August 10, 2022

Their work to develop a new computational analysis for cerebral aneurysm research earned Jingfeng Jiang (BioMed) and Kevin Sunderland ’20 the 2022 Michigan Technological University Bhakta Rath Award.

Jiang and Sunderland were recognized with the highest honor presented by Michigan Tech annually to a research mentor and Ph.D. student whose work carries lasting ramifications for the betterment of humankind.

Notable science and engineering experts praised the research duo’s extraordinary interdisciplinary efforts to address a challenge the research community has been working on for decades. In their own words, the award-winning researchers share their process, the challenges, a breakthrough moment and what’s next.

Read the full Q&A at Michigan Tech News.

Editor's Note: The University Update and Welcome Back Picnic have been rescheduled for Sept. 16. Times and locations remain the same.

Please save the date for a welcome back event Sept. 9. Faculty and staff are invited to join President Koubek and the leadership team for a brief update on fall plans starting at noon in the Rozsa lobby followed by a barbecue picnic on Walker Lawn, weather permitting.

A special thanks to Staff Council for co-hosting the event.

More details will be announced soon!

Aidan Holley, 18, has won the Parade of Nations essay contest on multiculturalism. He will receive a $1,000 scholarship to Michigan Tech, where he will study engineering management starting this fall.

Multiculturalism is a fact of life for Holley, who lives in Baraga, Michigan. “I have lived in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community most of my life,” Holley explains. “Half of my graduating class at Baraga High School was tribal.”

The Parade of Nations essay contest was open to high school seniors who plan to go to Michigan Tech. It asked two questions:

• What does multiculturalism mean to you?
• Why does it matter to you, to your community, to our country, to the world?

In his essay, Holley writes: “In my community, Baraga County, this concept is especially important to understand. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community lies within the area, and Baraga’s culture can be divided mainly into two different groups: Yoopers with Finland in their blood and Native Americans who have been on this land for centuries. For the most part, we get along well together. But there are times that it can get problematic, because multiculturalism is a mostly unknown and foreign concept for much of our populations. If both groups put multiculturalism into effect for Baraga, it would create a more welcoming environment for either group to be more open to each other, spreading even more culture to each other without the worries of being slandered.”

As for the importance of multiculturalism to the country and the world, Holley says: “My definition of multiculturalism is to have a better understanding of the people who surround us in our world. To me, it is really important to be able to harness this major ability, as it helps connect people from multiple different regions of the globe. For example, in a workplace, having workers who are American, Italian, Kenyan, Russian, Japanese, and/or Brazilian in the same area helps create diversity, which helps each culture to understand the other. Using this example all over the world would create an alliance of hundreds of different backgrounds and traditions and unite them together into one large hub that anyone can learn from.”

Aidan goes on to say: "Our country is another good example of why multiculturalism is important to understand. It does happen in some areas of the United States, but only on certain occasions and in certain areas of the country. If it happened all over our society, it would create a much more accepting environment to be able to share whatever culture someone belongs to with a different culture."

The valedictorian of his class at Baraga High, Holley has won more than 20 scholarships. He was inducted into the National Honor Society in 10th grade. He also served on the student council.

Both Parade of Nations contest winners this year were from Baraga. Chiara Rapacci, an exchange student from Italy, won the logo design contest. Holley is not surprised. “It reflects on the teachers at Baraga High School,” he says. “I can’t say enough good about the teachers there.”

Michigan Tech has updated our educational license with Zoom.

Faculty, staff and students will need to log in at the Michigan Tech Zoom Account page to relicense their account to retain access to all the features of our University Zoom license, e.g., unlimited duration for Zoom meetings.

If you have any questions, we can help. Contact IT at it-help@mtu.edu or call 7-1111.

The Vice President for Research Office will host an educational session, "Review of Export Controls," from noon to 1 p.m. on Sept. 21 in the Memorial Union Building, Ballroom A. Registration is open now and ends Sept. 19.

This session will help faculty and staff understand and address export controls considerations when conducting research. Topics covered will include: managing technical data, intellectual property and proprietary materials; defining and working with foreign nationals, publishing and teaching; and exporting and licensing considerations.

Register to reserve a seat.

This workshop is sponsored by the Vice President for Research Office. Desserts and beverages will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.

If you have questions, contact Ramona Englund at 7-2654.

Prep your students for Career Fair! Career Services provides presentations to groups on campus, including classes, student organizations, residence halls, Graduate Student Government, etc. We can present a variety of career-related topics to your group. We have created presentations to best fit within class time frames.

We will try to accommodate presentation requests between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, but availability is limited outside these hours.

Requests should be made at least two weeks ahead. Due to our busy fall programming, we can only accommodate a limited number of requests during that time, and they will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please use our Google form to request a presentation today!

The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and FloSports have announced a media rights partnership that includes Michigan Tech Athletics.

FloSports will become the exclusive streaming platform for the GLIAC and will broadcast over 900 games annually across 21 conference sports, including football, basketball, soccer, volleyball and more. 

In close collaboration, FloSports and the GLIAC will broadcast sporting events to a wider audience of college sports fans across multiple digital platforms. Fans will be able to watch games anywhere, anytime, both live and on-demand. FloSports will also offer additional news, analysis and other editorial coverage of GLIAC sports and athletes.

The four-year partnership runs through the 2026 season and begins for the Huskies on Sept. 1 with football hosting Wisconsin-Platteville at Kearly Stadium.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

GeoConnexion mentioned Michigan Tech and Jeremy Bos (ECE) in a story about the first large-scale field test to benchmark auto lidar performance using calibrated targets with the intent of making the results public.

The field test was conducted at the SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing 2022 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Data from individual vehicle lidar are being compared to a data set from a survey-grade “ground truth” system. Bos is leading a group at MTU to help analyze those variations.

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The Detroit Free Press mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about a study estimating that 7,300 lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccine mandates on college campuses last year.

The study, conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at COVID-19 case data from August to November 2021 during the delta variant surge.

Michigan Tech was the only university mentioned in the story without a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

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Civil + Structural Engineer Magazine mentioned Michigan Tech Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering candidate Aynaz Biniyaz in a story announcing a record amount of scholarship funds awarded to students by the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust.

Biniyaz received a $5,000 award from the DFI Educational Trust General Fund.

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Battle Creek’s 104.9 The Edge WBXX-FM profiled Michigan Tech in a story on what incoming first-year Huskies need to know about MTU, the Upper Peninsula, the local community and the campus community.

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WLUC TV6 covered the alumni hockey game that wrapped up Michigan Tech's 100-Year Hockey Reunion.

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West Michigan Alumni Social And New Student Send-off

Wednesday, August 10, 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. | Millennium Park (Shelter A)

Join fellow alumni in welcoming new Michigan Tech students into the Husky family! Gather with us for snacks and a celebration as we send them up to Tech with our Husky spirit....