Sue McDaniel, Tech Topics student writer, 906-487-2343

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STATE CUTS MICHIGAN TECH'S APPROPRIATION 2 PERCENT

HOW WE ARE COPING

The bad news is, Governor John Engler reduced all state universities' appropriations by 2.5 percent. The good news is, the legislature restored a half of a percent. And while a 2 percent cut isn't easy to absorb half-way through the year, Provost Kent Wray said, no full-time, general-fund employees will be laid off because of these budget cuts.

To cope with the cuts, major planning units (areas headed by deans or vice presidents) are cutting their overall budgets from 0.4 percent to 3.1 percent, for an average reduction of 1.4 percent. Units within these areas are also being affected differently. "Not all of the subordinate units are being asked to reduce their budgets," Wray said.

A number of areas are leaving positions unfilled until late in the 2002-03 fiscal year, or until after June 30, 2003, which should save about one-quarter of the $1.1 million cut in MTU's state appropriation. "We may experience some loss of efficiency and delays in support activities," Wray said.

In addition, some non-tenure-track teaching positions may not be filled, and as a result some spring semester courses may be cancelled. However, all students scheduled to graduate in spring or summer 2003 will be able to do so.

All the cuts were made with the strategic plan and the University's mission in mind, Wray said. But he cautioned that the state's economic condition may forebode even tighter belts in the coming years.

"We need to squarely face the future and recognize that state appropriation reductions might occur next year, and these might not be one-time money reductions, like this year's reduction," he said. "Thus, we must consider possible actions in response to that process."

"We are attempting to evaluate how to best position the University to avoid setbacks while continuing to move forward during challenging times," Wray said. "I ask for both your advice and your patience."

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BOARD OF CONTROL OKs BOND ISSUE FOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS

The Board of Control at its meeting on Friday, Dec. 13, approved a $4.9 million bond issue to fund safety improvements in two residence halls and to replace the University's high-voltage cable system.

The safety improvements include installing sprinkler systems, emergency lighting and up-to-date alarm systems in two residence halls, McNair and Douglass Houghton. Construction on the project will be completed by fall 2003, said Facilities Management Director Bill Blumhardt.

Replacement of the high-voltage cable system should be completed by November 2003. Problems in the three-decade-old system surfaced Nov. 21 when a cable failed and power was out throughout campus for 15 hours.

Also, the Board of Control gave final approval to two new degree programs. The BS in Computer Systems Science, based in the Department of Computer Science, will give students a foundation for careers in system and network administration, computing environment engineering and network technology management.

The BS program in Computer Network and System Administration, proposed by the School of Technology, will provide a practical education in maintaining computer systems, including installing hardware and operating systems on networked computers. Graduates will be well-prepared for employment as systems administrators.

Following a closed session for a performance review, the board extended President Curt Tompkins' contract for three years. The current contract runs until June 30, 2004, and was extended to June 30, 2007. The Board recognized Tompkins' achievements over the past 11 years, "particularly in connection with the successful conduct and conclusion of the $146 million Leaders for Innovation Campaign." It also agreed to develop an objective way of measuring the president's performance.

In other business, the Board accepted a gift of 40 acres of woodland located next to Michigan Tech's Log Lake property in Marquette County's Champion Township. The parcel was appraised at $29,000.

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COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE FORMED

Michigan Tech has a new research institute.

The Computational Science and Engineering Research Institute, established this fall, provides a home for interdepartmental science and engineering research that requires powerful computers. Current research areas include modeling processes in the atmosphere, environmental protection problems and a new language for programming supercomputers, among others. Phillip Merkey, a research assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, is the institute's first director.

The institute acquired two high-powered computer systems this fall. A 60-processor Cray T3E supercomputer will support research being conducted at Michigan Tech, the University of California at Berkeley, George Washington University and several other sites off campus. A new Beowulf cluster, a type of parallel computer linking many PCs and dedicated to running high-speed computations, has been acquired through a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant. In addition, several other medium-scale computational systems are available to institute researchers. The computer systems are located in the Center for Experimental Computation, in Fisher Hall.

