Deaf History Month, observed March 13 to April 15, is a celebration of the accomplishments of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and deaf culture.
“Deaf culture is significant in its expressions of communication and shared beliefs,” writes Riley Powers, junior scientific and technical communication major.
Powers explores the complicated interplay between deaf identity, communication and community on the Diversity and Inclusion Newsblog.
Since 2012, Open Education Global has celebrated Open Education (OE) Week in March to raise awareness and highlight innovative open education successes worldwide. This weeklong event serves as a collaborative, community-built open forum for all institutions, organizations and individuals interested and involved in education. OE, at its heart, is a movement that supports increasing access to quality, affordable education and customizable educational materials.
The Van Pelt and Opie Library is celebrating OE Week with a series of educational posts in Tech Today and by hosting a discussion on Padlet, with a new topic posted daily.
Today, the Library wants to know: What’s the one thing you wish you could tell your textbook publisher? Tell us your thoughts, share the discussion and follow along in the OE Week discussion section of the Library’s Open Educational Resources (OERs) page.
The Computing[MTU] Showcase, April 4-6, is seeking student volunteers to help with registration, direct people to events, print name tags and other activities to help the event go smoothly.
Students may sign up for one or more time slots on April 5 and April 6 starting daily at 9 a.m. and ending at 5:15 p.m. Volunteers will receive a Computing[MTU] T-shirt.
For more information, please contact Amanda Stump at ajstump@mtu.edu.
Read more on the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems Blog.
The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) financial consultants will be on campus in the Memorial Union Building for individual retirement counseling sessions on the following days:
To schedule an appointment, call 800-732-8353 or book an appointment online. (To see available appointment times on TIAA's website, click Schedule under the Your Employer category and select Michigan Tech from the dropdown menu.)
Please join us for an hour of laid-back Francophone setting with French natives and other Francophiles. All levels welcome.
Café Français meets from 5-6 p.m. tomorrow (March 15) in Walker 120C. The last date for the spring 2022 semester is April 12.
Menu for Thursday (March 17):
Dining Services presents this week's C-Cubed Luncheon being held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday (March 17) in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge (MUB 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, MUB 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.
Join the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts as a member of the volunteer usher team!
Individuals and groups are invited to join us as volunteer ushers for upcoming events. Be a part of the arts on campus and immerse yourself in music, theater and film with opportunities including:
See more volunteer opportunities on the Rozsa's Calendar of Events.
What do volunteer ushers do?
This season is full of exceptional, innovative and fun performances. Volunteer ushers play a critical role in creating a welcoming environment as our community reconnects for vibrant live arts experiences. You could fill one of several positions: greeter, ticket scanner, program helper or seating guide, or be a floating usher who fills in where they are needed.
Do I do this alone or with other people?
You will never be alone! Each show will have a house manager and 2-12 volunteer ushers, depending on the size of the event. You are always welcome to put together a group — friends, family or people from an organization — and enjoy the shared experience of bringing a production to life.
What experience or training do I need?
You don’t need any. All the training you need will take place the day of the show, before guests arrive.
What is the time commitment for a show?
You will arrive 90 minutes before the show, monitor the audience while you enjoy the show for free, and then stay to help with some light cleanup for 30 minutes or less after the show.
Visit the Rozsa Volunteer page, sign up to volunteer using our online form, or email Samantha Hoover at shoover@mtu.edu to learn more and get involved.
This year's awardees for the Graduate Student Government (GSG) Merit Awards have been decided. A total of 37 nominations were received from departments all across campus. The decision process was not an easy one, as there was a very strong pool of nominations this year. We are very grateful to all of our nominees for all of the work they put in to improve and enrich the life of our graduate students.
Without further ado, here are the award winners:
Congratulations to our winners and thank you for all you have done for our graduate students!
On Thursday (March 17), the Department of Biological Sciences will host a virtual talk by Giovanna McClenachan from 3-4 p.m. via Zoom.
McClenachan's presentation is titled "Replacement of oyster reefs by mangroves: Unexpected climate-driven ecosystem shifts."
From the abstract:
Globally, increases in minimum air temperatures have facilitated the transition of salt marshes to mangrove forests over the past 30 years. However, we recently discovered a novel climate driven ecosystem shift from oyster reef to mangrove island along Florida’s eastern coast, something previously never documented. ... The shift is not consistent across all reefs and there is a need to uncover the interactions of broadscale climate and local driving factors. We are beginning to analyze oyster reefs and mangrove islands in varying stages of conversion at multiple locations along the entire North American poleward mangrove extent, assessing mangrove survival, biogeochemical properties, sediment composition, reef elevation changes, and hydrologic regimes.
