March 27, 2024

The Vice President for Research (VPR) Search Committee has invited three candidates to Michigan Tech for on-campus interviews.

Candidate 2 Open Forum Presentation:
Thursday, March 28, at 2 p.m. in Chem Sci 102
The second candidate will interview tomorrow and Friday (March 28 and 29). The candidate will present their vision for research at Michigan Tech at an open forum tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Chem Sci 102.

Information on all candidates, interview dates, open forum information and post-forum recordings can be viewed at the Office of the President's Vice President for Research Search page. A Michigan Tech login is required to view candidate information.

The search committee encourages the campus community to interact with each candidate during the interviews and to provide feedback by completing the anonymous comment form provided on the VPR Candidates page. Feedback forms will be posted immediately following each candidate's visit and will be available for 72 hours following the last candidate's departure.

The College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES) Dean Search Committee originally invited four semifinalist candidates to Michigan Tech for on-campus interviews. Due to the third candidate's withdrawal, another candidate has been invited to campus the week of April 8.

Candidate Open Forum Presentation:
Thursday, March 28, at 4 p.m. in Dow 642
The next candidate’s interview will be held tomorrow and Friday (March 28 and 29). The candidate will present their administrative philosophy and vision for CFRES at an open forum tomorrow at 4 p.m. in Dow 642.

Information on all candidates, interview dates and open forum information can be viewed at the Academic Affairs Dean Search page. A Michigan Tech login is required to view resumes and provide comment. The open forums will be video recorded and posted to the website for viewing.

The CFRES Dean Search Committee encourages the campus community to interact with each candidate during the interviews and provide feedback by completing the anonymous comment form provided at the website. Feedback forms will be available for 72 hours following the last candidate's visit.

Although Google Drive is a useful tool for storing information, recent changes to Michigan Tech’s Google Workspace can potentially result in files unexpectedly disappearing from your Google Drive. In some cases, these files are unrecoverable.

This is often an issue of file ownership. When a student shares a file in their Google Drive with others and loses Drive access after graduating, those files become inaccessible to those who were granted access. Eventually, they will be deleted.

To prevent this, we’ve outlined some best practices when saving files to Google Drive in our knowledge base article, "How to avoid data loss in Google Drive."

The article covers:

• How to determine the best option for University information storage
• How to move files within Google Workspace
• Troubleshooting file ownership issues

If you have questions about Google Drive and data storage, we can help. Contact IT at it-help@mtu.edu or call 7-1111.

Provost Andrew Storer's open office hours session tomorrow (March 28) has been shortened to accommodate the vice president for research candidate vision presentation. The open office hours session will run from 1-2 p.m. in the Library Cafe instead of 1-3 p.m. Feel free to stop by; appointments are not required for open office hours.

Though this will be the final open office hour of the academic year, office hours continue to be held from 1-3 p.m. each Thursday. Faculty, staff and students are welcome to schedule an appointment by emailing Amie Ledgerwood at asledger@mtu.edu.

The information provided here is also available on the Academic Affairs website. To view it, click the office hours icon in the bottom right corner of the banner image.

Ryan Hallowell and Matthew Bunch from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) will be available on Michigan Tech's campus for one-on-one sessions from April 30 through May 2 in the following locations:

• Ryan Hallowell — MUB Greenstone Room (MUB 106A)
• Matthew Bunch — MUB Superior Room (MUB B001)

No matter where you are in life — just getting started or planning for retirement — a session with a financial consultant can help you create a plan for your goals. And, there's no cost for a consultation as a part of your retirement plan.

RSVP today, as space is limited. You can register for sessions with TIAA directly by logging in to your TIAA or guest account, then searching for "Michigan Tech" in the Institution field. When asked how you would like to meet, select "In Person at My Employer."

You can also register for a meeting by calling TIAA at 800-732-8353 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

Michigan Tech's 2024 Parade of Nations is excited to announce our annual logo design contest for our amazing local K-12 Keweenaw student artists!

This year, our theme is "Holidays Around the World" — exploring the celebrations and holidays that bring cultures joy, connection and community.

The logo should be submitted as either a drawn and colored design (using a maximum of five solid colors and no shading on untextured white paper) or a high-resolution digital scan/upload of original artwork (at least 300 DPI). The designer should sign their name outside the main artwork. Any graphics must be original and not downloaded from the web.

