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1. Board of Control Approves Nine New Degrees |
By Jennifer Donovan, public relations director
Nine new degree programs--most of them in computer engineering and business--were approved last Friday at the Board of Control meeting.
The board's action included final approval for a Master of Science and a PhD in Computer Engineering, which were initially approved at the Board's March meeting and sent to the State Academic Affairs Office for review and endorsement. Computer engineering is a hybrid discipline born of computer science and electrical engineering.
One of the seven new degree program proposals approved to advance to the State Academic Affairs Office is a Master of Science and PhD in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors.
Applied cognitive science applies the principles of cognitive psychology to develop practical solutions for real-world problems such as effective teaching methods.
Human factors is a multi-disciplinary science within the framework of cognitive science that focuses on human needs in the design of products, work processes and technological systems. It is an emerging discipline critical to technological advancement.
The six remaining new degree proposals are all for bachelor of science degrees with majors in various business disciplines, including accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and operations and systems management.
The new BS degrees replace the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) with concentrations in specialty areas, which the School of Business and Economics now offers. The BS adds recognition to the degree and should help increase the job placement rates at graduation.
"These new degree programs will enable Michigan Tech to remain ahead of the curve--academically and in terms of preparing students for a changing job market," said President Glenn Mroz.
In other business, the Board
* approved a process for continuing to move ahead with the student apartment project. Bids are expected in about a week.
* approved appointments to professor with tenure for Ronald L. Strickland, Humanities, and K. Michael Gibson, Biological Sciences.
* approved promotions to professor with tenure for Sonia Goltz, School of Business; Ann Maclean and Andrew Storer, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; Bruce Mork, Electrical and Computer Engineering; John Gierke, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences; and Roger Held, Visual and Performing Arts.
* approved appointment to associate professor with tenure for Beatrice B. Smith, Humanities, and Nancy Auer, Biological Sciences.
* approved promotions to associate professor with tenure for Ramakrishna Wusirika, Biological Sciences; Mari W. Buche, School of Business and Economics; Martin J. Thompson, Chemistry; Zhanping You, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Zhenlin Wang, Computer Science; Robert E. Froese, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; and Jeffrey Allen, Roshan M. D’Souza and Gregory Odegard, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.
* granted professor emeritus status to Milton Olsson, retired from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. |
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2. Undergraduate Eyes Oak Leaves as a Food Preservative |
By Kara Sokol, integrated marketing and communication specialist/editor
Holistic healers have long touted the benefits of oak leaves as a treatment for gastrointestinal ailments, an anti-inflammatory for insect bites, and more. Now, Michigan Tech student Nari Kang has discovered a potentially groundbreaking new use: natural food preservation.
"This idea has been in my head since high school, after seeing a news story about the chemicals in food," Kang says. "I wondered--what did people do before there were refrigerators?"
Kang, a second-year bioinformatics major from South Korea, devised the hypothesis for her research after hearing Korean folk culture stories about the preservative qualities of oak leaves.
"Theoretically, there are several reasons why oak leaves would make good food preservatives," Kang explains. "They contain a chemical component that acts as a natural preservative, they have a drying agent that tends to remove moisture, and they’re large, which means they can be easily wrapped around food."
The experiment utilized the powder of crushed oak leaves harvested during the peak of summer and sun- or oven-dried. Terpene trilactones--molecules associated with positive health effects, including increased blood circulation to the brain--were extracted from the leaves and combined with various concentrations of purified methanol solution.
Kang then applied the extracts to a fungus often found in many of our kitchens--Penicillium chrysogenum, or common bread mold. After a week in incubation, the results were incredible. Test plates treated with the leaf extract showed drastically reduced rates of mold growth, proving that the extract demonstrates considerable antifungal activity.
"I was very excited," Kang says. "This really interests me."
Kang's research interests others as well. Her presentation at Tech's Undergraduate Expo on April 16 was incredibly well received, inspiring discussions about potential applications in major food industries and winning first place honors in the Undergraduate Research division.
"I never expected to win," Kang says. "But it felt awesome!"
Kang's future plans include additional research, including testing to make sure the extract isn’t harmful to the body and studying molecular activity to improve antifungal integrity and longevity.
But her first order of business this summer will be to write a proposal for additional funding.
"It can be hard to find the funds for undergraduate student research," Kang explains.
For now, she considers herself lucky to be able to tackle the research that she's most interested in. "It’s very exciting to be able to work on projects like this as an undergraduate."
She singles out Assistant Professor Ramakrishna Wusirika for his guidance and encouragement. "He showed me how to work in the lab." |
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3. Organist Has Had a Noteworthy Time |
By John Gagnon, promotional writer
Like a songbird, Gerrit Lamain travels to Upper Michigan every spring to make music.