Before the institute was founded, computational science and engineering projects at Michigan Tech had already received more than $1 million in funding. Since then, Assistant Professor Adrian Sandu (Computer Science) has received a $450,000 National Science Foundation Information Technology Research Award to help develop better models for tracking atmospheric pollution. In addition, Associate Professor Steven Seidel (Computer Science) will use a $113,000 Hewlett-Packard award to support technology development for the Unified Parallel C (UPC) programming language, and Merkey has received a $150,000 Earth and Space Science Award from NASA.

The research institute also supports the nondepartmental Computational Science and Engineering PhD program, which prepares students in various disciplines to solve complex computational problems. The program is unique at MTU, since any department granting doctoral degrees may award the PhD in Computational Science and Engineering. The program currently enrolls graduate students in the computer science, geological engineering and sciences and mathematical science departments.

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EARTHWORMS ENDANGERING RARE NORTHERN FERNS

Earthworms may be icky, but they've always had a good reputation among everyone from gardeners to anglers.

That viewpoint may soon change, thanks to Michael Gundale, who completed his MS in Biological Sciences at Michigan Tech in spring 2002. His work suggests that earthworms are radically changing the forest floor in the northern U.S., imperilling some rare native plants in the process.

Especially at risk is the tiny goblin fern, which is almost always buried in the forest floor, the layer of decomposing litter on top of the soil.

While earthworms may seem as American as fishing for catfish, they aren't native to the northern U.S., including Minnesota, where Gundale conducted the research for his master's thesis. About 10,000 years ago, glaciers pushed any native earthworms southward. Now, the only worms in Minnesota are European immigrants.

The problem earthworm appears to be Lumbricus rubellus, commonly known as the red wriggler. These worms live and feed in the forest floor and are raised commercially, primarily for composting. The northern fisherman's favored bait, nightcrawlers, live deep in the soil and only make the occasional foray up to the surface to eat fresh litter. Crawlers don't have a measureable effect on either the forest floor or the goblin fern.

Gundale studied 28 sites in Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest where goblin ferns had been documented. They also grow in Wisconsin and Michigan, including the Upper Peninsula.

Gundale found that the fern had disappeared from nine of the sites, and that these local extinctions were linked to two factors: the presence of red wrigglers and a thinner forest floor. On average, the forest floor was three inches deep at sites free of the earthworm, while the forest floor areas with the wrigglers was only half that deep.

Gundale's thesis served as the basis for his paper, "Influence of Exotic Earthworms on the Soil Organic Horizon and the Rare Fern Botrichium mormo," which was published in the December issue of Conservation Biology. He concludes that the red wrigglers are a serious threat to the goblin fern and suggests that, with their habit of devouring the forest floor, they could endanger other rare fern species that share the same habitat.

So where do the worms come from? Probably from vehicles, says Professor Janice Glime, Gundale's advisor. "These aren't worms dumped by fishermen," she said. "They probably come in on tires. Egg cases could easily be introduced accidently from a chunk of mud stuck to a tire." Evidence: The sites with the most earthworms tend to be near roadways.

It's unusual for a graduate student, especially a master's student, to develop such a groundbreaking thesis. "It's a new idea," Glime said. "I wasn't even aware of the connection, even though all of the annelids are non-native species." Gundale is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Montana.

"I think it is just the tip of the iceberg," Gundale said. "In the future, I want to see if there is any relationship between exotic plant species and earthworm invasions. In other words, are non-native plant invasions enhanced by the presence of these earthworms?"

His discovery also serves as a cautionary tale on the accidental damage humans inflict upon other species.

"Such innocent things we do," Glime said, "that have impacts we never imagine."

More About the Goblin Fern

The goblin fern, aka Botrychium mormo, goblin moonwort, grape fern and little goblin, is one of a group of tiny ferns known as moonworts. It occasionally grows to three or four inches tall, but is usually not even seen above the forest floor. Because it gets little or no sunlight, scientists speculate that the goblin fern derives some of its energy from an unknown, fungus-related mechanism.

Rare even within its natural range, it has been found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts of Michigan, including a few counties in the Upper Peninsula.

The goblin fern is considered a threatened species in Michigan and is a federal "species of concern." For more information and a picture, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/abstracts/botany/botrychium_mormo.pdf

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LAURA KRUGER: THE BAT WOMAN OF MICHIGAN TECH

Laura Kruger fell in love with bats in the perfect place.

