February 9, 2022

Winter Carnival’s appeal is communitywide. So is its economic impact. And it’s all the more impressive because students run the show. On the 100th anniversary of our beloved Tech tradition, some past and present MTU Blue Key Honor Society members shared what it takes to stage a large-scale regional event.

“The leadership responsibility was overwhelming at first,” said Michael Pulick ’86. “Managing the budget, leading fellow Blue Key members, interacting with students — plus community leaders, University administrators and the media — was something I’d never experienced. Out of the gate, I made many mistakes which turned out to be tremendous learning moments. … Learning to delegate as Blue Key president played an important role throughout my career.”

Read the full story and hear more from Pulick and other Huskies at Michigan Tech News.

The Vice President for Research Office announces its Research Security and International Collaboration policy in support of the University’s research security principles and our researcher’s international collaborations and partnerships. The policy describes the responsibilities of the University and its researchers in the identification and management of interactions and engagements with restricted and high-risk entities and individuals.

The U.S. government continues to express serious concern regarding violations, and the threat of potential violations, of federal law and/or funding agency policies as a result of activities conducted by federally funded researchers and/or their relationships with some foreign entities and individuals. Collaborations and relationships with high-risk entities or individuals, including some foreign governments, may even violate the principles of national security or scientific integrity.

Michigan Tech and the U.S. government recognize that international collaborations are valuable and a necessary component of the national and University research enterprises, and U.S. federal agencies continue to develop and synchronize policies and procedures in response to real and potential threats regarding research security. The National Science and Technology Council recently issued guidance to all U.S. federal research and development sponsoring agencies to develop and implement policies and procedures for disclosure of international collaborations. Consistent with this guidance and in response to U.S. government concerns about threats to national security and scientific integrity, it is also important that the University adjust our policies accordingly. The University’s new Research Security and International Collaboration policy is designed to help researchers navigate this terrain.

Frequently asked questions are in development and will be published on the policy page. Please direct questions or concerns regarding this policy to Gina LeMay at gllemay@mtu.edu in the Sponsored Operations Office.

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics candidate Sal Husain will present their doctoral defense at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Feb. 10). This virtual defense will be held online only. Virtual attendance is invited via Zoom. 

Husain's defense is titled "Passivity-Based Numerical Modeling and Grid Integration Strategies for Wave Energy Converter Arrays."

Husain is advised by Gordon Parker.

Michigan Tech men's basketball senior guard/forward Owen White helped the Huskies to three road wins last week en route to his fourth career GLIAC North Division Player of the Week honor.

White totaled 51 points and shot 57% from the field with 15 rebounds, 13 assists, five blocks and four steals. Last Monday (Jan. 31), White posted 13 points, five assists and four rebounds in a 64-62 win over rival Northern Michigan.

Thursday (Feb. 3), White notched a double-double with 19 points, 13 rebounds at Purdue Northwest. Saturday (Feb. 5), the Huskies broke up Wisconsin-Parkside's three-game winning streak. White marked 19 points, five assists and two rebounds in the effort.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech hockey's Tommy Parrottino has been named the CCHA Forward of the Week.

Parrottino led Michigan Tech to a 2-0-1 record last week. He scored four goals in the three games and added two assists. Parrottino scored twice against Northern Michigan on Tuesday (Feb. 1), including the game-winner, and added two assists for the first four-point game of his career. He added two goals at St. Thomas on the weekend, including the game-winner Saturday (Feb. 5).

Parrottino has scored in four straight games and is on a five-game point streak with five goals and five assists. He has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 26 games this season, including three game-winning goals.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Thursday (Feb. 10)
• Super Smash Bros v Oakland University, 7 p.m.
• CSGO ESEA v The Legacy Remains, 10-12 p.m.

Check Twitter @MTUesports for stream links.

Former Michigan Tech Nordic skier Deedra Irwin had Team USA's best finish in Olympic biathlon history, placing seventh in the 15K individual start Monday (Feb. 7) at Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre northwest of Beijing.

Irwin crossed the line in 44:14.1 and had only one shooting penalty.

"I was trying to focus on just working on everything I've worked on this week, really skiing the course well and staying calm on the range and being ready for anything — with wind or whatever," said Irwin, who is competing in her first Olympic Winter Games.

"I had a good game plan, and I was able to execute it. Everything came together. I had no idea how I was doing, and I was just in my zone, and it worked — what the heck."

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced its 2021 Division II All-Academic Teams, and the Michigan Tech cross country teams both earned spots on the men's and women's lists. In addition, 10 Michigan Tech student-athletes received individual All-Academic honors.

In order for a team to qualify for All-Academic distinction, they must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale and have compiled a team score at their respective regional championship meet. An individual student-athlete must possess a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale and have finished in the top 30% of their respective regional championship meet to qualify for All-Academic honors.

Individually, Drew Kolodge, Samuel Lange, Nick McKenzie, Luke Moore, Nick Niemi and Clayton Sayen received individual honors on the men's team. Michelle Bollini, Sam Kurkowski, Anabel Needham, and Chloe Strach were recognized individually on the women's team.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech men's basketball is concluding a five-game road trip this week when they travel to Davenport tomorrow (Feb. 10) at 8 p.m., followed by Grand Valley State on Saturday (Feb. 12) at 3 p.m.

