January 31, 2024

Michigan Tech's 2024 Spring Commencement will be held as two ceremonies: a Graduate Ceremony on April 26 at 3 p.m. and an Undergraduate Ceremony on April 27 at 10:30 a.m. Both will take place in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Michigan Tech faculty are cordially invited to participate in the faculty procession to support students in their department at either ceremony. Faculty presence means a great deal to the students and their families. Members of the procession wear regalia, march in the procession and sit as a group to show support for the graduates.

To participate in either ceremony, please submit the Faculty Participation Form by Feb. 21.

Faculty may order caps and gowns through the Campus Store’s Cap and Gown Order page before noon on Feb. 20 to receive the lowest price. Expedited shipping fees will apply to all orders placed after that date. Orders placed after noon on March 18 are not guaranteed to arrive before Spring Commencement.

The Commencement Team hopes you will join us!

On June 27, 2023, University Senate Proposal 18-23, “Proposal to Revise General Education Requirements (Essential Education) for Bachelor Degrees,” received final administrative approval. At the end of the fall 2023 semester, eight faculty and staff cross-curricular working groups were assembled and began full operation to implement the various components of the new Essential Education curriculum per the Senate proposal.

Following are mission descriptions for four of the eight Essential Education Implementation working groups. The remaining working groups’ report-outs will be published in Tech Today tomorrow (Feb. 1).

If you have any questions, comments or feedback about any of these working groups or about the implementation process, please contact the Essential Education Implementation Leadership Team at essential-ed-l@mtu.edu.

• Course List Working Group
  Deliverables include completing the binning of Essential Education courses by academic departments to support the development of the Essential Education minors, identify capacity of each category of courses by semester, and make recommendations on courses that could potentially be moved to different categories or areas of development. This working group is currently working with academic department liaisons to complete the binning process.
  
  
• Essential Ed Experience Working Group
  The group is tasked with identifying a list of current courses that align with the Essential Ed Experience vision, developing a sample syllabus for the three broad types of courses and liaising with the e-Portfolios Working Group to integrate that into the courses. It is developing an RFP for Experience courses, including wrapper courses and ones that can accommodate larger sections. A timeline will be developed for implementation of these courses and include suggestions on the development of future Experiences. Recommendations will also be provided for the job description for the Essential Ed Experience coordinator, including training/resource needs for instructors. Currently, the group is establishing a working definition of the Essential Ed Experience, benchmarking against peer higher education institutions.
  
  
• Michigan Tech Seminar Working Group
  This group is finalizing the required learning objectives and course elements of Michigan Tech seminar courses. This includes developing a syllabus template, proposing new modules to support the seminars, evaluating fall 2024 pilot offerings of required modules in existing courses, and proposing a transfer-student-specific version of the seminar course. Currently, the group is reviewing the goals, objectives, materials and campus resources already piloted or developed across campus.
  
  
• e-Portfolios Working Group
  This group will provide a recommendation for an e-Portfolio platform, craft an RFP to develop resources to help faculty and students adopt e-Portfolios, and coordinate the rollout of e-Portfolio throughout Essential Ed courses. E-Portfolios provide a method and framework for students to share their learning and achievements throughout their Michigan Tech journey. Building showcase e-Portfolios can help them secure their next professional steps beyond MTU. The group is piloting e-Portfolios started in fall 2023 and continuing this spring to provide recommendations. They are developing a statement of requirements/priorities for e-Portfolios at MTU.

A production system maintenance window is scheduled for Feb. 11 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. WebFOCUS will be unavailable during that time.

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

Career Fair will be Feb. 13 from 12-5 p.m. Career Services is actively seeking volunteers from the Tech community to contribute during this event.

We have a variety of shifts, tasks and responsibilities to fill. Your participation in this event is pivotal for the future success of many Huskies, and your assistance would be highly valued. We sincerely appreciate your willingness to help!

Visit the Spring Career Fair Volunteer Sign-up form to sign up. Thank you in advance!

IPEC's February newsletter is now available to our members and the campus community. We are back from the winter break and have new member publications to announce, co-sponsored events to preview and a podcast episode to promote!

Read February's newsletter now!

The January 2024 issue of the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) newsletter is available on our website. The newsletter provides updates on current MTTI member activities and highlights research projects from two principal investigators.

Topics include:

• Abolmajid Erfani (CEGE) Receives American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Award
• CEGE Student Honored with Award
• Member Activities at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting
• Upcoming Events
• Upcoming Funding Opportunities
• Project Highlight: "Evaluation of conditions that cause negative environmental impacts when using recycled concrete aggregate"
• Project Highlight: "Pavement Demonstration Projects Technical Reports"

Registration for Michigan Tech Recreation's next Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Open Water SCUBA Course will open next Wednesday (Feb. 7) at 8 a.m.

