Megan Gilge, Tech Topics editorial assistant, 906-487-2343

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BOARD OF CONTROL THAWS $1.1 MILLION IN CARRYFORWARDS

The Board of Control released about $1.1 million in carryforward funds Friday, allowing MTU departments to finish the fiscal year without making drastic cuts.

The Board froze carryforwards in December after learning that they totaled approximately $6 million and were not included in this year's budget, since the budget reflects anticipated expenditures, not department accounts. The board was particularly concerned because the general fund budget is in the red, and the carryforwards could amount to an unfunded liability.

After hearing concerns from the administration that some units would run out of funds before the year end without carryforwards, the board released $1.1 million to cover normal operating costs.

After hearing board concerns, CFO Dan Greenlee presented a proposal to eliminate the balance of the departmental carryforwards, about $5 million. While recognizing the efforts of unit directors, deans and chairs to save money for long-term projects, the university's financial situation makes the action necessary. "We regret that the action taken at this board meeting wipes out those savings accounts," Greenlee said.

The board voted to eliminate the carryforwards, with the exception of lab fees and the $1.1 million needed to operate departments through the fiscal year.

Several in attendance voiced criticism. Wayne Pennington, chair of geological and mining engineering and science, said the units had been good stewards. "The problems you are addressing aren't problems of expenses; they're problems of revenue," he said.

"What you're doing is sending a message to budget managers that if you are prudent, you will be penalized," SBE Dean Keith Lantz said. "If you do the wrong thing, you'll be rewarded."

"I agree with the comments of Dean Lantz," said Graduate Dean Bruce Rafert.

Board Chair David Brule said the board did not act unilaterally. "This came through the university community," he said. The University Senate and the MTU community had called the budget process flawed and ineffective, and accused the president and the board of not knowing what was going on. "The fact is, we responded," Brule said. "You may not like it, but we did it. We're not doing this arbitrarily."

Associate Professor Larry Davis (SBE), representing the Ad Hoc Committee on the University Budget, presented the committee's assessment of the university's finances. Based on the latest figures, the university is looking at a $1.9 million general fund deficit for this year, he said. While the university has been grappling with a near-$10 million revenue shortfall (including about $7 million from a tuition miscalculation and a $2 million reduction in the state appropriation), transfers between other funds and a reduction in expenditures have reduced the impact by about $8 million.

Big ticket items have been $1.9 million transferred from the graduate school which was determined to more properly be included in the general fund; and a $1 million interest payment listed in the general fund that should have been in the plant fund, Davis said.

In addition, according to the latest projections, the university will spent $2.5 million less on financial aid and $2.6 million less on salaries and wages than budgeted for this fiscal year, Greenlee said in his report.

Greenlee projected a $1.8 million general fund deficit this year, compared to the committee's $1.9 million estimate. "It's given the administration and the committee a warm feeling to have come up with essentially the same number," Davis noted.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the committee estimated the deficit at approximately $4 million.

"For next year, it doesn't look real great," said Board Member Rodger Kershner, a member of the budget committee. "On the other hand, some of the other funds aren't doing too badly, so that partly offsets the bad news."

The salaries and wages of faculty and nonunion staff were reduced by the equivalent of five days' effort in December, in response to the news of the revenue shortfall. However, with the improvements in this year's finances, the administration asked the board to rescind the pay reduction.

"I'm proposing the end of the furlough days pay reduction because of changes in the projections," Greenlee said.

Tompkins said he had initiated the proposal because of the major change in the budget projections.

Board Member Mike Henricksen recommended that the board delay acting on the proposal until May. "We're still about $2 million down," he said.

Board Member Ruth Reck agreed. "That's reasonable," she said. "Put it on hold. Next year looks so bleak."

The board voted to revisit the issue in May.

Professor Bruce Barna (Chemical Engineering), speaking as an AAUP representative, suggested that the university change its depreciation schedule to free up money for raises. "All we have to do is change from $10 million to $5 million, and things look pretty rosy," Barna said.

Greenlee said he would be happy to meet with members of the University Senate Finance Committee to discuss the issue. Controller Mike Hendricks said that MTU calculates its depreciation using standard accounting practices used by universities throughout the state.

In other business, the board

* suspended programs leading to a BS in Mining Engineering and an AAS in Chemical Engineering Technology due to low enrollments.

* learned that the University Career Center was now reporting to the Office of Student Affairs, effective Feb. 1.

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CONSULTANT: ENROLLMENT, TEACHING LOAD SHOULD DRIVE ACADEMIC BUDGETING

Michigan Tech should consider using a different strategy to build its budget, a higher education financial consultant told the Board of Control March 5.