The deadline for logo contest submissions is April 30. The winning logo artist will be awarded $300, and their logo will be put on the official 2024 Parade of Nations stickers, pins and marketing materials.

Please email logo submissions to ips@mtu.edu with a subject line reading "Attention - Mariana Nakashima - Logo Contest."

After 26 years of dedication and involvement, Gretchen Hein (MMET), a cherished faculty member and advisor, is retiring.

During her tenure, Hein imparted her knowledge through a range of engineering courses within the Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology. She also served as the advisor for Michigan Tech's section of the Society of Women Engineers. Under her mentorship and guidance, multiple members of the section have gone on to win national awards.

We invite you to celebrate Hein's remarkable achievements and retirement with us on Friday (March 29) at the Rozsa Lobby from 5-7 p.m.

Join Michigan Tech Athletics, Michigan Tech Recreation and the Outdoor Adventure Program (OAP) at the annual Silent Gear Auction. The gear auction will be held April 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the SDC, on the concourse of the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

The auction is open to everyone and is a silent/blind bid auction. No registration is needed; however, participants will be required to sign in when entering the auction with their name, phone number and email.

All items start at $50 or more. The auction will include used and surplus outdoor and sports gear. Calls will be made to winning bidders between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Winners are required to pay for and pick up their items between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. the same day.

Visit Michigan Tech Recreation's Silent Gear Auction page for more information.

Don't miss your last chance to register for Michigan Tech’s Women's Basketball and Men's Basketball Little Huskies Camps, Volleyball Academies and the Doghouse Classic 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament!

These camps provide an opportunity for your Little Husky to perfect their skills while learning from college athletes and coaches at Michigan Tech!

Registration is closing soon, so sign up quick!

Registration and more information on all our spring programs can be found on Michigan Tech Recreation's Camps, Clinics and Tournaments page.

See you at the SDC, and Go Huskies!

The Graduate School announces the recipients of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship and the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for the spring 2024 semester. Congratulations to all recipients.

Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship
The following recipients of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship have demonstrated academic or professional qualities that set them apart within their academic program.

• Rishi Babu — Physics
• Utkarsh Shailesh Chaudhari — Chemical Engineering
• Komal Chillar — Chemistry
• Felix Cottet-Puinel — Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology
• Austin DePottey — Materials Science and Engineering
• Siyuan Fang — Environmental Engineering
• Gaurish Gokhale — Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Ujwal Goulikar — Mechatronics
• Samuel Hervey — College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
• Brilynn Janckila — Rhetoric, Theory and Culture
• Samuel Kinne — Business Administration
• Revanth Mattey — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Abhishek Patil — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Mostafa Rezaeitaleshmahalleh — Biomedical Engineering
• Peifeng Su — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
• Morgana Wilke — Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award
The following recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award are recognized for their excellence in teaching.

• Harikrishnan Changarnkothapeecherikkal — Computational Science and Engineering
• Reid DeVoge — Humanities
• Tiff Degroot — College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
• Gita Deonarain — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Larry Dilworth — Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Thomas Draper — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Joshua Gindt — Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Olivia Hohman — Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Abhishek Keripale — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Anandhu Krishnan — Chemistry
• Miaomiao Li — Civil Engineering
• Zongguang Liu — Computational Science and Engineering
• Theresa Meyer — Applied Ecology
• Anwar Mohammed — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Ukasha Mohammed — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
• Ryan Munter — Physics
• Abel Reyes Angulo — Computational Science and Engineering
• Zazil Santizo Huerta — Mathematical Sciences
• Goutham Viyyapu — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
• Brennan Vogl — Biomedical Engineering
• Kyle Wehmanen — Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology
• Aimee Zimmerman — Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

For details about each award, view our Awards and Honors page.

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) tenure-track faculty candidate Fei Wang will give a research presentation tomorrow (March 28) from 10-11 a.m. in Dow 875.

The title of Wang's talk is "Civil Infrastructures for Future Generations."

