December 8, 2021

For the past few days, my heart and the hearts of so many Americans and Huskies have been heavy with grief because of the recent tragedy at Oxford High School.

In times like this, it is imperative that Huskies lead the way by showing our deep sense of compassion. I fully support the following request, which was shared with my office and the University. Sharing it with the community through Tech Today seemed appropriate.

Dear Michigan Tech Community,

On Tuesday, Nov. 30, a school shooting occurred at Oxford High School in the Detroit area, leaving four students dead and seven others injured. Reading this or even seeing this event in the news may seem like another tragedy with names of people you don’t know. But here at Michigan Tech, some students and staff know their names. And some are even impacted by the tragedy.

Some of our students grew up with those kids; some students and staff knew their siblings, some had siblings, some lost friends, and we all lost fellow human beings. You may know them, or you may not. But we are all around you: we are engineering majors, computer science majors, business majors, and forestry majors. We are graduates of Oxford High School and members of the Oxford and surrounding communities and we need your help!

Please show your support by wearing blue and gold on Friday, Dec. 10, in honor of Oxford, and/or by donating to the families of this tragedy through the Oxford Bank. Today, we are not only Michigan Tech Huskies but also Oxford High School Wildcats. To all the other graduates of Oxford High and all students and graduates back home, remember our motto: “Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.”

Sincerely,

An Oxford Wildcat and Michigan Tech Husky

Beginning this spring, a $5,000 award will be presented to a student who demonstrates community service with lasting and meaningful impact during their time at Michigan Tech, regardless of background or area of study. Students are encouraged to document and think about their community service contributions throughout the academic year.

Dr. David and Marie Blum have initiated this endowment in memory of Marie’s parents, Josephine and William Balconi. David and Marie remember Marie's parents as "kind, gracious, warm and always helpful. They were always involved in helping others." Marie’s parents lived in the Houghton area.

"Community service is an area that isn't typically recognized," said Marie. "We thought it would be nice to have an award where the student didn't have to be the top brain in the class. We want to help students who help others."

"Everyone who will be nominated has already won because they've helped others," said David. "We hope that it's not something they do just in college, but for the rest of their lives. We hope this helps produce well-rounded students — strong not only in academics but in helping humanity."

Faculty and staff are encouraged to think about the students they work with and the different types of community service projects in which they’ve participated inside and outside of the classroom.

More information will be provided in the spring semester, including the nomination form, as part of the Student Leadership Awards.

Writing in the Discipline (Write-D) and the Department of Chemical Engineering are pleased to welcome Tinu Folayan as the department’s Write-D facilitator beginning in the spring 2022 semester.

Write-D provides a dedicated time and space for graduate students to get work done and receive support on writing projects within their discipline, such as manuscripts, research proposals, etc. Guest speakers from the department and industry visit to briefly present research, writing and publishing tips.

Current departments and facilitators include:

• Biological Sciences / Biomedical Engineering:
  Laura Schaerer, lgschaer@mtu.edu
  
  
• Chemical Engineering:
  Daniel Kulas, dgkulas@mtu.edu
  Tinu Folayan, tfolayan@mtu.edu
  
  
• Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering:
  Brian Rivers, bwrivers@mtu.edu 

Write-D is a free program open to all graduate students. If your department is not listed but you would like to participate, contact Write-D coordinator Sarah Isaacson at sisaacso@mtu.edu.

The Aging, Cognition, and Action Lab is looking for individuals ages 60-90 years old to participate in an online research study investigating the validity of a newly developed web-based application of motor learning.

The entire study will be conducted in one Zoom session, which will last approximately two hours and be scheduled at participants' convenience.

Participants will receive monetary compensation for their time.

For more information and to see if you qualify, please contact the Aging, Cognition, and Action Lab at agingcognitionlab@mtu.edu or 906-487-2378.

Nothing reduces stress more than a friendly furry (or scaly) friend.

Share a picture of your pets with the Van Pelt and Opie Library by tomorrow (Dec. 9) and we'll display them on the screens during finals week. Simply attach a photo of your pet in the submission form.

Critters of all types welcome!

Menu for Thursday (Dec. 9):

• Medieval Prime Rib Stew
• Medieval Root Vegetable Stew (Vegan)
• Viking Beer Bread (Vegetarian)
• Norwegian Apple Soup (Gluten Free)
• Nordic Kale Salad with Lemons, Almonds and Goat Cheese (Gluten Free, Vegetarian)

Dining Services presents this week's C-Cubed Luncheon being held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Dec. 9) in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge, Room 107. All faculty and staff, along with their guests, are invited.

The C-Cubed lunch buffet menus are created by executive chef Eric Karvonen and prepared by Karvonen and his culinary team. As the name suggests, the meals are meant to foster conversation, community and collegiality. Attendees may bring their lunch instead of purchasing the buffet. Fruit-infused water, coffee, tea, cookies and fruit are available free to all attendees.

The buffet lunch is $12 per person. Cash, credit cards and gift cards are accepted. Gift cards can be purchased in the Memorial Union office, Room 101. You can submit C-Cubed feedback using this Google form. To join the C-Cubed Google group and receive weekly menus, email business-support@mtu.edu.

The next Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) Graduate Seminar will be held at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Dec. 9) in Fisher Hall, Room 135.

At this seminar, Wayne W. Weaver will present "Autonomous Mobile Robotic Microgrids."

Weaver, a faculty member at Michigan Tech since 2008, teaches and conducts research in power electronics, energy systems, and controls and optimization. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from GMI Engineering and Management Institute in 1997. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Michigan Tech volleyball seniors Laura De Marchi and Anna Jonynas have been named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans.