"The state of Michigan is slowly privatizing higher ed," said Nate Dickmeyer, of Dickmeyer Consulting. In such a climate, universities need to think more like businesses to survive. "The university has to do things that reward bringing in revenues."

The university has been using incremental budgeting, which is based on previous years' expenditures. However, incremental budgeting is generally not strategic, in that it doesn't lend itself to reallocating resources to support the organization's goals.

Another method is zero-based budgeting, which Dickmeyer called "overwhelming. It's based on the premise that there are lots of things you shouldn't be doing, and everything here is essential."

Like most universities, the university is far from top-heavy, he added. "All of higher education is thinly administered, and Michigan Tech is no exception," Dickmeyer said.

As an alternative to zero-based and incremental approaches, he presented responsibility-centered budgeting, in which academic units gain revenue by attracting majors and teaching service courses. As departments teach more service courses and/or increased the number of majors, their budgets would rise.

The system rewards activities that bring in revenue and are in line with the university's mission. Disadvantages are "a pathology against interdisciplinary work and doing things for tomorrow," Dickmeyer said.

Nonacademic units' budgets would be determined based on the service level, from the most basic to superior. He advised against rolling all services back to the minimum. "You don't want shabby service with golden academics," he said, since good service is key to attracting students.

Board Chair David Brule asked if the university had any systemic flaws that caused the recent budget problems.

The budget-building process itself, which is based on assumptions, was not at fault. "It was an error in calculations that wasn't caught," Dickmeyer said. He suggested that Internal Audit review the budget figures to help prevent such problems in the future.

The University Senate had asked for an independent review of the budgeting process, and Brule asked Senate President Robert Keen to comment on Dickmeyer's report.

"It certainly accomplished part of what we were looking for," Keen said, particularly with reference to the existing budgeting process. The senate hadn't asked for alternative budget systems, but welcomes the report, he said.

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GRANHOLM APPOINTS GRONEVELT TO BOARD OF CONTROL

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has appointed Russ Gronevelt to the Board of Control.

Gronevelt '68 is a trustee with the Michigan Tech Fund, has served on the Civil and Environmental Engineering Professional Advisory Council for six years, and was inducted into MTU's Academy of Civil & Environmental Engineers.

"Russ is dedicated to working with the university to continually explore ways to encourage business growth in the state and region through their high tech and R&D collaborations," said Granholm. "He is committed to helping ensure that higher education is accessible and affordable to all Michigan citizens and that our students are receiving a quality education."

Gronevelt is currently president of Orchard Hiltz McCliment, a civil engineering consulting firm in Livonia.

He replaces A. Douglas Rothwell, who has resigned, and is appointed for a term expiring December 31, 2010.

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BOARD APPROVES PSYCHOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY DEGREES

The Michigan Technological University Board of Control approved two new degrees March 5. The board also approved the reinstatementof a Master of Science in Business Administration degree, starting in September.

The board gave final approval to a new Bachelor of Science program in Psychology. Students will enroll in the new program for the 2004-05 academic year.

A new PhD degree in Industrial Heritage and Archeology received preliminary approval. The proposal now goes to the State Board of Academic Officers, and then will need final approval by Michigan Tech's board.

Susan Amato-Henderson, assistant professor of education psychology, said there has already been considerable interest in the new psychology undergraduate degree.

"Fundamentally, engineers build products that are used by humans," she said. "Psychology looks at the human side of that equation. Thus, this degree will be an excellent fit with Michigan Tech, providing a perfect complement to our existing strengths."

Bruce Seely, chair of the social sciences department, has received a number of inquiries from students interested in a PhD program in industrial heritage and archaeology. The department already offers a popular master's program in the field. Seely said this would be the only PhD program of its kind in the nation.

The School of Business of Economics will again offer the master of science in business administration beginning in September. The department shelved the program several years ago, but both faculty and prospective students have expressed an interest in restoring the degree.

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YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED ON STRATEGIC INITIATIVES FOR THE COMING YEAR

The Strategic Planning Working Group and the university's top administrators have developed a list of five broad strategic objectives--termed a Tactical Plan--to work toward achieving in 2004. The Tactical Plan will be presented to the Board of Control for its review and endorsement in May. The Strategic Planning Working Group is soliciting comments on the proposed plan.

The objectives--on education and research, enrollment, marketing, opertions and resources--are part of the university's Tactical Plan, an effort to prioritize actions needed to achieve the seven strategic goals and 27 strategic objectives in the Strategic Plan. A university officer will be responsible for accomplishing each of the tasks supporting the Tactical Plan objectives.

To find out more about the Tactical Plan, visit http://www.mtu.edu/stratplan/tactical/index.html . You can comment on the Tactical Plan using the online form.