From the abstract:
Climate change has become the biggest challenge for human beings, especially for future generations. As a civil engineer and researcher, I will talk about several research projects I have done or am currently working on as PI or co-PI to tackle this challenge. These can be categorized as projects that: (1) enhance resilience of existing civil infrastructures; and (2) develop low-carbon solutions for new civil infrastructures. Topics for the first category will include pipelines subjected to ground movements, wicking geotextile for pavement applications, sinkholes caused by defective pipes, and soil erosion under flooding. In the second category, new solutions include lightweight backfill using recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads, biochar-treated soils, and zero-cement concrete. In addition, I will also present my plan for future research topics at Michigan Tech based on my current research achievements. Lastly, I will explain my teaching interests, how to help students gain real-world experiences, and plans for incorporating my research findings in teaching, particularly for graduate courses.

Wang is an assistant professor of civil engineering in the Department of Mechanical, Environmental, and Civil Engineering at Tarleton State University. He has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (geotechnical emphasis) from the University of Kansas, as well as a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from Southeast University in Nanjing, China.

Join the Student Affairs DEIS Team on Tuesday (April 2) from 1:30-3 p.m. in MUB Ballroom A for a discussion about neurodiversity.

Christy Oslund, coordinator of Student Disability Services, will discuss the science and history of neurodiversity and guide the audience through some tabletop scenarios focused on supporting neurodiverse students.

Everyone is welcome! Snacks will be provided.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is hosting a seminar presented by Caleb Stetson, Idaho National Laboratory, tomorrow (March 28) from 1-2 p.m. in M&M 610.

Stetson will present "Critical Minerals and Materials: Securing a Domestic Supply Chain for 21st Century Technology."

From the abstract:
Global demand for critical minerals and materials required for next-generation technologies is projected to surpass production in the coming years. Moreover, geopolitical strife has further restricted the exchange of CMMs on global trade markets. CMMs are a broad category of minerals and materials required for permanent magnets, lithium-ion batteries, and semiconductors. North American targets for vehicle electrification and clean energy generation are threatened by this supply chain insecurity. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has contributed research in CMM separations as a core team member of the Critical Materials Innovation (CMI) Hub, which is now in its 11th year of research operations. INL research contributions to CMI include electrochemically enhanced separations, solvent-driven separations, and biologically driven processes. Each of these technologies presents an opportunity to reduce the energy and reagent required for separations while also reducing waste generation. This seminar will give a broad overview of the CMM landscape, followed by research progress and opportunities. Individual separation technologies will be discussed. Lastly, active and future CMM resource extraction operations in the Upper Peninsula region will be discussed.

Stetson is a research scientist in the Material Separations & Analysis Department at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Prior to joining INL in 2020, he completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines, where he also completed internships in the mining and extractive metallurgy industries. His Ph.D. research focused on the development of scanning probe microscopy-based approaches to characterize the solid electrolyte interphase on next generation lithium-ion battery anodes. This graduate research was conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office.

Stetson also holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.Sc. in Bioengineering and nanotechnology from Tampere University of Technology in Finland, where his thesis work focused on operation and maintenance of advanced X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy systems.

As of 2024, Stetson has authored 25 peer-reviewed publications and three patents. Beyond his educational and research experience, he was in active-duty military service in the U.S. Air Force and spent five years in the private sector working internationally in education, engineering and consulting in Europe, the Middle East and China.

The next Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) Graduate Seminar speaker will present at 4 p.m. tomorrow (March 28) in MEEM 112.

Chang Kyoung Choi will present “Cellular Agriculture: Pioneering the Future of Sustainable and Zoonotic Disease-Resilient Food Systems.”

Choi, an associate professor in mechanical engineering at Michigan Technological University, is renowned for his contributions to heat transfer, phase changes and biomedical engineering. His work advances multimodality imaging systems, with 97 peer-reviewed articles, four pending, and over 100 conference contributions.

The next guest speaker in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BioMed) Seminar Series will present Friday (March 29) at 3 p.m. in person in M&M 610 and virtually via Zoom.

Stephanie Sellers from the University of British Columbia will present "Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR): A Translational Science Perspective on Valve Degeneration & Durability."

Read the abstract and speaker bio at the University Events Calendar.

Hayden Henderson (GLRC) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $373,670 research and development contract from the Great Lakes Observing System.

The project is titled "BITWISE: Benthic Investigation Technology for Waters in the Great Lakes with Improved Survey Efficiency."

Jamey Anderson, Christopher Pinnow and Evan Kane (all GLRC) are co-PIs on this project.

