December 6, 2021

Though some might consider the Great Lakes an unlikely place for tsunamis to occur, meteorological events can cause incredibly rapid lake level rises known as meteotsunamis. Until now, Great Lakes coastal forecasting models have not been fine enough to accurately predict these events.

Pengfei Xue (CEGE/GLRC), along with collaborators at Colorado School of Mines, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Argonne National Laboratory, has developed a higher-resolution model that refines the model grid from 500 meters down to just 10 meters.

Read the full story on mtu.edu/news.

In her guest blog, biomedical engineering major Pavitra Attanayake writes about helping to establish a peer mentoring program for first- and second-year students in the department to improve overall student success and give back to the MTU community.

"My freshman year at Michigan Tech was confusing, to say the least," Attanayake writes. "As the first in my family to pursue an undergraduate degree in the United States, and the only one from my high school friend group to brave the U.P., I quickly realized that I had basically no idea what I was doing here. There were advisors, faculty and staff I could talk to, but in all honesty, I didn’t really want to go ask a professor to help me pick out what student organizations I should join or how to navigate dorm life."

Read more on Unscripted, the University's research blog.

With the return of winter weather, this is a reminder for departments to continue communicating procedures regarding weather-related absences.

During times when weather conditions deteriorate, each member of the University community must exercise personal judgment about their ability to get to or from campus safely. Interruptions in work due to weather are no different from other events that cause us to leave work early or arrive late.

If any employee’s work schedule is affected by winter weather, the first thing they should do is contact their supervisor directly and explain the situation. Hourly employees may use vacation or comp time to make up for hours missed due to bad weather. Exempt employees are expected to fulfill their regular job responsibilities.

Employees should contact Human Resources at 906-487-2280 with questions or concerns.

The Board of Trustees will meet Dec. 17 from 9-11 a.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom B, and public attendance is welcome.

Members of the public are invited to make public comments to the board in accordance with the Board of Trustees Bylaw 1.14. Those who wish to address items in the agenda, and who have filed their intent with the secretary of the board as required by Bylaw 1.14, will be limited to five minutes. Those addressing general topics are limited to three minutes.

If you wish to provide public comments to the Board of Trustees, please submit your intent to Sarah Schulte, secretary to the Board of Trustees, at shschult@mtu.edu. The deadline to submit your intent is Friday (Dec. 10).

The University Senate will convene Meeting 667 at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 8) in the Dow Environmental Sciences and Engineering Building (Dow), Room 642. 

Those within the University community unable to attend in person have the option to attend via Zoom. Please note: You will need to log in to your MTU Zoom account to join the virtual meeting.

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. 

View the agenda to Meeting 667.

All employees, especially those who will receive paper W-2 and 1095-C forms, are encouraged to review their addresses in Banweb.

Mail Delivery
Paper W-2s and 1095-Cs will be mailed to the W-2 address on file, or if a W-2 address is not on file, forms will be sent to the mailing address. If neither a W-2 or mailing address is on file, forms will be sent to the home address.

To view/update current addresses, navigate to the Personal Information tab in Banweb and select Update Address(es) and Phone(s). Follow directions to update an existing address or add a new address type.

Paper forms will be mailed by Jan. 31, 2022. Please note, requests for duplicate 2021 W-2s must be in writing and will be processed on or after Feb. 15, 2022.

Electronic Delivery
Employees who have not already done so are encouraged to consent to electronic delivery of their W-2 and 1095-C forms.

Benefits of electronic delivery include:

• Eliminating the chance that your forms and the sensitive information they contain will be lost or stolen during delivery.
• Accessing your forms earlier.
• Accessing your forms at any time, from any device with internet service.
• Contributing to cost and natural resource savings (paper, printing and postage).

To consent to electronic delivery, navigate to the Employees tab in Banweb, select Tax Forms and choose the Electronic Consent link. Check the boxes to consent to receive your forms electronically and submit your request.

Each year in January, notifications will be sent via email and posted in Tech Today when forms are available on Banweb.

Please contact Payroll Services at payroll@mtu.edu or 906-487-2130 with questions regarding W-2s. Contact Benefit Services at benefits@mtu.edu or 906-487-2517 with questions regarding 1095-Cs.

