Letter from the Chair

Thank you for taking the time to read our magazine!

I am delighted and honored to announce that Michigan Tech is now ranked as an R1 research university by the Carnegie Classification. We are one of only two rural R1 universities and are proud to be recognized in the ranks of the top research universities in the country. Our preliminary research expenditures for fiscal year 2024 indicate growth of almost 40 percent!

As chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, I am excited to report the huge success of our bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, launched this fall. Across the department, our enrollment deposits are up from 310 to over 400 first-year students. We have nearly a 30 percent enrollment increase, split between approximately 65 aerospace students in their first year of the new program and an increase of nearly 40 students in mechanical engineering. Overall, enrollment in both the College of Engineering and Michigan Tech is also up. The MAE department has 38 percent of the total deposits in the College and 24 percent of Tech's overall deposits. As a department, we are a growing percentage of the University. This year, we will be proposing adding a master's degree in aerospace engineering.

To support our incoming class of students, the R. L. Smith Building is under renovation on four different floors. We have renovations to house our new wind tunnel, turbine engine test stand, and a rocket engine test stand, along with the supporting control rooms and lab instruction space. We are completely renovating the top floor of our building to house both ME and AE undergraduate labs, as well as a really cool student collaboration space—the students are going to love it! We are also creating several new courses and lab spaces for our Aerospace Engineering Practice and Electric Propulsion courses. Additionally, our large lecture halls and several other classrooms are being completely renovated. While the building won't be new, it will feel like it to many students, as these renovations touch almost all the instructional spaces for our undergraduate students.

Additionally, we had a phenomenal year of hiring! We added eight new faculty to our ranks. Of those, six are tenure-track and two are instructional-track. All of our hires come from R1 universities and are very excited to join our ranks. They will expand our research and teaching range and capabilities to support both our ME and AE programs.

Looking forward, MTU and the MAE department are very well positioned to continue to grow and contribute in many ways to our local area and society. Alumni and faculty have launched successful start-ups, most notably Orbion Space Technology, and with growing support for entrepreneurship, more are expected. Our research is also playing a key role in plastic recycling, space, and defense, with faculty leading major efforts in these areas.

Department-wide, MAE is accelerating both our research and enrollment to reach new heights in the future. We are generating excitement and energy on campus and look forward to continuing to hit new highs in everything we do!

Thank you,
Jason R. Blough, PhD
Department Chair and Distinguished Professor

Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 185 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.