The Huskies are riding a five-game win streak and rank second in the GLIAC North Division behind Ferris State with six regular-season games remaining. Both games can be heard on Mix 93.5 WKMJ.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Amanda Gonczi (GLRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $99,866 research and development grant from Northern Virginia Community College.

This four-year project is titled "Super PL: Building a Supervisor Professional Learning Model to Improve Internship Outcomes."

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 make choices to protect themselves, such as getting vaccinated, wearing high-filtration face coverings, and practicing enhanced sanitation and physical distancing where possible — especially in light of the increased transmissibility of the COVID-19 omicron 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 spring 2022 semester.

Testing is available every week in the Rozsa Center basement Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is no cost to be tested, and no appointment is needed. 

The consent form is now online and can be completed anytime between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the day of your visit.

More COVID-19 Testing Information for the Michigan Tech community is available on the MTU Flex website.

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Nominations Open: Summer 2022 Fellowships from The DeVlieg Foundation

Due to the generous support of The DeVlieg Foundation, the Graduate School is happy to accept nominations for 2022 summer fellowships.

All graduate programs may nominate one eligible Ph.D. student per program. The recipient will  receive a stipend for summer 2022 plus tuition support (one credit or three research credits for Ph.D. candidates). Eligible students will meet all of the following criteria:

1. Must be a graduate student in the field supported by The DeVlieg Foundation: ecosystem science.
2. Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
3. Must be enrolled in a Ph.D. program.
4. Must be nominated by their graduate program. Each Ph.D. program may nominate one student if the research conducted is related to the field(s) supported by The DeVlieg Foundation.
5. Must not be supported by another funding mechanism while supported by The DeVlieg Foundation (part-time job, fellowship, GTA, GRA, etc.).

Nominations are due no later than 4 p.m. next Wednesday (Feb.16) to the Graduate School. Please submit as a PDF file sent to gradschool@mtu.edu.

Please see our webpage for details on the application procedure and materials needed. Each program may determine its own internal selection procedure.

Please contact the Graduate School with any questions.

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Winter Carnival Comedian Drew Lynch!

Come one, come all and help us welcome comedian Drew Lynch on Friday (Feb. 11) at 9 p.m. in the Rozsa! (Warning: Contains college humor.)

The MUB Board, Blue Key, Inter-Residence Housing Council (IRHC) and Late Night Programming are hosting the hilarious stand-up comedian during Winter Carnival!

Tickets are free for MTU students and $10 for the general public. 

"Do something every day that scares you" is a motto Lynch lives by. In 2015, he captured the hearts of America with his Golden Buzzer performance on season 10 of "America's Got Talent." "The person I was before would probably never hang out with who I am today" is the statement that resonated most in capturing audiences across the country, as they fell in love with his charming wit and genuine vulnerability every week of the competition.

For Lynch, becoming a comedian was almost as unintentional as capturing America's hearts. At the young age of 19, he moved to Los Angeles with aspirations of becoming an actor — a dream he had since he was a kid. But a freak accident just a year into his acting career left him with a severe stutter and crushed his hopes of ever performing again.

Lynch's continued drive to become an entertainer forced him in a different direction, and he often reflects on the "softball that humbly changed his life and gave him a career." The relatability of Lynch's real-life situations in dealing with a stutter propelled him each week of the competition — advancing to the finals and ultimately landing second place. Lynch attributes much of his success from his ability to be honest — genuinely facing the "elephant in the room" head on.

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International Renewable Biomaterials Seminars

Join the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES), Linnaeus University of Sweden, IKEA and the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC) for the International Renewable Biomaterials Seminars!

Today and next Wednesday (Feb. 9 and 16), Linnaeus University and Michigan Tech research students will take turns giving 10-minute presentations on their research, with two minutes of questions to follow each presentation.

Please come and be a part of this international knowledge-sharing experience with us:

• Wednesday, Feb. 9 — 9-11 a.m.
  Add to your Google Calendar.
  Join the Zoom presentation.
  
  
• Wednesday, Feb.16 — 9-11 a.m.
  Add to your Google Calendar.
  Join the Zoom presentation.

Student presentation information is below. For more information, contact IPEC Institute Manager Erin Syth at elsyth@mtu.edu.

Wednesday, Feb. 9: 

• Sarvada Chipkar: "Identifying plant-derived microbial inhibitors in lignocellulosic biomass."
• Wen Jiang: "Liquefaction of industrial wastes and its application in wood adhesives and particleboards."
• Meenaa Chandrasekar: "Development of a micro-imaging reactor to evaluate how plant tissues break down during chemical and biological processing."
• Sebastian Svensson Meulmann: "Uncoated facades made of spruce."
• Chinmoyee Das: "Biocarbon polymer composites."

