April 29, 2021

Michigan Tech is celebrating the accomplishments of more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who completed their degrees by the end of the spring 2021 semester. Despite the lack of a formal ceremony due to COVID-19 restrictions, more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students are expected to participate in a physically distanced celebration tomorrow (April 30) throughout the afternoon.

Among the undergraduates, 99 will graduate cum laude, 116 magna cum laude and 68 summa cum laude. In the Graduate School, there will be 31 doctorates awarded, along with 203 Master of Science degrees, 46 graduate certificates, 27 Master of Business Administration degrees, two Master of Forestry degrees, five Master of Geographic Information Science degrees, and 46 graduate certificates.

The Air Force ROTC and Army ROTC will conduct a joint commissioning ceremony at 7:30 a.m. Saturday (May 1) at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. Eleven cadets will be commissioned as officers in the Air Force and five cadets will be commissioned as officers in the Army. Due to limited seating, a livestream ceremony will be available via Zoom.

One of the highlights of Michigan Tech’s traditional commencement ceremony is an address by a member of the graduate class. Even without a formal ceremony, remarks by this year’s student speaker, Tanner Sheahan, can be viewed on the Celebration Messages page of the Graduation Celebration website.

Sheahan, a chemical engineering major from Bay City, Mich., is enthusiastic about the message he’ll share with his class. “I love writing, and I think I have a knack for telling stories. I had fun — this has been a great experience,” he said.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Sheahan’s internship last summer was conducted virtually, but it had a very positive outcome. “The situation really opened up extreme doors and led to a job as a sales operations manager at Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company in Naperville, Illinois,” he said.

University President Rick Koubek congratulated MTU’s newest alumni. "On behalf of Michigan Tech's entire faculty and staff, we wish you the very best in your future endeavors and trust you will do great things with your degree from Michigan Tech," said Koubek. "Congratulations again on this tremendous accomplishment." 

The Graduation Celebration website shines a spotlight on the graduating class and provides links for graduates, their families and friends, and the community. Graduates and alumni can share their favorite memories and view profiles created by the Class of 2021.

Read more about tomorrow's celebration in yesterday's Tech Today.

Beginning in the fall 2021 semester, the Center for Student Mental Health and Well-being (CSMHW) will begin offering telemental health services through Morneau Shepell, a well-respected leader among providers of mental health services to college students. Morneau Shepell’s MySSP (Student Support Program) will help Michigan Tech meet the needs of all students and address significant issues that have prevented students from obtaining these services in the past.

The need for additional options for mental health services has long been documented at Michigan Tech, both anecdotally and through instruments such as the 2017-18 Climate Survey. In reporting the climate survey results, the Diversity Council recognized the importance of providing accommodations and services to students. The climate survey reports—and anecdotal evidence supports—that our underrepresented minority students lack a sense of belonging and are frustrated with the lack of diversity at Michigan Tech.

Read more on the Diversity and Inclusion Newsblog.

The last day to submit evaluations of the five candidates for Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students is tomorrow — Friday, April 30.

If you had the opportunity to participate in the Vice President for Student Affairs campus interviews, please take a moment to provide your feedback online, if you have not already done so.

Also, as a reminder, each candidate's public presentations are now available for viewing. We ask that you provide feedback no later than April 30.

The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday (April 30) for graduation. As a reminder, admission into the museum is waived for Michigan Tech students and employees.

Congratulations, graduates!

Dean Hemmer, dean of the College of Sciences and Arts, said he was pleased to announce that Don Lafreniere has accepted the position of chair of Social Sciences.

“Leading a department housing so many different disciplines is a challenge and I am confident that Don is more than prepared for the task,” Hemmer said. “His extensive leadership experience, both inside and out of academia, together with his distinguished scholarly record, made him a clear choice for the position.”

We asked Lafreniere what brought him to Michigan Tech. "Growing up in the Sun Parlour of Canada, in Windsor, Ontario, I also longed to live in the north. I had a chance to live in Alaska for a few years and wished to return to a northern climate when I was seeking out a faculty position," he said. "But the size of the institution played a large part. Tech is large enough to be a genuine research institution but small enough to be a community. Communication is easy here. If I need to reach someone in another department, or say, the provost, It’s not hard.”

He also cited the Copper Country's rich heritage. "The other major factor was that we really have a robust heritage community," Lafreniere said. "When I first flew into CMX, the landing path took us over the dredge (Quincy Dredge No. 2 in Torch Lake). Seeing the dredge and the stamp mill behind it I thought: This is a living, robust landscape that I want to live and work in."

Read more about the new chair, including why he has a 100-foot antenna at his house, in the blog post.

The Childcare Support Committee within the Graduate Student Government of Michigan Tech has just finished developing their final report with recommendations to increase resources and support for Michigan Tech community members who care for children.

Read the final report.  

Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey. Your answers were tremendously helpful in developing recommendations.

Lastly, we have one final survey request for you. This is a very short, two-question survey to help us know what percentage of the Michigan Tech community currently has a child or children in their care. We ask that any and all members of Michigan Tech please fill out this survey, whether or not you have children in your care.

Take the survey.

 Again, thank you, and please feel free to help hold Michigan Tech accountable to continuing to strive to change for the better.

