1. BOARD OF CONTROL APPROVES NEW DEGREE PROGRAMS

The Board of Control approved six new degree programs Friday, Feb. 25, including the first degrees ever to be offered by the Department of Fine Arts.

The four programs focus on behind-the-scenes entertainment production and dovetail with the university’s strengths in engineering and technology, according to fine arts chair Milton Olsson. “These programs are unique in the nation because of the intense way they integrate the arts and technology,” he said. “Based on these programs’ strength and professional opportunities, we expect to attract a number of students who otherwise might not come to Michigan Tech.”

The four programs include BS degrees in Theatre and Entertainment Technology and in Audio Production and Technology; and BA degrees in Theatre and Entertainment Technology and in Sound Design.

The two other programs, BS degrees in Cheminformatics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, address growing specialties within the field.

“Cheminformatics is a marriage between chemistry and computer science,” says Sarah Green, chair of the Department of Chemistry. “There’s an increasing need within a number of industries for computer models that predict the properties of materials before they are made.”

In addition to strong fundamentals, students studying pharmaceutical chemistry will receive additional instruction on drug design and how pharmaceuticals affect the body.

“We’ve certainly received inquiries from perspective students, particularly those interested in computer science, the health professions and the pharmaceutical industry,” Green said. The degrees could also attract students interested in becoming physicians and pharmacists.

If approved by the State Board of Academic Officers, the programs will come before the Board of Control for another vote. If they receive final approval, the programs will be instituted this fall.

The board approved major improvements to three 1960s-era elevators in the 13-floor MEEM Building at a cost of $435,000. The expense will be covered by funds remaining in a bond issue used for improvements to university residence halls.

The board approved the new University Senate constitution, which was passed by the senate constituency in January.

In other business, the board
• tabled a proposal to create a new administrative position, university counsel.
• heard from Vice President of Student Affairs Les Cook that the number of applications for fall 2005 is up 20 percent from figures at the same time last year. Acceptances are up 15 percent, and the number of deposits has risen 5 percent.
• heard from Provost and Vice President of Research David Reed that MTU has received $12.1 million in federal awards for the first half of the fiscal year, an increase of 38 percent over the same period last year. The total of all awards is $17.2 million, an increase of 25 percent over the same period. He reported that overall, the university’s sponsored programs add $30 million to the local economy, including approximately $3 million to $4 million annually in sales of licensed university technologies by local companies. About 1,000 jobs are created both on-campus and off- as a result of MTU’s sponsored programs.

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2. TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP TO HONOR DANI AND HANN CHO

A scholarship to benefit students in the Houghton-Portage Township Schools has been established in memory of the children of Peck and Christina Cho.

Hann and Dani Cho, both Houghton High students, died in a Wisconsin traffic accident as the family was traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"The fundraising was the idea of Julia Friend, my neighbor," after a number of individuals inquired about making a donation to benefit Houghton High, said Peck Cho, a professor in the MEEM department.

The Wings to the World fund will be used to underwrite student travel outside the local area.

"Our kids did a lot of traveling, and when they came back from Europe they were transformed by that exposure," Peck said. "When we asked how it was, their eyes became huge.

"We thought, 'Why not set up a fund to give other local students an opportunity like that? To go to New York City and see a play or visit Carnegie Hall? Something that would open their eyes and give them a sense of wonderment.'"

In addition, he said, Houghton High School did an excellent job educating Hann and Dani, and the scholarship will be an opportunity to say thanks. "The school did great things for the kids, and the scholarship will return some of those opportunities to other kids as well," Peck said.

The Wings to the World Memorial Scholarship will be administered by Bill Polkinghorne, superintendent of the Houghton-Portage Township Schools; Kass Simila, Houghton High School principal; and Nels Christopherson, a member of the Houghton-Portage Township Board of Education and a lecturer in the MEEM department.

Donations may be made to the Wings to the World memorial account at local Wells Fargo banks, at Houghton-Portage Township school offices and by mailing Julia Friend, 21860 Woodland Road, Houghton, MI 49931, with checks payable to Wings to the World.

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3. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS AND MICHIGAN TECH
(Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of articles on university initiatives that enhance recruitment and marketing.)

Every year, hundreds of high school and middle school students come to Michigan Tech to learn more about everything from computer science to hockey. They constitute a ready-made pool of potential undergraduates, and the university is undertaking an effort to better reach them, says Director of Undergraduate Recruitment Rob Forget.

