December 7, 2022

There’s no reason to toss an old trumpet when the Huskies Pep Band can bring it to new, flaming life.

It’s not clear how long the flaming trumpet tradition goes back, said Mike Christianson (VPA), director of bands. “I can tell you there was at least one flaming trumpet when I started here in 2012,” he said. “We have recently activated our fourth.”

Huskies Pep Band member Ryan Briggs ’23 (computer engineering) said he can imagine how the flamboyant innovation came about. “I could see a crafty engineer at one point saying, ‘I’ve got an idea.’“

Briggs shows his flaming trumpet in action and explains how it works at Stories from Husky Nation.

Applications for 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURFs) are now open. Fellowship recipients will spend the summer working on an individual research project under the guidance of a Michigan Tech faculty mentor.

SURFs are open to all Tech undergraduates who have at least one semester remaining after the summer term. Awards are up to $4,000. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 10.

Students who have questions about the program or application process can take advantage of a virtual drop-in advising session with the SURF coordinator Robert Handler (ChE).

Virtual drop-in advising sessions are scheduled for these dates:

• Thursday, Dec. 15, from 2-5 p.m. — Join via Zoom.
• Tuesday, Jan. 17, from 2-5 p.m. — Join via Zoom.

For more information and access to the application materials and instructions, visit the SURF webpage or contact Handler at rhandler@mtu.edu.

The University Senate is seeking nominations for senators at-large to represent our University constituencies, including the faculty and the professional (non-unionized) staff.

One of the features that sets Michigan Tech apart is our model of shared governance. Here, our Administration and University Senate believe that faculty and professional staff deserve a voice in University shared governance. Our institution benefits when all of us are engaged.

Employees who are interested in representing our non-unionized professional staff or faculty as a University senator at-large are encouraged to nominate themselves or someone else on the nomination form.

Senators at-large play an important role on the University Senate and within the greater University model of shared governance. At-large senators are meant to act to benefit the professional staff or faculty as a whole, regardless of their unit affiliation.

Individuals nominated should meet the senate's constituency requirements. Those elected will begin their terms immediately and will serve until July 1, 2025, with opportunity to extend that service.

If nominating someone else, please check with the individual before nominating them to confirm they are accepting of it. Nominations will close next Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 8 a.m.

This week, the Film Board is presenting "DC League of Super-Pets," which is rated PG.

Summary: Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in Metropolis. However, when the Man of Steel and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a ragtag group of animals to master their own newfound powers for a rescue mission.

Showings:

• Friday, Dec. 9 — 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 10 — 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m.

Located on Michigan Tech's campus in Fisher 135.

Tickets are $3 and concessions are $1. We hope to see you at the movie this weekend and have a great day.

The end of the semester often comes with a lot of stress. The Van Pelt and Opie Library wants to help! Along with campus partners we are planning things to help students ease stress, take much-needed breaks and tackle their studies. Below, you will find a full listing of finals week activities at the library!

• See Your Pets While You Study!
  Share your favorite pictures of your pets by tomorrow (Dec. 8). We'll compile your submissions into a slide show that will run on the library TVs during finals week.
  
  
• Brain Break Stations
  Give your brain some time off with games, coloring, snacks and other odds and ends to fidget with.
  
  • Location: First and Second Floors
    
    
• Pet Therapy — Friday, Dec. 9, and Sunday, Dec. 11, from 2-4 p.m.
  Spend time with trained therapy dog team Finney and Robin for adorable destressing.
  
  • Location: First Floor
    
    
• Pancake Dinner — Sunday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m.
  Up late studying? Grab some pancakes served up by campus administrators.
  
  • Location: MUB Commons
    
    
• Snack Attacks — Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 12, 14 and 15, in the Evenings
  With Student Mental Health and Well-being to keep you fueled and your brain powered up.
  
  • Location: All Floors

And as always, check out our productivity tools to keep things going — we have calculators, chargers, protractors, headphones and so much more to get you through your final push!

Associate Teaching Professor Aneet Narendranath (ME-EM) has been selected as one of nine international scholars for the International Alliance to Advance Learning in the Digital Era (IAALDE) VISTAS Colloquium Series.

In a first phase, IAALDE has called for ambitious midcareer researchers, pre-tenured or recently tenured, who are developing and implementing a long-range research vision (think: 5-10 years ahead) and are therefore interested in discussing their research vision with peers from multiple societies and different disciplinary backgrounds.