The ADVANCE Initiative is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program at Michigan Technological University dedicated to promoting faculty retention, career success and STEM equity with an emphasis on advancing underrepresented individuals with intersectionalities. The ADVANCE Advocates are a group of men within ADVANCE who are engaged to be allies and advocates for women and gender/racial/ethnically diverse individuals.

The ADVANCE Advocates unanimously encourage tenured and tenure-track faculty to vote in favor of University Senate Proposal 55-21 in the University Senate Referendum Ballot, which would modify the Faculty Handbook to “recognize diversity, equity, and inclusion activities as an indication of a commitment to expanding the educational, research, scholarly, and service related activities of Michigan Tech.”

This provision would benefit the University community and individual faculty members by recognizing and promoting a broader range of work related to diversity, equity and inclusion. It would encourage a stronger diversity and inclusion focus for faculty publications and curricula, and an enhanced sense of belonging across campus. Further, the proposal supports the stated values and long-term goals of the University, which will benefit the University’s reputation and financial standing.

Questions about the proposal should be directed to Sam Sweitz, president of the University Senate, at srsweitz@mtu.edu.

The Human Resources Office will be closed from 12-5 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 10) for a department holiday party.

The office will reopen on Monday (Dec. 13).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

ChemStores will be closed starting Dec. 23, and will not reopen until Jan. 3.

Please plan accordingly and make purchases in advance. If you have any critical needs (such as liquid nitrogen) during this closure, please contact us at chemstores@mtu.edu or 906-487-2049 as early as possible and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Please join us tomorrow (Dec. 7) from 5-6 p.m. in the Walker Arts and Humanities Center (Walker), Room 120C, for an hour of laid-back Francophone setting with French natives and other Francophiles. All levels welcome.

This will be the last Café Français meeting for the fall semester!

This past semester, $570 in returnables was collected in the eighth year of the Cans for Kids toy drive. This semester also featured amazing student-led work collecting a substantial amount of returnables at the Ford Center in Alberta!

The toys will be charitably donated to children in need within our community and are on display at the circulation desk in the Van Pelt and Opie Library. They will be picked up Monday (Dec. 13) at 9 a.m.

If you would like to donate a new, unwrapped toy at the circulation desk before Monday, it would be welcome and very much appreciated!

Congratulations to Skylar Callis and Sara Dancy for being selected for a 2021 Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Michigan Section Student Scholarship!

Callis and Dancy were both invited to the Michigan Section's 2021 annual meeting in Farmington Hills on Dec. 2 to accept their awards.

Emilie Pray, a geology senior in the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences (GMES), won first place in the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) Michigan Section Annual Student Poster Contest.

Pray's poster was titled “The Exhumation History of the Bell Creek Batholith.” Her research has been advised by Chad Deering (GMES).

The Vice President for Research Office announces the Fall 2021 Research Excellence Funds (REF) awards. Congratulations to all the principal investigators!

Thanks to the individual REF reviewers and the REF review panelists, as well as the deans and department chairs, for their time spent on this important internal research award process.

Proposals for the spring 2022 semester are due March 3, 2022.

Awarded principal investigators include: 

• Scholarship and Creativity Grants
  Adam Meckler (VPA)
  
  
• Research Seed Grants
  Parisa Abadi (ME-EM/MuSTI)
  Susanta Ghosh (ME-EM/MuSTI)
  Roger Guillory (BioMed)
  Sangyoon Han (BioMed/HRI/ICC)
  Hoda Hatoum (BioMed/HRI)
  Sidike Paheding (AC/ICC) 
  Jared Wolfe (CFRES/ESC)

Alice Pisani of Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Center for Computational Astrophysics of the Flatiron Institute and Princeton University will be presenting at this week's Physics Colloquium. Please join the presentation on Thursday (Dec. 9) at 4 p.m. via Zoom.

The presentation is titled "Unraveling the Universe with Cosmic Voids."

