2003 Points of Pride

Richard Honrath’s recent paper “Vertical fluxes of NOx, NONO, and HNO3 above the snowpack at Summit, Greenland” (coauthored by Y. Lu, Matt Peterson, J.E. Dibb, M.A. Arsenault, N.J. Cullen and K. Steffen)is listed as one of the “hottest” new scientific papers by Thompson ISI based on number of citations in the top 0.1 percent of all papers.

At the fall convocation, Bill Sproule received the University Distinguished Teaching Award. This honor is especially well deserved.

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Gerry Tian (left) received a National Science Foundation Career Award for her work on signal processing in ultra-wideband communications.

The department dedicated the Kimberly Clark Control Systems Laboratory, funded by a gift from Kimberly Clark Corporation.

All 16 senior design projects received industry sponsorships.

The Wireless Communication Enterprise delivered successfully on five industry-sponsored research and development projects and completed three invention disclosures.

Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
The department’s research thrust in oil and gas, led by Jim Wood, received several new grants with funding totaling several million dollars. Other researchers were Buddy Wylie, Wayne Pennington and Roger Turpening.

The volcanological research group (Bill Rose, Gregg Bluth and Matt Watson) hosted an international volcanological workshop in 2003.

The department’s graduate program is well diversified, with a number of women and minority students.

Materials Science and Engineering
U.S. News and World Report ranked the program 13th in the nation for 2003.
Five students (Kari Buckmaster, Jonathan Dziedzic, Michael Masters, Ben Poquette and Garth Tormoen) received the 2003 TMS Materials Science and Engineering Undergraduate Student Design Competition Award.

The Foundry Educational Foundation awarded 14 MSE students scholarships or travel funds for 2002-03.

Karl Rundman was a finalist for the 2002 Distinguished Teaching Award and Douglas Swenson was a finalist for the 2003 Distinguished Award. Both were inducted into the Michigan Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence.

The late Tom Courtney received the 2003 Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award from ASM International.

Forbes magazine named 1990 MSE graduate Daniel Branagan as one of the“top 15 people who will reinvent your future.”

Mechanical Engineering
John Beard received the NSF Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for FutureTruck.

Peck Cho received Michigan Tech’s Distinguished Service Award.

The department co-hosted the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge and the Michigan Tech team placed second overall.

The FutureTruck (left) team finished third overall in the 2003 competition.

The department completed the first phase of the Building for the Future Campaign early, raising $3.4 million and exceeding the $2.8 million goal.
College of Sciences and Arts

College of Sciences and Arts

Air Force ROTC
Twenty new freshmen entered the program, including seven on AFROTC scholarships. Eight current students were also awarded scholarships.

The department spearheaded the dedication of the flagpole and 9/11 monument.

The Air Force commissioned nine Michigan Tech cadets, including two as“distinguished graduates.”

The department organized the first-ever JROTC drill competition, with participating teams from around the UP.

The Michigan Tech Drill Team placed third at a national competition at Villanova University.

Chemistry
For the second consecutive year, the Michigan Tech affiliate of the American Chemical Society received a national award for excellence in student chapter activities.

Graduate students have received awards at the Midwest Environmental Chemistry Workshop two years in a row. Wei Shi won for“best poster” in 2002 and Adrian Pishko won for“best oral presentation” in 2001.

Computer Science
One-third of the computer science faculty received funding from industry this year. Sources included Agere, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM and Microsoft.
CS alum Chen Ding received a National Science Foundation Career Award to support his work in compiler-assisted data adaptation.

One of Michigan Tech’s four programming teams finished fifth out of over 150 teams in the North Central Regional of the 2002-2003 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Department faculty were instrumental in forming the Computational Sciences and Engineering Research Institute and acquiring a Cray T3E supercomputer and a Beowulf cluster.

Steven Carr co-authored a paper selected as one of the 50 most influential papers published between 1979 and 1999 in the proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation.

Education
The first graduates of the Master’s program in Applied Science Education earned their degrees this year.