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SENATE APPROVES NEW MINORS, VICE PRESIDENT

The University Senate approved two new minors March 10.

The minor in manufacturing and the minor in product design would both be housed in the MEEM department. Both rely on existing courses and would not require additional expenditures.

Students earning the manufacturing minor would gain skills required of manufacturing engineers, while those completing the product design minor would have a background in solid modeling, advanced computational methods, design for manufacturability and more.

Senator Becky Christianson (Human Resources) was elected senate vice president without opposition. She fills the vacancy left by the resignation of Chris Williams.

In other business, the senate approved minor revisions to the late course add policy and tabled discussion of proposal 24-04, The Title and Administrative Position of Dean, until its next meeting.

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DOING HARD TIME: LIFE IN TECH'S CONCRETE LAB

Karl Peterson's job description is pretty straightforward for a guy who runs a university lab with about a million dollars worth of equipment. "I look at concrete, mostly," he says.

"Sometimes, concrete comes in a box," he adds, indicating a package newly arrived from somewhere near Detroit.

People are always sending boxes of concrete to Peterson, a research scientist/engineer I who manages the Non-Conductive/Volatile Phase Materials Characterization Facility, or NC/VP Matls. Characterization Facility for short. It's not usually the nicest concrete.

"They want us to find out what's wrong with it," he says, hoisting a cylinder out of the box. This sample is about the size of a one-pound coffee can and was bored from a road that obviously has some serious pothole-related problems. Where a visitor sees evidence of an epic tragedy involving front-end alignments, however, Peterson senses opportunity.

"I'm kind of excited about these cores," he confides. This is a chance to run his equipment through its paces and come up with some really good information.

Good information about why concrete goes bad is more important than you might think. "There's a lot of litigation," says Peterson, who earned his MS in Civil Engineering from MTU and is working on his PhD. "If things like roads and bridges fall apart, it's a big deal. There's a lot of money involved."

One big reason they fall apart revolves around a key ingredient in all good concrete: bubbles. Back in the 1940s, people noticed that concrete structures in New York were lasting longer than others, and when they examined the concrete, they found it was shot through with little holes.

"Bubbles help water move through the concrete and keep it from falling apart," Peterson explains. Few things are harder on concrete than the stress of freezing and thawing water. Thus, everyone who makes structural concrete these days adds chemicals that form tiny pockets, giving concrete a sponge-like quality that allows water to escape, relieving pressure before it can cause cracking.

Which leads us to what Peterson calls "one of the saddest things we do in this lab: count bubbles."

To do this, they slice and polish sections of concrete about 10 centimeters across. Using a high-resolution scanner, they can blow up the image on a computer monitor and impose a line across it. Then they count the number of bubbles that intersect the line on many samples, over and over, again and again, and extrapolate from the data how hole-y that concrete sample is.

It's almost as exciting as it sounds.

"One of my goals is to teach a pigeon how to do this," Peterson deadpans. Yes, he says, computers can be used to count bubbles, but people do a better job, even if they don't want to.

While industry standards say only human eyes will do, perhaps techniques Peterson has developed using a high-resolution digital scanner may someday gain widespread acceptance.

Another way to see the fine details in concrete is to soak a thin slice with a poisonous-looking green dye, mount it on a slide and look at it through the lab's optical microscope. The dye reveals tiny components such as fly ash, which can replace some of the portland cement. You can also see how some air pockets behave like tiny underground caverns, filling with mini-stalagtites as water flows through and leaves minerals behind.

If you want to look even deeper into the heart of concrete, however, Peterson can show you images from the lab's X-ray microscope and the environmental scanning electron microscope. They do the same job as the optical microscope, only more so. "We can zap stuff and see what it's made of," he says.

Sometimes people from outside the university are surprised to discover just how much the MTU scientists can find out. One corporate client was chagrined when technicians quickly identified a super-secret ingredient in their brand-new concrete mixture. Peterson shrugs. What did they expect?

With some of the finest facilities in the country, it would be hard not to uncover the secrets of concrete here. The lab contracts with the Michigan Department of Transportation, along with eight other state agencies from across the U.S., businesses and local governments to answer questions as diverse as "Why did this crack?" to "Will this de-icer make our highways wear out faster?"

The lab tour over, Peterson returns to those pavement samples from Greater Detroit to solve another mystery: "Why is this concrete crumbling?"

How is he going to do that? His eyes light up. "I know I'm going to do the fanciest stuff I can."

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VITA PROGRAM OFFERS FREE INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE

VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, will be offered on campus again this year.

Upper-division accounting students who have completed an IRS training program prepare basic, individual tax returns for other MTU students and for members of the local community who could not otherwise afford professional tax preparation services.

