May 30, 2023

Michigan Tech track and field's Clayton Sayen concluded his historic career at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colorado, on Thursday (May 25).

Sayen ran in the first heat for the men's 1,500 meters. He battled the wind and his competitors in commendable fashion, but slid back to finish eighth in 3:53.60. His heat proved to be the faster of the two, providing three of the four runners who qualified for the final. Overall, Sayen placed 15th in the event.

Sayen was in good position through the first 300 meters, sitting in fourth, before settling into the race in the second lap to move to 10th. Following some contact with other runners in the field in the third lap, Sayen could not recover when he hit the bell lap, concluding his career for the Huskies.

"It was an emotional day for me filled with happiness, sadness and gratefulness," Sayen said. "It wasn't my best day on the track, but it was the best effort I could give. It's always sad falling short of a goal, but looking back on my career only makes me happy.

"I'm beyond grateful for the support from my coaches, family and my teammates, especially the ones who made the trip out to come watch. My time as a Husky has been great and I'm happy to have been part of a program that has seen such improvement over my five years. I'm thankful for the opportunity that Michigan Tech has given me and I look forward to this program growing and improving moving forward."

Read more about Sayen's record-breaking track and field career at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

A team from the Department of Chemistry, led by Associate Professor Christo Christov, has published an article in Chemistry – A European Journal. Co-authors include Ph.D. graduate Shobhit S. Chaturvedi (currently a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA); Ph.D. students Midhun George Thomas and Simahudeen Bathir Jaber Sathik Rifayee; undergraduate students Walter White (chemistry), Jon Wildey (chemical engineering) and Cait Warner (biological sciences); and Associate Professor Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova. Chaturvedi and Thomas are the leading authors of the article with equal contributions.

The article is titled “Dioxygen Binding is Controlled by the Protein Environment in Non-Heme Fe(II) and 2-Oxoglutarate Oxygenases: A Study on Histone Demethylase PHF8 and an Ethylene Forming Enzyme.” It was selected for a journal cover image with an author cover profile. 

Robert P. Hausiinger and Jian Hu from Michigan State University, and Christopher J. Schofield of the University of Oxford, U.K., are also co-authors of the article.

This research is supported by National Institutes of Health grant 1R15GM139118 NSF grant 2203630.

The study reveals the vital role of the protein dynamics in dioxygen transport to the Fe(II) center in the non-heme Fe(II) enzymes, and that the second coordination sphere controls the binding modes of the dioxygen to the Fe(II) center in PHF8 histone demethylase and the ethylene forming enzyme (EFE) to form respectively in-line and off-line reactive Fe(III)-superoxo complexes that productively initiate the catalytic process.

Libby Meyer (VPA) was quoted by the Daily Mining Gazette in a story about the return of the Pine Mountain Music Festival in June. The first event will be a performance by soprano Christine Seitz and composer/guitarist Paul Seitz at MTU’s McArdle Theatre on Saturday (June 3) at 7:30 p.m. 

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Adam Meckler (VPA) and Hannah Rundman were mentioned by the Iron Mountain Daily News in a story that previewed the musicians who performed at Houghton’s From the Ground Festival last Saturday (May 27) at Houghton Pier.

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The Flint Courier News mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about a new statewide campaign to promote careers, recruit talent and attract businesses in the state’s semiconductor industry. The campaign was the subject of a Michigan Economic Development Corporation press release, and will include a scholarship program similar to the $10,000 EV Scholars scholarship announced in February. Michigan Tech students will be eligible to apply.

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WLUC TV6 mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about a nest box built by Ishpeming students for placement at Cliffs Shaft Museum. MTU provided the students with instructions for building the box.

GLRC Invited Campus Talk with Ben Kopec

Please join us in GLRC 202 today (May 30) from 3-4 p.m. for an invited campus talk by Ben Kopec titled “Tracing the roles of sea ice in the Arctic water cycle.”

From the abstract:
A fundamental change in the Arctic has been the amplification of its water cycle. This amplification is driven by new ocean‐atmosphere interactions resulting from sea ice loss and the opening of Arctic ocean waters. The impacts of this amplified water cycle are widespread across the Arctic’s terrestrial and marine systems, and it is thus critical to understand the spatial and temporal variations in these ice‐ocean‐atmosphere interactions. One particularly valuable method to assess processes associated with the Arctic’s water cycle is through major advances in tracing the components of the hydrologic cycle with water isotope measurements (δ18O, δD, deuterium excess). In this presentation, I will share isotopic observations from a suite of Arctic cruises to 1) trace changing ocean‐atmosphere interactions and subsequent increases in evaporation (atmospheric freshening), and 2) identify the sources and impacts of increased freshwater influxes to the Arctic seas (ocean freshening). I will show how these measurements directly above and below the ocean surface offer a unique opportunity to constrain changes within Arctic systems, and explore how these approaches can be used to examine components of the water cycle around the globe.

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Library Acquisitions Pause Begins Friday

The Van Pelt and Opie Library will pause item purchasing for library collections effective Friday (June 2). Purchases will resume next Saturday (July 10).

This pause occurs annually as part of the library’s transition to a new fiscal year. Purchase recommendations and item requests received after Friday will be considered, but held for purchase until next Saturday when the pause ends.

Questions? Contact library@mtu.edu.

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Retirement Social for Dave Hale

Michigan Tech IT invites the campus community to a social to honor Dave Hale, who will retire Friday (June 2).

The social will be held today (May 30) from 2-4 p.m. in the Memorial Union Building Ballroom. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Hale has served Michigan Tech for over 26 years and has led the success of Information Technology's security team. Join us in celebrating his career, thanking him for his service, and to wish him well.

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MS Defense: Sai Teja Mummadi, CS

M.S. in Computer Science candidate Sai Teja Mummadi will present their final oral examination ("defense") tomorrow (May 31) at 1 p.m. in Rekhi 214. Virtual attendance is also invited via Zoom. 

The title of Mummadi's talk is "Machine Learning and Deep Learning Approaches for Gene Regulatory Network Inference in Plant Species."

Read the abstract on the Computing News Blog.

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University Staff Service Awards

The annual University Staff Service Awards will be held next Wednesday (June 7) in the MUB Ballroom. The University's president and the Staff Council chair will present awards for five-year increments of service to more than 100 staff members this year. Recent staff retirees are also recognized. Thank you to the Office of the President for their continued support and funding for the Staff Service Awards luncheon and awards.

Congratulations and thank you to our amazing staff for your service and commitment to Michigan Tech. The staff members who will be honored for reaching a five-year anniversary date this fiscal year are listed on the Staff Service Awards 2023 Honorees page.

This year’s luncheon will feature a fajita and taco salad bar (including vegetarian and gluten-free options). Tickets are $12 and may be purchased online — they must be purchased by Thursday (June 1). Please note there is no reserved seating; it is first come, first served. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. If you are unable to attend the lunch, you may join the awards presentation beginning at approximately 12:15 p.m.

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Campus Store, University Images Closed for Inventory

The Campus Store closed for inventory last Thursday (May 25) at 1 p.m. and will remain closed through tomorrow (May 31).

University Images is closed for inventory today and tomorrow, (May 30 and 31).

Both stores will resume normal summer hours next Thursday (June 1).

We will be open online at bookstore.mtu.edu while our stores are closed. We'll process orders as soon as we reopen!

If you're interested in hearing more about our sales, promotions and special events, send an email to campusstore@mtu.edu and request to join HuskyDeals.

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

No events are scheduled for today. Visit the University Events Calendar.