrumental in supporting the idea for Ford Motor Company to donate the center, mill and surrounding lands to MTU as a teaching facility. Roger ’56 managed the facility for a number of years after graduating from Michigan Tech.

Awards and Salutations

Seth Donahue (biomedical engineering) received the American Society of Biomechanics Postdoctoral Young Scientist Award for his work with black bear cortical bone. Donahue studies the black bear as a model for understanding osteoporosis.

Professor Alex Kostinski (physics) received the 2004 Research Award, cited for his “impressive ability to strike at the fundamental physical assumptions that underlie major disciplinary areas of atmospheric science and remote sensing.”

Lecturer Doug Oppliger ‘83 (engineering fundamentals) received this year’s Faculty Distinguished Service Award. Along with teaching engineering courses, advising the Robotic Systems Enterprise/FIRST Robotics Team and supporting LEGO League Robotics, he helped revive the MTU Nordic ski program.

This year’s two Distinguished Teaching Awards were given to Lecturer Ann Humes (technology) and Professor Terry Reynolds (social science). Humes was recognized for imparting confidence in her students and bringing innovative teaching methods into the classroom. Reynolds received the award for his exceptional enthusiasm in teaching the large, lecture-based World Cultures class.

Assistant Professor L. Brad King (ME-EM) is among 60 faculty members nationwide to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. King receives a five-year, $500,000 grant to continue his research on very-high-powered ion engines, which could be used for manned Mars missions or ambitious robotic space science missions.

Professor Ghatu Subhash (ME-EM) has been named a Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in recognition of his exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. He has won a number of teaching awards, has written a book, and holds three patents.

Michigan Tech’s Summer Youth Program has received the SME Education Foundation’s Building the Future Award. The award recognizes programs dedicated to increasing the number of youth choosing careers in manufacturing, engineering, science and technology.

Christopher Kimojino, a junior in chemical engineering, has been awarded a $10,000 General Motors Sullivan Fellowship, which supports universal human rights by promoting equal opportunity and fair competition. Kimojino will receive $5,000 of the fellowship as a scholarship, and $5,000 will support Enterprise curriculum development.

Researchers Help Sequence First Tree Genome

A team of Michigan Tech researchers has played a key role in an international effort to sequence the first tree genome. The team was part of a consortium that has deciphered the genetic code of the black cottonwood.

Chung-Jui Tsai (left, at left), director of the Biotech Research Center and an associate professor of forest resources and environmental science, led the Michigan Tech effort.

Nanotech Receives $5 Million

The research scale is nano, but the bucks are closer to mega.

Michigan Tech’s Center for Nanomaterials Research has received more than $5 million in federal funding since August 2003. The most recent grant, $1 million, was appropriated in September.

The center also received $2.8 million in June 2004 and $1.4 million in August 2003. All of the funds came from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Department of Defense.

“We are taking existing things and making them smaller,” said Craig Friedrich, associate professor of mechanical engineering and the center’s director.

The researchers are focusing on creating nanoelectronics and communication nano-devices, connecting nano-devices with micro-devices and integrating protein sensors with nanoelectronics.