The service will be offered in Academic Office Building 117 on Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon and from 3 to 5 p.m and on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sessions will be held until Monday, April 12. No appointment is necessary. Be sure to bring your W-2s and other tax information plus a copy of your last year's tax return.

Special sessions will be announced soon for international students who may need to file U.S. income tax returns.

Michigan Tech's VITA program is sponsored by the School of Business and Economics.

For further information about VITA, contact Joel Tuoriniemi, jctuorin@mtu.edu or Anne Warrington, acwarrin@mtu.edu. International students may contact Brenda Sutherland, brsuther@mtu.edu.

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TECH ARTS FESTIVAL ART COMPETITION ENTRIES SOUGHT

The Memorial Union Board is soliciting entries for the annual Tech Arts Festival Art Competition. You can enter photographs, paintings, drawings and other media and compete for cash prizes in several categories. All entries will be on display and open to the public March 23-26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily in the Alumni Lounge of the Memorial Union. Entry forms are available in the Memorial Union Student Offices, the J. R. Van Pelt Library circulation desk, the Rozsa Center and the front desks of the residence halls. There is a section on the entry form to indicate whether or not you wish to sell your art. Prospective purchasers can be informed of your asking price and given your name and phone number. The actual purchase transaction is up to you.

Entries will be accepted March 16-19 in the Memorial Union Board Office in Memorial Union 106 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. All two-dimensional art must be matted, mounted and/or framed and ready to hang. All entries must be original and not previously submitted.

The competition is open to all amateur artists on campus and in the community. You need not be a student to enter. A warm invitation is extended to all professionals to exhibit, but not to compete.

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories: black and white photography, color photography, painting, drawing, and other mixed media. The latter category would include crafts, pottery, carving etc. Each visitor to the competition exhibit will have the opportunity to vote for his or her favorite work of art to determine the winner of the People's Choice Award.

Call the Memorial Union Board Office at 487-2422 for more information.

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STUDENTS, STAFF AND FACULTY RECEIVE MICHIGAN SPACE GRANTS

A number of members of the Michigan Tech community have recently been awarded Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) grants, including research and public service fellowships to students in aerospace, space science, Earth system science and other related science, engineering or mathematics fields. The consortium's mission is to create, develop and promote programs that support and reflect NASA strategic interests, and to encourage cooperation between academia, industry, and state and local government in space-related science and technology in Michigan.

Undergraduate recipients of $2,500 fellowships and their faculty advisors are Kirk D. Anderson (ECE), "High Power Vacuum Arc Thruster," B. King (MEEM); David Dame (MEEM), "Investigation of Inflatable Space Structure Dynamic Behavior," B. King (MEEM); Adam DeConinck (Physics), "Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes for Uses in Advanced Space Propulsion Systems," Yoke Khin Yap; Joseph Esquibel (Chemistry), "Carbon Dioxide Fixation and Recycling by Bifunctional Catalyst," Bela Torok; Jason Makela (MEEM), "Procurement of an Inflatable Boon Nanosatellite," B. King; and Meghan McGee (Biomedical Engineering), "Effect of Annual Hibernation on the Mechanics and Histology of Black Bear Bones," Seth Donahue.

Graduate recipients of $5,000 fellowships and their faculty advisors are Jacob Fugal (Physics), "Proposal to Build Holographic Detector of Clouds (HOLODEC) II," Raymond Shaw; Lindsay Godin (MEEM), "Characterization of Biological Pathway in Bone," Seth Donahue (Biomedical Engineering); Dean Massey (MEEM), "Probo Studies of Bismuth Plasma as a Hall Thruster Diagnostic," B. King; and Josef L. Vance (Biomedical Engineering), "Mechanical Stimulation for 3D Bone Tissue Engineering Applications," Seth Donahue.

Assistant Professor Jian Liu (Chemistry) received a $5,000 faculty seed grant for "Development of Light-Powered Bio-Nano Enzymes for Carbon Dioxide Reduction."

The Pre-College Education Program, Public Outreach Program Grant recipients are Peter A. Larsen (Educational Opportunity), for "Aerospace Engineering Pre-College Program for Minorities," $5,000; and John B. Lehman (Educational Opportunity), "Women and Minorities Pre-College Enterprise," $5,000.

Higher Education Incentive Program, Special Initiatives Augmentation Program Grant recipients are Peter Larsen and John Lehman (Educational Opportunity) for "Replication Summer Aerospace Engineering Pre-College Programs in Formal and Informal Education Settings," $5,000.

For more information, contact Chris S. Anderson, csanders@mtu.edu or 487-3539.

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WOMEN'S WEEK CELEBRATION MARCH 22-26

The theme of this year's Women's Week celebration is "Women: Inspiring Hope and Possibility."