The course is conducted over two weekends and includes:

• Ten hours of academic instruction (some coursework to be completed independently),
• Ten hours of confined water training (SDC Pool), and
• Four certification dives in Lake Superior (Marquette).

Upon registration, students will be given all required reading material and paperwork to complete prior to the start of the course. Students must be 18 years old and be able to swim 200 yards comfortably. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to all class sites, including the SDC and dive location in Marquette.

Course Dates and Times:

• Friday, March 15 — 5-10 p.m., SDC
• Saturday, March 16 — 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., SDC
• Sunday, March 17 — 8 a.m. to noon, SDC
• Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14, or Saturday and Sunday, April 20-21 — Open Dives in Marquette (exact location and time TBA)

Cost is $575 per person (includes all instruction, fees and training materials). Class size is limited. The deadline to register is Feb. 29 at 11:59 p.m.

For more information, visit our PADI Open Water SCUBA Course page.

Please join the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) in congratulating the Fall 2023 GLRC Student Research and Travel Grant recipients.

The GLRC student grants are intended to provide undergraduate and graduate students advised by GLRC members an opportunity to gain experience in writing competitive grants, perform research they would not be able to attempt due to funding limitations or travel to a professional conference to present a poster or paper about their research.

Student grants also provide seed research data for advisors to use in pursuing externally funded research support, and travel grants help amplify areas of research expertise at Michigan Tech. Funded students are expected to participate/volunteer for at least one GLRC activity during the grant period.

Student Research Grants:

• Hunter Roose, M.S. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Jill Olin
  Research proposal: “Dietary niche variation of native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in sympatry with the congeneric non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)”

Student Travel Grants:

• Aritra Chakrabarty, Ph.D. student — Social Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Mark Rouleau
  Attending: International Association for Society and Natural Resources, 2023 Conference
  Presentation: “Advancing Climate Resilience in and through Education: The Role of Education Institutions in Just Energy Transition”
  
  
• Shelbie Wickett, Ph.D. student — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  GLRC member advisor: Ana Dyreson
  Attending: Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
  Presentation: “Trends in Solar PV Growth in Snowy Climates and Impact on Resource Adequacy”
  
  
• Abhishek Patil, Ph.D. student — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  GLRC member advisor: Jung Yun Bae
  Attending: 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting
  Presentation: “Task Allocation and Path Planning for Multiple Tethered Autonomous Underwater Vehicles”
  
  
• Libia Hazra, Ph.D. student — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  GLRC member advisors: Judith Perlinger and Noel Urban
  Attending: SETAC North America 44th Annual Meeting
  Presentation: “Food Web Structures in Lake Superior Revealed by Stable Isotopes Help to Trace Bioaccumulation Pathways of PCBs”
  
  
• Ryan Heines, M.S. student — Biological Sciences
  GLRC member advisor: Jill Olin
  Attending: 27th Biennial Conference of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
  Presentation: “Mechanisms of Co-Occurrence in Sympatric Saltmarsh Nekton with Implications for Coastal Wetland Restoration”
  
  
• Adnan Hilal, Ph.D. student — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  GLRC member advisor: Ana Dyreson
  Attending: Inaugural MultiSector Dynamics Workshop
  Presentation: “Data-Driven Analyses for Electrification and Weatherization Challenges Facing Rural Northern Communities”
  
  
• Muhammad Usman, Ph.D. student — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  GLRC member advisor: Hassan Masoud
  Attending: American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics
  Presentation: “Collective Hydrodynamics of Robotic Fish”

GLRC Student Travel Grant applications are accepted anytime and will be reviewed on the last Friday of each month. Applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance of travel. GLRC Student Research Grant applications are accepted three times each year — Nov. 1, March 1 and July 1.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is hosting a seminar presented by Ph.D. candidate Eli Harma tomorrow (Feb. 1) from 1-1:20 p.m. in M&M 610.

The presentation is titled "Modifying a 6xxx Series Aluminum Extrusion Alloy with Sc and Zr to improve the Mechanical Properties and Quench Sensitivity."

Harma is advised by Paul Sanders.

