1. BOARD APPROVES BUDGET, CARRY-FORWARDS FOR LAB FEES

The Board of Control approved a balanced budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year and re-affirmed that departmental lab and course fees will be carried forward from year to year.

At its June 25 meeting, the board also approved seven new degree programs and heard that, after a several-year hiatus, the Master of Science in Business Administration will begin enrolling students this fall.

The 2004-05 budget reinstates salaries to their pre-furlough levels and includes no across-the-board cuts.

"We need to continue to make strategic cuts and use our budget as a tool to pursue our strategic plan," said President Glenn Mroz. "Over the next month, we will develop a timeline for the Fiscal Year 2006 budget. We need to continue to evaluate what drives our economic engine and what we do better than anyone else--what we have a passion for."

As part of the budget, the board adopted tuition rates for 2004-05. Michigan-resident undergraduate tuition will increase just 2.3 percent to $232.60 per credit. Tuition for non-Michigan undergraduates will increase 2.5 percent to $605 per credit.

The general fund budget totals $107 million in revenue, including approximately $50 million in state appropriations and $51 million in tuition and fees.

"We are assuming that the state will provide the $1.5 million 'rebate' as a result of our keeping resident tuition rates below inflation," said Dan Greenlee, chief financial officer.

On the expense side, Greenlee praised faculty and staff for what he called "an excellent year in health care. Faculty and staff are concerned about their health and are paying attention to their use of the health care system."

Board member Kathy Clark proposed that any unspent lab and special course fees be transferred to the designated fund at the end of each fiscal year. Clark said the move would ensure that the fees "can be carried forward and used for the intended purposes."

Bob Keen (biological sciences) told the board that academic departments set lab fees with an eye toward replacing major equipment every few years. He agreed with Clark's approach.

"We need to have a way to save funds to replace equipment that cannot be funded annually," Keen said. "To be sure, there needs to be oversight to make sure the money is spent for its intended purpose, but we need a way to do this."

"We need a mechanism so [the departments] don't have to spend all of these lab fees in one year," agreed board chair Dave Brule.

The board passed Clark's resolution, with member Rodger Kershner dissenting.

The board also gave final approval for several new degrees, including

* a PhD in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology

* master's degrees in forestry, forest ecology and management, applied ecology,      and forest molecular genetics and biotechnology

* a bachelor's degree in communications and culture studies

Michigan Tech's master's degree in business administration has already attracted 38 applications, according to Keith Lantz, Dean of Business and Economics. Lantz told the board that the program will begin operating again this fall, after being dormant for several years.

____________

2. New Fringe Benefit Rates Announced

The Office of Naval Research has recently audited and finalized negotiations with MTU for our fringe benefit rates. These rates are effective as of July 1. A copy of the agreement is on the Research and Sponsored Programs website http://www.admin.mtu.edu/rgs/research/sprot/ratmtu/NEW_Rates.pdf .   A copy of MTU's budget estimating charts is at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/rgs/research/sprot/forms.html . These rates are effective immediately for sponsored project proposal budgeting.

The new fringe benefit rate is 41 percent for all regular and grant funded employees with the exception of the following categories:

*  Extra Compensation 20.2 percent

*  Temporary Employees 10 percent

*  Graduate Students 3.4 percent

*  Undergraduate 0 percent

For existing and incrementally funded projects and pending proposals, the lower rates for extra compensation (20.2 percent) and graduate students (3.4 percent) will be applied. However, the regular and grant-funded employee rate will be grandfathered at 39 percent.

The new fringe benefit rate will apply to supplemental or additional funding, where funding is added for work beyond what was contained in the original agreement. The funding will generally be given a new index number in order to be separated from the funding in the original agreement.

____________

3. FUTURETRUCK TEAM FINISHES FOURTH IN COMPETITION

Michigan Tech finished its final FutureTruck in the money, coming in fourth in a field of 15 schools hand-picked for the prestigious national engineering competition.

"We ran solid in every area," said the team's advisor, Associate Professor John Beard (MEEM). "Everything we did, we did well." In addition to the fourth-place prize of $3,000, the team earned two $500 awards for finishing third in both the Delphi Advanced Powertrain Controls and the Math Works Modeling competitions.

