April 29, 2022

Please note that construction on the H-STEM Engineering and Health Technologies Complex (H-STEM Complex) will begin Monday (May 2). Fencing around the construction zone will be installed sometime next week. In the meantime, please avoid walking in the area between the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Building (Chem Sci) and the Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC).

Access to Chem Sci will be impacted by construction work, with entrance and exit access only available through the south and west doors.

As always, pedestrians are reminded to stay alert while in and around construction zones, follow all appropriate directions and stay on designated pedestrian paths.

For additional information on the H-STEM Complex, construction updates and a link to the construction webcam, please visit the H-STEM Building Project webpage.

Students from Michigan Tech’s Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) were recently selected as a winning team in the Waste to Base Materials Challenge, sponsored by HeroX and NASA.

Competing against teams from around the country, the CEGE students proposed a process to treat and repurpose human waste on a crewed mission to Mars. Over many iterations, they developed a resource recovery loop that integrated anaerobic digestion and harvesting microbe-produced plastic to generate a continuous material stream from onboard resources.

The MTU team includes two undergraduate students, Kathryn Krieger and Corbin Sullivan, and two graduate students, Azmat Naseem and Brian Rivers. The team was assembled and mentored by Audra Morse (CEGE).

The Design Expo committee sends our heartfelt thanks to the Michigan Tech community for participating in this year's Design Expo, hosted on April 21. We would like to give special thanks to the student teams in Enterprise and Senior Design and Capstone, who shared their time, talent and innovative approach to solving today's problems. Without the hard work of each student team, Design Expo would not be possible!

As it is likely known, teams compete for cash awards totaling nearly $4,000. Judges for the event included corporate representatives, community members, and Michigan Tech staff and faculty. If you haven’t already, check out this year's award recipients and team videos at mtu.edu/expo.

Continuous improvement is an integral part of the Design Expo. If you engaged in any aspect of this year’s event, please take a moment to tell us what you thought about Design Expo. Your feedback will be helpful as we start planning for Design Expo 2023!

Again, congratulations to our student teams and a huge thank-you to all the participants for making this year's Design Expo a very successful one!

The North Coast Grill and Deli will be closed Monday (May 2) for Dining Services staff training, and will reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday (May 3). We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Library Café will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday. 

This week's article compares workload distributions among faculty in tech and engineering. It documents that women do more of the work to keep things running smoothly, often referred to as office "housework.” Such work rarely earns formal credit or recognition. In technology fields, women of color report that they are asked to lead human resources or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts they were not originally hired to conduct, yet this work isn’t compensated or recognized as promotion-worthy. This has been termed the "minority tax."

Further, in a report from the Center for WorkLife Law & Society of Women Engineers, women of color more strongly than white women report being shut out of creative work without access to desirable assignments. In engineering, the authors found that 26% of white men but 55% of women of color report doing more of the undervalued work than their colleagues of comparable seniority and experience. In addition, 61% of white men but fewer than half of women of color report they were more likely than their peers to be assigned to high-profile tasks or teams.

Navigating the minority tax makes workplace climates challenging because speaking up about the workload distribution often induces racial and gender stereotypes around "being difficult." Increasing awareness of these tendencies can empower colleagues to consciously work to create more equitable workloads ranging from DEI efforts to office tasks. Please feel free to seek guidance and just-in-time strategies from the ADVANCE Advocates Team.

Today’s feature was shared with us by the ADVANCE PIs. If you have an article you think we should feature, please email it to advance-mtu@mtu.edu and we will consider adding it to the ADVANCE Weekly Roundup.

The ADVANCE Weekly Roundup is brought to you by ADVANCE at Michigan Tech, an NSF-funded initiative dedicated to improving faculty career success, retention, diversity, equity and inclusion. Past articles are available on the ADVANCE Newsblog.

To learn more about our featured topic, our mission, programming efforts, and to check out our growing collection of resources, contact us or visit our website.

The Department of Humanities (HU) is pleased to announce that Rachel Dick has been selected as the 2022 Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Program Scholar.

Dick’s experiences in and out of the classroom demonstrate her wide-ranging interests and expertise in technical communication. She has served as a writer and managing editor for Michigan Tech’s student newspaper, The Lode, and will take on the role of editor in chief for the 2022-23 school year. She also serves as a student coach in the Michigan Tech Writing Center and is actively involved in the Society for Technical Communication MTU student chapter, where she serves as treasurer.

Read more about Dick’s accomplishments at blogs.mtu.edu/humanities.

