June 2, 2020

Michigan Tech students did quite well in the spring National Cyber League (NCL) cybersecurity competition held in April. The NCL Competition is a national cybersecurity competition held biannually for high school and college students. Participants compete in challenges to test and build their cyber skills.

MTU had three teams in the competition, with a total of 21 students. All three teams finished in the top 100 out of 925 total teams.

Team One — Alexander Larkin, Jack Bergman, Jon Preuth, Trevor Hornsby, Shane Hoppe, Dakoda Patterson and Matthew Chau — placed 16th.

Team Two — Sophia Kraus, Sam Breuer, Ian Hughes, Austin Doorlag, Sankalp Shastry, Hunter Indermuehle and Samantha Christie — placed 45th.

Team Three — John Claassen, Stu Kernstock, Jacson Ott, Bradley Gipson, Ethan Frenza, Tim Lucero and Anders Jacobson — placed 78th.

Additionally, in the NCL individual game, Hoppe was ranked 95th out of 5,357 participants.

After the teams' performance, MTU was ranked 22nd nationally and sixth in the Central Region in the Spring 2020 Cyber Power Rankings.

Hornsby, Hoppe, Chau and Kernstock were from CS4090 - Cybersecurity Competitions class.

Adrienne Minerick, dean of Michigan Tech's College of Computing, said the accomplishments of these outstanding students illustrates Michigan Tech's creativity and tenacity when faced with a challenge. "Our rapidly growing presence in cybersecurity is built upon our students deep knowledge of the fundamentals combined with the learning environment that promotes agility to meet (and exceed) any challenge. These hardworking and bright students deserve this recognition of their competitiveness. All of us in the College of Computing are proud." 

NCL partners with Cyber Skyline to rank this immense group of competitors. Every year, more than 10,000 students from better than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S. participate in NCL competitions. They are ranked based on team, individual and aggregate individual performances, which represents the abilities of these students to perform real-world cybersecurity tasks on the Cyber Skyline platform.

The next meeting of the Michigan Tech University Senate, Meeting #641 will convene at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (June 3) via Zoom.

Senators are responsible for making their constituents aware of the agenda for this meeting. 

Senators who are unable to attend should arrange for their alternates to attend in their place. 

You can view the agenda for Meeting #641 and the minutes of Meeting #640.

During this global pandemic, we must continue to value diversity, equity and an inclusive community. We've all seen the disparate effects of the disease itself and the stay-at-home policy response in our lives and our communities. The disease has disproportionately taken the lives of people of color, the elderly, and those with pre-existing health conditions. The work-from-home period eliminated child and elder care, placing additional care burdens on faculty and staff with care responsibilities, reducing their professional productivity. The disease has emboldened discriminatory actions targeting immigrants and foreign workers, as well as their descendants. Many students have struggled to finish their schoolwork without the on-campus support systems on which they depend. Many in our Michigan Tech community, and their families, have faced economic hardship from job losses. This disease has caused a devastating effect on our economy on every level: our students, employees, the community and the world as a whole.

Now is not the time to push diversity, equity and inclusion work aside. Doing so will place us even further behind in our community-building efforts when the pandemic comes to an end (however and whenever that happens). Now is the time to exercise our compassion, realizing that we don't always see the burdens that our colleagues, students and friends carry with them. It is also our time to place the safety and well-being of others at the forefront of our minds as we go forward.

Did you know that Michigan boasts the first regional office of the United States Patent and Trademark Office? Opened in 2012 in Detroit, Michigan, the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office (MWRO) serves Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. MWRO promotes innovation and stimulates the economy by connecting entrepreneurs to government resources, and supporting students and teachers through STEM education programs, including professional development for teachers, gathering feedback from regional stakeholders and recruiting diverse talent from the region.

Michigan Tech’s PTRC invites you to join MWRO virtually this month to learn more about patents and trademarks. Events are free, but space may be limited. View the schedule of events and register.

For more information on patents, contact Michigan Tech’s Patent and Trademark Resource Center at library@mtu.edu and a representative will assist you remotely.

Financial Services and Operations has posted the 2020 Fiscal Year-End Closing Schedule on its website. It is located on the Controller's Office web page under Closing Schedules. The year-end closing schedule lists deadlines and other important dates and should be distributed to appropriate employees.

On May 6, the US Department of Education released their comprehensive Title IX regulatory changes.

This new federal law applies to members of the Michigan Tech community, including students, faculty, and staff, and ensures the right to be free from sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. These regulations have set a new foundation for compliance, and we will meet these while keeping our community in mind. This means continuously striving for excellence and ensuring that those involved in the process are treated in a manner that is prompt, effective, and equitable. The services and resources that are available through the Title IX office will continue, as will our work toward ensuring that we stop, remedy, and prevent the recurrence of all reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and gender discrimination. There will be changes in our policies and procedures, as this is inevitable, but we hope these changes illustrate our commitment to a just and respectful community free from discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct.

