A view of the Michigan Tech campus from across the waterway.

Michigan Technological University prepares students to create the future.

At Michigan Tech, Husky smart students do. They invent, design, code, create, and compete. Their discoveries make humans healthier and technology smarter. Together with researchers, faculty, and industry partners, Huskies create the future through research—here's how:

  • Turn plastic waste into protein powder for disaster relief and sustainability efforts
  • Research fruit fly genetics to inform innovative human cancer treatment options
  • Develop cleaner, quieter snowmobiles
  • Test and launch a low-Earth orbit nanosatellite
  • Track predator-prey on Isle Royale

Our mission to create a just, prosperous, and sustainable world is expressed through our entrepreneurial spirit—equal parts curiosity and grit. It infuses everything we do. The lifeblood for an MTU Husky? Battling the North wind, trudging through 200+ inches of snow each winter, and staying late in the lab to discover that one, new piece of the puzzle. It's hard work that fuels us.

Campus in the 1890's.
Campus in the 1890's.

 

Our campus, shown during summer break, in 2018.

 
Plugging in a cord in an electronics panel.

Academics

Our eight Colleges and Schools develop, apply, and communicate science, engineering, technology, and mathematics in more than 140 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Diffy Q, Chem I, Thermo, Orgo—we don't do easy. Gifted faculty guide motivated students in rigorous studies through deep engagement, design thinking, and leadership committed to the transformative power of STEM education. From bring-your-own-device active learning classrooms to arts and humanities curriculum, we accelerate creativity, cultural competency, and critical thinking.

"I strive to create a classroom where students are eager participants and where students and I learn from each other, sometimes by explaining basic concepts and sometimes by engaging in deep and difficult conversation. All of my classes are built with the goal of creating inclusive classroom communities characterized by mutual trust and respect."Amy Marcarelli, Professor of Biological Sciences and 2023 recipient of the Michigan Tech Distinguished Teaching Award in the Associate Professor/Professor category

Undergraduates research opportunities begin right away. Through Enterprise, Senior Design, Pavlis Honors College, and The Alley Makerspace, students learn, build, and do. Michigan Tech creates the future.

We turn recycled water bottles into plastic filament, wood scraps into doorknobs, and make hybrid solar energy accessible for Upper Michigan residents.

We monitor volcanoes, and work with residents on their slopes to create two-way understanding of socioeconomic and environmental impacts.


"I get an adrenaline kick when I go to class and interact with the students. That's definitively the highlight of my day."

—Thomas Werner, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Michigan Association of State Universities Distinguished Professor of the Year, 2021

Students on campus.

Research

Underwater, below snow, on remote mountain peaks and volcano slopes, Michigan Tech research takes us places. It's only natural. Because here on Keweenaw Peninsula—the northernmost point of Innovation Shore—neither classes nor climate come easy.

Watch Creating Materials to Build Sustainable Cities of the Future video
Preview image for Creating Materials to Build Sustainable Cities of the Future video

Creating Materials to Build Sustainable Cities of the Future

Watch Know the Flow: The Critical Data of Stream Gauges video
Preview image for Know the Flow: The Critical Data of Stream Gauges video

Know the Flow: The Critical Data of Stream Gauges

"I think fundamental research is a little bit like philosophy — trying to understand how, fundamentally, the universe works. For humankind, it’s important to understand the world around us."Petra Huentemeyer, Distinguished Professor of Physics and 2023 recipient of the Michigan Tech Research Award

We work across disciplines to investigate dark matter, cloud droplets, gamma rays, industrial archaeological sites, and quantum mechanics. We dig into peat mesocosms. Build and launch nanosatellites. And partner with institutions like NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

  • More than $100 million in research expenditures
  • more than 132,000 hours of paid undergraduate research last year
  • One-on-one graduate-to-faculty research projects

You can learn more about our research by reading Michigan Tech Research Magazine, Unscripted: Science and Engineering Research, and Michigan Tech News website. Support faculty and student research projects and scholarships through our crowdfunding website, SuperiorIdeas.org.

  • 311K

    square feet of research labs on campus

  • $102

    million in research expenditures

  • 16
    official research centers and institutes

Student Life

Michigan Tech isn't on the way to anywhere—and Huskies wouldn't have it any other way. When students aren't in class or conducting research, they participate in more than 240 student organizations, music and fine arts, and cultural events including the Upper Peninsula of Michigan's largest multicultural festival, the Parade of Nations. Whether it's the All-Nighter frenzy to complete a Winter Carnival snow statue, or chasing the Northern Lights right outside your dorm, there's a lot to do at MTU.

Our 15 varsity athletic teams includes our NCAA Division I men's ice hockey, NCAA Division II men's and women's sports, and esports. Plus, students have access to club and intramural sports (fact: one-third of MTU students play in broomball leagues). Go Huskies!

Human Ice Bowling? You have to see it—or do it—to believe it.

Experience Tech's indoor and outdoor adventures on our very own ski, snowboard, and tubing hill, golf course, hiking and biking trails, recreational forest, and waterways.  

Design, duct-tape, and race a cardboard boat on the Keweenaw Waterway.

Housing and Residence Life offers 2,410 beds in four halls, each with its own personality, 348 apartments, six live-in master's level professionals, more than 70 resident assistants, and an intentional strategy to help Huskies grow and succeed, including theme communities. We're not a suitcase school—students stay here on the weekend.

