March 9, 2026

Today, Michigan Tech’s Board of Trustees and University President Rick Koubek announce the public phase of The Campaign for Michigan Tech, a comprehensive capital campaign with a goal of $350 million.

This campaign, the most ambitious fundraising initiative in the institution’s history, will drive Michigan Tech forward to further claim its place as one of the nation’s premier technological universities.

“We’ve reached a pivot point in our trajectory,” said Koubek. “Michigan Tech is in a position of strength because of the past and present work of our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends. We want to remain true to Tech, and it’s critical we keep driving forward to meet the needs of the state, nation, and world for the next 140 years.”

The official launch of the public phase of the campaign will coincide with Give Back to the Pack, Tech’s annual 24-hour giving challenge, which will begin at noon on April 7.

Give Back to the Pack invites all Huskies to support the areas at Michigan Tech that mean the most to them. Find out how to participate at Michigan Tech News.

A new Materials Characterization and Fabrication Core Facility (MCFF) has been formed at Michigan Tech under the Vice President for Research Office (VPR).

The MCFF brings expertise and equipment from three existing shared facilities:

• Microfabrication Facility (MFF)
• Microanalytics Facility (MAF), including:
  • Laboratory for Environmental Analysis of Forests (LEAF)
  • Chemical Advanced Resolution Methods Lab (ChARM)
  • Aquatics Analysis Lab (AQUA)
• Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL)

The MCFF’s unified structure allows for streamlined operations, strengthened staff capacity, improved access to instrumentation and continued support for Michigan Tech researchers.

The MCFF will be directed by Elizabeth (Liz) Miller, who brings six years of experience managing shared facility operations. During this transition, Miller will collaborate closely with the previous shared facility directors. 

Current staffing remains unchanged, preserving decades of combined experience in operating shared facilities. Users can continue working with the same knowledgeable staff they have relied on.

Thank you to Miller, Paul Bergstrom and Andy Burton for all their hard work over the past year to envision and execute the creation of this new core facility. Special appreciation to the previous shared facility directors for their years of leadership and dedication:

• Paul Bergstrom (ECE), faculty director of MFF
• Andy Burton (CFRES), faculty director of LEAF and MAF 
• Michael Gretz (BioSci), faculty director of ChARM
• Amy Marcarelli (BioSci), faculty director of AQUA
• Liz Miller (AVPRIF), director of ACMAL

Any questions or feedback? Contact Miller at eafraki@mtu.edu to start a conversation.

The Center for Innovation in Sustainability and Resilience (CISR) is accepting applications for the CISR Seed Research Funding Award. Proposals can be developed and submitted in three tracks of seed funding: 

• Track 1 — “Early Career” Awards
  Designed to complement or expand research efforts that may have also been supported by start-up funds for early career faculty.

• Track 2 — “New Directions” Awards
  Designed to support established researchers who are pursuing new ideas or topics around sustainability and resilience themes.

• Track 3 — “Gap” Awards
  Designed to address gaps in personnel, data analysis or other research needs created by sudden disruptions or instability in federal research funding streams in areas related to sustainability and resilience.

More details on proposal tracks, proposal requirements and submission instructions are available online.

The spring 2026 application deadline is April 1, but rolling submissions and inquiries are encouraged. Awards are targeted in the range of $10,000-$15,000. The timing and types of expenditures are flexible, but generally spending should start in fiscal year 2026 (spending starts before June 2026).

Potential submitters are encouraged to reach out to Ana Dyreson at adyreson@mtu.edu with questions.

CISR looks forward to receiving your inquiries and applications!

Career Services invites faculty and staff to engage with students this month — and the remainder of the semester — through opportunities designed to spark conversation and support students as they explore career paths.

Coffee Chats in the Library — March 11 and 12
Career Services will be tabling in the Van Pelt and Opie Library on March 11 and 12, and faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by for informal conversations about career development, student questions you’re hearing, or topics you’d like to explore. If you’re interested in joining the discussion, you can reserve a slot using the scheduler.

For questions or to arrange a different meeting time, contact Liz Fujita at liz@mtu.edu.

Workshops and Events Still Ahead This Semester
Several student‑focused workshops and events remain on the spring calendar and are detailed on the Career Services website. Please help promote these opportunities broadly within your departments and networks. Faculty and staff are also welcome to attend any session that aligns with your interests or advising needs.