A series of presentations and brown bag lunches will be held at noon in Memorial Union Ballroom B. Salads will be provided.

On Monday, March 22, Louise Kleba, an AISES Sequoyah Fellow and payload engineer for NASA, will present "Women's Contributions to Aviation: The First 100 Years of Aeronautics and Astronautics."

Dr. Kamaljit Puri of Portage Health System will present "Heart Disease: The Silent Killer of Women" on Tuesday.

Wednesday's presentation will be a salute to mothers.

On Thursday, Annie Humphrey, who won best female artist and best folk/country artist at the 2001 Native American Music Awards will perform. Her presentation, "Journeys of Feeling, Her Song, Her Spirit, Her Voice, Reflecting Spirit," will be accompanied by her mother, an Anishinabe Ojibwe grandmother storyteller, poet, playwright and author.

Author and celebrated poet Regina Vincent Clark, director of first year students at Tennessee State College, will speak on Friday.

The Women's Week events are sponsored by Educational Opportunity, Student Affairs, the Michigan Tech Parents Fund, NASA and the Visiting Women and Minority Lecturer Scholar Series.

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RETIREMENT PARTY MARCH 22 FOR KATHY HUBER AND SUE PETERSON

Everyone is invited to a retirement party for Kathy Huber and Sue Peterson, staff assistants in the University Career Center.

It will be held Monday, March 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Career Center, located on the first floor of the Harold Meese Center. Refreshments will be served.

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SONS AND DAUGHTERS SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS DUE MARCH 19

MTU Employee Sons and Daughters Scholarships valued at $100 each will be available for the 2004-05 academic year. Applicants must be full-time MTU undergraduates in their first four years of study or high school students planning to enroll in fall 2004, and the sons or daughters of Michigan Tech employees. Applications are available in the Financial Aid Office, Admin 160. The deadline for application submission is March 19.

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TEACHING AT TECH: EDUCATIONAL READYMIX

by William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development

Textbook manufacturers are now bundling all sorts of goodies in with their flagship texts, especially those intended for large enrollment courses. Along with the $150, 38-pound, thousand-page-plus textbooks, manufacturers routinely provide instructors with richly colored overhead transparencies, PowerPoint lecture-support slides and access to software that almost effortlessly produces an infinite array of multiple-guess tests and quizzes. Some even add access to a richly detailed Web site that students can visit if they feel that they need additional help or more examples. Some even bundle individual personal response remote control devices with their books that students can use in class to respond to the readymade Conceptests that instructors can employ to assess student understanding throughout the lecture; an appeasement to advocates of active learning. These texts are richly illustrated with all sorts of glitz and eye candy. They contain a dazzling myriad of multiple sidebars, study guides, chapter introductions and summaries, practice questions and a host of traditional helps like glossaries, indexes and detailed appendices. Research suggests that eye candy doesn't improve learning.

It is clear that the highly competitive, increasingly centralized, highly profitable textbook industry is working hard to provide instructors with ways to make their lives easier by producing products that seem to provide a wealth of learning opportunities for students. Instructors can craft their own customized approach to teaching a course by picking and choosing among the various add-ons and enrichments provided by the textbook producers.

Maybe next year, textbook producers will bundle DVDs with highly appealing artists like Eminem or Brittany Spears holding forth on the essentials of biology, chemistry or physics. Or, perhaps, the companies will contract with the good-looking subset of Nobel laureates to provide interesting anecdotes about how they worked their way through calculus or dynamics. There's a rap version of my history of rhetoric lecture percolating in my head. Socrates, da dum. Plato, da doo. Aristotle, uh. Okay, maybe not! I actually worry about the same six or seven companies that produce the drivel that fouls the television airwaves swallowing up the few remaining textbook producers and cleverly incorporating ads for body piercing and soda pop into their megatexts. Maybe next year's textbooks will come bundled with coupons for Mountain Dew.

After 25 years of teaching, I still believe that students learn more when instructors individually craft class sessions that provide their students with a glimpse of how that instructor has come to understand the issues at hand. What makes a residential college experience richer than a distance learning program is that each of us has the opportunity to continuously craft and refine our class sessions to meet the changing needs, inclinations and affinities of the students who populate a particular section.

Providing personal response devices for students may be an appeasement to those instructors who believe that ongoing interaction is one component to effective teaching. I fear that most of the other enhancements are simply attempts to pander to the convenience needs of faculty members rather than attempts to impact the learning of our students.