“These students are far more likely to enroll here than someone who calls here out of the blue for information,” he said. “They have a relationship with us, an attachment to the campus.”

Perhaps the most important part of this drive is administrative. Admissions is working with Educational Opportunity and Sports and Recreation to make information in their student databases importable to Banner. When that’s accomplished, everyone involved in student recruitment can access information on this key group of prospective students, Forget said.

“Once we’ve garnered that information, we’d like to develop a communications funnel,” he said. “We can acknowledge that they’ve been here and give them relevant information, whether it’s about hockey updates, summer camps, rocketry or engineering.”

A variety of measures are being developed to better communicate with this key group . One such tool is the web portal. Portals are specialized webpages with links to pages that appeal to a specific interest. “Sometimes students call us when they are in the sixth grade, and that’s a long time to keep them connected,” said Peter Larsen, coordinator of youth programs. “We want to communicate with them from then on, to keep them interested. That’s when a portal system would come into play.”

However, with thousands of potential students with dozens of interests, managing such a system will be complicated, Larsen noted. So the first step will be to provide portals for high school students who have attended a Summer Youth Program. "Additional strategies are being considered to keep in contact with younger students and students who have asked about Summer Youth but haven’t enrolled,” he said.

In the meantime, Youth Programs is taking some simpler steps to encourage its students to consider MTU. All attendees are urged to take an official campus tour via the Admissions Office. And computers will be set up in the residence halls this summer that allow students to submit an online application to the university.

Admissions is also gearing up to help boost enrollment in summer programs by sending information on Summer Youth to all students who enquire about Michigan Tech.

This new cooperation, particularly the integration of their databases, should help everyone do their jobs better. “If a ninth grader inquires about Summer Youth, we’ll know about it and Admissions will know about it,” Larsen said. “The process will have started.”

Mike Abbott, director of sports and recreation, agreed. “We’re trying to see if we can do something similar, to make our data available to Admissions,” he said. “Maybe we can also help them set up a portal for students interested in athletic programs.”

"We know that once a student has been here and had a good camp experience they are more likely to enroll later. These kids have self-selected and are good candidates to become future Michigan Tech students."

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4. GRADUATE DEAN SEARCH COMMITTEE FORMED

The search committee for the dean of the graduate school has been formulated.

The committee members are Tess Ahlborn (Civil and Environmental Engineering), John Sutherland, Michele Miller, Paula Zenner (ME-EM), Dennis Lynch (Humanities), Steve Seidel (Computer Science), Dana Johnson (SBE), Shekar Joshi (SFRES), Rosalie Kern (Education), Bob Warrington (Engineering), Al Baartmans (Mathematical Sciences), Justin Priestman, Nick Nanninga (Graduate Student Council) and Becky Christianson (Human Resources).

The committee met on March 2 and elected Michele Miller as chair and Dana Johnson as associate chair.

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5. BOARD OF CONTROL GIVES TECH FUND THE GO-AHEAD TO PROCEED WITH CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PLANNING

The Michigan Tech Fund is laying the groundwork for its next major campaign, Tech Fund Vice President Shea McGrew told the Board of Control Friday.

The primary thrust of the effort will be to build the university’s endowment. While it has grown substantially in recent years and now stands at over $50 million, it still lags far behind that of peer institutions. “Our endowment is paltry compared to the ambitions of the university,” McGrew said.

As envisioned, the campaign would focus on donations to support activities such as endowed chairs and professorships, scholarships and fellowships. Endowment dollars are typically more difficult to raise than gifts for buildings and other capital improvements, and the Michigan Tech Fund expects to employ additional staff to meet fundraising goals, McGrew said. Using its own resources, the Fund has already begun to hire new advancement officers in anticipation of the new campaign, he said.

The campaign could begin as early as July 1, 2007, if planning and preparations proceed rapidly. No goals have yet been set, though preliminary estimates indicate that the figure could be at least $300 million. “We are convinced that we can raise substantial funds, given the quality and prominance of Michigan Tech,” McGrew said.

Board of Control Member Russ Gronevelt, who has served on the Michigan Tech Fund Board of Trustees, indicated that an ambitious campaign was not unrealistic. “I‘m convinced that you can be successful,” he said. “This will result in significant value to the university.”

