July 29, 2022

A team from Michigan Tech’s IDEAhub group is participating in the 2022-23 American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on ePortfolios.

As part of this institute, Maria Bergstrom (HU), Jeannie DeClerck (CTL) and Alex Guth (Provost’s Office) attended the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Annual Meeting on July 21-22.

This year’s conference theme was “A Changed World for ePortfolios: Opportunities for Design Justice, Effective Implementation, and Assessment.”

Ph.D. in Integrative Physiology candidate Steven Stelly will defend his dissertation at 8 a.m. Thursday (Aug. 4). This defense will be held virtually only via Zoom.

Stelly's dissertation is titled "The Impact of Food Deprivation on Cardiovascular Physiology."

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering candidate Zachary Stanchina will present their master's defense at 11 a.m. Monday (Aug. 1) in person in the APSRC Conference Room and virtually via Zoom.

Stanchina's defense is titled "An Experimental Study of Fuel Selection for a Gasoline Multi-Mode, Spark Ignited - Compression Ignition Engine."

Stanchina is advised by Jeffrey Naber.

Cindy Pindral has been promoted to assistant head coach with the Michigan Tech volleyball team, and head coach Matt Jennings was also recently added to the NCAA Women's Volleyball National Committee.

"Cindy is an excellent coach, leader, and mentor," Jennings said. "She's genuinely dedicated to making our student-athletes' experience a positive and enjoyable one and serves as a wonderful role model for our young women in so many ways. Our players know Cindy has their best interests in mind and without the relationship and trust she's built with them, our program wouldn't be the same."

In his role on the national committee, Jennings will help develop policies and procedures governing the administration and conduct of the championship and evaluate, rank and select teams for the NCAA tournament. He will represent the Midwest Region until September 2026.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Alex Guth (Provost’s Office) was a facilitator for the July 2022 American Geosciences Institute / ExxonMobil Exploration Teacher Leadership Academy.

The academy engaged 25 teachers (grades K-8) from seven states in hands-on geoscience activities and professional development.

Guth has been a facilitator for these academies since 2015.

WJMN Local 3, Radio Results Network and the Keweenaw Report picked up a Michigan Tech News press release about the Lupine, a 47-foot catamaran donated to MTU by alumnus Gary Hagstrom ’72.

The Lupine arrived in Houghton on July 23 and will be put into service for Michigan Tech as part of the Great Lakes Research Center’s fleet within the month.

HR Closed Today for Annual Retreat

The Human Resources office will be closed today (July 29) for a departmental retreat. The office will reopen on Monday (Aug. 1).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

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Software Carpentries Workshop Aug. 8-9

On Aug. 8-9, Michigan Tech is hosting a Software Carpentries Workshop for students, faculty and staff. The workshop will be held in GLRC 202 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

The Carpentries teach skills that are immediately useful for researchers, using lessons and datasets that allow researchers to quickly apply what they have learned to their own work.

This workshop covers basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control and task automation. The curriculum will include:

• The Unix Shell
• Programming with Python
• Version Control with Git
• Plotting and Programming with Python

The target audience members are learners who have little to no prior computational experience, and the instructors put a priority on creating a friendly environment to empower researchers and enable data-driven discovery. Even those with some experience will benefit, as the goal is to teach not only how to do analyses, but how to manage the process to make it as automated and reproducible as possible.

Space is limited and it will likely fill quickly. The workshop is free for all Michigan Tech students, faculty and staff.

Register for the workshop. Confirmation of your registration will be mailed Monday (Aug. 1). If more participants sign up than there are seats available, priority will be given to graduate students.

Please visit the workshop webpage for more information.

Questions can be emailed to Laura Brown (CS) at lebrown@mtu.edu.

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PhD Defense: Arslan Amer, BioSci

Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology candidate Arslan Amer will present their doctoral thesis defense at 11 a.m. today (July 29) via Zoom.

Amer's defense is titled "Investigating Cysteine Dependence in Pancreatic cancer and Determining the Regulatory role of Selenoprotein Sepp1 in Ferroptosis."

Amer is advised by Xiaohu Tang.

From the abstract:
Pancreatic cancer is predicted to become the second deadliest cancer by the mortality rate in 2030. Almost 96 percent of pancreatic cancer patients tend to die in the first 5 years after diagnosis. Current therapeutic options are still limited with surgical resection or systemic chemo/radiotherapy. There is a strong need for effective targeted therapy options. Cancer is uncontrolled growth and proliferation associating with many metabolic alterations. Cysteine metabolism can be one of such examples, as cysteine is not only needed for protein production and cytoskeletal machinery, but also a limiting factor in glutathione (GSH) production, which acts as a cofactor to enzyme GPX4, a peroxidase known for reducing lipid peroxidation. Lack of cysteine leads to loss of GPX4 function, making cells vulnerable to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress, inducing cell death. ... Overall, our study suggests inhibition of both GPX4 and Trx pathways as a potential adjuvant-therapy to overcome drug resistance in epithelial-type PDAC. We also show a protective role of Sepp1 in cysteine depletion through modulating the Trx pathway and its potential as a biomarker for cysteine-dependence.

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Hancock Recreation Area Boat Wash

Friday, July 29, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. | Hancock Recreation Area

The Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA) is partnering with Isle Royale National Park (NP) to offer a free boat wash at the Hancock Recreation Area Boat Launch....

PhD Defense: Chinmoyee Das

Friday, July 29, 9–10 a.m. | U. J. Noblet Forestry Building, 144

Forest Science Advisor: Xinfeng Xie Sustainable Electrically Conductive Composites Developed by Incorporating Newly Developed Pulp Biochar Fibers in Recycled Polyamide 12...

PhD Defense: Zhouquan Wu

Friday, July 29, 10–11 a.m.

Electrical Engineering Advisor: Bo Chen Study of Electric Vehicle Smart Charging and Energy Management for Vehicle-Grid Integration Systems Attend Virtually:...

PhD Defense: Arslan Amer

Friday, July 29, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Advisor: Xiaohu Tang Cysteine Dependence in Pancreatic Cancer and Role of Selenoprotein Sepp1 Attend Virtually:...

KISMA with the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge

Friday, July 29, 1 p.m.–4 p.m. | Keweenaw Mountain Lodge

Join the KISMA crew at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge for a fun and informative event where we'll be teaching about invasive species in the Keweenaw. Admission is FREE of...