Physics graduate students will be presenting their research progress at this week's Physics Colloquium:
This will be a hybrid event — the students will give their talks at 4 p.m. Thursday (March 17) in Fisher 139. Please join in person or by Zoom.
Please register in advance to attend virtually. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.
Event details, along with the students' presentation titles and abstracts, can be found on the University Events Calendar.
Michigan Tech Nordic ski teams' made history on day one of the NCAA Championships, which took place over the weekend (March 10-12) at the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway, Utah.
For the women, Anabel Needham and Nea Katajala had All-American performances in the classic race on Thursday (March 10).
Needham made history with the best finish by a Michigan Tech skier at nationals, crossing the line in fourth place. She covered the 5K course in 13:48.6 for First Team All-American honors.
Katajala is a Second Team All-American after finishing seventh. She finished in 14:09. Henriette Semb rounded out skiers for the Huskies in 23rd place, as the Huskies combined for 64 points and a fourth-place team ranking after day one.
For the men, Skylar Patten led the Huskies, finishing 21st in the 10K classic. Colin Freed placed 33rd and Henry Snider was 36th. All three men made their debuts at the national competition.
In addition, Snider became the first Michigan Tech male student-athlete to compete in both the NCAA Skiing Championship and the NCAA Cross Country Championship.
Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.
Michigan Tech Esports Director Katelyn Roose has hired Chris Gelety as assistant director. Gelety began his duties in January 2022.
"Chris has the expertise, devotion and priorities that we need to continue to grow as a program," Roose said. "His emphasis on maintaining academic success while pursuing personal growth and overall well-being is very important. Chris and I work very well together and I look forward to learning from him. From day one, Chris' priority has been bringing in the right student-athletes into our program."
"I'm excited at the opportunity to dedicate my undivided attention into building something great," Gelety said. "To find ways that I can elevate what our talented Esports athletes do is what gets me up each and every day. Tech is something special, and it's an honor to play a part here."
Gelety is responsible for recruiting future Huskies, managing social media and broadcast teams, and fostering partnerships with the program. He also coaches the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) team.
Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.
Michigan Tech women's basketball junior guard Ellie Mackay has been named Second Team All-Midwest Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.
Mackay finished third in the GLIAC in scoring at 16.9 points per game. On Jan. 6, she posted 36 points in a game against Wisconsin-Parkside and was subsequently named GLIAC North Division Player of the Week for the third time in her three-year career.
Mackay was one of the best shooters in Division II with 10 games of 20 or more points. She also posted her first double-double this season and scored 23 points in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals, including seven points in overtime to help MTU advance.
Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.
Michigan Tech men's basketball senior guard/forward Owen White has been named to the 2022 First Team All-Midwest Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.
Last week, White became the fourth Michigan Tech men's basketball player in GLIAC history to win conference player of the year in back-to-back seasons, joining Husky greats Matt Cameron ('03, 04'), Josh Buettner ('04, '05) and Ali Haider ('13, '14).
White led the Huskies with 17.1 points per game, including 10 games of 20 or more points. He shot 48.7% from the field, including 36.6% from 3-point range. He also averaged 5.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocks.
Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.
Call for Applications: Songer Research Awards for Human Health
Matthew Songer ’79 (biological sciences) and Laura Songer ’80 (biological sciences) have generously donated funds to the College of Sciences and Arts (CSA) to support a research project competition for undergraduate and graduate students. This is the fifth year of the competition.
Students may propose an innovative, medically oriented research project in any area of human health. The best projects will demonstrate the potential to have broad impact on improving human life. This research will be pursued in consultation with faculty members within the CSA. Awarded in spring 2022, the Songers' gift will support one award for undergraduate research ($4,000) and a second award for graduate research ($6,000). Matching funds from the College will allow two additional awards. The research will be conducted over summer 2022 and/or the following academic year.
Any Michigan Tech student interested in exploring a medically related question under the guidance of faculty in the CSA may apply. Students majoring in any degree program in the College, including both traditional (i.e., biological sciences, kinesiology, chemistry) and nontraditional (i.e., physics, psychology, social science, bioethics, mathematics) programs related to human health, may propose research projects.
Students are encouraged to propose original, standalone projects with expected durations of 6-12 months. Preference is given to proposals that are student-initiated ideas, not merely a continuation of advisor’s work. The committee also encourages applications from CSA students who seek to continue research projects initiated through other campus mechanisms, such as the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, Pavlis Honors College activities or the Graduate Research Forum (GRF).