Learning involves changing the hearts as well as the minds of our students. Students learn important lessons from how we teach just as they learn things from what we teach. We're not disc jockeys or set designers. Mass media, in all forms, must pander to the middle to ensure the bottom line. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

submitted by University Cultural Enrichment

Chamber Orchestra Kremlin returns to Michigan Tech for one performance only at the Rozsa Center on Saturday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. Their last visit to Houghton was in 1999, when they performed in Fisher Hall to an enthusiastic audience. Since then the orchestra has continued to earn national and international recognition as one of Russia's leading ensembles. "Clearly," notes the San Francisco Classical Voice, "this is one of the super ensembles on the current international scene . . . the sheer amount and velvety warmth of that distinctively Russian sound [is] thrilling." Following performances at major concert halls in Moscow, at festivals and historic sites, and European and American tours, this virtuoso orchestra looks forward to its encore visit to Houghton to perform and enjoy the wonderful acoustics of the Rozsa. Tickets are on sale at the Rozsa Center Box Office (487-3200, Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.) or online at http://tickets.mtu.edu .

The program will include Edvard Grieg's beautiful Holberg Suite, Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony, and Contrapunctus No. 1 from J. S. Bach's The Art of the Fugue. The second half of the concert will feature the famous "Death and the Maiden" by Franz Schubert arranged for chamber orchestra by artistic director and conductor Misha Rachlevsky.

At 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 20, Rachlevsky will conduct a master class for string students who have been selected by members of the fine arts department. These students will prepare pieces to play for Rachlevsky, who will then offer suggestions on how to improve their performance. Such suggestions can vary from correcting posture to attack, intonation and communicating the emotion of the piece. Watching a truly talented teacher effect the very real transformation that takes place in such classes is a remarkable experience. The class, which will be held in the Rozsa performance hall, is free and open to the public. Please arrive in good time to be seated before 3 p.m.

The history of Chamber Orchestra Kremlin dates back to 1991 when the Swiss recording company Claves approached Rachlevsky with an offer to record some Russian music. They agreed with his suggestion to realize the project with Russian musicians, and Rachlevsky immediately founded Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, an ensemble comprised of some of the finest young musicians in Moscow.

Rachlevsky is a native of Moscow who began studying violin at the age of five. In 1973, he left the Soviet Union and, after three years of living and working in different countries, settled in the U.S. In the 1980s he founded the New American Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble with which he appeared as leader and soloist in hundreds of concerts.

The orchestra's visit to Houghton is sponsored by the James and Margaret Black Endowment and is coordinated by the MTU Great Events Series Office (487-2844).

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KEWEENAW SYMPHONY CONCERT FEATURES IRISH, GERSHWIN

The premiere of "Blue Waters: A Jazz Portrait of the Keweenaw" by Michigan Tech's director of jazz studies Mike Irish, plus a performance of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" featuring concert pianist Rachel Franklin, headline the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra's concert on Saturday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa Center. Alton Thompson will conduct the two jazz/orchestral works plus "Susquehanna Sunset" by American composer Mark Zuckerman.

Audience members are invited to "Meet the Music" at a pre-concert event with Thompson, Irish and Franklin at 6 p.m. Photographs of the Keweenaw by award-winning photographer Michael Shupe will be displayed in the Rozsa lobby.

Irish's "Blue Waters" is a seven-part tribute to life in the Keweenaw which features soloists from the Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band, plus guest musicians Charles White and Pat Valencia. Irish, a prolific composer, arranger and performer, completed "Blue Waters" during a fall 2003 sabbatical. Shupe's photos are displayed at Irish's request because they visually complement the musical scenes.

Franklin earned a doctorate in piano performance from the Peabody School of Music at Johns Hopkins University, studying with Anne Schein, and currently makes her home in Baltimore. She studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School, giving performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, and at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad, and attended the Royal College of Music. She also studied at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University, where she won first prize in the school's piano competition and received highest honors upon graduation. She has participated in master classes with such artists as Joseph Kalichstein, Andras Schiff and Menachem Pressler.

Franklin received the Pro Musicis International Award, leading to highly praised solo and orchestral concerts in the major concert halls of the U.S. and Europe. Among her many awards are top prizes in the Florence International Chamber Music Competition and the Louise B. McMahon International Music Competition. An accomplished jazz pianist, she has performed with many jazz ensembles and has broadcast solo jazz on BBC Radio 3.

The "Blue Waters" concert is made possible by a gift to the Department of Fine Arts from the estate of G. Cleaves Byers. Tickets are available at the Rozsa Box Office (487-3200, http://www.tickets.mtu.edu), other university box offices and at the door for $15 general, $6 students.

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AUDITIONS SCHEDULED FOR "THE RADIANCE OF A THOUSAND SUNS"

Auditions for Michigan Tech's fall 2004 theater production, "The Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project," will be held on March 22, 23 and 26 in Walker 210, starting at 7 p.m. The play, with a cast of eight plus musicians, will be performed in October in McArdle Theatre, with Associate Professor Sue Stephens (Fine Arts) directing. Full rehearsals will begin in late August.