The goal of the VISTAS (Vision, Inspiration, Synergy, and Transformation Across Societies) Colloquium Series on Learning and Technologies Research is to create a discussion space where researchers can connect with one another to explore ideas across multiple disciplinary and society perspectives. It is envisioned to inspire transformative research and to improve our societies by better connecting researchers to one another and to cross-disciplinary ideas.

A graduate of Michigan Technological University, Narendranath’s teaching interests include classical mechanics, numerical methods for differential equations and symbolic solution packages. His research interests focus on numerical solutions and applications to engineering of nonlinear partial differential equations and low Reynolds Number fluid physics.

Congratulations to Narendranath on achieving this honor.

The Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) and Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) are excited to announce the recipients of the first round of Rapid Research Seedling Grants.

The following principal investigators (PIs) and co-principal investigators (co-PIs) received seedling grants for projects to be conducted during spring semester 2023:

• PI: Sidike Paheding (AC/IC)
  Co-PIs: Dukka KC (CS/ICC) and Thomas Oommen (GMES/GLRC)
  Award: $10,000
  
  
• PI: Leo Ureel II (CS/ICC/GLRC)
  Award: $9,400
  
  
• PI: Daisuke Minakata, (CEGE/GLRC)
  Co-PIs: Bruce Lee (BioMed), Ravindra Pandey (Physics) and Jiehong Guo of the University of Minnesota
  Award: $10,000
  
  
• PI: Siram Malladi (ME-EM/GLRC)
  Award: $10,000

Together, the GLRC and ICC are committing $100,000 in Rapid Research Seedling Grants for projects conducted during spring semester 2023, summer semester 2023 and fall semester 2023.

The intent of this opportunity is to provide faculty and research staff funds for idea development and data collection that will quickly enable large externally sponsored funding requests.

Proposals will be accepted from Michigan Tech tenured, tenure-track and research faculty; and research scientists and engineers. Any individual researcher is eligible to receive up to one award per calendar year as a PI.

Applications are due March 1 (for the summer award), and July 1 (for the fall award). Awards will be announced within one month of the funding cycle deadline. Projects should have a duration of one semester with request amounts not to exceed $10,000.

Awardees must be an affiliated member of the GLRC and/or ICC and are expected to assign a center/institute of the GLRC or ICC to any subsequent proposals and awards generated using the data developed/enabled with the rapid seedling funding.

The application form, additional information and instructions can be found in the Member Resources section of the GLRC Institute webpage and on the ICC website. Please send questions to glrc-icc-admin-l@mtu.edu.

Ashutosh Tiwari (Chem) will be presenting his seminar on "Protein Aggregates' Structural Diversity and Toxicity" as part of the Chemistry Seminar Series.

Tiwari will present the seminar in person at 3 p.m. Friday (Dec. 9) in Chem Sci 101.

Please join us for the final Mathematical Sciences Weekly Colloquium from 1-2 p.m. this Friday (Dec. 9) via Zoom.

Our guest speaker will be Sining Gong of Brown University.

The title of the presentation is "Convergence of Lagrange FEM for Maxwell Eigenvalue Problem in 3D."

The Department of Biological Sciences (BioSci) invites you to join us from 3-4 p.m. tomorrow (Dec. 8) for a year-end student showcase as part of BL4600 Professional Development Capstone for Biological Sciences – Student Showcase Experience.

Students in biological sciences engage in a variety of experiential learning opportunities, ranging from independent undergraduate research to internship, teaching assistance and field/lab intensive coursework. In this year-end showcase, 19 students from the fall 2022 section of BL4600 will share their experiences and lessons learned in short presentations. There will be eight poster presentations, nine short oral presentations and two computer projects presented in a showcase format.

Please come and support our senior students as they share their experiences and prepare for graduation! If you are currently an undergraduate in biological sciences, this will be a great opportunity to learn from our graduating seniors about the range of experiences and opportunities you might want to pursue during your time at Michigan Tech.

Details:

• What: BL4600 Professional Development Capstone for Biological Sciences – Student Showcase Experience
• When: Thursday, Dec. 8, 3-4 p.m.
• Where: Department of Biological Sciences, in the Dow Atrium and adjacent areas

The next Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) Graduate Seminar Speaker will present at 4 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 8) in MEEM 112.