The Department of Social Sciences (SS) would like to recognize the following outstanding undergraduate and graduate students.

These awards were recently presented at a departmental end-of-year celebration. Honors were extended for excellence in academics, research and teaching.

Graduate Awards

• Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award: Shardul Tiwari (fall 2021) and Jess Applin (spring 2022) 
• Graduate School Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship: Talva Jacobson 

Undergraduate Awards

• MTU’s Outstanding Future Alumni Award: Robert Hazen 
• Social Sciences Departmental Scholar Award: Maya Klanderman 
• Social Sciences Outstanding Senior Award: Madelina DiLisi 
• Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Award: Erin Doran 
• Social Sciences Community-Based Research Award: Savannah Obert-Pfeiffer 
• Social Sciences Community-Based Research Award: Maya Klanderman 

Well done to all our incredible students!

Audra Morse (CEGE) has joined the NSF International Joint Committee on Wastewater Technology.

NSF, founded in 1944 as the National Sanitation Foundation, develops public health standards and certification programs that help protect the world’s food, water, consumer products and environment. NSF joint committees propose and vote to approve NSF standards consistent with NSF's mission; ensure standards properly address public health, safety and environmental issues; and respond to requests for interpretations of NSF standards.

M.S. in Computer Science candidate Justin Martin will present their master's defense at a final oral examination held from 1-2:20 p.m. Tuesday (May 3) via Zoom.

Martin’s defense presentation is titled “Virtual Machine Introspection Tool Design Analysis.”

Read the post on the Computing News Blog.

Nancy Langston (SS) was quoted by The New Yorker in a story about Michigan’s potential future as a space state. 

The story highlights Upper Peninsula residents’ opposing stances on plans for a spaceport near Marquette, and refers to Langston’s book, “Sustaining Lake Superior,” when describing the lake’s history as a commercial magnet — and a repository for mining and manufacturing waste.

Ph.D. in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) student Lamia Alam and research advisor Shane Mueller (CLS) are co-authors of an article published in the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making.

The article is titled “Examining Physicians’ Explanatory Reasoning in Re-Diagnosis Scenarios for Improving AI Diagnostic Systems.”

From the abstract:
AI systems are increasingly being developed to provide the first point of contact for patients. These systems are typically focused on question-answering and integrating chat systems with diagnostic algorithms, but are likely to suffer from many of the same deficiencies in explanation that have plagued medical diagnostic systems since the 1970s (Shortliffe, 1979). To provide better guidance about how such systems should approach explanations, we report on an interview study in which we identified explanations that physicians used in the context of re-diagnosis or a change in diagnosis.

Annual Power Outage

Michigan Tech's annual power outage will be conducted in two stages across three days next week: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (May 4, 5 and 6). Times and buildings affected are listed below.

Facilities Management has developed a five-year rotating plan to service the 12,470-volt switchgear and associated breakers on campus. Our campus electrical distribution system depends on this gear being in good working condition. 

This work requires a two-night power outage that affects the least number of buildings possible. Please note that in most cases, elevators, fume hoods, exhaust fans, ventilation equipment, normal lighting, plug-in appliances and plug-in equipment will not operate during the outage.

Only items connected to the building emergency generator will have power during the outage; the building emergency generators and battery systems that supply power to emergency/egress lighting and special equipment should function as normal.

If you are unsure if your equipment connects to the building emergency generator, please contact the Facilities Management building mechanic for your building.

Information Technology will be turning off all network equipment in the affected buildings for these outages starting at 5 p.m. You should plan to save any work, shut down your computer systems and exit the buildings before the outages. Additionally, some buildings with power will be without phone or internet service.

Only the buildings listed will have their power shut off during the scheduled outages.

There will be two power outages:

• Power Outage One — 
  • Begins: Wednesday, May 4, at 6 p.m.
  • Ends: Thursday, May 5, at 6 a.m.
    
    
• Power Outage Two —
  • Begins: Thursday, May 5, at 6 p.m.
  • Ends: Friday, May 6, at 6 a.m.

Buildings affected:
Academic Office Building
Alumni House
Annex
Center for Diversity and Inclusion (Hamar House)
Dillman
Fisher
Forestry
M&M
M&M - Undergrad
ME-EM
Rekhi
ROTC

Buildings with power but no phone or internet:
EMS/SLS Garage
Gates Tennis Center
Little Huskies
U.S. Forest Service Labs

You can find more details and updates on the Facilities Management website. If you have questions or concerns with this plan, contact Energy Management or Facilities Management at 7-2303.