"Radiance of a Thousand Suns" was first produced at the Bailiwick Repertory, Chicago, in 1995, winning the Joseph Jefferson Award for best new work and wide critical acclaim. A simply staged drama with music and special visual effects, the play eloquently considers the bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 and its aftermath from multiple points of view.

Stephens chose "Radiance" for its excellence as theater and also for its thought-provoking themes which are particularly relevant to the Michigan Tech community. Auditions are open to all students with no special preparation required. The script is on reserve in the J. R. Van Pelt Library.

More information is available from the fine arts department office, 209 Walker, 487-2067, fineart at mtu.edu.

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MTU, NMU JAZZ BANDS IN JOINT CONCERT

The Rozsa stage will rock to the sounds of jazz on Thursday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. as Michigan Tech's award-winning Jazz Lab Band joins Northern Michigan University's Jazz Ensemble in a joint concert. Directors Mike Irish of Michigan Tech and Mark Flaherty of NMU bring their finest musicians to this latest in a series of home and home exchanges concerts, which date back to 1968.

Both student bands are known for their excellence and enthusiasm, and Irish notes that the good-natured rivalry between the two universities always brings out the best in both groups. This concert is a prelude to the Jazz Lab Band's appearance at the annual University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire collegiate jazz festival in April, where they have enjoyed remarkable success over the years.

Tickets for Home and Home Jazz are available at the Rozsa Center Box Office (487-3200 and http://www.tickets.mtu.edu) for $8 general, $4 students. For more information, call the Department of Fine Arts, 487-2067.

MEEM GRADUATE SEMINAR THURSDAY

Frank E. Goodwin, executive vice president, International Lead Zinc Research Organization, will present a MEEM graduate seminar, "Production and Application of Advanced High Strength Galvanized Steels in Automotive Bodies and Structures," Thursday, March 11, 3-4 p.m. in MEEM 112.

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CHEMISTRY SEMINAR FRIDAY

Research Assistant Professor Steven A. Verhey (SFRES) will present a chemistry seminar, "Current Research on Wood Fiber/Thermoplastic Composites," Friday, March 12, 3-4 p.m. in Chemical Sciences and Engineering 101.

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LEARNING AND UNLEARNING WORKSHOP MARCH 25

A workshop to evaluate the effects of prior conceptions on student learning and suggest some remedies will be held March 25 from noon to 1 p.m.

To register, call the Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development at 487-2046.

Lunch will be provided for faculty who register by Monday, March 22.

NEW STAFF

Bryon Freeman has joined Accounting Services as a data analyst. He holds a BS in Business Administration (MIS) from Michigan Tech. Freeman enjoys snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and photography and is a board member and volunteer for the Copper Country Humane Society. He lives in Hancock.

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PROPOSALS IN PROGRESS

Researchers, their proposals and their potential sponsors are

Tom Van Dam (ECE/MTTI), Larry Sutter (TTEC/MTTI), "Evaluation of Concrete Cores from Mosel Ave. Bridge," Michigan DOT

Xin-Lin Gao (MEEM), "Indentation Mechanics: New Expanding Cavity Models Incorporating the Strain-Hardening, Indentation Size and Strain Rate Effects," NSF

Gordon Parker, Jason Blough (MEEM), "Active Control of Structure-Borne Noise in Complex Structures," NSF

William I. Rose, Adam J. Durant (GMES/RSI), "Mechanisms and Consequences of Distal Ash Fallout: Deposits from Mount St. Helens and Yellowstone," NSF

Sudhakar M. Pandit, Steven G. Mattson (MEEM), "Condition Diagnostics via Embedded Autoregressive Models," NSF

Jindong Tan (ECE), "Dynamic Model and Control of Mobile Sensor Networks," NSF

William J. Endres (MEEM), "Modeling Fixed Interface/Joint Dynamics under Generically Time-Varying Multi-Dimensional Loading," NSF

Will Cantrell (Physics/IEM), "Studies of Heterogeneous Nucleation of Ice in Thin Films," NSF

Alison K. Hoagland, Larry Lankton (Social Sciences), "Sandstone Conservation," U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

S. K. Kawatra (Chemical Engineering), "Process for Pig Iron Production Without Using a Blast Furnace" and "Quality Improvement and Quality Control of Waste Oxide Briquettes," American Iron and Steel Institute.