The Korean Teachers Program, a four-year professional development program for high school teachers from Korea, was initiated in 2002 and repeated in 2003.

The department mailed the first“Tech Educator,” a newsletter for education alumni and for educators in the upper Midwest, highlighting activities at Michigan Tech related to K-12 education.

The Outstanding Student Teacher Award was initiated and will be presented each semester.

A sold-out SDC gym hosted the men's NCAA Divison II Great Lakes Regional.

Mathematical Sciences

Vladimir Tonchev received the 2003 Michigan Tech Research Award.

The department has more than doubled its graduate program over the last four years, from 17 to 37 students.

The department has taken the lead in developing an exchange program with Heilongjiang University in China. The program is expected to draw between 200 and 400 Chinese students to Michigan Tech once it is fully operational.

As the result of a faculty effort to attract American graduate students, the department successfully filled 75 percent of vacant teaching assistant positions with US students.

During 2002-03, faculty members published 58 papers, with 23 percent of the faculty receiving external support. Eight faculty served on editorial boards of refereed professional journals.

Fine Arts
“The Tibetan Book of the Dead” featured members of the Troupe, music improvised by students, and dramatic set and lighting constructed by students.

The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra and a cast of students and community members produced Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, an innovate presentation for actors and orchestra. The technical theater class designed sets, costumes, lights and sound.
The first-ever fine arts minors were awarded to graduates.

Outstanding, internationally-acclaimed guest artists included Cheng Kee Chee (water color), Marcus Belgrave (jazz trumpet) and Bob Milne (ragtime pianist).
In two of the past three years, fine arts senior faculty have received campus-wide recognition for teaching excellence.

Michigan Tech boasts three Academic All-Americans from the 2002-03 year, including, (from left) Sara Ahnen, volleyball; J. T. Luginski, basketball; and Jennifer McConnville, Nordic skiing.

Physical Education
Intramurals showed a record participation of 5,618. Floor hockey had an all-time high of 63 teams with 868 participants.

Physics
Ulrich Hansmann received research funding from the National Institutes of Health to support his work on folding and structural transitions in small proteins.

Mike Larsen and Jacob Fugal received graduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, respectively.

The department initiated a web-based homework assignment program for students in introductory physics. It was popular with the students and contributed to the university’s retention efforts.

Social Sciences
The department remains deeply involved in the efforts to build greater understandings of the history of the Copper Country, especially in connection and the Keweenaw National Historical Park. This resulted in a number of funded research projects, lectures, seminars and other professional activities.

Faculty supported, as co-PIs, a number of research proposals on emerging aspects of science and engineering and especially research on the environment.

The Industrial Archaeology program continues to win national and international visibility, with research projects in Michigan, Alaska and New York.

Hugh Gorman received the John Haas Fellowship to support a year of research at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia to work on a project on environmental monitoring technology.

Larry Lankton’s“Cradle to Grave” was selected by the Michigan Division of History as one of the 50 essential books on the state’s history.

Bruce Seely is one of three founding editors-in-chief for the new peer-reviewed journal, Comparative Technology Transfer and Society.

School of Business and Economics
The portfolio management team is the only one in the nation to reach the RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) finals three years consecutively. The team placed third this year. Members appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box and MSNBC’s Powerlunch, and opened the NASDAQ.

At the Business Professionals of America national competitions, students earned four first, two second and five third place finishes.

Management Information Systems students took second place in network design, competing against 57 teams in the Association of Information Technology Professionals national competition.

The student chapter of the Business Professionals of America was named Michigan Tech’s Student Organization of the Year in 2002-03.

At Michigan Tech, business students were selected as Student Employee of the Year, 2003 Winter Carnival queen and Michigan National Guard Soldier of the Year.

Joel Tuoriniemi received Michigan Tech’s 2003 Distinguished Teaching Award.

Students provided consulting services for a wide range of activities, including a recreational area feasibility study, county maintenance and operations design, and designs of databases and web services.

Accounting students provided a free tax assistance service for students and low-income individuals and families.

