With the University being closed from Dec. 26 through Dec. 30 for the holiday break, Financial Services and Operations will not be processing payments during that time.
To ensure timely processing of payments for the University and Michigan Tech Fund before the holidays, please submit check requests by Thursday (Dec. 15).
Cap and gown pickup at the Campus Store begins today (Dec. 12) and ends Thursday (Dec. 15). Pickup hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the buyback window.
Please note: A photo ID is required to pick up regalia orders.
Help the Husky Food Access Network (FAN) make sure no Husky is hungry this holiday season. Studies have shown that as many as half of college students in the U.S. experience food insecurity. The pantry has distributed over 1,820 pounds of food since the start of the semester, and there's no sign of slowing down!
Keep the Michigan Tech community fed by donating any nonperishable food items or toiletries. Donations can be made at any time by leaving items outside the pantry (in the Fisher Hall alcove across from Fisher 135).
The pantry is particularly in need of:
The Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) office will be closed this Friday (Dec. 16) from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. for a departmental event.
The office will reopen at 1 p.m. Friday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Any questions can be directed to cdi@mtu.edu.
The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum annual holiday sale is going on now through Dec. 21. Enjoy 15% off* all minerals, home décor, books and most jewelry! Visit, call or message us on Facebook to find the perfect holiday gift or stocking stuffer for yourself or a loved one!
The museum gallery and gift shop are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also remember that admission to the gallery is waived for all MTU students, staff and faculty!
We will be closed for the holidays starting on Dec. 22 until we reopen on Jan. 16.
* Cannot be combined with other discounts.
This year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, organized by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) of Michigan Tech, wrapped up with great success. Seventeen participants competed at the MUB Ballroom for a place at the finals, held at the East Reading Room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library.
Each presentation was scored by a panel of judges from diverse academic backgrounds. The judges for the finals were Will Cantrell (Grad School/Physics), Andrew Storer (Provost/CFRES) and Mark Rhodes (SS).
Congratulations to the winners:
If you missed the competition, do not worry — you will be able to watch the finals on the GSG YouTube channel soon. Stay tuned!
GSG would like to thank all the volunteers, participants and judges for making this event possible.
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering student Grace Dykstra will present their doctoral proposal defense at 10 a.m. Wednesday (Dec. 14). The presentation will take place in Chem Sci 201 and via Zoom.
Dykstra's proposal defense is titled "Developing Electropolymerized Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Biosensors and Exploring their Fundamentals."
From the abstract:
With the growing biosensor industry and an increase in the use of portable point-of-care (POC) devices, the rapid development of biosensors will not stop anytime soon. Electrochemically synthesized molecularly imprinted polymers, referred to as “eMIPs,” offer the benefits of inherent stability, selectivity, and low-cost sensors, which could significantly improve the global accessibility to these POC devices, especially in areas where medical care is not widely accessible. These biosensors offer great advantages; however, their fundamental synthesis parameters and guidelines are not well understood, leading to a need for enhanced methods for their rational design. Herein a proposal for synthesizing eMIPs with machine learning techniques, molecular modeling simulations, and electrochemical surface plasmon resonance studies is explained, which can begin to close the knowledge gap in understanding the underlying fundamentals associated with eMIPs biosensor fabrication.
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering student Hunter Stoddard will present their doctoral proposal defense at 8 a.m. Wednesday (Dec. 14). The presentation will take place in Chem Sci 201 and via Zoom.
Stoddard's defense is titled "Single-Cell Protein Production Through Coupled Bio and Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastics: Challenges and Potential Economic and Environmental Impacts."
From the abstract:
... Coupling the biodegradation of waste plastics with chemical deconstruction of plastics can increase the rate of plastic degradation and upcycling into valuable products, such as single-cell protein as a food source. This research aims to investigate the viability of plastic waste as a substrate in single-cell protein production via microbial biodegradation by a consortium. The proposed research consists of three projects. The first is to determine which bioreactor conditions result in the greatest biomass yield and plastic substrate consumption, and how these conditions affect biofilm formation. The second project will determine the effect of microbial communities on resilience to perturbations and the production of single-cell protein biomass from deconstructed waste plastics in a bioreactor. The third and final project will be to determine the economic feasibility of using deconstructed waste plastic substrates to produce single-cell protein and the environmental impact of the process.
Shardul Tiwari ’22 (Ph.D., environmental and energy policy; adjunct instructor, SS) and Chelsea Schelly (SS) are co-authors of a paper published in Energy Research & Social Science.