Funds from a Songer Award may be used to purchase or acquire research materials and equipment needed to perform the proposed research project. Access to and research time utilizing University core research facilities, including computing, may be supported. Requests to acquire a personal computer will be scrutinized and must be fully justified. Page charges for publications also may be covered with award funds, as will travel to appropriate academic meetings. This award may not be used for salary or compensation for the student or consulting faculty.
Applications must be submitted as a single PDF file to the Office of the College of Sciences and Arts by 4 p.m. on April 4. Applications may be emailed to djhemmer@mtu.edu.
Full details of the application and review processes are available on the College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog. Any questions may be directed to David Hemmer at djhemmer@mtu.edu.
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Archives Travel Grant Program Accepting Applications
The Michigan Tech Archives is currently accepting applications for its annual Travel Grant Program.
The travel grant, which is returning after a brief hiatus, brings scholars and researchers to Michigan Tech to work with the archives’ collections. Financial support for the program is provided by the Friends of the Michigan Tech Library. Grants are awarded for up to $1,000 to defray the costs of travel to visit and conduct research in Houghton. In addition, graduate students applying to the program may request up to an additional $200 (furnished by the Archives) to help defray any duplication costs incurred during a qualified research trip.
The Michigan Tech Archives houses a wide variety of historical print, graphic and manuscript resources related to the Copper Country and Michigan Tech. Subject coverage is vast and includes University and campus life, regional towns and cities, local industries and businesses, social organizations, events and personalities of the Copper Country and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Primary topical research areas include the western Upper Peninsula, industrial history (particularly copper mining and its ancillary industries), social history, community development along the Keweenaw Peninsula, transportation and the environment.
Finding aids for some of the collections can be found on the Michigan Tech Archives website.
To apply for funding, please visit the Travel Grant Program website.
Applications are due March 25. Award recipients will be notified by late April. The successful candidate must complete their travel by Dec. 9, 2022. Electronic submission of applications is required.
For further information, please contact University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen at 906-487-3209 or copper@mtu.edu.
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Desi Beats - An Indian Holi Night
Following the tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the Indian Students' Association (ISA) at Michigan Tech heartily invites you to the celebration of the festival of colors, Holi. We will be hosting "Desi Beats - An Indian Holi Night" on Saturday (March 19) from 5:30-9:30 p.m. at the MUB Commons and MUB Ballroom. The event comprises enthralling cultural performances and a sumptuous Indian dinner buffet.
Get ready to taste delicious Indian food and feel the essence of our Indian culture again. We would like you to be a part of this event, to celebrate and enjoy our most well-known festival and revel in the festivities at our home away from home. The venues for the festivity are the MUB Commons and MUB Ballroom for the food and performances, respectively.
We hereby proudly invite you to join us and enjoy a grand seven-course dinner buffet at the MUB filled with a mouthwatering list of Indian special delicacies, and of course, a complete evening of stage shows with engaging performances from music and dance teams.
Desi Beats - An Indian Holi Night
Saturday, March 19, from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
EVENT OUTLINE:
5:30 to 7 p.m. — Food in the MUB Commons
7:30 to 9:30 p.m. — Festival in the MUB Ballroom
TICKETS:
Tickets are available online, and also by phone at 906-487-2073, at the SDC Ticketing Office and on the spot at the MUB on the evening of the event (while supplies last).
PRICES:
Tickets cost $10 for students and $12 for Michigan Tech staff and community members.
As we surely know, your presence elevates the charisma of the event. We are awaiting your gracious presence. Hope to see you all there.
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Lunch and Learn: Understanding Explanations of Benefits
Please join us at noon tomorrow (March 15) in MUB Alumni Lounge A as we welcome Molly Mikesch, client engagement manager for Michigan Tech from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Mikesch will be discussing explanations of benefits. The discussion will cover how to set up an online account through BCBSM and how employees and members can see and better understand their explanation of benefits through BCBSM. Please bring your device(s), as this will be an interactive session for all members.
Please email benefits@mtu.edu to reserve your seat today!
This Lunch and Learn counts toward Option 2 in your Husky Health checklist. Follow Michigan Tech Wellness on Facebook for upcoming health and wellness initiatives supported by the Benefits Office which may count toward your 2022 Husky Health checklist.
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Reunion Weekend 2022: Save the Date and Department Open Houses
Save the date: Alumni Reunion Weekend 2022 is set for Aug. 4-6. The Alumni Engagement team is actively working on the schedule, which will soon be publicly shared, and is looking forward to hosting a fun weekend of on-campus activities for our alumni.