Since 1983, he has traveled from the Minneapolis area to Michigan Tech to play the pipe organ at Spring Commencement, a job he started in 1975 when he lived in the Keweenaw.
For over 34 years, then, he has performed from the rafters at the MacInnes Ice Arena, where the organ is situated on the west end, 30 feet above the mezzanine. This year, at Saturday's ceremony, he stayed on the mezzanine level and played the piano instead.
That's because Tech's "Mighty Wurlitzer," as it's been called, is being retired. Like all pipe organs over time, it needs a thorough refurbishing, and the job is too expensive an outlay for such limited duty. These days it simply doesn’t sound good enough to play. It will be dismantled by an organ company, beginning this month, and the space where it perches at the west end of the arena will be converted to skyboxes.
The Wurlitzier was built in the 1920s for a church in New York and found its way to Tech, via a circuitous route, in 1970. Although valued at $75,000, it was bedraggled and besmirched and had to be repaired and rebuilt.
That took some years, and Lamain first played it at the 1975 spring commencement. Before he moved from the area to the Minneapolis area, he also played the organ before and after home hockey games.
Lamain proved to be a hearty fellow and a good sport, but the whole affair started off on the wrong note. As Lamain puts it, "The organ was hanging in the sky, and I was afraid of heights."
Once the organ was installed, the late John MacInnes approached Lamain, who taught music in the area and was the organist at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houghton.
"We’ve got this organ," MacInnes told Lemain. "You've got to play it.”
"Okay," Lamain, the consummate performer, replied.
Then, when he saw where it was located, he backed off. "Forget it. I don’t want to die."
Former Tech employee Bob Hauswirth joined MacInnes in pestering Lamain.
"You’ve got to do this," he cajoled.
Lamain capitulated.
"I told him I'd give it a try," he said. "So I did. I was so scared. I almost died, mentally. So that’s how it started. It got much easier, but it took awhile to get over this silly fear. I decided, 'Am I going to rise to the occasion or be a real sissy?' It helped that the organ was there. I wouldn’t have crawled up there for the view. No way."
These days, Lamain is the music director at a church in the Twin Cities area. He also directs a community chorus and orchestra, a traveling group as well, and he sells church organs for a Holland-based company. He has performed organ recitals and led choirs from Fargo to Chicago to Luxembourg.
"Music," he says, "shapes my life. I can’t imagine living in a world without it. When I see the effect it has on people, both the joy and the sorrow, it's a wonderful language that doesn’t need words."
He's comfortable with classical and church music, also what he calls "pop stuff." He’s in the process of putting together an organ program called "From Bach to Broadway."
Pipe organs have graced such storied ice arenas as the Montreal Forum and Detroit’s old Olympia. It is said by some that Michigan Tech is the only college rink with a pipe organ in the nation. If that’s true, something unique has passed, as has a tradition.
On Friday, Lamain, who looks as fit as a fiddle at age 73, prepared to climb the ladders to the organ for a photo shoot and for old time’s sake. He hummed as Dave Nordstrom strapped him into a safety harness and tether. The climb was a cakewalk. When Lamain came back down, he said, "Well, I can say I’ll never do that again. But it was fun." |
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4. Reminder: WorkLife Survey Needs Your Input |
The WorkLife survey will close at midnight on Tuesday, May 5. If you want your voice to be heard regarding issues at work and at home (as they relate to work), please complete the survey available at:
Click here
In order to improve the WorkLife experience of all employees at Michigan Tech, your participation is crucial. Your responses will be treated as confidential and will only be reported as compiled data.
For more information contact Becky Christianson at 487-2416 or rwchrist@mtu.edu .
The WorkLife Advisory Group thanks you in advance for your participation. |
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5. Reminder: Some Campus Units Will Be Closed Today |
All campus dining locations, the Campus Bookstore and the Rozsa Center will be closed on Monday, May 4.
The closure allows Memorial Union, Dining, Merchandising and Rozsa Center employees to attend a professional development retreat.
Although there will be no retail or dining services available, the Memorial Union will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. University Images at the SDC will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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6. Job Postings |
Job Posting
Staff job descriptions are available in Human Resources or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings . For more information regarding staff positions, call 487-2280 or email jobs@mtu.edu .
Faculty job descriptions can be found at www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/facpers/facvac.htm . For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.
Job Posting
Staff Job Postings 05/04/09
Regional Admissions Manager - West Chicago
Admissions
(Regular, full-time, nine-month position based in the western Chicagoland area)
Business Systems Analyst
Enrollment Services Information Systems
Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.
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