The board passed a resolution encouraging the Michigan Tech Fund to continue to move forward with the campaign.

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6. THE (SOUTH) POLAR EXPRESS: BLAZING A TRAIL ACROSS ANTARCTICA

Two centuries ago, it took Lewis and Clark three years to wend their way across half of North America. It’s taking Russ Alger and his teammates only a little longer to blaze a trail to the South Pole.

Of course, Antarctica poses special challenges. Ninety-eight percent of the continent is buried under thousands of feet of ice. And it doesn’t help that Alger and his fellow pioneers can only work for a few weeks during the summer and have to start over again every year from the trailhead at McMurdo Station, on the coast.

For the fourth winter in a row, Alger, director of MTU’s Institute of Snow Research, has joined a National Science Foundation effort to build a thousand-mile overland supply route to the international research station at the South Pole. Currently, supplies can only be flown in, and with the weather at the bottom of the world as dicey as it is, even in the middle of the southern summer air travel can be a crap shoot.

Ground travel may be delayed but is rarely stopped by weather. It’s much cheaper. And you can haul far more gear overland than you can in the air, even using C-130 cargo planes. “With the plane, everything has to be downsized,” Alger said. “They sometimes have trouble getting enough fuel to the South Pole, so NSF decided over the years to do the trail.”

So, since 1992, the NSF team has forged south from McMurdo, traveling through un-tracked snow and working their way over and around lurking crevasses, which make for slow going. Nevertheless, all those years of driving over the same route are starting to pay off, Alger says. “This year, we noticed a great benefit; we were driving on something and not sinking all the time. With every passage, it should get better and better.”

Using a device developed at the Keweenaw Research Center called an automatic penetrometer, they also tested the strength of the surface at regular intervals.

“We wanted to see if snow conditions change as you go across ice shelf,” Alger said. “Now we have a profile of the whole trail we’ve done.”

“We are also doing measurements of towing resistance,” he added. “We are gaining lots of knowledge on mobility in snow that we’d never get otherwise.” This type of information will be especially useful once supply convoys start making regular treks to the South Pole.

As in past years, Alger was the point man on the traverse, traveling ahead of most of the convoy to watch for crevasses. The good news was that on the 500 miles of trail that had already been marked, only a handful of small new ones had formed.

A few miles past that point, Alger was air-lifted back to McMurdo. As the remaining team members began crossing new ground, however, their luck changed. “They had to worm their way through a lot of crevasses,” Alger said.

These ravines in the ice are doubly treacherous because they are usually invisible, covered with a layer of snow that likely as not will collapse with minimal provocation. The trick is to find them before they find you.

To do that, the team tests the surface with ground-penetrating radar, located on a boom attached to the front of the lead vehicle. When the radar detects a void, everyone stops.

“Depending on how deep the crevasse is, we either go around it--which is hard, because if there’s one crevasse there are usually lots of crevasses--or we dynamite it open and fill it in,” says Alger. “It’s actually kind of neat.”

Another danger in this country of no street signs is getting lost in bad weather. The lead trailblazer pokes a flag into the trail every quarter mile, while the other vehicles follow as much as several miles behind. “When a storm comes up, we stop. We don’t move unless you can see two flags ahead.

“It can be hard to find your way back.”

Once its finished, the trail to the South Pole will cross the Ross Ice Shelf, ascend the Leverett Glacer and traverse the Transantarctic Mountains. The last leg of the journey will be across the polar plateau.

The team was in sight of the mountains when Alger left. “Then they made it up to the polar plateau, a big feat,” he said. Everyone wanted to make one last push to the pole, “but the bummer was that if they’d kept going, they wouldn’t have had enough fuel to get back. So NSF made the decision not to continue.”

The team expects to cross the final 200 miles next year. But as satisfying as that will be, this is a job that truly will never be done. The Ross Ice Shelf drifts northward toward the ocean at a rate of about a meter a day, so in a sense the trail will always be under construction.

Why go to all this trouble? Apparently there’s no science like South Pole science.

The South Pole has an up-close view of the infamous hole in the ozone layer. Its air is as immaculate as air can be in an industrial age, so clean samples are easy for atmospheric scientists to collect. Once the sun dips below the horizon and winter sets in, there is absolutely no background light, so stargazing is a snap for astronomers. Plus, astrophysicists are also using the polar shelf like a massive catcher’s mitt for subatomic particles. High-energy neutrinos from deep space leave tracks as they zip through the snow, and scientists can study them using a special telescope buried deep in the ice cap.