A highlight for our alumni guests each year is visiting their academic departments and service areas. All departments are invited to host visitors during afternoon campus open houses Aug. 5 from 1-4 p.m. If your department would like to host an open house during that time, please notify Jen Lucas at jjlucas@mtu.edu by Friday (March 18).
Please reach out to the Alumni Engagement team with any questions or concerns at 906-487-2400 or email alumni@mtu.edu.
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March 15 Is Equal Pay Day
Tomorrow (March 15) is Equal Pay Day 2022, a day that symbolizes the extra days an average women must work to catch up to what the average man earned the previous year. According to current data from the American Association of University Women, women earn 83 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, the gap is even worse.
The date of Equal Pay Day changes from year to year as the situation improves — no gender pay gap would mean Equal Pay Day lands on Jan. 1 — and red is worn on this day as a symbol of how far women and minorities are "in the red." In 2019, Equal Pay Day was April 2. In 2020 it was March 31. in 2021 it was March 24 and this year it is March 15, indicating that incremental progress is occurring.
Join the Copper Country League of Women Voters, the Graduate School, Institutional Equity, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, and other supporters by wearing red to recognize Equal Pay Day. And, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, volunteers will gather at the Husky statue in front of the library to hand out literature and cookies marking Equal Pay Day.
Join us! Find out what you can do to help close the gap.
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Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar
The next Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar will take place at 3 p.m. today (March 14) in GLRC 202.
Bailey Papes, environmental engineering MS student at Michigan Tech, will present "PFAS Mitigation from Brackish Groundwater Using Halophyte and Cow Bone Biochar."
Read the abstract on the University Events Calendar.
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HU Faculty Candidate Presentation Today
Rich Canevez, candidate for assistant professor of digital media in the Department of Humanities (HU), will give a research presentation on campus today (March 14) from 1-2:30 p.m. in Walker 120C.
His talk is titled “Towards an Informatics of Protest and Resistance: Dissent in the Transnational Digital Age.”
From the abstract:
Protests, demonstrations, and acts of resistance are an integral element of a healthy democracy. Resistance acts are by their nature defined within a context of conflict and ideas of justice. This context in turn influences the shape and use of information, communication, and technologies necessary for discourse, mobilization and coordination. While a social informatics perspective captures much of the socio-technical considerations within resistance, they do not represent general themes of conflict and justice within resistance explicitly. This limits their capacity to generalize the themes evident in socio-technical systems of resistance. To contribute to this much needed understanding, I propose the concept of “protest informatics” as a perspective lens for understanding socio-technical systems in acts of resistance as contextualized within particular conflicts and animated towards action through an underlying theory of justice. In this talk, I will present my background and research trajectory that has taken me to this research perspective, highlight the future possible research developments, potential collaborations, and my teaching philosophy and outlook.
Canevez is a postdoctoral researcher through the Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) program, with funds from the National Science Foundation, at the University of Hawaii - Manoa’s School of Communications. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University’s School of Information Sciences and Technology in 2020, and his B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in computer science from the University of Michigan.
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CS Faculty Candidate Presentation Today
Guang Wang, faculty candidate for the Department of Computer Science (CS), will present a virtual lecture today (March 14) at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom.
His presentation, titled “Data-Driven Societal Cyber-Physical Systems for Smart Cities,” introduces Wang's research on the foundations and applications of data-driven societal cyber-physical systems.
Wang is a postdoctoral research associate in the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), Schwarzman College of Computing, working with Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland as a member of the MIT Media Lab.
Read more about Wang's presentation on the Computing News Blog.
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Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Bailey Papes, Environmental Engineering MS student, Michigan Technological University PFAS Mitigation from Brackish Groundwater...
*****Applied Cognitive Science & Human Factors Advisor: Kevin Trewartha Assessing the Validity of an Online Assessment of Motor Learning Attend Virtually:...
*****Department of Computer Science faculty candidate Guang Wang will present a virtual lecture on Monday, March 14, at 3:00 p.m. via Zoom online meeting. In his talk, “Data-Driven...
*****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...
*****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...
*****Husky Bites presents Special Guest Caryn Heldt Director, Health Research Institute James and Lorna Mack Endowed Chair of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Professor,...
*****Discussion of current club projects and planned socials as well as notable recent news over Zoom for COVID safety. Following the organized portion of the meeting there will be...
*****Chess Club Weekly Meeting. Come learn and play some casual games.
*****Cricket Club MTU in partnership with Indian Students Association (ISA) has organized Tennis Ball Cricket Tournament for boys. DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: Sunday January 30,...