From the abstract:
Lightweighting of vehicle structures by using alloys with a high strength-to-weight ratio is one method used by automotive manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions and increase the range of electric vehicles. The 6xxx series of aluminum extrusion alloys have a high strength-to-weight ratio and good impact absorption properties, making them ideal for lightweight automotive applications. These properties can be modified using additions of Sc and Zr to form the Al3X precipitates phase, which can significantly increase the mechanical properties of the selected alloy. In this study, a 6008 Aluminum alloy is modified with 0.08wt% Sc and 0.16wt% Zr to identify the property changes of peak aged, extruded sheet given air cooled and water quench conditions. It is shown that adding Sc and Zr increased the ultimate tensile strength by 55 MPa in the air cooled condition and 56 MPa in the water quenched condition. While there is no decrease in bend or tear performance.

Speaker bio:
Harma graduated from Michigan Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering in spring 2022 and a master’s degree in materials science and engineering in summer 2023. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in his second semester studying aluminum extrusion alloys. Fields of interest include hot deformation flow stress analysis, EBSD analysis, alloy design, materials modeling for FEA models, and additive manufacturing.

Michigan Tech hockey's Isaac Gordon is the CCHA Rookie of the Week for the second straight week. It's the third time this season he's received the honor.

Gordon had a goal and an assist in the Huskies' CCHA series split at Lake Superior State over the weekend. He scored the lone goal for the Tech on Friday (Jan. 27) — his team-leading 13th of the season. Gordon then had the primary assist on the game-winning goal by Ryland Mosley on Saturday (Jan. 28).

Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Friday (Feb. 2)
• Counter-Strike 2 vs. Fisher College, 7 p.m. NACE Varsity Premier

Mark Your Calendars: Feb. 17 and 18
• GLIAC Tournament Championship for Esports

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

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Esports News
Read more in the MTU Esports weekly update.

Watch MTU Esports on Twitch.

Simon Carn (GMES) was quoted by Eos in a story reviewing the danger posed by central Mexico’s stratovolcano Popocatépetl.

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Keweenaw Now published a blog post written by master’s student Nyasha Milanzi (sustainable communities) reviewing the participation of Indigenous peoples at the COP28 climate conference, held Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

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The Michigan Chronicle, Michigan Business Network, Crain’s Detroit Business, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the University of Michigan mentioned Michigan Tech in stories about the state’s new Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund and the Michigan University Innovation Capital Consortium. Driven by a partnership of six Michigan universities, including Michigan Tech, the initiatives were created with a goal of supporting pre-seed startups and early-stage companies across the state. They will be administered by U-M’s Innovation Partnerships, which recently received a $5 million award from the Michigan Innovate Capital Fund to support the program.

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ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles International and the University of Michigan mentioned Michigan Tech in coverage of the U.S. Army’s new five-year agreement with the U-M’s Automotive Research Center. Worth up to $100 million, the agreement boosts work on autonomous vehicle technologies. MTU was listed among the center’s participating institutions.

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Yahoo! Finance quoted a 2021 Michigan Tech study in a story reviewing the energy savings that installing heat pumps or solar panels can nab for homeowners. The study, which tested multiple heating system designs in rural, residential buildings in the U.P. that rely on propane, was the subject of a 2021 story by Michigan Tech News.

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WJMN Local 3 covered researchers’ completion of the 2024 moose census on Isle Royale on Saturday (Jan. 27). The story also included some insights that could be included in the 2023-24 annual study of wolves and moose on Isle Royale, including warm temperatures that necessitated moving the research team’s survey plane off the melting Lake Superior ice.

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The Keweenaw Report covered Michigan Tech Recreation’s announcement that the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena will close after Spring Commencement through spring and summer 2024 for overdue maintenance.

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The Daily Mining Gazette mentioned Michigan Tech’s two University gardens in a story highlighting the agricultural and horticultural growth happening in the Western Upper Peninsula.

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WJMN Local 3 and the Daily Mining Gazette covered Michigan Tech hockey’s Isaac Gordon being named the CCHA Rookie of the Week for the second week in a row.

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The Iron Mountain Daily News mentioned Michigan Tech in stories about St. Albert the Great University Parish’s annual Ice Masses, held outdoors in an ice chapel constructed as part of Winter Carnival.

Apply for Undergraduate Research Internships

Pavlis Honors College (PHC) is accepting applications to the Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP) for the 2024-25 academic year. The internship program will run from September 2024 through mid-March 2025 and is open to any undergraduate student on campus with an identified faculty research mentor. Faculty and students who are already working together are welcome to apply.

PHC will provide $960 in funding for the student intern, with the expectation that faculty will provide equivalent matching funds to be dispensed concurrently, resulting in a total of $1,920 paid hourly throughout the internship. Faculty may make use of research funds, IRAD, and startup packages, or consult their chairs, deans or center/institute management to identify the source of their match.

Details regarding the application process can be found on the Pavlis Honors College website. Please share with fellow faculty and students who may be interested.