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Joint ROTC Commissioning Ceremony

The Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC invite you to the Spring 2022 Commissioning Ceremony tomorrow (April 30) at 7:30 a.m. at the Rozsa Center.

This semester we have four Army cadets and 15 Air Force cadets commissioning!

Those commissioning are from the following programs:

Civil Engineering | Environmental Engineering | Engineering Fundamentals | Construction Management | Chemistry | Mechanical Engineering | Physics | Computer Science | Applied Ecology and Environmental Science | Exercise Science | Mathematics | Engineering Management

We will also be streaming the ceremony if you prefer to watch it live on YouTube.

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Participants Needed for Research Study

Volunteers are needed to help develop a mathematical equation to better prescribe exercise for healthy and clinical populations.

Participation entails:

• One (1) lab visit lasting two (2) hours at the Exercise Physiology Lab located in the SDC.
  
  • During this visit, we will assess your blood pressure, leg size and leg strength.

You may be eligible to participate in this research study at Michigan Tech if you:

• Are between the ages of 18-44.
• Have a BMI less than or equal to 30.
• Do not use products that contain tobacco.
• Do not have diabetes.
• Have no cardiopulmonary disorders, including but not limited to hypertension.
• Have not experienced a recent lower-body injury or surgery.
• Have no history of ACL injury or surgery.
• Do not have any implanted devices such as a pacemaker or pain pump.
• Have no skin or dermatological disorders.
• Do not have any neurological disorders.
• Are not a female using contraceptive pills.

Please contact Isaac Wedig at ijwedig@mtu.edu or 906-458-2778 with any questions or to participate.

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DEA Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Michigan Tech is excited to announce the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day scheduled tomorrow (April 30) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is an opportunity to properly dispose of expired and unused prescription drug medication. Michigan Tech Public Safety and Police Services is a registered drop-off/collection site.

Public Safety and Police Services is located at 206 MacInnes Dr., just off of U.S. Highway 41 in Houghton. As a reminder, this prescription drug medication disposal is for pills only (no liquids please).

Michigan Tech Public Safety and Police Services has a 24/7/355 through-wall drug disposal box that can be used any day of the year to dispose of your unused medications.

Questions? Contact Whitney Boroski at wmborosk@mtu.edu. 

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Fidelity Financial Health Webinar

Fidelity announces a live employee financial health webinar at noon today (April 29) titled "Prepare for the Reality of Health Care in Retirement."

The webinar will cover:

• Estimating retirement healthcare costs.
• Understanding available options before and after age 65.
• Planning for retirement healthcare costs.

Register for the webinar.

This webinar 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.

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

Teal Ribbons

Friday, April 29, 12:00 a.m.–11:45 p.m. | Campus!

Have you seen teal ribbons? Help raise awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month by scanning the QR code and participating in SAVE and Title IX's Octopi project and get the...

CEGE Senior Design Colloquium

Friday, April 29, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. | Michigan Tech Campus, EERC 103, Dow 641 & Dow 642

The Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Department is pleased to invite the University community to attend the Spring 2022 senior design team presentations. This...

Board of Trustees Meeting

Friday, April 29, 9–11 a.m. | Memorial Union Building (MUB), Ballroom B

Regular meeting of the Michigan Technological University Board of Trustees

Striving for a Circular Economy of Materials – A Status Report

Friday, April 29, 10 a.m.

Chemical Engineering Research Seminar Barbara Reck Yale School of the Environment Abstract The term Circular Economy describes a vision for a world in which materials are...

H-STEM Groundbreaking Ceremony

Friday, April 29, 1 p.m. | Chemical Sciences and Engineering Building, Outside

Join Michigan Tech in celebrating the start of construction on the new H-STEM Center. The groundbreaking ceremony, at 1 p.m. Friday, April 29, will take place on campus near...

College of Business Commencement Reception

Friday, April 29, 4 p.m.–5 p.m. | Michigan Tech Academic Office Building 101, AOB 101

The Michigan Tech College of Business is hosting a reception for our spring 2022 graduates and their families from 4 to 5 p.m. Friday, April 29, in Academic Office Building...

(Men's Tennis) Michigan Tech at TBA

April 29, all day

Men's Tennis: Michigan Tech at TBA, GLIAC Tournament

(Women's Tennis) Michigan Tech at TBA

April 29, all day

Women's Tennis: Michigan Tech at TBA, GLIAC Tournament