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1. Engineering Better Bikes for Wounded Vets |
by Marcia Goodrich, magazine editor
Michigan Tech's involvement with the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans began when Linda Stouffer called Terry Woychowski on behalf of the General Motors Military Discount Program and asked for advice.
Soldiers were coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq with crippling injuries--leg amputations, paralysis--but with their competitive drive fully intact. Through Achilles International's Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, they were channeling that energy into marathon competitions. Instead of running, they drove handcycles: three-wheel, hand-driven wheelchairs.
GM had provided handcycles to the team members, but they had design issues: they were unstable, or the components were breaking down under the pressure of racing. What could GM do to help? Stouffer asked.
"Immediately, a light went on," said Woychowski, GM's vice president for global quality and vehicle launch. "Why not go after two birds with one stone? I have had such excellent experiences with Senior Design at Michigan Tech. What if we sponsor a Senior Design activity based on the Achilles project? We'd not only be helping wounded warriors, we'd be supporting STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] education."
To find out more, go to Achilles. |
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2. Honesty is the Korean Policy |
by Jennifer Donovan, director, public relations
Is there a phrase as fraught with panic as: "Where is my wallet?" Actually, here's one that's even worse. "I'm in a foreign country where I only speak a little of the language, and I've lost my wallet."
Jonathan Clifton, a student from Detroit, knows that feeling all too well. He is in Korea this summer, staying in Ansan, about 40 minutes by subway from Seoul. That's where his wallet went missing, although Clifton wasn't aware of it at the time.
"When I realized I'd lost it, I freaked out," he says. It wasn't about the money; the communication, culture and media major, who is starting his final semester this fall, had only about $10 in Korean bills in it. "But my wallet was full of private information--credit and debit cards and IDs--that was now in the hands of someone I didn't know."
"We looked around a bit and even posted signs in Korean," Clifton says. His friend, Suji Kang, a Korean exchange student at Tech, helped him write the signs in Korean--"but a few days went by, and we didn't hear anything. I was really down about it."
Then he got a surprise call from Tech's International Programs and Services (IPS) Office back in Houghton. Someone had contacted IPS, whose number Clifton had in his wallet.
It was Suk-Jun, a student at Seoul University, who had found the wallet.
Concerned about a fellow student, he had taken the time to contact everyone whose business card he found in Clifton's wallet: IPS, assistant dean of students Rob Bishop and computer specialist Henry King.
Suk-Jun and Clifton met, and the wallet went back in its owner's pocket. "He didn't want anything in return," Clifton says, "but I had to do something for him, so I went to Dunkin' Donuts and got some snacks for him to eat while he studied for exams."
Clifton, 24, hopes to return to Korea to teach English after he graduates from Tech, "so I thought it would be a good idea to get my feet wet now and see if I could survive," he says. He is staying with Kang and her family.
Clifton says he's been amazed at how friendly and helpful the Korean people have been. "My Korean isn't very good, so it is hard to communicate, but people are still pretty patient with me." He's been visiting with other Korean students whom he met at Tech and is enjoying traditional Korean food made with pepper paste, "which is really very good," he claims.
While at Tech, Clifton has been a resident assistant and a language coach and cook for Canterbury House. He also is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity and works as student editor of Tech Today. |
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3. Candidates for Assistant Director, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, to Present |
The two candidates interviewing for the position of assistant director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion will address the question: "What is your vision for ensuring that the work you will be doing is responsive to the unique needs of underrepresented groups and inviting to students across the campus?"
Each presentation will be 30 minutes, followed by a 25-minute question-and-answer session.
The first candidate, Josh Burford, will present at 10 a.m., Monday, June 18, in Rekhi 214.
The second candidate, Kellie Raffaelli, will present at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 20, in Rekhi 214.
For more information, contact Lisa Pignotti at 487-3558 or lcpignot@mtu.edu . |
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4. Reminder: Diversity and Inclusion Hosts Research Gallery |
The Center for Diversity and Inclusion invites the campus community to this year's MICUP/MI-LSAMP Research Gallery Walk, which will be held from 2 to 5 p.m., Thursday, June 14, in Memorial Union Ballroom A.
The event recognizes the work of students in the Michigan College/University Partnership Program (MICUP) and the Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (MI-LSAMP)--which give students a smooth transition from two-year to four-year institutions and increase the enrollment of underrepresented transfer students at Michigan Tech, which is a strategic goal.
No RSVP is necessary. For more information, contact Ashley Step, MICUP coordinator, at 487-2920 or at adstep@mtu.edu . |
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5. Hockey Players, Alums Support Breakers to Bay Event |
by Wes Frahm, director, athletic communications and marketing
Several current and former hockey players took part in the Breakers to Bay event earlier this month to support the KennerDome, a local ice rink.
Current players Kevin Genoe (Qaulicum, B.C.), Tanner Kero (Hancock), Mikael Lickteig (Little Falls, Minn.) and Carl Nielsen (Amherst, Ohio) all took part in the five-mile walk. The list of former players included current head coach Mel Pearson, Randy McKay, Brian Hannon and Bryce Reddick.
"It's good to get out and support our community," said Lickteig, who will be one of seven seniors on the 2012-13 roster next fall. "As a team, we feel like it's our duty to return the support they give us all year. Doing this event helps support a local rink, and it's always good to get more kids playing hockey."
The five-mile Breakers to Bay run/walk starts on the shores of Lake Superior and ends in Oskar Bay, home of the KennerDome, a facility used primarily for area youth hockey. |
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6. New Funding |
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Associate Professor Casey Huckins (Biological Sciences) and CoPI Assistant Professor Amy Marcarelli (Biological Sciences) have received $60,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for a 30-month project, "Restoration of Coaster Brook Trout in Lake Superior." |
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