The deadline to submit applications is 5 p.m. March 22. Faculty must supply a letter of support as part of the application package. If you have questions about the submission process, please email Rob Handler at rhandler@mtu.edu.

The Undergraduate Research Internship Program is made possible with support from PHC and generous donations from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation and The DeVlieg Foundation.

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Let's Talk About It: Facilitating Difficult Conversations for Graduate Students

Are you a graduate student interested in developing skills that will assist you in facilitating difficult conversations? Please join us today (Jan. 31) from 2-4 p.m. for a Facilitating Difficult Conversations workshop.

This in-person workshop is open to all graduate students. The workshop will provide foundational information and practice for handling uncomfortable work and/or peer situations in a respectful and professional manner.

​The number of participants is limited to facilitate discussion, so please complete the registration form to save your spot. You will receive an email reminder before the event, which will confirm the location.

For more information, contact the Graduate School at gradschool@mtu.edu.

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Just Around the Corner: Spring Career Fair 2024

Michigan Tech's 2024 Spring Career Fair Forged by Nucor is just around the corner — it will be held Feb. 13 from noon until 5 p.m. at the Student Development Complex.

We are very excited about the many opportunities Career Fair provides our students. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Career Services is hosting multiple prep workshops to prepare students for this event. More details can be found on our website, on Handshake and in emails from Handshake. Registration is open on Handshake as well. Go Huskies!

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2023 Electronic W-2s Now Available on Banweb

Electronic W-2s for 2023 are now available on Banweb for all employees who have consented to an electronic copy. Paper W-2 forms will be mailed today (Jan. 31) if they have not already been mailed.

If you would like to receive an electronic copy of your W-2, it's not too late. Log in to Banweb and click the Employees box, then Tax Forms, and then Select Electronic Consent (W-2 and 1095-C). Click the box under "My Choice" and next to "Consent to receive W-2 electronically," then click Submit.

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WIBIT Wednesday: Today at the SDC Pool

MTU students, SDC Access Pass holders (minimum one-month) and WIBIT Wednesday Pass holders, come make a splash with our inflatable pool obstacle course called the WIBIT!

Events will be held this spring for current MTU students and SDC Access Pass holders (minimum one-month). Not a current student or SDC Access Pass Holder? Purchase a WIBIT Wednesday Pass (space is limited)!

Test your individual skills on the course or challenge a friend to a race across the obstacles. The course is set up in the deep water and requires users to be able to pass our swim test. See the WIBIT rules and swim test content on our website for more information.

There are many different pieces of the WIBIT and each event will have a featured combination. Potential featured pieces include:

• The Step — This piece allows users to climb up onto the course.
• The Base — Users must make their way across a horizontal surface. Be careful how fast you move, as it can get slippery!
• The Cliff — Users must navigate either side of a slope using the handles and their balancing skills.
• V-Connect — Users must use limited footing space to navigate across the horizontal structure.
• The Bridge — Users must navigate up and over an arched structure without falling through.
• The Slope — Users must climb up a six-foot wall that leads to a slide into the pool water below!

Upcoming WIBIT Dates, Times and Combinations:

• Wednesday, Jan. 31, from 5-8 p.m. — Step/Bridge/V-Connect/Cliff/Slope
• Wednesday, March 6, from 5-8 p.m. — Step/Bridge/V-Connect/Slope
• Wednesday, April 10, from 5-8 p.m. — Step/Bridge/Cliff/Slope

Come visit us at the pool to try out your skills! For more information, visit our WIBIT page.

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

How to Talk to Professionals

Wednesday, January 31, 10:15–10:45 a.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, 220 Career Services

Boost your confidence in communicating with professionals, in preparation for the Career Fair.

Let's Talk About it: Facilitating Difficult Conversations for Graduate Students

Wednesday, January 31, 2–4 p.m. | Please register to receive the location

Are you a graduate student interested in developing skills that will assist you in facilitating difficult conversations? Please join us for a Facilitating Difficult...

Students For Life General Meeting

Wednesday, January 31, 5–6 p.m. | Fisher 230

Students For Life general meeting

WIBIT Wednesday

Wednesday, January 31, 5–8 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

MTU Students, SDC Access Pass Holders (minimum 1-month) and WIBIT Wednesday Pass holders, come make a splash with our inflatable pool obstacle course called the WIBIT! Events...

Middle School Volleyball Development League

January 31, all day | Student Development Complex (SDC), Multi-Purpose Gym

A four-week developmental program for middle school girls in grades 7 & 8 to learn and improve their skills in preparation for the upcoming interscholastic season. This...