April 27, 2021

In her guest blog, graduate student Brooke Poyhonen shares her work in health, coding, innovation and overcoming doubt during the Texas Healthcare Challenge: Virtual Hackathon.

Her team, WatsonCares, took first place after coming together almost by accident. Poyhonen says she is grateful for the virtual environment, because otherwise she would not have met her teammates. The whole hacking part of the challenge — that is, the brainstorming, teamwork and prototyping — was a mere 24 hours. But the WatsonCares team developed a solid idea for a postpartum health app to help new mothers find resources for difficult challenges like postpartum depression, pelvic floor therapy, postpartum bleeding, learning to breastfeed and navigating intensive care in NICU. The team is now looking into startup opportunities.

Read more about the team, the app and their next steps on Unscripted, the University’s research blog.

In his most recent blog post, Wayne Gersie, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, discusses the need to step out of your comfort zone, be willing to make mistakes and refuse to accept silence as the solution.

"Talking about certain social issues is something many find intimidating," he says. "These topics are touchy. They invite strong opinions and can involve debate and contention. Often individuals feel they don’t know enough to weigh in or worry they won’t articulate themselves clearly. But most often, what holds us back is simply fear of saying something wrong."

Read more on the Diversity and Inclusion Newsblog.

Join us Thursday, April 29, from 7-8 p.m. for the COVID-19 Community Town Hall. The topic will be “Impact of the Pandemic on the Environment and Climate.”

Organized by the Health Research Institute at Michigan Tech, the 60-minute town hall broadcast can be heard live at 7 p.m. on radio stations 97.7 The Wolf (WOLV-FM) and 99.1 (WIKB-FM) and viewed through a Zoom webinar and Facebook Live. The town hall can also be viewed on ABC 10 Sunday, May 2, at 12 p.m.

Town hall moderators Steven Elmer and Kelly Kamm (HRI/KIP) will be joined by MTU postdoctoral associate Sonya Ahamed, Robert Handler (ChE), Darrell Harmon (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and Denice Swanke (U.S. National Parks Service). Student representatives from the Sustainability Demonstration House and Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action will also participate.

For more information and past broadcasts, visit the COVID-19 Town Hall Series website.

A team of Michigan Tech students competed last week in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) North America Division Championships, placing 28th out of 42 teams in the Central Division.

The ICPC is the premier worldwide, algorithmic programming contest for college students. To qualify for the championships, a student team placed 14th out of more than 80 teams in the regional ICPC contest in February.

Additional programming contests and events take place throughout the year. Students interested in programming competitions are encouraged to contact Laura Brown (CS) at lebrown@mtu.edu.

Read more in the blog post.

For departments looking for gifts for their graduates, donors or significant visitors, look no further than a beautiful Friends of the Michigan Tech Library blanket. Or, for those thank-you notes, consider the Library Archives notecards.

Both can be ordered online at the Friends of the Michigan Tech Library website. We can have them delivered to your office and we can bill to your P.O. All purchases support the Michigan Tech Library.

Michigan Tech prevailed 4-1 over Purdue Northwest in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference fifth-place match Sunday, April 25, at Great Midland Tennis Center. With the victory, the Huskies wrap up the 2021 spring season 6-4 in the GLIAC and 6-9 overall.

After falling in the first round of the conference tournament Friday, Tech bounced back for wins over Saginaw Valley State and PNW to end on a winning note.

Read more on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Already, this spring has been a complete reversal of fortunes for Michigan Tech soccer. The Huskies finished the season 5-3-1 overall and earned a chance to compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament after missing out in 2019. With the No. 5 seed, Tech travels to No. 4 seed Grand Valley State to play today (April 27) at 4 p.m. 

The two sides tied 2-2 at GVSU soccer field on March 21. At the time, the Lakers were ranked No. 1 in the country. Now the Huskies have momentum with four wins in their last five outings. Tech closed out the regular season Friday with 1-0 shutout of Wisconsin-Parkside at Kearly Stadium.

Read more on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Job Posting for Tuesday, April 27, 2021  

Staff and faculty job descriptions are available on the Human Resources website. For more information regarding staff positions, call 906-487-2280 or email mtujobs@mtu.edu.

For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted. 

Department Chair, Applied Computing, College of Computing (internal posting only). Apply online.

This is an edit to the original posting. Applications will be received through Friday, April 30, 2021.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer that provides equal opportunity for all, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.   Accommodations are available. If you require any auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations to apply for employment or an interview at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or mtujobs@mtu.edu.

Fill Out the COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring Form Before Coming to Campus

If you are working on campus while the University is at Health Safety Level Three, remember that no one is permitted to come to campus with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

Employees are required to monitor for symptoms daily before coming to campus using the Daily Symptom Monitoring Form.

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PhD Defense: Nikhil Mittal 

Biomedical engineering PhD student Nikhil Mittal (advised by Sangyoon Han) will present his PhD proposal defense at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, via Zoom (passcode: 017443).

The title of his defense is "Nascent Adhesion-Based Mechano-transmission for Sensing Stiffness of the Extracellular Matrix."

Crain’s Business Detroit, DBusiness, Yahoo Finance, and multiple regional outlets reported that Michigan Tech is one of four recipients of a gift from Michigan couple Bob and Ellen Thompson that totals $52 million. The gift supports the Thompson Working Families Scholarships at four institutions that partner with the Thompson Foundation. The other recipients are Grand Valley State University, Saginaw Valley State University and Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

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The Wall Street Journal referenced a 2013 study published by Professor Joshua Pearce (ECE, MSE) in its article 3D Printing Stocks Are Still Running On Hype.

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Michigan Tech’s Graduation Celebration was mentioned in a Detroit News article on college graduation ceremonies.

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Michigan Tech was mentioned in a Daily Mail story shared by MSN entitled, “NASA shares incredible timelapse video from the SpaceX Crew-2 launch.”

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

Teal Ribbons

Tuesday, April 27, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. | Michigan Tech Campus

All month there will be Teal Ribbons on Trees. These ribbons symbolize solidarity with victims of sexual violence and are meant to create conversation on campus about how we...

Alumni Virtual Book Club

Tuesday, April 27, 2:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.

Join alumni and friends as we make our way through the book, "Bridging Barriers" written by alum Michael Paddock, PE, PS '87, '88. Zoom in for one event or all! Each...

Math Department Chair Candidate Talk

Tuesday, April 27, 2 p.m.–3 p.m.

The Math Department Chair Search Committee is happy to invite Professor Jiguang Sun for an interview. Professor Sun will give a zoom presentation on Tuesday, April 27 at 2:00...

Youth Huskies Group Tennis Lessons Spring Session 3

Tuesday, April 27, 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. | Gates Tennis Center

Youth Huskies Group Tennis Lessons are now being offered all spring. The third session is 6 weeks, April 6 - May 15. Options for participating 1 or 2 days a week. Our youth...

College of Engineering Alumni Panel

Tuesday, April 27, 7 p.m.–8 p.m.

It's no secret that Huskies have successful careers! Michigan Tech graduates are prepared to take on anything, they are go-getters and world changers. Join us (virtually) for...

Teal Ribbons for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April 27, all day | Outdoors

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. During the Month of April there will be Teal Ribbons displayed throughout campus. Teal has become the signature color for sexual...