School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Faculty members Dave Reed and Kurt Pregitzer received the Society of American Foresters highest awards for biometrics and forest biology research, respectively.

Rolf Peterson (left) continues the longest running wildlife population study in the world, “The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale.”

Chandrashekhar Joshi received a National Science Foundation Career Award for his pioneering work with the genetics of cellulose synthesis in trees.

Two Michigan Tech teams of seniors tied for first in the Midwest Forest Management Capstone Competition.

Dave Flaspohler received Michigan Tech’s Distinguished Teaching Award.
Blair Orr received the Michigan Tech Outstanding Service Award.

Marty Jurgensen was elected a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters.
The school launched its first Enterprise program, The FERM (Forest and Environmental Resource Management). The program brings together forestry and environmental science students to solve natural resource problems in a business setting.

Linda Nagel organized the first-ever silviculture summit, attracting 120 participants to Michigan Tech, hailing from education, industry and government agencies.

Five more Loret Miller Ruppe Master’s International students headed out of Houghton to Togo, Panama and Nepal for Peace Corps service. There are 19 students serving in 11 countries.

The Aspen FACE project is one-of-a-kind in the world, investigating how forest ecosystems respond to elevated ozone and carbon dioxide levels. Dave Karnosky leads 16 universities and agencies and 50 scientists from around the world.

Research

Chandrashekar Joshi (left) received a National Science Foundation Career Award for his pioneering work with the genetics of cellulose synthesis in trees.

Keweenaw Research Center
KRC and the ME-EM department hosted the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, including 12 universities from the US and Canada.

KRC is working with the US Army on a mine roller system, with the goal of clearing a path for convoys quickly (15 mph vs. 3 mph).

A Canadian firm has licensed KRC’s SnowPaver technology and will incorporate it into the Sur-Trac snowmobile trail groomer. The first system has been sold to the Michigan DNR.

Vice President of Research
Two Michigan Tech faculty received National Science Foundation Career awards this year.

Seven graduate students hold NSF or Department of Defense fellowships, a large increase in the last two years.

Michigan Tech received one NSF major research instrumentation grant this year.
Three companies formed from Michigan Tech research this year: PlasticFlow (based on software), GS Engineering (a KRC spin-off), and Keweenaw Technologies (transportation database development).

Michigan Tech broke ground on the Advanced Technology Development Center, with funding from the U.S. Economic Development Agency and Ford Motor.

In the most recent NSF survey (2001), Michigan Tech is 18th among all universities and 10th among public universities in the proportion of research funded by industry.

Tech is second in the state in federally supported engineering research.

Other Offices and Units

Michigan Tech opened its outdoor recreation aea and cross-country ski trails during 2002-03 to rave reviews from both racers and recreational skiers.

Advancement and Marketing
University Relations streamlined distribution of hundreds of hometown press releases, with a 90 percent savings in labor and reducing the time to recognize graduates and dean’s list honorees from two months to two weeks.

Planned giving commitments increased by more than $10 million in FY2003.

The Michigan Tech Fund finalized plans for a move to the Republic Bank building, saving $300,000 over five years.

The Michigan Tech Fund transferred to the university: $3.2 million in scholarships and fellowships, $2 million for capital projects and equipment, and $9.2 million in direct departmental support.

The Michigan Tech Fund hired a vice president for development and a major gifts fundraiser for a new Metro Detroit office.

The Alumni Association has worked with IT to include alumni in a new permanent e-mail system.

Over the past five years, Alumni Association revenue from marketing programs has increased 400 percent.

Working with admissions, University Relations developed a process to reduce the cost and time it takes to get recruiting pieces out to ACT-qualified students. The plan reduced response time from three weeks to three days and saved $25,000 in printing and mailing costs.

Donations from corporations have doubled from last year.

Through the International Advancement operation, Volvo CE Korea has created two internships in Korea for Tech students.