“And they look back in time with ice cores,” Alger says. They hope to determine if global warming is a blip in centuries-long climate cycles that will reverse itself naturally, or if greenhouse emissions are warping the world’s weather for the long haul.

Even though the team has nearly accomplished its mission, Alger ruminates on ways to build a better trail. He hopes to test his SnowPaver groomer this summer in Greenland, with an eye toward packing it south next December. “There’s a great benefit to making a trail strong, but it’s also important to make it smooth,” he notes.

Smooth would be nice, since there is precious little comfort for the trail builders. All eight live in a trailer about the size of a freight car. “On either end are bunks, and in the center is the kitchen. The table is just big enough for eight,” Alger notes. “You learn to step out of the way when you see people coming, and it’s obvious when someone is having a bad day.”

Privacy would seem to be a concern, and Alger anticipates the question. “You do number one outside, and women can pee in a bucket,” he says. “There’s an incinerator toilet, and you do number two in that.”

So what’s the attraction, other than following in the footsteps of Scott and Amundsen? “The main reason I go is that I can stand in the sunshine,” Alger admits. When the Keweenaw is shadowed in clouds and darkness, Antarctica is ablaze in day-and-night light.

“I sure hope I can go again next year.”

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7. MEMORIAL UNION SPRING BREAK OPERATING HOURS

The Memorial Union will close at 7 p.m. on March 4 and will remain closed until the following Monday. It will be open 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on March 7-11, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on March 12 and will open at 11 a.m. on March 13.

The Manager’s Office and the Campus Store will be open during regular business hours The Tech Express Service Counter will be open 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on March 4 and March 7-11. The Food Mall and the Corner Store will be open 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. on March 4 and March 7-11. The Bowling Alley and Pool Room will be closed March 3-13.

Regular hours will resume on Sunday, March 13.

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8. HOMEMADE PASTY SALE TO BENEFIT RED CARPET DAY PROGRAM
Submitted by the Michigan Tech Student Foundation

The Michigan Tech Student Foundation (MTSF) is holding a homemade pasty sale to raise money for our Red Carpet Day program. We will be running this program next fall in an effort to recruit new students. Our biggest expense for this program will be bus transportation for the 50 high school students we plan to bring to campus. We hope to cover most of that cost through the proceeds of our pasty sale.

Orders will be taken until Friday, March 4. The members of MTSF will be baking homemade pasties and will be distributing them from the Meese Center on Sunday, March 20, and Monday, March 21. If a number of people in your department order pasties, we can arrange to deliver your orders between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Monday, March 21.

The price of each pasty is $3. Pasties will be available either fresh or frozen. You may order either a traditional meat pasty or a veggie pasty. To place your order, email Sonya (smtuomi@mtu.edu) or Cindy (clruotsi@mtu.edu) or stop by our promotional table in the Memorial Union. Due to limited time and labor resources, we will only be able to produce 500 pasties. Order today and reserve your pasties.

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9. UAW LOCAL 5000 BEGINS ANNUAL FUNDRAISER
Submitted by UAW Local 5000

UAW Local 5000 has begun its annual fundraising effort, combining a Penny Program and the sale of the World’s Best Chocolate bars. (Don’t take our word for it--taste for yourself.)

Each year the UAW chooses a local program to sponsor, and this year’s overwhelming choice was Class Acts at the Rozsa Center. Class Acts is an outreach series of daytime performing arts events at the Rozsa for K-12 students from local schools. The series is funded entirely with grants, donations and a $1 per student ticket price. The first year approximately 6,800 area students attended 11 performances at the Rozsa, and 1,700 students were entertained at their own schools.

Soon you’ll see jars popping up in offices all over campus, so toss in that change jingling in your pocket. And you will definitely want the candy bars--just $1 each.

The fundraising drive is going on until June 1. Please help us bring more local children to campus to enjoy the amazing performances at the Rozsa Center.

