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1. President's Forum Today will be Available Live on the Web |
President Glenn Mroz's Campus Forum today (see below) will be video streamed for those who are unable to attend. The president will address plans for budget reductions in light of the governor's proposed 22-percent cut in funding for Michigan Tech. The forum will begin at 2 p.m. and is available at http://www.mtu.edu/forum/live/ . The presentation will also be available on demand by Tuesday afternoon from the home page, www.mtu.edu .
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2. Reminder: President's Forum Today |
President Glenn Mroz will hold an open campus forum today to discuss the governor's proposed budget for next year, which includes a 22-percent reduction in state appropriations for Michigan Tech. The forum will be at 2 p.m. in Memorial Union Ballroom A.
Release time will be provided for the hourly staff with the approval of their supervisor. Everyone is encouraged to attend. |
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3. Michigan Tech Woman Tapped for Navy Nuclear Sub Training |
by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations
Samantha Neirby is about to go where mostly men have gone before. The US Navy has chosen Neirby--who is finishing her chemical engineering degree this spring--to train to serve on a nuclear submarine. She will be just the third woman Naval officer ever recruited from a college or university to serve on a sub.
Neirby passed the final hurdle--an interview with Admiral Kirkland Donald, director of Naval nuclear propulsion and deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration--in Washington, D.C. this week. With the Navy's stamp of approval, after she graduates in April, she will go to the Navy's Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., where she will be commissioned upon graduation. Then she will enter a one-year nuclear power training program in Goose Creek, S.C.
"I just can't tell you how excited I am," Neirby exclaimed. "Working in nuclear power has been my dream since about my second year in high school. It's fascinating, so much energy coming from something so small. I believe nuclear energy is the future of our country, and I want to be part of that."
Neirby, who is on the Dean's List, has been in the Navy's Nuclear Power Officer Candidate Program (NUPOC) for two years. Following her nuclear dream, she sought out the Navy recruiter at the Career Fair in fall 2008, and when she heard about NUPOC, she jumped at the opportunity. "That's for me!" she said.
Initially she expected to serve on a nuclear carrier, but when her Navy recruiter suggested that she try for a nuclear submarine assignment, she didn't hesitate.
"I grew up in a small community, and Michigan Tech is a small school with small classes," she explained. "I found a home at Tech and in my sorority, almost like a family. Life on a submarine is a little like that."
But, as a woman in the man's world of a submarine, Neirby isn't expecting domestic bliss. "I know there will be lots of challenges," she said. "Men who are used to working in an all-male environment will have a woman officer they report to, or they will have to work side by side with a woman. They may not have faith in my abilities. And a lot of people just don't like change."
She does expect to face a lot of jokes and teasing, "but not in a vulgar way," she said confidently.
And she feels sure she can handle it.
"I think chemical engineering is one of the hardest majors at Tech," she explained. "It taught me to deal with stress, to expect the unexpected and to keep at problems until you find a way to solve them."
Neirby has impressed her professors as much as she has impressed the Navy.
"Samantha's experience in the chemical engineering department shows what a good student with drive can accomplish," said Associate Professor Tony Rogers (ChE), and one of Neirby's senior deign instructors. "Her senior design team accepted the challenge of designing a commercial process for charcoal production in Panama, while sustaining the mangrove tree raw material and reducing harmful air emissions. In this and other activities, Samantha has become known at Michigan Tech as a student who pushes the envelope, exceeds expectations and is not afraid to try new things. Becoming one of the first woman commissioned officers to serve on a US Navy submarine is another step in her exciting career journey. She is proving that chemical engineering opens a lot of doors to students willing to walk through them."
Associate Professor John Sandell (ChE) agreed. Sandell heads Tech's Unit Operations Lab, a fully automated model chemical processing plant where seniors take a capstone course in chemical engineering. "This recognition is very well deserved." he said. "Samantha has outstanding technical skills, coupled with excellent leadership abilities, which make her the ultimate team player. She does not seek the spotlight; the spotlight seeks her."
Since she joined NUPOC, Neirby has been a full-time Naval officer candidate, receiving Petty Officer First Class basic pay, housing allowance and meals. "Her job was to go to school," Navy recruiter Matt Menard explained.
As a full-time Naval officer candidate and a full-time chemical engineering student, Neirby still found time to be active in the Lambda Theta chapter of Delta Zeta sorority and to serve on the Panhellenic Council. She also plays broomball.