"Half of America's 45 bat species rely on underground mines for habitat," she notes.

Kruger, who graduates this semester with a BS in Applied Ecology and Environmental Science, got her first experience studying the furry flyers in the Quincy Mine, under the direction of Professor Rolf Peterson (SFRES). With fellow undergraduate Erin Parker, she undertook basic research on the bats that hibernate there in the winter.

"Last spring, in early April, we did mist netting at the Quincy," she said. "We identified the species using the shafts to hibernate: the little brown bat, the northern myotis and the big brown bat."

They also weighed them (at only six to 12 grams, a little brown bat lives up to its name) and clipped hair samples for analysis, to gather information about their diet as well as nutritional patterns. And this fall, Kruger returned to witness a mysterious behavior called swarming, in which large clouds of bats fly around together outside of hibernation sites.

Kruger's fascination with bats began in her sophomore year. "They had just gated the Quincy shaft, and I started looking more into bats as research subjects. I got really interested; they intrigue me. They are really misunderstood."

"I think it goes back in time when bats were associated with evil myths, or the idea that they get caught in your hair. People don't know anything about them, so they're afraid. But there's nothing to be afraid of."

She and Parker have been involved in outreach work to debunk some of the bad press bats have received over the centuries, talking to Hancock High School teacher Kerry Kostemo's class and helping the students build bat houses for their class research project.

This spring, Kruger hoped to extend her research to the Caledonia Mine, in Mass City. The owner has has installed two bat gates (gates that allow bats to fly in and out of mines but block people who might disturb them) and is planning a third. About a quarter million bats are estimated to use the Caledonia Mine. "We have a unique opportunity to look at the areas the bats are using," Kruger said. "We'd go in and take a census and then monitor the mine to document any colonization."

Bats aren't the world's easiest research subject. "It's a hard animal to quantify," Kruger notes. "They are nocturnal, which makes them hard to study, and they fly, which makes it even harder."

But not hard enough for Kruger to consider another research subject. She hopes to continue her studies in graduate school, so she'll be Michigan Tech's bat woman for some time to come.

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MTU ARCHIVES OFFERS RESEARCH TRAVEL AWARDS

submitted by Erik Nordberg

The Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections is offering research support awards for the 2003 calendar year. Grants are for up to $600 and provide support for travel, food and lodging to carry out research using the collections of the MTU Archives. Financial support for the travel award program is provided by the Friends of the Van Pelt Library. Topical research areas include Michigan's western Upper Peninsula; industrial history, particularly copper mining and its ancillary industries; social history, including workforce issues, immigration and ethnicity; urban and community development along the Keweenaw Peninsula; transportation; and the environment.

Review of applications will begin on Jan. 31, and travel must be completed by Dec. 19, 2003. For further information and an application form, contact University Archivist, MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections, J. Robert Van Pelt Library, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295.

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FACULTY RECEIVE FUNDING

Associate Professor Chung-Jui Tsai (SFRES) has received $220,000 from the US Department of Agriculture for her project, "Molecular Dissection of Alpha-Tubulins During Microfibril Deposition in Wood Forming Tissues of Aspen."

Associate Professor Susan Martin (Social Sciences) has received $1,140 from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service for her project, "Cooperative Management of Archaeological Collections From the Hiawatha National Forest."

Assistant Professor Deborah Nykanen (Civil and Environmental Engineering) has received $61,276 from NASA for her project, "Investigation of Topographic Influences on Space-Time Scaling and Dynamics of Orographic Precipitation."

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DONATIONS FOR OVERSEAS TROOPS OVERWHELMING

"On behalf of Commander Ann Pihlaja, commander of American Legion Houghton Post 80, and Army ROTC, I want to thank everyone that contributed to our troops overseas for Christmas," said Pat Johnson (Army ROTC).

According to Johnson, the response was overwhelming. So much so that there was no way to track everything that came in. "We also appreciated the monetary donations for postage, which made it possible to send everything out in a timely fashion," Johnson added. "Again, thank you all so very much and we wish you happy holidays!"

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MEMORIAL UNION ANNOUNCES SEMESTER BREAK HOURS

Listed below are the operating hours for the Memorial Union for the semester break, Friday, Dec. 20-Monday, Jan. 13.