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10. TEACHING AT TECH: USING RESEARCH AS A TEACHING TOOL
by William Kennedy, director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development

The three traditional domains of professional activity for faculty members are teaching, research and service. According to 1998 IPEDS data, the average U.S. faculty member spent 48 percent of her/his time teaching undergraduate courses, 11 percent teaching graduate classes, 11 percent doing research, 10 percent doing administrative tasks and 21 percent doing service, consulting, freelance and other activities. Four-year colleges and universities that focus the majority of their efforts on undergraduate instruction typically require faculty members to teach three courses per semester (10.5 instructional hours). Colleges and universities that see their mission, to some significant degree, as encouraging the discovery and application of emerging knowledge through research and scholarship tend to adjust down the teaching loads of faculty members based on the level of their research productivity. Average teaching load at these sorts of schools is two courses per semester (or 7.1 instructional hours) according to the IPED data.

Schools that encourage and support research continuously strive to achieve some balance between teaching, research and service. Depending on the comparative valuation of teaching versus research at a given school, faculty members are often able to use research proceeds or scholarly productivity to "buy themselves out" of teaching one or more classes, giving them additional time to pursue their research. If an institution is overly zealous in emphasizing and rewarding the research agenda over the teaching mission, some faculty members may come to see their undergraduate teaching load as a career impediment and the undesirable result of a failure to produce where it really matters. Such an imbalance runs the risk of negatively impacting the quality of the undergraduate learning experience.

Professor Karen Bernd of Davidson College recently wrote a response to an article that described ways faculty members could juggle their teaching schedules to further their research. Her idea is that, instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, faculty members might consider bringing some of their own research activities into the undergraduate classroom as a means of contextualizing and giving salience to their courses and furthering their own work.

Bernd cites the example of teachers who routinely bring research questions into their lab classes (inquiry-based labs). She suggests incorporating actual research projects into course labs to facilitate data collection while engaging the students in real research work. A whole body of evidence suggests that authentic learning is more likely to be engaged learning, and bringing live research questions into the classroom seems to be one way of making learning tasks relevant and interesting.

She suggests that we borrow from our graduate-level teaching techniques and build undergraduate classes that are based on the critical reading of real research articles, rather than relying solely on homogenized textbooks. Her suggestions seem consonant with those espoused by advocates of Problem-Based Learning and Just-in-Time Teaching.

Bernd observes, "A majority of our students will not become scientific researchers, but they will all be consumers of scientific research. Why kill ourselves trying to maintain separate teaching and research programs when there are natural ways to merge them and when that overlap has been shown to be an effective teaching tool? Understanding how the scientific process works and working through 'real' research problems will not only aid students in becoming more scientifically knowledgeable, it will also help them learn how to think. Have your research, teach it too."*

* "Merging Teaching and Research," Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/index.shtml #623, February 14, 2005.

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11. A FEAST OF PERCUSSION ON THE ROZSA STAGE

Drums of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities, marimbas, cymbals, cowbells and a shiny component of steel drums will fill the Rozsa stage when the Alma Percussion Ensemble comes to town on Monday, March 14. The 7:30 p.m. concert is a thrilling tour-de-force as 30-plus extraordinarily talented Alma music majors perform in groups and as a full ensemble. This lively group proves that percussionists make real music as well as providing rhythmic accompaniment, and they are as much fun to watch as they are to listen to. Some of the musicians in this group were at the Rozsa when the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble, a multi-award-winning ensemble formerly based at Central Michigan University, visited Tech in 2000. The show comes to the Rozsa sponsored by the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, and tickets are on sale at the Rozsa Box Office (487-3200, Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. or online at http://www.tickets.mtu.edu).

Alma’s impressively choreographed program illustrates the rich, complex and diverse tapestry of sound this combination of instruments can make. The fast-paced performance will include some classical pieces, a little Broadway, world music, jazz and numbers arranged for the Steel Drum Ensemble.

Artistic director and leader Dave Zerbe is a founding member of the Hohner ensemble. He was a student of the late Robert Hohner and taught in his percussion studio at CMU from 1994 to 2000. Zerbe brought the Hohner Ensemble to the Rozsa during the 2000 season shortly after the death of his mentor. He was subsequently invited to join the Alma music faculty as director of percussion studies and bands and founded the Alma Percussion Ensemble, carrying on the Hohner tradition. Zerbe is also a talented and sought-after freelance arranger and percussionist who has appeared with such major artists as Aretha Franklin, Michael Feinstein and Marie Osmond.