An active member of the Tech chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AiChE), Neirby is also helping host the upcoming the AIChE North Central Regional Student Conference, April 8 and 9 on campus.
The daughter of the late Jeffrey Neirby and Rita Schmidt of Fargo, N.D., she attended Moorhead Senior High School in Moorhead, Minn., where she was raised by her grandmother, Ilene Neirby and her older brother, Adam Neirby. "I know without their support, I would never have made it this far," she said. |
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4. 2011 Distinguished Teaching Awards Nominations Announcenced |
The Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development seeks input for its annual Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize outstanding contribution to the instructional mission of the University.
Based on over 51,000 student rating of instruction forms, eleven finalists have been identified for the 2011 awards. The selection committee is soliciting comments from students, staff, faculty and alumni to aid in its deliberation.
The finalists for the two awards include:
In the Associate Professor/Professor Category
* Associate Professor Brian Barkdoll (CEE)
* Associate Professor Andrew Burton (SFRES)
* Associate Professor Will Cantrell (Physics)
* Associate Professor Guy Hembroff (SOT)
* Associate Professor John Lukowski (ECE)
In the Assistant Professor/Lecturer/Professor of Practice Category
* Lecturer Philip Kendall (Mathematical Sciences)
* Senior Lecturer Michael Meyer (Physics)
* Assistant Professor Scott Miers (ME-EM)
* Assistant Professor Rupak Rajachar (BME)
* Assistant Professor David Wanless (SOT)
* Lecturer Roger Woods (School of Business and Economics)
Comments on nominees are due by Monday, March 28, and can be sent through the CTLFD website .
The process for determining the Distinguished Teaching Award recipients from this list of finalists also involves the additional surveying of their classes by members of ODK. The Distinguished Teaching Award Decision Committee makes the final determination of the award recipients. The recipients of the will be announced in the fall. |
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5. Winter Baja: 'Stressful, Fun, and Worth It' |
by John Gagnon, promotional writer
A moping sky, dreaded cold, and the rumbling of idling engines: that was the backdrop of the Winter Baja that Michigan Tech hosted Saturday at the Lake Linden Park, where a throng of students and observers awaited the start of a two-hour endurance race.
All bundled up, they mingled on an icy staging area that was chock-full of trucks, trailers, competition vehicles, welders and generators.
The anticipation was palpable. When the first of two endurance races (there were two) began at ten o’clock, 16 teams with 37 cars (Tech had three) bounced around a course that was a mile and a half long, including a section studded with moguls, big and small.
The students, who numbered 25 and are members of the Blizzard Baja Enterprise, got some assistance to build this track. The Village of Lake Linden helped out with a plow, and the town's fire department helped out with a tanker truck to ice the course so the snow would hold up.
Tech's vehicle, named the "Widow," was the only one of the three that was scored in the race. The name comes from a black widow spider--wide and close to the ground. Nevertheless the student drivers often went airborne.
"The students run this entire event," said Brett Hamlin, their advisor. "They’re under pressure, under fire, and they do very, very well. They have different skills and interests, but they put together a cohesive team. It's amazing what they pull off every single year."
There's more to this event than making the course and designing and fabricating an off-road vehicle, says Joe DeHaan, event coordinator. The students in the Enterprise have duties that range widely--hunt for sponsors, deal with finances and deadlines, and communicate well with all the visiting teams. This last job is tricky, says DeHaan, who is a fourth-year student in mechanical engineering from Caledonia. "Communication must be consistent, thorough, and up to date," he says, "so you don't have to answer the same question two times."
Tech's Winter Baja, the nation's largest invitational event, is a tune-up for the official SAE Baja competition in the summer. Tech has hosted the Winter Baja for 11 years.
All the teams build their vehicles from scratch, which also involves fashioning components. The one constant: everybody uses a 10-horsepower Briggs & Sratton engine that can power one of these vehicles up to 40 mph.
The students made pit stops to add fuel and change drivers. Early on, one of the Tech vehicles rammed a snow bank and a carbon-fiber strut connecting the wheel with the chassis broke. Students, armed with tools and parts and vigor, had the vehicle back on track in 20 minutes. They had trouble throughout the day with carbon-fiber components that failed.
Evan Kobman, a junior in mechanical engineering from Vassar, was one of Tech's first drivers. He described the course as "pretty tough." He’s been involved in the Enterprise for three semesters and is a team leader for the chassis and rear suspension. "You apply everything you learn in class about stress and strain," he says about building the car. "You don’t want to under build or under engineer."