The building will close at 10 p.m., Friday, Dec. 20 and remain closed until Sunday, Jan. 5. The building will be open Monday, Jan. 6-Friday, Jan. 10-7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., and open Sunday, Jan. 12, at 11 a.m.

The Manager's Office/Tech Express will be open Friday, Dec. 20, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., and will remain closed Saturday, Dec. 21-Sunday, Jan. 5. The offices will be open Monday, Jan. 6-Friday, Jan. 10, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and then close Saturday, Jan. 11-Sunday, Jan. 12.

The Food Mall will be open Friday, Dec. 20, 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. They will be closed Saturday, Dec. 21-Sunday, Jan. 5, but will be open during regular hours Monday, Jan. 6-Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Then they will be closed Saturday, Jan. 11-Sunday, Jan. 12.

The Campus Store will be open Friday, Dec. 20, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The store will then be closed Saturday, Dec. 21-Sunday, Jan. 5. Operating hours for Monday, Jan. 6-Friday, Jan. 10, will be 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 11-Sunday Jan. 12, noon-5 p.m.

The Bowling Alley/Game Room will be closed Monday, Dec. 16-Sunday, Jan. 12.

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TEACHING AT TECH: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN THE TECHNICAL CLASSROOM

by William Kennedy, Director

Center for Teaching , Learning and Faculty Development

Richard M. Felder is the Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of chemical engineering at North Carolina State University, a prolific scholar, and co-director of the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI) which offers teaching effectiveness workshops around the world. Felder's website is a treasure trove, especially for science, mathematics, engineering and technology educators.*

One key resource on the website is an article by Felder and Brent entitled "Effective Strategies for Cooperative Learning." In the article, the authors share insights gleaned from 30 combined years of their own classroom practice, and from NETI workshop participants over the years. For anyone considering employing or refining team learning, it is useful reading. The article takes the form of a topical summary on desirable practices.

On strategies for forming student teams, the authors argue that team selection should be driven by instructional goals. In general, they advocate forming heterogenous student groups based on ability. Other considerations might include forming groups with similar schedules to facilitate out-of-class meetings. If the goal is instructional research, teams might be formed in terms of learning styles, etc.

What about students who don't want to work in a team setting? The authors argue that refusing to play should not be an option. They suggest that teachers enumerate the many benefits of collaborative learning early in the course before forming teams.

What about dysfunctional teams? The authors fully anticipate that friction and various disagreements will arise in individual teams and choose to use these opportunities to teach students strategies for managing a whole host of performance issues.

What about persistent slackers? The authors have students produce peer ratings and use them to adjust individual student grades. Students evaluate team members on the level of contribution they made, attendance, preparation, timely completion of work and use these scores to develop a composite measure. These ratings are then factored into course grades once or twice during the semester. Many instructors give students a "dry run" in peer evaluation procedures to provide a wake-up call for slackers. Some instructors also offer groups "last resort" options of "firing" persistent slackers, although this almost never actually happens.

What about gross discrepancies between individual exam grades and team grades? The authors suggest that instructors establish grading standards to ensure that students who fail to earn passing grades on course exams cannot be "saved" by being members of very productive groups. Felder and Brent also note that grade curving tends to work against teams striving for high achievement and argue, instead, for criterion-referenced grading.

Check out Felder's website if you are interested in employing active learning strategies in your technical classroom. It's well worth the visit.

* http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/RMF.html

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY AND TECH FUND SPONSOR ART SALE

How would you like to solve your holiday shopping woes and help students at the same time?

Educational Opportunity and the Michigan Tech Fund are sponsoring an art sale Wednesday, Dec. 18, and Thursday, Dec. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Red Metal Room (105) of the Memorial Union.

Selected signed and numbered art prints valued at $75-$150 will be on sale for $20 each, or two for $30 ($15 each), or four for $25 ($6.25 each).

All proceeds will go toward MTU Student Scholarships and MTU Youth Pre-college Program Scholarships.

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ALUMNI AND FRIENDS PRESENT "BUILDING A CAMPUS" JAN. 21

The Keweenaw Chapter of Michigan Tech Alumni and Friends announces its second speaker of the 2002-03 series. "Building a Campus: Development of the Michigan Tech Campus, 1885 to Present," will be presented by University Archivist, Erik C. Nordberg on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. in the University Archives on the third floor of the J. R. Van Pelt Library. Light refreshments will be served.