Hunter Williams will present “Building the Lunar Electrical Grid to Kickstart Lunar Permanence.”

Williams is the technology development manager for Honeybee Robotics Exploration Systems Division. He has built and tested pneumatic sampling systems for use on the moons of Mars and regolith melting technology for electrolysis plants the moon.

Friday (Dec. 9)
• League of Legends vs. Northern Kentucky 5:30 p.m. NECC Conference Championship. Watch the Twitch stream.
• Rocket League A vs. TBD Great Lakes Collegiate RL December Minor 6 p.m.

Times are subject to change. Check Twitter @MTUEsports for updates.

*****

Esports News
Read more in the MTU Esports weekly update.

Michigan Tech football linebacker Marc Sippel has been named to the 2022 All-Super Region 3 Second Team Defense by the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner's Association. 

Sippel finished second in NCAA Division II tackles with 131 (58 solo) during the regular season. He led the GLIAC in the category by a margin of 26.0. Sippel also collected 13.5 tackles for loss (fourth), 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and two passes broken up. He achieved a season-high 15.0 tackles at Hillsdale College on Nov. 5.

Read more about Sippel's season at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Graduate students Chathura de Alwis and Mikhail Trought (chemistry), and Assistant Professor Kathryn A. Perrine (Chem) are co-authors of a paper published in Applied Surface Science.

The paper, titled "Probing the initial stages of iron surface corrosion: Effect of O2 and H2O on surface carbonation," was published online on Nov. 8.

Slavomir Nemsak and Ethan Crumlin at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are also co-authors.

The study finds that iron surfaces catalyze the oxidation of hydrocarbons to form surface carbonates, uncovering mechanisms for understanding the initial stages of corrosion and redox reactions relevant for environmental chemical processes, geochemical transformation and pipeline corrosion.

Assistant Professor Kathryn Perrine (Chem) gave an oral presentation at the American Vacuum Society meeting, held Nov. 6-11 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Perrine presented their group’s research, “Probing Surface Chemistry in Complex Environments: Water Disinfectants and Ionic Solutions at the Air/Liquid/Iron Interface.”

Students are acknowledged who participated in the projects*: graduate students Chathura de Alwis and Subash Pandey (chemistry), and undergraduate students Danica Lemmons and Ryan Mackie (chemistry) and Drew Kolodge (materials science and engineering).
* Supported by NSF CHE 2108316. Lemmons was also supported by the Rebecca Sandretto and Susan Stackhouse Summer 2022 Research Fellowship.

Simon Carn (GMES) was mentioned by Down To Earth in a story about how eruptions by volcanoes Mauna Loa and Mount Semeru could impact global climate. 

The story referenced a string of Twitter posts written by Carn about Mauna Loa’s eruption. 

*****

Joe Shawhan (ATH) was quoted by FloHockey in its weekly "CCHA RinkRap," which covered the surprisingly quick acclimation of Michigan Tech’s new crop of hockey players.

*****

Hometown Life mentioned Michigan Tech in a story seeking to explain why Michigan’s climate makes fixing the state’s roads such a challenge.

The story was picked up from the Detroit Free Press.

Huskies Swim Lessons and Clinics!

Come make a splash with us! Registration for the following spring 2023 Session 1 swim programs opens today (Dec. 7) at 8 a.m.:

• American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim Levels 1-5
  
  
• American Red Cross Parent and Child Aquatics (ages 6 months to 3 years) and Preschool Aquatics (ages 4 to 5 years)
  
  
• Huskies Swim Clinic* (ages 6-17 looking to improve their swimming skills and fitness levels)
  * Participants must have swimming knowledge and ability equivalent to Level 6 or higher of the American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim program.

Check out the Michigan Tech Recreation website for more details and registration information.

See you at the pool! Go Huskies!

*****

ChE Seminar: 'Glycoengineering for a Cleaner, Healthier, and Sweeter Future'

Shishir Chundawat will present a virtual seminar Friday (Dec. 9) as part of the Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE) Seminar Series. This seminar can be viewed via Zoom.

The seminar is titled "Glycoengineering for a Cleaner, Healthier, and Sweeter Future."

Read the abstract on the University Events Calendar.