Mark Rhodes and Kathryn Hannum (both SS) are the authors of an article published in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education.

The article is titled "Dwelling with sustainable pedagogy aboard Amtrak: pathways for transdisciplinary and affective general education."

In the article, Rhodes and Hannum analyze qualitative data collected during Michigan Tech's 2022 Amtrak Tourism Study Away Program and reflect upon the possibilities of a more sustainable model for experiential learning. Utilizing nothing but public transit, particularly from such a rural setting as MTU, presented its challenges, but they nonetheless offer suggestions and lessons for others seeking to integrate sustainable practice and education into their teaching.

Their overall findings point toward the too-often-overlooked cohort-building that occurs in experiential learning as key not only to student experience, but to student learning itself.

Joe Shawhan (ATH) and Michigan Tech hockey forward Tyrone Bronte and goaltender Blake Pietila were quoted by the Daily Mining Gazette in a story about the Huskies’ upcoming NCAA regional semifinal game against Boston College on Friday (March 29) at 2 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island. The game was also mentioned by Yahoo! Sports. Additionally, Shawhan was announced as a Coach of the Year finalist by the CCHA.

*****

The Daily Mining Gazette mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the Mineral Range Depot's new owners and their plans for the building. The story noted that an unnamed MTU student in the course History of American Architecture is studying the depot for a project, documenting and analyzing physical changes and changes in its community impact.

*****

ClickOnDetroit picked up Stacker’s 2024 list of the best colleges in Michigan, which placed Michigan Tech at No. 3.

PhD Defense: Lirong Zhu, Math

Ph.D. in Statistics candidate Lirong Zhu will defend her doctoral dissertation tomorrow (March 28) at 12:30 p.m. in Fisher 327B. Virtual attendance is also invited via Zoom.

The title of the dissertation is "Statistical Methods for Genetic Association Studies & Polygenic Risk Score Prediction."

Zhu is advised by Qiuying Sha.

To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.

Simple Machines: Poetry, Letterpress, and the Art of the Little Magazine Presented by Michigan Tech Art

Wednesday, March 27, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Rozsa Galleries

Simple Machines is a two-edition, international, letterpress poetry magazine founded and edited by Michigan Tech’s M. Bartley Seigel, funded through a Research Excellence...

PhD Defense: Fangyao Zhu

Wednesday, March 27, 9–10 a.m. | Grover C. Dillman Hall, 208

Mathematical Sciences Advisor: Yang Yang Bound preserving discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Euler equations and nonequilibrium flows Attend Virtually:...

MTTI Meeting/Info Session on TRB, ARPA-I

Wednesday, March 27, 12–1 p.m. | Memorial Union Building (MUB), Alumni Lounge A (MUB 107A)

Ever thought of using your skills and expertise to solve various transportation challenges? Maybe you should join the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) for our...

Research Presentation: AC Faculty Candidate Wenqi Shi

Wednesday, March 27, 1 p.m. | Fisher Hall, 127

Department of Applied Computing tenure-track faculty candidate Wenqi Shi will give a research presentation on Tuesday, March 27, 2024, at 1 pm in Fisher 127. The title of...

Students For Life General Meeting

Wednesday, March 27, 5–6 p.m. | Fisher 230

Students For Life general meeting

General Meeting

Wednesday, March 27, 6–7 p.m. | Fisher Hall 328

This general meeting is open to all students who may be interested in learning or practicing waterskiing, wakeboarding, Trick skiing, etc. in the Summer/Fall semester. This...

TKE Rush Event - Dodgeball

Wednesday, March 27, 6–8 p.m. | SDC Multipurpose Gym

Join the brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon for this fantastic event. Stop by to learn more about how we can help you create lifelong relationships that enhance educational,...

Women's History Month Trivia w/ CDI

Wednesday, March 27, 6–8 p.m. | Wadsworth Hall, G42W

Wager on your women’s history knowledge in Wads G42W on Friday, March 29, from 6-9pm, for a chance to win awesome prizes. Bring a friend, test your knowledge, and fill up on...

Modern Language Film Series

Wednesday, March 27, 7 p.m. | Fisher Hall, 135

In conjunction with the department of humanities, Modern Languages will be hosting its annual film series with the 2024 theme "In Pursuit of Democracy". Thursday March...