Athletics
Men’s head basketball coach Kevin Luke (left) was named the Basketball Times National Coach of the Year. His team hosted an NCAA men’s basketball regional tournament in 2003.

Auxiliary Services
Portage Lake Golf Course celebrated 100 years as a golf course—one of the oldest in Michigan. PLGC is self-supporting.

The Memorial Union Planning Committee assessed the physical structure and location of the current building and assessed user needs. The committee will provide a final master plan in fall of 2004.

The Mont Ripley after-school program attracted over 720 local grade school students, who learned to ski and snowboard.

The recreation forest and Nordic ski trails opened for business, impressing many visiting enthusiasts with the world-class ski system and year-round recreational area.

Educational Opportunity
Diversity awareness community programs included the Eighth Annual Spirit of the Harvest Powwow and Native American Speakers forum and Mejico Lindo (beautiful Mexico) celebration. The annual Parade of Nations attracted 5,000 people.

With ME-EM, Youth Programs added an Introduction to Michigan Tech Motor Sports exploration.

With the Isle Royale Institute, Youth Programs offered students the chance to study ecology on Isle Royale.

Youth Programs and civil engineering’s Thompson Scholars program supported five urban Detroit students in the civil engineering exploration.

External corporate partnerships brought more than 250 minority high school students to campus.

Enrollment Management
Enrollment Management has received many positive comments in the way visitors are welcomed to the Michigan Tech campus.

Collaborative efforts with alumni in presenting Michigan Tech scholarships at high schools across the nation have resulted in positive relationships with high schools, students, parents and alumni.

Facilities Management
The university’s high-voltage electrical distribution system is being replaced and the capacity increased.

Planning is underway for a 100 percent emergency back-up power system for the campus.

Construction began on the Center for Integrated Learning and Information Technology, including Rekhi Hall and the Opie Library Addition.

Many students enjoyed the improved Mont Ripley ski hill this season, with snowmaking, half-pipes, and the best view in town.

Information Technology
The NSF provided the second installment of a two-year grant to support Internet2 initiatives.

Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, and Merit have finalized plans to acquire controlled fiber for Internet and Internet2 connections.

IT worked with admissions and University Relations to develop and deploy a web-based portal system for incoming students.

IT is in the midst of replacing the campus telephone system.

IT received equipment grants from Sun and NEC.

Human Resources
The Benefit Liaison Group was featured in the Chronicle for Higher Education for its innovative approach to revising the university’s health care program.

The university has saved more than $76,000 through the HARP (Healthcare Audit Reward Program), an incentive for employees to report errors.

The Professional Information Technology Group developed a new method for classification for information technology positions.

Staff Council initiated the BOB! Awards to recognize staff accomplishments.

J. R. VanPelt Library
As part of a 10-year inspection cycle, the library was commended by the U.S. Superintendent of Documents for its service as a federal depository.

Theresa Spence, assistant director for research services, received the Charles Follo Award from the Historical Society of Michigan for her contribution to preserving and promoting U.P. history.

International Programs
The number of study abroad students increased 23 percent to 215.

Michigan Tech set new records for the number of international students on campus (675) and the number of countries represented (80).

Michigan Tech established a new branch campus, in partnership with the IILM Institute for Higher Education, in New Delhi, India. Enrollment should reach 300, with 240 students coming to Houghton to complete their final two years.

A new partnership with Wuhan University of Technology in China will result in a number of new graduate students at Michigan Tech.

Residential Services
The fire alarm and suppression systems were upgraded in Douglass Houghton and McNair Halls.

The DHH dining room and serving area was renovated.

The $31 million Wadsworth Hall renovation will begin in December.

Specialized living and learning communities continue to be popular. The Healthy Living House has nearly doubled in the number of participants.

The Daniell Heights Council annual Christmas Bazaar attracted more than 100 crafters and raised over $1,500.

Student Affairs
The orientation program has received recognition from the National Orientation Directors Association, earning awards for the web site and brochure in 2002.

An on-line personal advising and registration system was made available to non-engineering students last year.

2003 State of the University Address
MTU Information