For questions about upcoming workshops, contact Melissa Michaelson at mmichael@mtu.edu.

The Commencement Team is seeking volunteers for Michigan Tech’s Spring Commencement ceremonies. We need volunteers to help with pre-ceremony setup, serve as greeters and ushers, coordinate graduate check-in, assist with ticketing and bag checks, and assist guests with special seating accommodations.

More information regarding the undergraduate and graduate ceremonies may be found on the Commencement website. 

 Please sign up by April 17 if you would like to volunteer. Contact Tiffany Jaeger at tiffanyj@mtu.edu if you have any questions.

These special events cannot happen without the help of our amazing Michigan Tech community!

As we welcome spring-like weather and “open-window season” begins at Michigan Tech, Facilities Management would like to remind everyone to close windows when leaving classrooms, offices and other campus spaces.

Warm afternoons can quickly turn into chilly nights. Leaving windows open not only causes our heating systems to run unnecessarily, but can also lead to frozen pipes and potential damage as temperatures drop overnight.

Thank you for helping to protect our buildings and conserve energy by closing windows before you leave.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Facilities Management at facilities@mtu.edu or 906-487-2303. 

25 Years of Stripes on the Wall – Huskies Pep Band
Tuesday, March 10 | 7:30 p.m.
Rozsa Backstage
Michigan Tech Music Series

Tomorrow, March 10, the Huskies Pep Band celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the Rosza Center for Performing Arts with a dynamic, fiery show of classic rock and pop tunes arranged for the best damn band in the land. Join them live backstage or stream it online!

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Choral Pops – Choirs of Michigan Tech
Saturday, March 14 | 7:30 p.m.
Rozsa Center
Michigan Tech Music Series

On Saturday, March 14, the Choirs of Michigan Tech perform arrangements of popular music including songs by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Tears for Fears. The choirs will also perform selections that are popular in the choral world and other selections from traditions in the Middle East (Palestine, Israel, Iran). Visit the Rozsa this weekend for a fun evening of popular choral hits!

Hello Colleagues Interested in Aerospace Research,

As the director of the MTU Aerospace Research Center (MARC) under the Frontiers Research Institute (FRI), I have been wanting to organize a workshop for a while. The workshop is intended to get to know other faculty members interested in doing aerospace research on campus and identify common areas of interest for future research proposals and collaboration.

The available workshop dates are Fridays: either March 20 or March 27 from 3-4:30 p.m. Please RSVP using the Aerospace Research Workshop Dates form to indicate your availability for either date, or to indicate you can't make it but want to be kept informed of any initiatives.

I look forward to meeting all of you and learning about your research work and interests. Please respond on or before Friday, March 13. Once responses are received, additional information will follow about the workshop format and other details.

Best Regards.

Please join the Center for Innovation in Sustainability and Resilience for the March CISR Research Discussion, where Dan Shtob of Michigan Tech's Department of Social Sciences will be presenting.

CISR Research Discussion with Dan Shtob
Friday, March 13, at Noon in the Library East Reading Room
Add the CISR Research Discussion to Your Google Calendar.

There will be snacks and good company; please join!

This event is hosted by Center for Innovation in Sustainability and Resilience, a research center in Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center research institute.

Please join the Department of Mathematical Sciences in Fisher Hall 326 on Thursday, March 12, from noon to 1 p.m. for our Graduate Student Seminar Series.

Refreshments will be provided. Contact the math department’s graduate program assistant, Andi Schoch, at ajschoch@mtu.edu or in person in Fisher 318, with any questions. 

This week, Dennis Obideyi will present “RBF–FD Discretization with Interface Coupling for Eigenvalue Problems in Step-Index Optical Fibers”.

From the abstract:
Guided modes of step-index optical fibers can be formulated as a transverse Helmholtz eigenvalue problem with a discontinuous refractive index and transmission conditions at the core–cladding interface. Traditional body-fitted finite element discretizations represent the material interface explicitly in the mesh to accurately capture coefficient jumps and geometric curvature, which can require curved-element meshing and local refinement. We present a mesh-free radial basis function finite difference (RBF–FD) discretization based on polyharmonic splines augmented with polynomials, operating on scattered nodes without requiring interface-fitted meshing. Discrete operators are constructed independently in the core and cladding and coupled through algebraic constraints enforcing continuity of the field and its normal flux across the interface, yielding a block generalized eigenvalue problem for λ = β². The method demonstrates high-order convergence of the effective index and attains O(10⁻⁷) accuracy on refined node sets while accurately capturing modal confinement with reduced geometric complexity.