In FutureTruck, teams of students from 15 top North American universities re-engineer stock Ford Explorers to achieve lower emissions and at least 25 percent higher fuel economy without sacrificing the performance, utility, safety and affordability consumers want. For all nine years of the FutureCar and FutureTruck competitions, MTU's teams have based their design strategy on a hybrid gas-electric engine. They consistently finished in the top half and while working with a Ford Explorer, always ranked among the top five.

The teams squared off in vehicle testing at Ford's Michigan Proving Ground June 9-17 that measured acceleration, towing ability, fuel economy, off-road performance and tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions. The competition is co-sponsored by Ford and the U.S. Department of Energy.

As with all FutureTruck competitions, minor problems can have major consequences. "We overheated during the fuel economy run," Beard said. Tech's vehicle hadn't been driven much in the heat, since Houghton hadn't had any, so it wasn't until the competition that the team found out that a fan might fail when the weather got hot. "We fixed it, but by then it was too late in the day to complete the event. You only get one shot."

"If we hadn't broken down, we'd have gone from fourth to second place," Beard said. However, he notes, all the teams dealt with their share of breakdowns and luck, both good and bad.

An example was the off-road competition, which started with a dry track and ended in a quagmire as the sky opened up. That wasn't a problem for the team accustomed to 200-plus inches of annual snowfall. "People at the event said, 'Your guy knows what he's doing,'" Beard said. "Well, he knows not to floor it when you don't have traction."

While it would have been nice to do a victory lap in this last-ever FutureTruck event, Beard was philosophical. After all, he notes, driving legend Mario Andretti competed 29 times in the Indy 500 and only managed one win.

"I always want to be first, but we've run solid since I've been the advisor, for seven years. Our students design and build a good vehicle, and when you can do that, you're successful."

Other pluses were the comradery and the notable absence of scratched entries. "This is the first year that everyone qualified and actually got a vehicle on the track and ran," Beard said. "That's the stuff you like to see."

"Everybody had a good time, nobody got hurt and everybody learned a lot. And we did it on a small budget," he said.

"And Ford has really gone out of their way to put together a competition to benefit the students," he added. "I'm sure GM will do a good job, too, with Challenge X next year. The auto industry has to be given credit. They are hiring these students; they have about 200 workers who've been through the FutureCar and FutureTruck program."

Tech's FutureTruck team continued that tradition. "We did have people try to hire our team members, but they already have jobs," Beard said.

MTU is the only university in Michigan to participate in FutureTruck. This year's winner was the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with Pennsylvania State University finishing second and the Georgia Institute of Technology finishing third.

____________

4. Research Vessel Tours July 10

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Michigan Tech will sponsor an open house on the research vessel Lake Guardian on Saturday, July 10, 6-8 p.m.

EPA and Michigan Tech scientists will lead tours of the 180-foot ship for 20 persons each half-hour. Tours will take place at 6, 6:30, 7 and 7:30 p.m. Tour spaces will be on a first-come basis. The ship will be docked on the Houghton waterfront beside the Portage Lift Bridge.

Lake Guardian has six laboratories and a variety of navigational and monitoring equipment used to gather data on the chemical and biological conditions of the five Great Lakes as well as monitor pollutant concentrations. Lake Superior sediment and plankton samples will be on display in the lab. Michigan Tech's Isle Royale Institute will demonstrate its new Remotely Operated Vehicle used to investigate shipwrecks.

EPA and Michigan Tech researchers will be on hand to display and explain the variety of monitoring devices used aboard the vessel. As part of its long-term trends program, the EPA conducts monitoring surveys of the Great Lakes every two years. During each survey, samples are taken at eight to 20 pre-established locations per lake.

Lake Guardian will have just completed a week on Lake Superior as part of the Ecology of the Great Lakes Teacher Institute attended by 20 science and math educators from throughout Michigan.

The institute is designed to enhance the ability and motivation of educators to teach about the Great Lakes and is sponsored by the EPA, Michigan Tech and its Isle Royale Institute, and the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

____________

5. NO TECH TOPICS NEXT WEEK

There will be no Tech Topics the week of July 9, due to the holiday weekend. Tech Topics publication will resume July 16.