June 7, 2021

Effective immediately, all Michigan Tech Fund check requests should be sent to mtfchecks@mtu.edu. 

The requests will now be reviewed by Megan Johnson in Financial Services and Operations. Requests received by 5 p.m. each Friday will be processed with the following Wednesday check run.

The final check run for the fiscal year will be June 30. To be included, check requests must be received by 5 p.m. on June 25.

Any questions can be directed to mtfchecks@mtu.edu or to Gisele Colarossi at gccolaro@mtu.edu. 

M. Bartley Seigel (HU) has been named a 2021 Poet Laureate Fellow by the Academy of American Poets. Seigel, director of the Michigan Tech Writing Center and an associate professor of creative writing and literature, is one of only 23 poets laureate of cities and states across the U.S. to receive the honor. 

“I’m really humbled and honored by this fellowship,” said Seigel, who was selected as the 2021-22 Upper Peninsula Poet Laureate in January. “While it’s always been something of a challenge making art at an institution where attention is so firmly fixed elsewhere, my unique positionality in this pond of scientists and engineers has held me accountable to my words in unexpected and fortuitous ways. I wouldn’t be the poet I am were I not where I am, and were I not in the close company of so many different and exceptional minds.”

As a Poet Laureate Fellow, Seigel receives an award of $50,000 in support of his art, a portion of which is set aside to lead a public poetry program. He intends to collaborate with regional public and tribal high school teachers to launch the Upper Peninsula Young Poets Program. The program will introduce high school-aged students in the U.P. to the diversity and transformative power of poetry, encourage their emerging voices and provide them with a free college-level writing workshop. 

In a press release announcing the 2021 Fellows, President and Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets Jennifer Benka said, “As we begin emerging from COVID-19 restrictions, poetry — which has provided such comfort these past 15 months — will continue to be a source of insight. We are honored and humbled to fund poets who are devoted to their own craft and also their community. Poets will most certainly help guide us forward.”

Through its Poets Laureate Fellowship program, the Academy of American Poets has become the largest financial supporter of poets in the nation. The fellowship program is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which in January 2020 awarded the Academy $4.5 million to fund the program.

Three Michigan Tech undergraduate students from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering will be recognized with scholarships at the 2021 AGC of Michigan Brightest & Best Luncheon on July 21.

The students receiving scholarships are:

• Isaac Fong, civil engineering — Louis C. Verrette Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship awarded by the AGC of Michigan
• Everhett Biland, civil engineering — Tom & Jan Dailey Scholarship awarded by the AGC of America
• Kira Olson, construction management — Stanley F. Pepper Memorial Scholarship awarded by the AGC of America

Congratulations to all the winners!

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 Two, 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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Summer I-Corps Workshops Offered

Are you interested in taking your innovative idea, technology or processes commercial? Husky Innovate is hosting a Summer 2021 Innovation Corps (I-Corps) National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop series designed to help participants advance their research ideas toward additional funding or outside adoption.

Entrepreneurially minded graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff, alumni and local community teams are invited to join the I-Corps Michigan Tech Site Program’s Lean Startup fall cohort. The site program is structured around lean startup teaching methods and principles used by NSF's national I-Corps program, which fosters entrepreneurship based in technology commercialization.

Michigan Tech and affiliate institution teams who complete the five-week workshop and customer discovery process are eligible for a $2,500 mini grant for continued customer discovery and prototyping supplies, and continued participation in the I-Corps program, which includes $50,000 in funding and additional training.

Participation in the workshop can lead to qualification for research and other funding from several granting agencies, including the NSF I-Corps and SBIR/STTR/PFI programs and various state and regional programs.

Past participants have reported that they saved time and money by better understanding potential applications of their technology, experienced improved engagement with teams and improved their ability to receive add-on funding.

Our summer cohort will meet online via Zoom on the following dates:
• Aug. 23, 4-8 p.m.
• Aug. 30, 4-6 p.m.
• Sept. 13, 4-6 p.m.
• Sept. 20, 4-8 p.m.

To participate, please register online. After registration is complete, a Zoom link will be sent via a Google Calendar invite.

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UCS Inventory Closure in June

ChemStores will be closed June 21 through June 25 for our annual inventory.

Except for liquid nitrogen or other critical needs, no transactions will be made during this time, and no deliveries will be made. Any submitted orders will be held for processing until the following week.

Please plan accordingly and make your purchases ahead of time. Contact us at chemstores@mtu.edu if you have any questions or concerns.

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Participants Needed for Sleep Quality Research Study

Hello! We are seeking participants in our research study to improve sleep quality at home after doing some exercises in the daytime or by sleeping extra in the morning.

You will be required to wear a wristwatch-like device that will calculate sleep quality and a blood pressure monitor. You will also need to fill out some forms and questionnaires. On four busy, nonconsecutive days, you will be asked to either do some exercises or sleep in for approximately 60 minutes.

If you are interested, please look at the flyer for inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Please contact Aditi Vyas at aditiv@mtu.edu or Brigitte Morin at bemorin@mtu.edu for further details.

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Four Candidates to Interview for Director of Sustainability and Resilience Position

Four finalists for the University's Director of Sustainability and Resilience position will interview on campus beginning today (June 7).

As part of their on-campus interview, each candidate will discuss the top issues facing the future of sustainability and resilience and share their ideas on ways to address these issues at Michigan Tech.

The campus community is invited to participate in each candidate's public presentation via Zoom. Each session will last approximately 20 minutes, followed by a 25-minute Q&A session.

Our first candidate's interview will be held this afternoon at 2 p.m. To attend, please access the Zoom information.

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

UP & Moving Strength Training and High Intensity Interval Training ("HIIT")

Monday, June 7, 5:30 p.m.–6:15 p.m.

We are a group of Michigan Tech graduate students who are focused on improving the health of our community. We are contributing to the COVID-19 response by providing health...

Music in Sacred Spaces: conScience

June 7, 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

June 7, 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...