Department of Physics graduate students will be presenting their research progress at this week's Physics Colloquium:

• Shikha Rani (advised by Tiffany Lewis and Hester Schutte)
• Richard Petarius (advised by Robert Nemiroff)

This will be an in-person event. The students will give their talks at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, in Fisher 139.

Event details, including the students’ presentation titles and abstracts, are available on the University Events Calendar.

Xiangcheng Sun will present as part of the Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE) Seminar Series on Friday, March 13, at 10 a.m. in person in the Library East Reading Room or virtually via Zoom.

Join the ChE Seminar on Zoom.

Sun will present “Fluorescent probes for single molecule catalysis and chemical sensing”.

Read Sun’s abstract and bio on the University Events Calendar.

Sun is an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Mining Journal and the Office of the Governor mentioned Michigan Tech in coverage of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest appointments to state boards and commissions, noting the reappointment of Robin Chosa (OIC) to the Michigan Board of Counseling and the appointment of Christine Roberts to MTU’s Board of Trustees.

Winter Weather Safety Reminder

This is a reminder for departments to continue communicating procedures regarding weather-related absences.

During times when weather conditions deteriorate, each member of the University community must exercise personal judgment about their ability to get to or from campus safely. Interruptions in work due to weather are no different from other events that cause us to leave work early or arrive late.

If any employee’s work schedule is affected by winter weather, the first thing they should do is contact their supervisor directly and explain the situation. Hourly employees may use vacation or comp time to make up for hours missed due to bad weather. Exempt employees are expected to fulfill their regular job responsibilities.

Employees should contact Human Resources at 906-487-2280 with questions or concerns.

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Tech Tutors Workshop Offering Free K-12 Academic Support

Michigan Technological University’s Tech Tutors program will host a free academic support workshop for K-12 students this week! The workshop will take place on Thursday, March 14, from 3-5 p.m. in Room 244 on the second floor of the Van Pelt and Opie Library.

The Tech Tutors Workshop is open to K-12 students of all skill levels and offers individualized, one-on-one tutoring across a variety of subjects. Michigan Tech student tutors will be available to support learners in math, science, writing and additional academic areas, adapting assistance to meet each student’s specific needs.

The workshop is designed to be accessible and welcoming to all students and families. Participation is completely free, and snacks will be provided during the event. Students may attend as walk-ins or choose to sign up for the Tech Tutors workshop in advance.

Through initiatives like Tech Tutors, Michigan Tech continues to strengthen its commitment to community engagement and educational outreach by connecting University students with local learners in a supportive academic environment.

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March HR Connect Session: EPAF Walk-Through

March’s Monthly HR Connect session spotlights EPAFs — Electronic Personnel Action Forms. Join us virtually on Zoom tomorrow, March 10, from 1-2 p.m. EDT for an EPAF walk-through.

Why you should join:

• Stay Informed: This will be a walk-through of EPAF categories and EPAF screens.
• Open Forum: Bring your questions for our live Q&A session at the end of the hour.

Join the March HR Connect Session on Zoom.

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Research Security Info Session: Export Controls and FNRs

Join Chief Research Security Officer Matt Hellman and the Research Security team tomorrow, March 10, from noon to 1:30 p.m. for an informational session on export controls and foreign national restrictions (FNRs). 

This hybrid session is being offered both in person in the MUB Alumni Lounge (MUB 107) and remotely via Zoom. It will not be recorded.

Join the Research Security Info Session on Zoom.

Please reach out to researchsecurity-l@mtu.edu with any questions about this session.

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Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar with Abdolmajid Erfani

The next Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar will take place at 3 p.m. today, March 9, in GLRC 202.

Abdolmajid Erfani, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, Michigan Tech, will present “Explainable and Responsible AI for Engineering Decision-Making”.

Read Erfani’s abstract on the University Events Calendar.