Chundawat is an associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University, New Jersey. His multidisciplinary research works with carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), protein modeling and engineering, carbohydrate chemistry, biomanufacturing, and developing novel analytical techniques for characterization of glycans and protein/CAZymes-glycan interactions.

*****

Cans for Kids Toys on Display in the Library

This past semester, $596 in returnables was collected in the ninth year of the Cans for Kids toy drive.

The toys will be charitably donated to children in need within our community and are on display at the circulation desk in the Van Pelt and Opie Library. They will be picked up Friday (Dec. 9) at 9 a.m.

If you would like to donate a new, unwrapped toy at the circulation desk before Friday, it would be welcome and very much appreciated!

*****

Lunch and Learn: Back to Exercise Basics

Please join us tomorrow (Dec. 8) at noon in the MUB Superior Room, B001, for a Lunch and Learn on Back to Exercise Basics.

With so much information out there about exercise and movement, what should we be focusing on and how do we get started? Angela Luskin, health and fitness manager from Portage Health, will discuss healthy goals and plenty of ideas to get started. Join us for this fun and informative session!

Please email benefits@mtu.edu to reserve your seat today!

Join us via Zoom if you can't attend in person.

This Lunch and Learn counts toward Option 2 in your Husky Health Checklist.

*****

MonsterComp Student Poster Presentations

MonsterComp is an unofficial name for a uniquely designed and facilitated “incarnation” of UN1015 Composition. In addition to introducing students to college writing in a diverse and highly collaborative environment, MonsterComp serves as an introduction to college teaching for the Department of Humanities' graduate teaching assistants.

The MonsterComp students will present posters in a dynamic poster symposium model to talk about their semester's research in relation to the ROBOT101 theme. Come join us and learn about their research!

Details:

• What: MonsterComp Student Poster Presentations
• When: 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7
• Where: In person in the U. J. Noblet Forestry Building Atrium

*****

Alumni Awards 2023 Nomination Period Closing Soon!

There is still time for you to help the Alumni Board of Directors identify outstanding alumni and friends for recognition during the 2023 Alumni Awards program, but not much! The nomination period closes Dec. 31, so be sure to submit your nomination soon.

The five distinct Alumni Award categories include:

• Outstanding Young Alumni
• Honorary Alumni
• Outstanding Service
• Humanitarian
• Distinguished Alumni (the highest honor)

Check out each unique webpage to review award definitions and their respective nomination forms. Call 906-487-2400 or write to us at alumni@mtu.edu if you have any questions or concerns. Remember that nominations will close Dec. 31.

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

Huskies Group Swim Lessons and Huskies Swim Clinic

Wednesday, December 7, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Come make a splash with us! Registration for the following Spring 2023 Session 1 programs opens Wednesday, December 7th at 8:00am! American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim...

Session 1 Spring 2023 Huskies Swim Clinic and Huskies Learn to Swim

Wednesday, December 7, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Come make a splash with us! Registration for the following Spring 2023 Session 1 programs opens Wednesday, December 7th at 8:00am! American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim...

ROBOT101 Poster Session 2

Wednesday, December 7, 11 a.m. | Wadsworth Hall, G42W

ROBOT 101 will present two in-person student poster sessions in December. These are the final ROBOT101 events. The posters have been prepared by first-year students in the...

ROBOT101: Poster Session 2

Wednesday, December 7, 11 a.m. | Wadsworth Hall, G42W

ROBOT 101 will present two in-person student poster sessions in December. These are the final ROBOT101 events. The posters have been prepared by first-year students in the...

Health Hut

Wednesday, December 7, 12 p.m.–2 p.m. | Library (Exhibit Hall)

Stop by the Well-being Advocates table in the library on 12/7 for their last Health Hut of the semester! This month they will be focusing on the Be-Well faction of "live...

Virtual Fidelity Workshop: Navigating Market Volatility

Wednesday, December 7, 12 p.m.–1 p.m.

Navigating Market Volatility: If you’re concerned about the current market downturns: Thisworkshop will review what is happening in the markets and why—and help answeryour...

Students For Life General Meeting

Wednesday, December 7, 5 p.m.–6 p.m. | Fisher 132

Students For Life General Meeting

Crepes and Coloring

Wednesday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. | MUB Commons

Join us for a tasty stress reliever!! Take a break from finals studying and join us for fresh crepes made right in front of you with a filling of your choice, and color some...