For the 11th year running, Central Michigan University and Michigan Tech collaborated to offer Tech students a chance to compete at CMU’s New Venture Competition. 2021 marked the second year the pitch competition was held online as the New Venture Online Competition (NVOC).

Despite the challenges of a pandemic and a virtual platform, our students persevered, honed their pitches and won top prizes. This year’s NVOC winners were also winners at the 2021 Bob Mark Business Model Pitch Competition held at Tech in January. All of their hard work and effort paid off!

Congratulations to this year’s MTU winners:

• In the 2020-track 10-minute pitch category, Team Focus with Ranit Karmakar won the Best Overall Venture Award for $25,000. Watch Karmakar's pitch.
• In the two-minute pitch category, Team The Fitting Room with Jordan Craven won third place for $1,000. Watch Craven's pitch.
• Team Recirculate with Hunter Malinowski won an honorable mention award for $750. Watch Malinowski's pitch.

Read more in the NVOC 2021 Booklet.

Jesse Jacobusse posted her second multigoal game of the spring, but Michigan Tech still fell 6-3 to defending national champion Grand Valley State University in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at GVSU Soccer Field. Lauren Ross posted two goals to help the No. 4 seed Lakers to four second half tallies.

The No. 5 seed Huskies finished 5-4-1 overall. No. 4 seed Grand Valley State (4-1-1) moved into the GLIAC semifinals, scheduled for Friday. The Lakers outshot Tech 19-8 and earned five corners compared to one for the Huskies. Callie Rich made one save in victory. Erika Gabriel stopped three in net for Michigan Tech.

"It was a great season overall for us," said head coach Turk Ozturk. "We achieved a lot of our goals, including finishing in the top-four in the regular season standings. Unfortunately, we were up against the defending national champions in the first match. They are a team who knows how to perform in big moments. We are a team that is getting there and we're a team that is on our way up. There are a lot of positives to take away from today. We scored three goals today and I'm extremely proud of our effort. We will continue to build and look to come back stronger in the fall."

Read more on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

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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COVID-19 Community Town Hall

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.

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A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum Outdoor Copper Pavilion Open for the Season

Visit our world-record 19-ton Lake Copper recovered from Great Sand Bay in Lake Superior.

The Copper Pavilion is located next to the Phyllis and John Seaman Garden just outside the museum.

The museum, gift shop and pavilion are open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Summer Faculty Writing Groups

Are you interested in an opportunity to enhance your writing this summer? Consider participating in a faculty writing group. Our goal is that these groups will both support faculty in advancing their writing projects over the summer and provide an opportunity for networking — something that many faculty members have indicated that they missed during the pandemic.

We plan to make the structure of the groups flexible to meet a range of faculty needs. Thus, if you are interested in joining a writing group, please complete this survey by Friday, April 30 to provide input regarding your participation.

We will use the input provided to form groups based on common needs. Questions can be directed to Shari Stockero at stockero@mtu.edu.

The writing groups are supported by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and ADVANCE.

Graduate students Mikhail Trought and Chathura de Alwis, members of a research group led by Kathryn Perrine (Chem), presented at the virtual spring Materials Research Society (MRS) meeting April 17-23.

Trought presented on redox chemistry of iron oxide single-crystal surfaces using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS). de Alwis presented on probing the initial stages of iron surface corrosion using AP-XPS. Perrine presented on their group’s current research focus: measuring the effects of ions on iron surface oxidation at the air/liquid/solid interface using polarization modulation infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) and surface analysis.

This work is supported by the NASA award number NNX15AJ20H, a Michigan Space Grant Consortium faculty seed grant, NSF MRI CHE 1725818 and the Michigan Tech 2019 Research Excellence Fund.

Electrical Engineering instruction at Michigan Tech was referenced in the story "Does EE Education Dictate Technology or Does Technology Dictate EE Education?" in All About Circuits.

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The one-year anniversary of Michigan Tech's COVID-19 lab was covered by the Daily Mining Gazette. The story was picked up by the Marquette Mining Journal. 

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Teal Ribbons

Thursday, April 29, 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...

Master's Defense: Tristan Odekirk

Thursday, April 29, 1 p.m.–2 p.m.

Civil Engineering Advisor: David Watkins Recommendations for a Community-Led Multi-Stakeholder Watershed Management Plan in Rural Panama Attend Virtually:...

Youth Huskies Group Tennis Lessons Spring Session 3

Thursday, April 29, 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...

COVID-19 Town Hall Series

Thursday, April 29, 7 p.m.–8 p.m.

How is the Upper Peninsula impacted by COVID-19? An in-depth look at the many facets of the COVID-19 pandemic will be presented monthly, January-April, on the U.P. COVID-19...

Art in a Panorama

April 29, all day

Year end virtual art show by students in FA 2300 Art + Design, taught by Terri Frew. Student Artists include, Bethany Hellman, Michelle Kline, Danelle Leinonen, Kylie Mogen,...

Music in Sacred Spaces: conScience

April 29, all day

conScience: Michigan Tech Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jared Anderson, present a series of three recorded mini-concerts in historic sacred spaces in the Copper...

Superior Wind Symphony: Reparations

April 29, all day

The Superior Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Michael Christianson, use the unique setting of the 2020-21 academic year to explore the music of Black composers in a...

Teal Ribbons for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April 29, 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...