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

Women's Rights are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence, and Discrimination Gallery Exhibit - Rozsa Art Galleries

Monday, March 9, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Rozsa Art Galleries, Rozsa Art Galleries A-Space

MICHIGAN TECH ART SERIES EVENT Women’s Rights are Human Rights is a fitting title for an exhibition of women’s rights and advocacy posters, as it was a term used in the women’s rights movement and was the title of an important speech given by Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1995 at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. This exhibition features posters created by artsit of all genders to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role that all citizens should play in protecting and promoting human rights while challenging gender inequality and stereotypes, advancing reproductive and sexual rights, protecting women and girls against brutality, and promoting women’s empowerment and participation in society. These poster images challenge patriarchal attitudes that subordinate, stigmatize or restrict women from achieving their fullest potential. These images argue for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls enabling empowerment of women and achievement of real equality between women and men that fosters societal stability and human dignity. Learn more at womensrightsarehumanrights.org Things to know ROZSA ART GALLERIES HOURS | M-F 8 a.m.-8 p.m. and…

Recruitment Training

Monday, March 9, 2–4 p.m. | MUB Ballroom A

ASCII - Editors meeting

Monday, March 9, 3–4 p.m. | Fisher 0231

Come help us make The Byte, ASCII's computing newspaper. Help write articles or just get more information. Looking for journalist, editors, or anyone interested in computing.

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Series - Explainable and Responsible AI for Engineering Decision-Making

Monday, March 9, 3–4 p.m. | Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC), 202

Abdolmajid Erfani Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, Michigan Tech Abstract: As artificial intelligence increasingly informs decisions in engineering, the ability to understand, trust, and responsibly deploy AI models has become critical. Traditional black-box models may achieve high predictive accuracy but often provide limited insight into how decisions are made, raising concerns about transparency, fairness, and reliability in real-world applications. This talk presents a series of research projects demonstrating how Large Language Models (LLM) reasoning and Explainable AI (XAI) techniques can help bridge the gap between predictive performance and human understanding. Beyond technical explainability, it also discusses principles of Responsible AI, including model calibration, bias detection, and ethical considerations in deploying AI systems that affect communities and the public. Biography: Dr. Abdolmajid (Mazi) Erfani is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Tech. His research interests include construction economics, project delivery, smart construction,…

Huskies Swim Training - Session 3

Monday, March 9, 4–5 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Huskies Swim Training is a program that provides additional attention and competitive guidance to advanced swimmers looking to focus on stroke technique and efficiency. Sessions will be designed to improve swimming through stroke drills and swimming sets focused on endurance, speed, and race strategy. Coaches will provide feedback and stroke correction in a group environment with an emphasis on promoting a love for competitive swimming and lifelong skills such as discipline, dedication, and teamwork. Come be part of the pack! Competitve swimming opportunities are now availabe to current Huskies Swim Training participants!

German Stammtisch Conversation Hour

Monday, March 9, 4:30–5:30 p.m. | Walker Arts and Humanities Center, 120C

Please join us for German conversation, snacks, games, and more! All levels of German are welcome. Every other Monday starting January 12! Walker 120C (HDMZ) 4:30-5:30pm.

La Peña Spanish Conversation Hour

Monday, March 9, 5–6 p.m. | Walker Arts and Humanities Center, 120A

Join us every other Monday this semester for La Peña, Spanish Conversation Hour, from 5-6pm in Walker 120A! Come practice your Spanish, hang out with other Spanish-speakers, play games, and maybe learn something new! All levels are welcome. Questions? Contact Estela Mira Barreda ebarreda@mtu.edu

Parent & Child Aquatics (Ages 6 mo-3 yrs) - Session 2

Monday, March 9, 5:10–5:50 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Come make a splash in Huskies Group Swim Lessons! American Red Cross Parent & Child Aquatics levels are being offered at the SDC Pool for ages 6 months to 3 years old. A parent is required to be in the water with each participant.

Preschool Aquatics (Ages 4-5 years) - Session 2

Monday, March 9, 5:10–5:50 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Come make a splash in Huskies Group Swim Lessons! American Red Cross Preschool Aquatics levels are being offered at the SDC Pool for ages 4 to 5 years old.

Pickleball Club Weekly Practice/Meeting

Monday, March 9, 9–11 p.m. | Gates Tennis Center

Come join us at Gates Tennis Center for some Pickleball! We have equipment that is free to use and its a great way to have some friendly competition against fellow huskies. If you have never played pickleball and want to learn, then you came to the right place! We can teach you how play, so feel free to come at any time and join in on the fun.