Greek Life is about friendships, and service to campus and community. Nineteen fraternities and sororities are scholars and leaders on campus.

Arts, entertainment, and recreation opportunities all around you.

Our performing arts theatre, the Rozsa Center, can hold an audience of more than 1,000. Near by McArdle Theatre hosts, concerts, music festivals, and more. Hundreds of campus events take place throughout the year. Our 35 km trail system, located right across the street from the Student Development Complex, is nationally recognized for quality, variety of terrain and maintenance. This includes 7.5 km of lighted trail and year-round access to walking, running, biking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and snow biking. You will have countless choices for entertainment and to stay fit at Michigan Tech.

Bound together by snow and STEM.

There is nothing easy about Michigan Tech—the classes nor climate. Not to worry. Faculty, staff, and peers track student success and offer programs and resources that put Huskies ahead of the pack.


Visit and Explore

Our campus, located in Houghton in the heart of the Keweenaw Peninsula, blends nature and technology. The best way to experience Tech is to see it for yourself! Schedule a campus tour during a weekday or Saturday visit, or at our annual Open House held every summer.

Can't make it to campus? Take a 360° virtual tour, explore our interactive campus map, or take a peek at our live webcams throughout campus to see what’s happening right now.

Watch Michigan Tech Virtual Tour video
Preview image for Michigan Tech Virtual Tour video

Want a sneak peek of our in-person campus tours? Our video tour shows the highlights—and just like the real thing, it's led by Huskies who know what students like them want to see.


Husky Traditions

Winter Carnival snow statues. Lake Superior waves on K-Day. And home games with the loudest pep band in the nation. Each year Michigan Tech hosts numerous husky traditions, involving students, faculty, staff, and even the local community. Check out the events calendar for what's next and plan your visit today.

Husky Traditions


Campus and Community

Our beautiful campus in Michigan's Upper Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw (say "Kee-Wah-Nah") Waterway and is just a few miles from Lake Superior. The area's waters, forests, and snowfall (200 or more inches annually) offer skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, and paddling opportunities. Historic downtown Houghton is active with locally owned shops, eateries, high-tech companies, music festivals, and parades. We embrace our size, climate, sense of adventure, and originality. Michigan Tech wouldn't be the same anywhere else on earth—and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Learn More
Learn More
Learn More
  • 15
    varsity athletic teams
  • 21
    runs on our very own ski hill one mile from campus
  • 58%
    of our students participate in more than 240 student organizations
  • 150
    Study Abroad locations around the world

Husky History

Michigan Mining School logo 1885
Michigan Mining School, 1885

Michigan Technological University started as the Michigan Mining School in 1885, with a mission to train mining engineers in Upper Michigan's Copper Country.

From its roots—four faculty members and 23 students on the second floor of the old Houghton Fire Hall on Montezuma Avenue—Michigan Tech evolved into Michigan's flagship technological university and a leading public research institution.

Learn more about our husky history through the lens of the nine presidents in our 130-year-plus history.

Husky History

 

 

Students measuring trees.

Alumni Notables

Melvin Calvin
Melvin Calvin, 1961 Nobel Prize Winner

Our Michigan Tech Family of more than 70,000 alumni and friends celebrates traditions and creates connections. A few of our notable alumni include:

  • Daniel Branagan—Forbes Magazine recognized this nanotechnology pioneer as one of the important innovators of our time and one of 15 people who will reinvent the future.
  • Melvin Calvin—won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1961.
  • Charlotte Field—the senior vice president of National Communications Engineering and Operations for Comcast Cable won the 2005 Women in Technology Award.
  • David Hill—the chief engineer for General Motors is regarded as the father of the groundbreaking 2002 Z06 Corvette.
  • David House—he is responsible for Pentium Processor and the "Intel Inside" campaign.
  • Suzanne Jurva—the film credits for this former executive for Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios and founder of Starcut, Ltd. include Men in Black, Peacemaker (with the world premier in Houghton), and Saving Private Ryan.
  • Charles Nelson—invented paintball.
  • John Opie—he is vice chairman for General Electric, and he and his wife are major supporters of the John and Ruanne Opie Library.
  • Frank Pavlis—the former vice president at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Fortune 500) is the namesake of Michigan Tech's Pavlis Leadership Institute.
  • Dick Robbins—one of the most innovative developers of tunneling machinery in the world; his equipment dug the English Chunnel, the tunnel running under the English Channel.
  • Doug Smith—the wildlife biologist leads the Wolf Reintroduction Program at Yellowstone National Park.
  • Lina T. Taskovich—made significant contributions to the development of transdermal patches, an accomplishment recognized in Newsweek and People.
 
  • 1,729
    alumni living internationally
  • 62K

    living alumni

  • 80
    regional alumni chapters

Join Husky Nation

Thinking of Relocating to the Keweenaw?

Michigan Technological University is located in Houghton. Michigan Tech and the Copper Country have a small-town feel. Students and community members say it’s just right—not so big that it’s easy to get lost, but not too small, either. An ideal place to call home, Niche.com ranks Michigan Tech the safest public college in Michigan.

The area is home to 12,000 residents, and active with locally owned shops, eateries, high-tech companies, music festivals, and parades. Students, staff, and the community enjoy the University-owned ski, snowboard, and tubing hill, golf course, and recreation trails, and other outdoor adventure opportunities the Keweenaw Peninsula offers.