Register in advance for this event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

From the abstract:
Modern surveys provide access to high-quality measurements on large areas of the sky, sampling the galaxy distribution in detail also in the emptiest regions, voids. Void cosmology is becoming an increasingly active sector of galaxy clustering analysis: by measuring void properties, such as density profiles or void number counts, it is possible to constrain cosmological parameters. Cosmic voids are particularly sensitive to the properties of dark energy and neutrinos, and are a powerful tool to test modifications of the laws of general relativity. Studying voids provides a novel perspective to unravel the unsolved mysteries of our Universe.

Pisani's research work is in the field of cosmology, aiming to better understand our universe with data from large-scale surveys. Her work is at the interface between theory and data, and focuses in particular on the under-dense regions of the galaxy distribution, cosmic voids. Read more about her research background on the University Events Calendar.

Huskies Gift Cards can be redeemed for tickets to any Huskies sponsored home game in the following sports:

Football | Volleyball | Hockey | Men's Basketball | Women's Basketball

They can also be redeemed for:

Gym Memberships | Ski Trail Memberships | Gates Tennis Memberships | Huskiesfit Program Punchcards | Swim Lessons | Public Skating and Skate Rentals

Huskies Gift Cards can be purchased in the amount of your choice by calling 906-487-2073, or in person at the Central Ticket Office, located at the Student Development Complex, from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Job Postings for Monday, Dec. 6, 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. 

Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Principal Lecturer or Professor of Practice, Computer Science. Apply online.

Lecturer of Sound, Visual and Performing Arts. Apply online. 

Assistant Professor of Sound, Visual and Performing Arts. Apply online.

Lecturer – Technical Communication, Humanities. Apply online.

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 for an interview, at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or mtujobs@mtu.edu.

Face Coverings Required Indoors on Campus

While Michigan Tech is at Health and Safety Level Two, face coverings must be worn indoors. This applies to all students, employees and visitors, regardless of vaccination status.

Michigan Tech strongly recommends that all employees and students continue with handwashing and hand-sanitizing practices, especially in light of the virulence of the COVID-19 delta variant. Please be aware that if you are exposed to COVID-19, quarantine guidelines vary depending on vaccination status. 

In Level Two, students and employees are not required to monitor their symptoms daily prior to coming to campus. But, individuals should be mindful of their own symptoms. A useful monitoring tool is available from the CDC. 

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On-Demand COVID-19 Testing Available on Campus

Walk-in, on-demand COVID-19 testing is available to Michigan Tech students and employees during the fall 2021 semester. 

Testing is located in the Datolite Room at the MUB. Regular testing hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. There is no cost to be tested, and no appointment is needed. 

The last day of testing for the semester will be Dec. 16.

Read more COVID-19 Testing Information on the MTU Flex website.

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Call for Proposals: Sustainable and Resilient Communities Awards

The Tech Forward Initiative on Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) invites applications from Michigan Tech faculty and staff for the Sustainable and Resilient Communities Early Career Award or New Research Directions Award. 

ISR expects to award two to four awards for faculty and staff who aim to make significant contributions to research addressing sustainability and resilience. This is potentially a one-time opportunity for researchers to grow their engagement with sustainability and resilience in new ways! 

Early Career Award
For early career researchers on campus (assistant professors or research staff in their first five years). For early career faculty and staff who have already used their startup funding or who have limited access to startup funds, preliminary work in sustainability and resilience research can contribute to future research leadership.

New Directions Research Award
For established researchers on campus (tenured faculty or research staff who have worked at Michigan Tech for five-plus years) who are pursuing new ideas or topics in their work. For more established faculty and staff, starting a new research direction to contribute to sustainability and resilience research can be challenging, and this award provides an opportunity to develop new research directions.

Funding
Awards are expected to provide $5,000-$7,000, and ISR could support up to four proposals at this funding level. In exceptional circumstances, one to two awards up to $15,000 may be considered. Awards expenditures should be planned for February 2022 to December 2022.

Before You Submit a Proposal
Full details of the awards and the submission process are available on the Sustainability Blog. Given the flexible nature of this award, potential submitters are encouraged to reach out with questions or to pitch ideas before developing a proposal. ISR looks forward to receiving your inquiries! 

Proposal narratives, potential mentors, budgets and budget justifications should be submitted as a single document via email to Chelsea Schelly at cschelly@mtu.edu. 