The paper is titled "Conceptualizing resilience: An energy services approach."
*****
Part 6, the final installment of a six-part series authored by Karyn Fay (BioSci) and based on Michigan Tech's COVID-19 Testing Lab, has been published by Critical Values, a journal of the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
The series is titled "Meeting the Needs of a Rural Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Ups and Downs of Starting a University Based Clinical Lab for COVID-19 Testing From Idea to Final Completion."
The series is based on meeting notes compiled throughout the process and written by Fay with input from Karl Meingast (VPR). The meeting notes were compiled by Fay during the many Zoom meetings the laboratory group had over a nearly two-year span of time.
Completed series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Hassan Masoud (ME-EM/AIM) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $409,777 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.
The project is titled "CAREER: Collective Hydrodynamics of Robotic Swimmers and Surfers at High Reynolds Numbers."
This is a potential five-year project.
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Victor Busov (CFRES) is the PI on a project that has received a $193,431 research and development grant from the University of Maryland.
The project is titled "Elucidating the genetic components of the physiological and metabolic process governed by the TORC regulatory module in Poplar."
Hairong Wei (CFRES/CS/Math) is a co-PI on this project.
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Jill Olin (BioSci/GLRC) is the PI on a project that has received a $80,010 research and development contract from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
The project is titled "2023 Fishery-independent bottom longline survey of the mid-Atlantic golden tilefish stock."
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Jill Olin (BioSci/GLRC) is the PI on a project that has received a $28,764 research and development contract from the Stony Brook University.
The project is titled "Seasonal resource use dynamics of coastal nekton fishes."
This is a potential two-year project.
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Zack Fredin (CEGE/CTT) is the PI on a project that has received a $745,965 other sponsored activities contract from the Michigan Department of Transporation.
The project is titled "Michigan Local Bridge Load Rating and Inspection Support and Technology Transfer FY 2023 - 2025."
Chris Gilbertson (CEGE/CTT) is a co-PI on this project.
The Detroit News, Detroit Regional Chamber News, Crain’s Detroit Business and WWJ NewsRadio 950 mentioned Michigan Tech in stories about a $2 million grant aimed at funding projects to expand Michigan's high-tech workforce and build talent pipelines for the state’s auto, mobility and tech sectors.
The grant will fund a pilot project involving Michigan Tech and Kettering University to “engage, track, guide and retain” Michigan high school students in FIRST Robotics, Square One Network and VEX programs.
*****
Crain’s Detroit Business mentioned Michigan Tech in two of five stories in a series covering Traverse City’s research boom.
In one, Crain’s highlighted how Michigan Tech has “been notably expanding its reach” with a series of collaborations with Traverse City-based institutions. The other covered Michigan Tech and partners’ ongoing development of a new freshwater research center at the city’s Discovery Center and Pier.
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Former Husky and Handshake app co-founder Garrett Lord was profiled by Money.com as part of its new “Changemakers 2023” project, which highlights 50 innovators shaping Americans' finances.
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Michigan Tech alum Mike Milosh ’81 (mechanical engineering) was quoted by the Detroit News in a story about the “torturous legal odyssey” involving gold coins and bars recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Central America in the late 1980s.
According to a 2013 Michigan Tech News story, Milosh designed, built and operated the remotely operated underwater vehicle used in the recovery operations.
*****
Traverse City-based 20Fathoms mentioned Michigan Tech in a press release about the company’s growth in 2022. The startup incubator listed the development of its partnership with MTU as one of the year’s major highlights.
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Lansing’s 100.7 WITL-FM mentioned Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival 2023 in its list of “amazing Michigan winter festivals.”
Human Resources Office Closure
The Human Resources office will be closed Friday (Dec. 16) from noon until 5 p.m. for a departmental event.
The office will return to normal operating hours next Monday (Dec. 19). We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Any questions can be directed to humanresources@mtu.edu.
To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.
Mechanical Engineering Advisor: Trisha Sain An Experimentally Validated Computational Model for the Degradation and Fracture of Magnesium-Based Implants in a Chemically...
*****Get together with your peers to work on professional, personal and academic activities with help from undergrad and grad physics buddies! When: Every Monday evening from 5:30...
*****Youth Tennis Lessons: After school and weekend Youth Huskies Group Tennis Lessons are back this fall! Join by age group and level for some fun on the tennis courts! October 24...
