June 11, 2025

Last September, using Michigan Tech's Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) as a home base, a group of government officials and industry partners from the Smart Ships Coalition conducted a formal week-long search for a plane missing in Lake Superior since 1968.

The mission included some of the most advanced marine technology available. The group set off from the GLRC's docks aboard two crewed vessels, tasked with supporting the small fleet's third marine asset: Ocean Infinity's Armada 8 autonomous surface vessel. Equipped with a pair of high-resolution wideband multibeam sonar systems, the Armada 8's operators planned to capture ultrahigh-resolution acoustic imagery representing the shape and depth of the lake bed over an area of 21 square miles.

The search had another purpose, as well: Lakebed 2030, an ambitious effort led by the Great Lakes Observing System to map the bottoms of the five big lakes at high density.

"What we're showcasing here is a modern approach to mapping all of our Great Lakes at very high resolution in terms of lake bed bathymetry," said Travis White, GLRC research engineer and project lead on the mission. "That's a really important objective for our Great Lakes states for many different reasons. One is preserving the cultural assets, such as missing shipwrecks, airplanes, and relics from Paleo people who lived along the ancient shorelines of our Great Lakes, below where our modern waterline is today. There's also a lot at stake here for navigation, safety, and commerce, in addition to the technology that we're trying to move forward."

Read about the search in our 2025 Michigan Tech Magazine.

The Center for Student Mental Health and Well-being invites academic departments to consider hosting a Let’s Talk session in their space this fall.

Let’s Talk is a program that provides easy access to free, informal and confidential individual consultations with a Michigan Tech counselor. It is open to all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students. These brief conversations are a great way for students to get support around a specific concern, ask questions about mental health and learn more about campus resources.

Hosting a Let’s Talk session in your department can help lower barriers to care and promote student well-being in a familiar and accessible environment. A counselor will be available on-site to listen, offer support, explore possible solutions and connect students to additional resources if needed.

If your department is interested in hosting a Let’s Talk session, please fill out our Let's Talk Host Interest Form.

Let’s work together to bring mental health support directly to students — where they are.

Rupali Datta (BioSci/GLRC/HRI) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $43,964 research and development contract from the Stevens Institute of Technology.

The project is titled "Lowering Lead Bioavailability in Residential Soils of Variable Physico-Chemical Properties using Sustainable In-Situ Treatment Methods. Phase-II: Validating under Scaled-up Field Conditions."

Smitha Rao Hatti (BioMed/GLRC/HRI) is a co-PI on this potential one-year project.

Paul van Susante (MAE) is in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow, June 11-12, to participate in the National Academy of Sciences' panel, “Key Non-Polar Destinations Across the Moon to Address Decadal-Level Science Objectives with Human Explorers: Panel on Applied Sciences.”

This is the first in a series of panel meetings focused on advancing lunar science through human exploration.

The University of Detroit Mercy mentioned Amna Mazen (AC/MMET) in a story about the Benchmark Autonomous Robot Navigation (BARN) Challenge at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Robotics and Automation. A collaborative team of Michigan Tech and UDM researchers won the challenge, which advances autonomous navigation in constrained environments. Key to the team’s success was a novel navigation algorithm developed by Mazen and others during her doctoral research in robotics at UDM.

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University President Rick Koubek was a guest on the June 5 episode of Detroit Public Radio’s “The Metro” radio show. The episode discussed the impacts of federal budget cuts on Michigan universities and the collaboration between Michigan Tech, Michigan State University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan as part of Research Universities for Michigan.

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The Daily Mining Gazette mentioned Stephanie Carpenter (HU) in a story previewing her June 12 reading at the Copper Country Community Arts Center. Carpenter, author of “Moral Treatment,” will discuss the novel and share insights into her research process. The free public event begins at 6 p.m.

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The Escanaba Daily Press mentioned Michigan Tech cross country’s Zeb Swager in a story about the MISH Waterfront Marathon. Swager won the 10-kilometer race with a time of 34:29.2.

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Sports Illustrated, Yahoo! Sports, the Daily Mining Gazette, My UP Now, and WLUC TV6 mentioned Michigan Tech in stories about the 59th Great Lakes Invitational (GLI), which will be held Dec. 28-29 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

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WLUC TV6 mentioned former Michigan Tech hockey player Raymond Brice in a story about the BR.ICE summer hockey program at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

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Michigan Tech alum Sarah Zarzecki ’06 (B.S. Civil Engineering) was a guest on the June 9 episode of The AEC Project Management Podcast, titled “How to Lead Through Adversity with Engineering Leadership Strategies.” Zarzecki discussed engineering leadership strategies, including navigating burnout, uniting multigenerational teams and delivering results under pressure in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry.

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Strength and Conditioning : Summer Middle School Program

Wednesday, June 11, 10–11 a.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Multi-Purpose

Lead by the MTU Strength and Conditioning Staff, this 8-week summer program is for athletes looking to improve their performance and fitness level to prepare for the upcoming...

NSF CAREER Writing Group

Wednesday, June 11, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. | J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library, Conference Room 103

Join us in person in Library 103 or virtually over Zoom to work on elements of the NSF CAREER proposal. We will run these weekly meetings as writing sprints to support your...

Strength and Conditioning : Summer High School Program

Wednesday, June 11, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Multi-Purpose

Lead by the MTU Strength and Conditioning Staff, this 8-week summer program is for athletes looking to improve their performance and fitness level to prepare for the upcoming...