He put in 8 to 15 hours a week on this project--a lot of it working in the shop, which he loved. "You forget about all your other stresses." Did he ever dream of doing something like this before he came to Tech. "Absolutely, actually," he said. When he was in high school, he visited campus and saw a display of baja vehicles. He told himself, "That's what I want to do when I come up here."
DeHaan says the students begin planning this event at the start of fall semester. They started working with the village in December. They were going gangbusters a few weeks into the spring semester.
DeHaan says the job of coordinator, which involved 12 hours a week, was "stressful, but fun and worth it." He says of the project: "I'm glad I found it. I always did like playing with these kinds of toys."
The hard part was keeping everybody on task. The good part: "seeing everything coming together." The best part: the teamwork—"people to rely on."
Overall, he learned an important lesson: "Start off with a good plan and follow it."
The warm-up shed Saturday was inviting--more than once. Then, by midafternoon, the sun was out. Gone were the biting cold and the glum sky, which one student described as "the UP's perma-cloud." Early on, the students' enthusiasm trumped the weather. Spectators were pleased. Said one who traveled from Lower Michigan to observe his son competing: "A lot of fun and a learning experience, too."
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There were three events at the Winter Baja. Two two-hour endurance runs were scored by the number of laps. Here are the results of the endurance races:
Team and Laps
1--Central Michigan,69
2--UW-Milwaukee, 67
3--Michigan State, 63
4--Sanilac Career Center, 62.7
5--South Dakota School of Mining and Tech, 61.7
6--Northern Illinois, 61
7--UW-Stout, 59.7
8—Ferris State, 59
9—University of Iowa, 58.8
10—Northern Michigan, 57
11--Ohio Northern, 56
12—Michigan Tech, 54
13--Northwestern Michigan College, 48
14--Kettering, 6
15--Western Michigan, 1
Twelve teams then participated in a short race where they negotiated part of the track backwards. Central Michigan won that race, too. |
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6. MTU Preschool Cabin Fever Carnival |
submitted by the MTU Preschool
Step out of the cold and into the warmth of a good time with friends at MTU Preschool's Cabin Fever Carnival, to be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, March 5, in the Rozsa Center Horner Lobby.
This event is fun for the entire family--featuring games for all ages and skill levels, prizes, refreshments, a cake walk and a huge silent auction and themed basket auction.
MTU Preschool is open to all community members. Non-English-speaking children are welcome. Residents of Daniel Heights receive a 50-percent discount on tuition.
For more information, call MTU Preschool at 487-2720 or visit www.mtupreschool.org . |
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7. Reminder: Sixth Annual Railroad Night |
The sixth annual Railroad Night will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, at the Shelden Grill on the seventh floor of the Magnuson Hotel Franklin Square Inn.
Assistant Vice President Mike Franke, state and commuter partnerships at Amtrak, will be the keynote speaker. In addition, 15 rail industry companies will have representatives, including the five largest freight rail companies in America.
The event is hosted by the Railroad Engineering and Activities Club (REAC) and the Rail Transportation Program (RTP) and sponsored by CN, Union Pacific and CSX. For more information, see Railroad night .
For more information, contact Pam Hannon at 487-3065 or prhannon@mtu.edu . |
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8. Environmental Engineering Seminar |
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Mark Stehly, assistant vice president for environmental and research and development, BNSF Railway Co., will present a seminar, "Railroads and the Environment," from 3 to 4 p.m., today, in Dow 642. The public is welcome. |
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9. Rail Transportation Seminar with Industry Personnel |
As part of the CEE 4490 Rail Transportation Seminar class, a panel of railroad industry personnel will hold a discussion on current issues and challenges in the rail industry from 3 to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, in Dillman 214.
Panel members include:
* Mike Franke, assistant vice president, state and commuter partnerships, Amtrak
* Bill Van Trump, assistant vice president engineering, Union Pacific
* Matthew Glynn, chief engineer, signals and communications, CN
* Conrad Ruppert, assistant chief engineer, track, Amtrak
* Peter Marthaler, project manager, Krech Ojard
* Tim Hoeffner, high-speed rail administrator, MDOT
* Tim Koerting, special projects manager, Herzog
The event is open to the public. |
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10. Healthy Tip of the Week |
brought to you by HuskyPAW
Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber--and they're low in calories. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight and your blood pressure. |
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