During the summer, a Title IX Working Group with representatives from Title IX, the Office of Academic and Community Conduct, Student Affairs, Human Resources and Athletics has been charged with working through these regulations to ensure our new policy and procedures are in place by the August 14, 2020, deadline. Much more detail will be shared at the start of the fall semester.

If you have any questions, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Kirsti Arko, at titleix@mtu.edu. 

For additional information:
• Helpful documents regarding new regulations 
• View the Federal Register: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance

The GSG is pleased to announce that applications for the Career Enrichment Grant program for the 2020-2021 academic year are now available.

This new program, designed to supplement the Travel Grant program while travel is restricted, offers reimbursement of cost to graduate students for an online training or certification, up to $150.

Find eligibility details and the link to the application form on the GSG Travel Grants & Career Enrichment Grants web page.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions at gsg@mtu.edu.

This is a reminder to Michigan Tech’s research staff and faculty community to join us on Tuesdays for the Weekly Research Q&A session. Join via Zoom from 11 a.m. to noon. The last weekly session will be held today (Tuesday, June 2). We will continue with monthly sessions moving forward.

Today's session will continue discussion on research ramp-up activities by featuring a general Q&A related to the most updated policies and procedures for restarting and continuing research.

Please submit any questions you would like addressed to the Research Question Board on COVID-19 Research Information & FAQ.

Alumni Engagement Welcomes New Board Members

Alumni Engagement extends a warm welcome to the new members of the Alumni Board of Directors, who begin their six-year terms July 1. This group of volunteers was elected from around the country to support the mission of "Celebrating Traditions. Creating Connections." The Board works with the Alumni Engagement team to develop and support programs for students and alumni.

The new members are:
• Arick Davis '15 Electrical Engineering, Grand Rapids, MI
• Daniel Madrid ’10 Computer Network and Systems Administration, Livonia, MI
• Darwin Moon ’79 Mechanical Engineering, Madison, AL
• Peter Moutsatson ’88 Mechanical Engineering, Manassas, VA
• Drew Vettel ’05 ‘06 Mechanical Engineering, Sheboygan Falls, WI
• Brandon Williams ’00 Electrical Engineering, San Diego, CA

More information on the Board of Directors is available online or by contacting the Alumni House at 7-2400 or alumni@mtu.edu.

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Kamm Provides Pandemic Expertise to Provosts

Kelly Kamm (KIP) shared her expertise with members of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) Council on Academic Affairs during a webinar on May 29. The Council on Academic Affairs serves the primary academic officers (provosts) at APLU member universities.

Kamm’s presentation focused on efforts underway at Michigan Tech to track and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 as well as her research related to the role of personal hygiene, including hand-washing, in controlling the spread of disease. She was joined for the presentation by Paul Halverson, dean of the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

Research Data Draft Policy Available for Review

The topic of research data is at the forefront of federal research funding agency policy and guideline development. In addition to compliance with federal funding requirements, Michigan Tech recognizes the importance of responsible stewardship of outcomes of research conducted at the institution. Michigan Tech Board of Trustees Policy 15.3 Research Data Principles provides that research data and results will be made accessible to the public to the broadest extent possible in compliance with all applicable policy, contractual, legal and regulatory obligations.

The Research Data Working Group was formed in 2017 by the Vice President for Research to develop policies which ensure compliance with University, federal and state requirements while addressing researcher issues and concerns. The group has prepared a Research Data Draft Policy, which is available for review and comment. Please keep in mind that this policy was drafted with the goal of supporting compliance with applicable federal, state and University requirements and guidelines, and will be updated as necessary.

Please take a few minutes to review the draft policy and email your questions or concerns to Gina LeMay at gllemay@mtu.edu by June 12, 2020.

Postdoctoral researcher Dan Trepal (SS/GLRC) and Don Lafreniere (SS/GLRC) recently published an article titled "Historical Spatial-Data Infrastructures for Archaeology: Towards a Spatiotemporal Big-Data Approach to Studying the Postindustrial City" in the journal Historical Archaeology.

The article outlines how spatiotemporal big-data approaches combined with geospatial technologies can expand the way archaeologists study postindustrial cities.

The "Rock Concert" held in the Rosza Center in October 2019 was noted in the May/June issue of Rocks & Minerals magazine.

The mention particularly noted the original composition "Cylindrical Whiskers" by Libby Meyer (VPA), which was inspired by the mineral merelaniite, and debuted in a performance by the Superior String Alliance String Quartet.

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Michigan Tech was mentioned in the article "Colleges rethink fall schedule," in The Daily Globe (Ironwood).

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Michigan Tech was mentioned in the article "Welcome to the Socially Distanced Campus" in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Michigan Tech P.hD. candidates Mujeeb Shittu, biochemistry, and Femi Afolami, biological science were featured in the article "US based Nigerian doctoral candidates pioneer research on COVID-19" on Nigerian News Direct.

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Former Michigan Tech hockey player Lars Helminen was featured in the article "CHAMPIONSHIP BUILT: Returning veterans helped shape young Steelheads in 2007 Cup run," in the Idaho Press.

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