De Marchi was named to the First Team and Jonynas was honored on the Second Team.

De Marchi was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention in 2018 and 2019. This fall, she was the AVCA's Midwest Region Player of the Year and was selected to the AVCA All-Midwest Region Team for the third time in her career. She was also named the GLIAC Setter of the Year and to the All-GLIAC First Team for the fifth straight season.

Jonynas was named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region Team and was honored as the GLIAC Volleyball Player of the Year. She was also named to the All-GLIAC First Team for the second straight season and earned AVCA National Player of the Week Honors on Oct. 5.

Read more about their remarkable careers at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Katelyn Meister tallied a season high 20 points and the Michigan Tech women's basketball team defeated Northern Michigan 78-53 on Monday (Dec. 6) at the SDC Gym.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Huskies (7-1, 2-0 GLIAC). They outscored the Wildcats 48-18 in the paint and established a fast pace of play to create turnovers and disrupt NMU's inside pressure. Northern Michigan's (5-3, 1-1 GLIAC) top scorer Makaylee Kuhn managed 19 points and shot 6-for-19 from the field.

"Katelyn was really good for us," said head coach Sam Clayton. "She has been very efficient because she makes great reads both attacking on the perimeter and posting up and making a move. She really does a good job making fakes and then taking what the defense gives her."

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Adam Hobson scored a career high 22 points to help Michigan Tech men's basketball to a close 77-76 win over Northern Michigan on Monday (Dec. 6) at the SDC Gym.

The Wildcats connected a series of 3-pointers in the waning minutes of the second half, but the Huskies made just enough free throws late to hold off their archrivals.

"We lost our composure a little bit at the very end but our guys battled the entire game," said head coach Josh Buettner. "We cleaned up the glass in the second half and saw some guys come through with clutch shots so I'm very happy with the win."

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

University Images has a new book on sale: "Michigan Tech Hockey, 100 Years of Memories." You can purchase the book for $29.95 in the store or online at MichiganTechHuskies.com/HockeyBook. Proceeds from the book will benefit the Michigan Tech Hockey program.

Authored by Willam J. Sproule, the book explores the 100 years of Michigan Tech hockey that have created many memories for teams, players, coaches, students, alumni and the community who have followed the Huskies. Summaries of each year and information on teams, coaches, players, awards, arenas, the Great Lakes Invitational, Winter Carnival and fans are included. Relive your passion and excitement for one of college hockey's most historic programs. The book is over 300 pages and features pictures of teams and players from across the century.

Calvin Larson, Tech's assistant athletic director for media relations, helped with the book, and the Huskies' all-time scoring leader and All-American Mike Zuke wrote the foreword. Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame inductee and hockey historian Paul Kerttu underwrote the cost of printing so that all purchases benefit the hockey program.

Saturday (Dec. 11) is the annual Tadych's Econo Foods Kids Day at Michigan Tech. Tadych's Econo Foods of Houghton has purchased 500 youth tickets for Saturday's Michigan Tech Athletic events that it will give away beginning Friday (Dec. 10) at noon. 

The tickets are for children ages 14 and under and are good for all three events on Saturday — women's and men's basketball versus Ferris State at noon and 2 p.m. at the SDC Gym and hockey versus St. Thomas at 6:07 p.m. at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Fans are encouraged to only take tickets to the games they will attend.

Tadych's Econo Foods will give away the tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. They are free of charge, and anyone can pick up the youth tickets, with a limit of four per customer.

Michigan Tech Athletics and Econo Foods have partnered annually for more than a decade on Econo Foods Kids Day.

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. 

*****

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.

*****

Brown Bag Research Seminar Series

The campus community is invited to hear Junhong "Jun" Min (COB) and Matthew Monte, president of Monte Consulting, present "Strategic Use of the Inconsistency between Online Ratings and Reviews: An Application of Sentimental Analysis in Marketing" as part of the College of Business Brown Bag Research Seminar Series, from noon to 1 p.m. today (Dec. 8) in the Academic Office Building (AOB), Room 101.

From the abstract:
Online ratings and reviews provide marketing managers with the quality indicator that makes it possible to capture consumers' attitudes and behavioral information and thus to create customer value in the age of digitalization. However, the authors argue that customer insights developed only based on online ratings could result in a conundrum, particularly if inconsistency between online ratings and reviews is discounted. This research aims to tackle the problem by first offering a theoretical explanation of why consumers' ratings and reviews are not necessarily consistent. Later, using the 12,500 ratings and reviews collected from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com), the authors identified the factors causing the inconsistency between online ratings and reviews.

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

Digital Marketers

Wednesday, December 8, 9–10 a.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, G27

Digital Marketers is a group for digital platform managers (digital ads, photo/video production, social media accounts, websites, etc) across campus. We meet every other...

Brown Bag Research Seminar Series

Wednesday, December 8, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. | Academic Office Building, 101

The campus community is invited to hear Junhong "Jun" Min, professor of marketing in the Michigan Tech College of Business, and Matthew Monte, president of Monte Consulting,...

UP & Moving Lunchtime High Noon Activity Break

Wednesday, December 8, 12:00 p.m.–12:20 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...

UP & Moving Lunchtime Noon-Thirty Activity Break

Wednesday, December 8, 12:30 p.m.–12:50 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...

Made When It Was Now

Wednesday, December 8, 5:30 p.m. | College of Forest Resource and Environmental Science, G002 Noblet Building

Made When It Was Now Creative faculty talk art. G002 Noblet Building Featuring: Terri Frew, Lisa Gordillo, Lindsey Heiden, Adam Meckler, Libby Meyer Join VPA creative...

Open Rock Climbing

Wednesday, December 8, 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...