The Alma Percussion Ensemble has performed concerts in Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, Orlando and throughout Michigan. The group has also has been featured performing Orff’s Carmina Burana and Schedrin’s Carmen with the Alma Symphony Orchestra.

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12. MALAYSIAN DINNER, ENTERTAINMENT MARCH 19

The Malaysian Student Association (MASA) is holding its annual MASA Nite on Saturday, March 19, at Houghton High School. Free transportation will be provided from the Memorial Union starting at 5:30 p.m.

The dinner of authentic Malaysian cuisine will be served in two sections, at 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. Entertainment follows at 6:15 p.m. for the early section and at 7 p.m. for the later section.

Tickets are $10 for students, $12 for everyone else, and are available at the Student Organizations Desk on the first floor of the Memorial Union, across from the Campus Store.

For more information, contact Zhi Wei Li at zli@mtu.edu.

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13. DISTINGUISHED GEOLOGY LECTURE MARCH 14

Jack C. Pashin of the Geological Survey of Alabama will present an American Association of Petroleum Geologists Distinguished Lecture entitled "Compartmentalization Analysis of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs in the Black Warrior Basin: Using 3-D Computer Models to Balance Industrial and Environmental Concerns” on Monday, March 14, from noon to 1 p.m. in Dillman 320. The lecture is hosted by the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences and outlines an investigation to determine whether hydraulic fracturing to extract methane from deep reservoir coalbeds in Alabama could lead to contamination of shallow ground water sources. The main method described is a modeling analysis of fracture patterns (cracks) and the status of hydraulic communication between deep reservoir coal beds and shallow aquifers.

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14. PRE-DIABETES LUNCH AND LEARN

Pre-diabetes is the topic of the next lunch and learn, sponsored by the Benefits Office in cooperation with Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center. The presenter will be Elaine Parks, BSN, CDE, diabetes program coordinator at KMMC. Pre-diabetes is a silent disease--you can have it but not know it. The good news is that pre-diabetes can be reversed, and Type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented. The focus of the lunch and learn will be on identifying and modifying risk factors of pre-diabetes.

The lunch and learn will be held on Thursday, March 3, from noon to 1 p.m., in Memorial Union 105 A and B. Bring your lunch--water and beverages will be provided. Show your BCBSM ID card, Group 55248, and be eligible to win some great prizes. The lunch and learn is free and open to the Michigan Tech community, including students.

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15. COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR FRIDAY

Professor Franz Tanner (Mathematical Sciences) will present a seminar entitled "Computational Engine Research” on Friday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in Rekhi Hall 214.

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16. MEEM SEMINAR THURSDAY

Kishore K. Pomchampally of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will present a seminar entitled "Crucial Issues in Strategic Planning of Reverse and Closed Loop Supply Chains" on Thursday, March 3, from 3 to 4 p.m. in MEEM 112.

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17. PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM THURSDAY

Graduate students S. Gowtham and Vasyl Aleksenko (Physics) will each present a physics colloquium on Thursday, March 3, at 4 p.m., in Fisher 139. Gowtham will talk on “Theoretical Study of Gallium Oxide Clusters” and Aleksenko will talk on “A Hydrophobic Scoring of Proteins.”

For more information, contact Yoke Khin Yap (ykyap@mtu.edu, 487-2900) or Ranjit Pati (patir@mtu.edu, 487-3193).

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18. SEMINAR, INDIVIDUAL APPOINTMENTS WITH PATENT ATTORNEY MARCH 15-16

The Michigan Tech SmartZone will sponsor a Marketing and Patent Program (MAPP) seminar and appointments with attorney William Abbatt from Brooks Kushman P.C. March 15-16 in the Advanced Technology Development Complex.

The seminar, "Protecting the Invention--From Conception through Patent Issuance," is set for 6-7:30 p.m.and will describe how to get a patent and enforce it as a valuable asset. The fee is $20 per attendee.

Appointments with Abbatt will be scheduled on a first come, first served-basis. The purpose of this first meeting is to determine if MAPP is appropriate for your situation, identify potential conflicts of interest, and discuss non-confidential information and future steps. There is no cost for the 30-minute consultation.

To register for the seminar or make an appointment, call Jonathan Leinonen, SmartZone program manager, at 487-7004. Advance registration for the seminar is required.