Sheryl Sorby (College of Engineering), Kedmon Hungwe (Education), Paul Charlesworth (Chemistry), "Improving 3-D Spatial Skills for a Diverse Group of Learners," NSF

Jimmy F. Diehl (GMES), "Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Climatic and Human Impacts on the Intensity and Frequency of Late Holocene Flood Events--A Case Study of the Morava River Flood Deposits (Czech Republic)," National Science Foundation

Amitabh Narain, H. A. Evensen, C. D. Van Karsen (MEEM), "Direct Computational Simulations and Experiments for Internal Condensing Flows' System-Instabilities/Dynamics in Micro-Gravity and Terrestrial Environments," NASA

Casey Huckins (Biological Sciences), Ed Baker (MI DNR), Kim Scribner (Fish and Wildlife/MSU), "Brook Trout Metapopulation Structure in Lake Superior," Michigan State University

Christopher R. Webster (SFRES), "Ecological Relationships of Southern Pine Beetle, Fire and the Establishment of Pine Stands: Can We Use Prescribed Burning to Save Native Pine Forests in the Southeast?" National Park Service

Andrew J. Storer (SFRES), "New Relationships Among the Sudden Oak Death Pathogen, Phytophthora Ramorum, Native Bark and Ambrosia Beetles, Decay Fungi Colonizing North American Oaks," U.C. Berkeley

Robert Pastel (Computer Science), "ENTERPRISE: Integrated Microsystems Enterprise: TRIcoder Project," National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance

Judith Perlinger (CEE/RSI), "Measurement of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Atmospheric Concentrations and Fluxes in Lake Superior using MCCDs," Great Lakes Commission

Sheryl Sorby (College of Engineering), Chris Anderson (Educational Opportunity), Brad Baltensperger (Education), "Project: REACH: Realistic Engineering Applications for Children," NSF

David F. Karnosky, Kurt S. Pregitzer (SFRES/Ecosystem Science Center), "Ecological Genomics of Carbon Allocation and Nutrient Cycling in a Symbiotic Forest Ecosystem Under a Changing Global Environment," NSF

Judith Perlinger (CEE/RSI), "Atmospheric Transport and Air-Water Exchange of PBTs in the Southern Basin of Lake Michigan," University of Chicago

Jian Liu (Chemistry), "Supramolecular Control of Photochemical Processes at the Surfaces of Receptor-Modified Semiconductor Quantum Dots," ACS PRF

David Watkins (CEE/RSI), "Automated Methods for Bias Correction of Multi-Sensor Precipitation Estimates in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Regions," US Department of Commerce, National Weather Service

Eugenijus Urzenius (Chemistry), "Bimetallic Transition Metal Complexes for Small Molecule Activation," Petroleum Research Fund

Nilufer Onder (Computer Science), "Integrating Planning and Diagnosis Using Explicit Probabilistic Device Models," NSF

Jindong Tan (ECE), "Distributed Graph Model and Coordination Control for Multiple Mobile Robot Systems," NSF

David Watkins, Brian Barkdoll (CEE/MTTI), "Criteria for Selecting Numeric Hydraulic Modeling Software," NAS-TRB-NCHRP

Sheryl Sorby (College of Engineering), Chris S. Anderson (Educational Opportunity), Brad Baltensperger, Kedmon Hungwe (Education), "Center for K-12 Technology and Engineering Education," NSF

Sheryl Sorby (Engineering/Engineering Fundamentals), Paul Charlesworth (Chemistry), Kedmon Hungwe (Education), Tom Drummer (Mathematical Sciences), "Removing Barriers to Success: Reducing Gender Differences in Spatial Skills," NSF

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CALENDAR: MARCH

10        Wednesday

            7-8:30 p.m.--Campus Symposium, "The Digital Conflict--A Discussion of Peer-to-Peer File Sharing"--Dow 642

            6-8 p.m.--Videoconference, "Developing a Sales Strategy"--EERC B11

11        Thursday

            7 p.m.--Lecture, "Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur"--Dow 642

            7:30 p.m.--"Home and Home Jazz"--Rozsa Center

13        Saturday

            7:30 p.m.--"Blue Waters: A Jazz Portrait of the Keweenaw"--Rozsa Center

20        Saturday

            7:30 p.m.--Chamber Orchestra Kremlin--Rozsa Center

27        Saturday

            10 a.m.--Men's Tennis, Mercyhurst at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

28        Sunday

            10 a.m.--Men's Tennis, Findlay at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

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MICHIGAN TECH POSITIONS AVAILABLE

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

The following positions will be posted Friday, March 12, 2004, at 1 p.m. through noon, Friday, March 19, 2004, in the Human Resources Office or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings/

Assistant Football Coach--Athletic Department

Coordinator of Student Orientation and Parent Programs--Office of Student Affairs/First Year Programs

Office Assistant 5--Department of Mathematical Sciences (UAW internal and external posting)

University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, March 19, 2004, 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

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