Deadline
Submissions via email are due no later than Jan. 10. A second round of awards may be available in spring 2022, pending funding availability.

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Michigan Tech Fund Holiday Accounting Schedule

Please submit check requests to the Michigan Tech Fund no later than Friday (Dec. 10) for processing in 2021.

No payables will be run during the week of Dec. 20 or Dec. 27.

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Forward Year-End Donations by Dec. 31

Many donors make year-end gifts to the University to benefit from a tax deduction for the current year. As soon as possible after you receive a contribution intended for credit in 2021, please forward it to the Michigan Tech Fund and include the envelope and supporting documents.

Credit card donations and gifts of cash or checks will be accepted at the Michigan Tech Fund Office (Lakeshore Center, Suite 200) until 5 p.m. on Dec. 29. Credit card contributions can be made online until 11:55 p.m. on Dec. 31.

The University relies on the goodwill of donors, and processing their gifts in an efficient and timely manner is crucial to nurture that goodwill.

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Volunteers Still Needed for Midyear Commencement

Volunteers are still needed for the Midyear Commencement ceremony. The Commencement Team needs volunteers to serve as greeters, coordinate graduate check-in, collect tickets at the door and assist guests with special seating accommodations.

The ceremony is Dec. 18. Volunteers are asked to arrive by 8 a.m. and stay until the end of the ceremony, which ends at approximately 12:30 p.m. More information regarding the ceremony can be found on the commencement website. An optional volunteer training will be scheduled during the week of commencement.

Please sign up by Friday (Dec. 10) if you would like to volunteer. Contact Chad Arney at caarney@mtu.edu if you have any questions.

This special weekend cannot happen without the help of our amazing Michigan Tech community!

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Reusable Containers Now Available at North Coast Grill and Deli

Green Campus Enterprise, Consumer Product Manufacturing (CPM) Enterprise and Dining Services are partnering to bring Sussex IM’s Mr. Lid products to North Coast Grill and Deli.

How the program works:

1. Pay the one-time $5 program fee (and get a 10% discount on purchases!).
2. When you purchase food, request your food in a Mr. Lid.
3. Once finished with your food, return your Mr. Lid to the cash register.
4. Repeat steps two and three, and enjoy!

The purposes of the Mr. Lid program are: environmental impact (sustainability), economization and turning passion into action.

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Lunch and Learn: Stress and Coping

Please join Eric Arundel, MTU clinical counselor, tomorrow (Dec. 7) from noon to 1 p.m. in the MUB Ballroom, Room B3, as he presents a Lunch and Learn on stress and coping.

Stress is the body's natural response to certain events that can cause you to feel overwhelmed and unable to cope. Everyone feels it at different times and to varying degrees. For many people, everyday stress builds to a level that seems too hard to handle. We can't control stress, but Arundel will delve deeper into what stress is and explore tools to help us handle it in a better and healthier way.

This Lunch and Learn can be counted under Option No. 2 for your Husky Health checklist.

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Increased Minimum Wage on Federal Sponsored Contracts

The U.S. Department of Labor recently implemented a requirement that all employees being compensated on federal contracts be paid a minimum wage of $15 per hour. This requirement applies to all employees, including student interns and part-time student workers as well as regular employees, and takes effect Jan. 30, 2022. The requirement applies to federally sponsored research contracts and does not apply to federally sponsored grants.

Additional information about the requirement can be found on the Department of Labor website.

If anyone has questions about the applicability of this requirement on existing federal contracts or upcoming proposals to U.S. federal agencies, please email spo-l@mtu.edu.

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Innovation Week: Call for Presenters

Husky Innovate is organizing Innovation Week, a series of innovation-themed virtual events from Jan. 24-28, 2022, and would like to invite the campus community to participate.

Innovation Week celebrates entrepreneurship, new ventures and innovative projects on campus and within our extended Tech community. We provide opportunities for students, campus and community to meet and engage around the topic of innovation. We will host talks, showcase innovation and host the Bob Mark Business Model Pitch Competition on Jan. 27 from 5-7 p.m.

If you are interested in hosting a virtual innovation tour, being part of a panel discussion, sharing interesting research, leading a workshop or something else, please let us know.

