July 21, 2020

The biggest challenge with remote work isn't keeping the cat off the keyboard or responding to the toddler who informs your Zoom webinar audience that she needs a bathroom break now. What matters most is preventing strains, pains and other potential injuries caused by working in unaccustomed, unhealthy positions.

While Michigan Tech has activated reopening plans, the phase-in is gradual, fluid, and could change rapidly. For many employees, working remotely continues.

Chris Maxon, general safety specialist with MTU Environmental Health and Safety, regularly checks with his colleagues across the country to share the latest industry info. Michigan Tech KIP researchers Carolyn Duncan and Steven Elmer have head-to-toe tips to help you work and learn more safely and comfortably at home.

Read the full Q&A on Michigan Tech Unscripted.

As part of its “1,000 Words Project,” members of the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture explore the many ways the COVID pandemic connects with and affects our lives. Drawing on the diverse areas of expertise among IPEC members, the “map” of the current crisis as we see it is not only global, but deep; almost no area of daily life is untouched.

In this, the third installment of essays on the crisis, IPEC touches on live art performance, patterns of discrimination in India, engineering ethics, the digital divide, and the public waning of commitment to the scientific method.

Visit the IPEC website for these new and other essays.

• “An Ethical Crisis: COVID-19 and the Valuing of Human Lives” by Alexandra Morrison, Assistant Professor of Philosophy 
• “A Crisis of Access: COVID-19 and the Digital Divide” by Charles Wallace, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Associate Dean for Curriculum & Instruction
• “The Scientific Method on Display” by Caryn Heldt, Director, Health Research Institute, James and Lorna Mack Chair in Bioengineering 
• “We are Left with Marble Statues” by Libby Meyer, Senior Lecturer of Music Theory and Composition 
• “A Crisis of Lockdown Ethics” by Veena Namboodri, PhD Student, Humanities

In a student-led effort, some Michigan Tech students have elected to donate the money they received from the CARES Act to the Husky Emergency Assistance Fund to help fellow students in need.

In order to help alleviate the financial impact COVID-19 has had on students, Michigan Tech has distributed $1.5 million from its CARES Act relief funds via a $350 grant to all eligible students.

However, many students studying at American universities are not eligible to receive CARES Act funds, including international students. These students are often hardest hit by the pandemic, unable to work off campus due to visa restrictions, and many unable to return to their home countries due to international travel restrictions.

Several months ago, in order to further assist students, Michigan Tech set up the Husky Emergency Assistance Fund. Both the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and Graduate Student Government (GSG) have contributed monetary donations to the Husky Emergency Assistance Fund and have financially supported the purchase of necessary personal protective equipment for all students for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Yet as the pandemic has continued, the Husky Emergency Assistance Fund has diminished. Running with an idea generated by a group of graduate students, Michigan Tech’s GSG has offered to match all donations made by students who elect to donate the $350 CARES Act grant (or a portion of it) they received to the Husky Emergency Assistance Fund, directly helping others who are in more precarious positions. GSG will match up to $10,000 for donations made in the next two weeks.

The donation will go directly to fellow students who are in great need, which includes both international students and students who are CARES Act eligible but who may be experiencing financial hardship that cannot be alleviated by $350 alone.

"I and other students like me have not been impacted by COVID-19 as much as others, and we were in a situation where we could help our fellow students,” said Nathan Ford, GSG president and a PhD student in mechanical engineering. “I wanted to show them that they are not alone during this pandemic, and that GSG and their fellow students have their backs."

Houghton County Planning Commission Meets Today

The Houghton County Planning Commission will meet over Zoom at 4 p.m. today (July 21).

By invitation, Chelsea Schelly (SS) will make a brief statement about the social context of the recent campaign to "Defund the Police" and why it matters for our local communities.

You are invited to attend the meeting:

• Join the meeting via Zoom:
Meeting ID: 869 1204 9380
Passcode: 633799

• Join the meeting via one tap mobile:
1-312-626-6799, US (Chicago)
1-929-205-6099, US (New York)

Academy for Teachers

Alex Guth (Provost's Office) spent last week facilitating a virtual geoscience academy for teachers. Normally held in Houston, Texas, the annual teacher leadership academy was held virtually for the first time, hosted by the American Geosciences Institute and Exxon. This year's academy had 32 teachers (K-8) attending from across the country. Guth has been a facilitator for these academies since 2015.

Graduate student G. Edzordzi Agbozo (HU) co-authored the article titled, "Educational language policy in an African country: Making a place for code-switching/translanguaging," published in Applied Linguistics Review.

The Michigan Tech COVID-19 Testing Lab was mentioned and Caryn Heldt (ChE) was quoted in the news story, "Some Michigan labs are turning away COVID-19 tests in order to deliver fast results," on Michigan Radio.

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Trista Vick-Majors (BioSci) was mentioned in the article, "He Found 'Islands of Fertility' Beneath Antarctica's Ice," in Quanta Magazine.

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Audra Morse (CEE) was quoted in the news story, "ASCE Releases Roadmap For The Future Of Civil Engineering Education," in Water Online.

To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.

Master's Defense: Lamia Alam

Tuesday, July 21, 10–11 a.m.

Applied Cognitive Science & Human Factors Advisor: Shane Mueller Investigating the Impact of Explanation on Repairing Trust in AI Diagnostic Systems for Re-Diagnosis ...

Tips and Tricks by Glen Archer

Tuesday, July 21, 6 p.m.

Husky Bites: Tips and Tricks from Three Chairs and a Dean Tips for the TI-89 Glen Archer Interim Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Michigan Technological...

#q: Sculpture Under Quarantine

July 21, all day

#q: sculpture under quarantine is an online gallery created by students in Advanced Sculpture Studio. Students in this class developed works of art while social distancing in...

APS Virtual Poster Showcase

July 21, all day

The Association for Psychological Science will be hosting a Virtual Poster Showcase from June 1, 2020 to September 1, 2020. Participants will be able to view the latest...

Outside – apart – together

July 21, all day

Online Sculpture Walk Outside – apart – together, the Outdoor Sculpture class’s online sculpture exhibit, opens today. The exhibit is an online sculpture walk, and it...