Wednesday, Feb. 16:

• Victor Grubîi: "Wood Slicing in Engineered Wood Flooring Applications."
• Peng Quan: "Recovering lignin from black liquor for semi-flexible and flexible PU foams."
• Alma Strkonjic: "Assessment and detection of internal properties for improvement of log's quality selection for veneer processing."
• Zainab Alshoug: "Recycling railroad ties for wood preservatives and porous carbon."
• Nicolas Neitzel: "Agro-industry feedstocks and side streams for increasing the sustainability of wood panel production."
• Cassidy Groebel: "Euputized solvent for depolymerization of wood wastes."

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'J. Walitalo Woodburnings' Book Signing and Presentation

Joanna Walitalo, Ph.D. student in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES) and author of “J. Walitalo Woodburnings,” will have a book signing tomorrow (Feb. 10) in the Noblet Atrium from noon to 5 p.m.

Learn about the process of utilizing scrap lumber for the creation of artwork. The event will include a behind-the-scenes presentation about woodburning in Noblet G002 from 3-4 p.m. It is open to the public, and a limited number of books will be available for purchase.

Read more on the University Events Calendar.

“Woodburnings” has been named a 2022 U.P. Notable Book and featured on the Michigan in Books blog. 

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MSE Seminar: Low/Ultralow-Voltage Imaging

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) will host a seminar on "Low/Ultra Low Voltage and Pressure Imaging in SEM" presented by Bob "Hitachi" Passeri tomorrow (Feb. 10) from 2-3 p.m. in M&M 610 and virtually via Zoom (use passcode 380869).

This seminar will discuss the application and uses of the different electron sources and how those pertain to low-voltage (less than five kilovolts) and ultralow-voltage imaging (less than one kilovolt) to characterize the actual sample surface. Variable pressure imaging, which eliminates the use of carbonaceous or metallized coatings to reduce surface charging — and has become a game-changer characterizing the true sample surface — will also be discussed.

Passeri earned his B.S. in physics from DePaul University in Chicago and an M.S. in material science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He started an R&D lab for a super-abrasives company to assist in characterizing their submicron product line via metrology and SEM/EDS and has gone on to run an SEM/EDS laboratory to perform failure analysis as well as particle size distribution measurements.

Passeri has been with Hitachi High Technologies America for 15 years, first in a field service role, then as an applications engineer and, for the past four years, as a sales representative, where he enjoys helping scientists solve characterization problems through the use of Hitachi products and services.

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Sustainability Open House

The students of the Sustainability Demonstration House would like to invite you to our upcoming Sustainability Open House tomorrow (Feb. 10) from 4-7 p.m. over Winter Carnival weekend!

Come learn about our sustainable systems, including composting, hydroponics, aquaponics, a solar array, a beehive, energy-efficient appliances, a zero-waste household and many more. In addition, guests will receive free sustainable swag.

The Sustainability Demonstration House is located at 21680 Woodland Rd., just down the road from East McNair. Parking is available at East McNair, Hillside and Lot 10E. Masks will be required indoors.

Feel free to email sdh@mtu.edu with any questions. We hope to see you there!

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

Nominations for USG E-board and At-Large Representatives

Wednesday, February 9, 8–8 a.m. | Online

Do you or someone you know want to run as an At-Large representative or a member of USG's executive board? Nominations are now open for the election which begins February...

Digital Marketers

Wednesday, February 9, 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...

Building Resilience

Wednesday, February 9, 10–11 a.m.

When faced with difficulty and challenges in life how do you cope, adapt, and bounce back? This workshop focuses on the concept of resilience and how to build these skills and...

Don't Plant That, Plant This: A Guide to Choosing Better Garden Plants and Avoiding the Troublemakers

Wednesday, February 9, 6 p.m.

Many of the invasive exotic plants wreaking havoc in nature got their start in our gardens, and even today you can still buy plenty of those bad boys in nurseries. Dr. Sigrid...

Monthly General Meeting _ Spring 2022

Wednesday, February 9, 6 p.m.–7 p.m. | Chem Sci. 211

Hi folks, This mail serves to notify us that we will be having our monthly general meeting on the last Wednesday of the month 6 - 7 PM at Chem Sci. 211 or via Zoom. Feel...

Open Rock Climbing

Wednesday, February 9, 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...

Winter Carnival with ISA 2022

Wednesday, February 9, 6 p.m.–9 p.m. | Greenhouse Dome

Free Masala Chai with Live Music in Winter Carnival's All-Nighter Like every year, ISA participates in the biggest annual winter celebrations in the nation called Winter...

Guardians of the North, Air Force ROTC All-Nighter Pancakes

Wednesday, February 9, 8 p.m. | Michigan Tech Campus, Broomball Rinks

The Air Force ROTC cadets are hosting their annual pancake fundraiser during Winter Carnival All-Nighter. Everyone is invited. Proceeds support the cadets in leadership...

Winter Carnival Live Band Karaoke

Wednesday, February 9, 8 p.m.–11 p.m. | MUB Commons

Sing. Dance. Mocktail. Repeat. Grab your friends, family, roommates, or whoever and come join MUB Board at our annual Winter Carnival Karaoke night! This year, not only are...

Winter Carnival

February 9, all day | Michigan Tech Campus

Organized by Blue Key National Honor Society since 1934, Winter Carnival started in 1922 and has grown to become one of the largest annual winter festivals in the nation....