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Biocomputing and Digital Health Lecture

The Institute of Computing and Cybersystems' (ICC's) Joint Center for Biocomputing and Digital Health will host a lecture today (Dec. 6) from noon to 1 p.m. in Kanwal and Ann Rehki Hall (Rekhi), Room 214.

The lecture can also be attended virtually via Zoom.

Sangyoon Han (BioMed) will present "Traction force microscopy for cells on a high-refractive-index gel with finite elasticity."

Read more on the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems Blog.

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Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors Forum

The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host speaker Joel Suss, assistant professor of psychology at Wichita State University, at the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum.

The presentation, titled "Trials and tribulations of doing research with police agencies,” will be held from 2-3 p.m. today (Dec. 6) via Zoom only.

Suss will present stories and insights of his research from a National Institute of Justice grant about police decision making.

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University Senate Holding Faculty Handbook Referendum Vote

Today (Dec. 6), all tenured and tenure-track faculty will receive an email with a ballot link requesting approval of the addition of two sections to the Faculty Handbook, Section 2.5: The Role of Innovation and Commercialization and Section 2.6: The Role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The content of these sections were previously accepted and passed as Senate proposals 5-18 and 55-21, respectively.

Following Appendix I of the Faculty Handbook, any changes affecting the tenure, promotion and reappointment process must be approved via a referendum voted on by the tenured and tenure-track faculty.

Additional information on both proposed sections will be available Monday on the Senate Voter Information Page under the Resources tab on the University Senate web page. Balloting will begin today and will remain open until 5 p.m. Monday (Dec. 13).

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Annual Holiday Sale at the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum

Visit the museum to take advantage of our annual Holiday Sale!

The gift shop is offering 15% off on minerals, home décor, books, and select jewelry.* The sale ends Dec. 22.

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

*Cannot be combined with other discounts.

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

Big Bean Burrito - Student Art Exhibit

Monday, December 6, 8 a.m.–8 p.m.

Michigan Tech sculpture, installation, and design students showcase their work in this end-of-semester art exhibit. Big Bean Burrito: Exhibit opens 8 a.m. 12/3 and closes 8...

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Master's Defense: Elise Rosky

Monday, December 6, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, 404

Physics Co-advisors: Raymond Shaw and Will Cantrell Investigating Ice Nucleation at Negative Pressures Using Molecular Dynamics: A First Order Approximation of the...

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Biocomputing and Digital Health Lecture Series: Sangyoon Han, BME

Monday, December 6, 12 p.m.–1 p.m.

Due to inclement weather, this lecture will be presented via Zoom only. The ICC's Joint Center for Biocomputing and Digital Health will host a lecture on Monday, December 6,...

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ICC’s Joint Center for Biocomputing and Digital Health Lecture Series: Dr. Sangyoon Han (BME)

Monday, December 6, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. | Rekhi Hall, 214

The ICC's Joint Center for Biocomputing and Digital Health will host a lecture on Monday, December 6, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., in Rehki Hall, Room 214. Sangyoon Han (BME) will...

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Building a Nutrient Mass Balance Model for Utah Lake

Monday, December 6, 3 p.m.

This is a joint EPSSI/Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Weihong Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Earth Science, Utah Valley University Abstract: Harmful...

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(Women's Basketball) Northern Michigan vs. Michigan Tech

Monday, December 6, 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Wood Gym

Women's Basketball: Northern Michigan vs. Michigan Tech, SDC Gymnasium - Houghton, Mich.

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Strength Training and High Intensity Interval Training ("HIIT")

Monday, December 6, 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...

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Open Rock Climbing

Monday, December 6, 6 p.m.–8 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Multipurpose Room Climbing Wall

All ages (we can allow all ages to climb as long as we have the proper fitting equipment). No need to sign up, just stop by the Climbing Wall between 6 and 8 pm Monday through...

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(Men's Basketball) Northern Michigan vs. Michigan Tech

Monday, December 6, 7:30 p.m.–10:30 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Wood Gym

Men's Basketball: Northern Michigan vs. Michigan Tech, SDC Gymnasium - Houghton, Mich.