Rick White

Rick White

Contact

  • Director of Strategic Communications, University Marketing and Communications

Biography

Rick joined Michigan Tech in 2022 after earning his MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Montana. His essays have been nominated for Best American Essays and published in LitHub, High Desert Journal, The A.V. Club and elsewhere. He also holds an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a BA in Geography from the University of Central Arkansas. 

About Rick

  • Rick leads the UMC communications team in projects ranging from media relations to editing MTU News and Tech Magazine.
  • He enjoys cooking, gardening, traveling, and exploring the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Recent Stories 

Two students testing the lunar rover in a thermal vacuum chamber.

The Artemis Generation

It's 5:58 p.m.—two minutes to game time—and the Flat Moon Society is only just beginning to show signs of panic. Team captain Travis Wavrunek '20 '21 '24 scans the snow-covered Walker Lawn anxiously, looking for the team's regular goalie, Chuck Carey '22 '23, who is clearly running late. Other Society members huddle to revise their positioning and strategy. The referee blows the whistle, summoning players to the ice. The expression on Travis's face shifts from anxiety to resignation. Despite being one of the team's top scorers, he will have to fill in as goalie until Chuck arrives. Read More

Wolf skull, jawbones, and teeth on a tray.

Canis Spiritus

How do you save a species in decline? Better yet, how do you revive a species declared extinct in the wild more than four decades ago?
For most people—even for most wildlife biologists—the answer is simple: You don't. But for Kristin Brzeski, assistant professor of wildlife science and conservation at Michigan Tech, hope for the critically endangered red wolf is found in hybridization. Read More

Smoke coming out of a snowy chimney.

Research in Focus: Team Science—Putting People First

"Even as a PhD student, I knew I wanted to do interdisciplinary work," says Chelsea Schelly, sociology professor. "I knew the questions I was interested in were things I couldn't answer by myself."
While finishing her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Schelly got explicit training in interdisciplinary scholarship, then turned her attention to finding work at a university where she could put those skills to use. Read More

An empty petri dish next to one with growing colonies.

Research in Focus: Needles, Haystacks, and Sugar Chains

Shortly after Dukka KC arrived on campus in fall 2021, the new professor of computer science emailed Michigan Tech glycobiologist Tarun Dam. The note, as Dam remembers it, said in essence, "I see that you're a glycobiologist. I do some bioinformatics work with glyco-molecules. Maybe we can work together someday." Read More

Campus reflection on the Keweenaw Waterway in fall

Good as Gold: Tech Earns STARS Gold Rating for Sustainability

After earning a STARS Silver Rating in 2020, Michigan Tech is one of only five public universities in Michigan to earn gold in 2023. STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. The framework offers points in five categories — academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership — that add up to a final score. Read More

PSTLD researchers weld liquid nitrogen lines onto a custom thermal shroud

PSTDL Advances to Final Round of NASA Watts on the Moon Challenge

Next year, a team of students in Michigan Technological University’s Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL) will get the chance to prove their promising design for a lunar power management system to NASA engineers. On June 27, the PSTDL team was one of four teams selected to advance to Phase 2, Level 3 of the Watts on the Moon Challenge. All four teams received a $400,000 award and a chance to compete for a share of the competition’s grand prizes: $1 million for the winner and $500,000 for the runner-up. Read More