Nordberg will talk about the layout of the campus, its growth over time and the way that specific buildings have fit differing campus schemes. The presentation is co-sponsored by the Keweenaw Chapter of Michigan Tech Alumni & Friends and Friends of J.R. Van Pelt Library.

For more information, please contact Sharon Haapala at 487-1994 or sjhaapal@mtu.edu.

NEW STAFF

Nancy Cook has joined the staff of Residential Services as a food service worker. She was previously employed at the Keweenaw Academy as a case manager.

Cook received her BS in Human Services from Lake Superior State University. She lives in Calumet with her daughter, Allysa.

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IN PRINT

Associate Professor Vernon P. Dorweiler (School of Business and Economics) and Mehenna Yakhou, School of Business, Georgia College and State University, have published two papers: "Dimensionality of Environmental Accounting," in the Journal of Accounting and Finance Research (Vol 9, No. 4, 2001), and "Environmental Accounting Coverage in the Accounting Curriculum," in the Journal of Education for Business (Vol 78, No. 1, 2002).

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ON THE ROAD

Associate Professor Susan Martin and Professor Patrick Martin (Social Sciences) presented seminars focusing on prehistoric and historic copper mining, respectively, on Dec. 3 at Technische Universetat Bergakademie Freiberg in Freiberg, Germany. They were Invited by members of the Institute of Mining Engineering.

Presidential Professor John C. Crittenden (Civil and Environmental Engineering) gave a seminar, "Sustainability Science: Research Opportunities and the Emergence of a New Metadiscipline," at Arizona State University in Phoenix on Dec. 13.

Several faculty members and graduate students from the Department of Humanities attended the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender Conference in Minneapolis in October. Presenters and their topics were Associate Professor Vicky Bergvall, "From Dichotomies to Continua (and Back?): Theorizing and Representing Gender"; Associate Professor Diane Shoos, "Revising Arnold: Post-9/11 Heroes on Film"; Associate Professor Patty Sotirin, "Heroes and Women"; Assistant Dean Marilyn Urion (Grad School), "Bartering Stories, Building Lives: Internet Genealogical Research"; Graduate Student Gordon Coonfield, "Everyday Glory" and "Obscenity Rhetoric, 'Impromptu Censorship,' and the Pornographization of the Breast: A Case Study"; Graduate Student Kristin Arola, "Screens and Flows: Multiple Subjectivities in Website Design"; and Dennis Walikainen (University Relations), "Who's Zoomin' Whom? Whose Got the Power in High School Classrooms?" Sotirin was also named president of the OSCLG for 2003-04.

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CALENDAR

December

19        Thursday

            10 a.m.-4 p.m.--Art Sale--Red Metal Room, Memorial Union

            3-5 p.m.--Holiday Open House hosted by Curt and Kathy Tompkins--Memorial Union Ballroom

20        Friday

            6 p.m.--Women's Basketball, Southern Indiana at MTU--SDC Gym

25        Wednesday

            Merry Christmas

31        Tuesday

            1 p.m.--Women's Basketball, Mercyhurst at MTU--SDC Gym

            3 p.m.--Men's Basketball, Mercyhurst at MTU--SDC Gym

            9 p.m.--Gaelic Storm concert--Rozsa Center

            10:30 p.m.-1 a.m.--New Year's Eve Gala--Rozsa Center Lobby

MICHIGAN TECH POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Job descriptions will be available at 1 p.m. on Friday, or by e-mail at <JOBS@MTU.EDU>.

For a complete list of open positions, see http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings/.

The following positions will be posted Friday, December 20, 2002, at 1 p.m. through noon, Friday, January 10, 2003, in the Human Resources Office.

Assistant Professor--Department of Computer Science

Staff Assistant (N6)--Financial Aid Office (UAW internal posting only)

University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, January 10, 2003, to be considered as internal candidates for bargaining unit positions only. Applicants from the recall pool will be given first consideration for non-bargaining-unit positions only. Vacancy announcements are normally posted every Friday at 1 p.m. in the Human Resources Office. Complete job descriptions are available in the Human Resources Office or by calling 487-2280. More information regarding employment opportunities is available by calling the Job Line at 487-2895. Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.

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