March 8, 2023

Michigan Tech women's basketball is nationally ranked for the third time this season. The Huskies checked in at No. 23 in the WBCA NCAA Division II Top 25 poll yesterday (March 7).

The Huskies have received votes five weeks this winter. MTU was twice ranked last season and six times in 2020-21, topping out at No. 6. MTU has three wins over Top 25 opponents this season.

NCAA Midwest Region Tournament Tickets Now On Sale
Tech was selected to the 2023 Division II Women's Basketball Midwest Region Tournament on Sunday (March 5). The No. 4 seed Huskies will play No. 5 seed Trevecca Nazarene in the quarterfinals on Friday (March 10) at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Tickets may be purchased from the Ashland University Campus Store online or by calling 419-289-5336. Note: Husky fans should request seats in the MTU fan section from Ashland's ticket office staff.

Tickets per session will be sold for $20 for reserved seats, $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. An All-Tournament Package that includes all sessions will be available. Packages will be sold for $75 for reserved, $55 for adults and $35 for students and seniors. 

Available tickets can also be purchased on game day in Kates Gymnasium starting one hour prior to each session.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech hockey's Jed Pietila is the CCHA Defenseman of the Week and Kyle Kukkonen is the CCHA Rookie of the Week, earning a weekly award for the fourth time this season.

Pietila led the CCHA with four assists on the weekend. He set up Brett Thorne for the Huskies’ game-winning goal against St. Thomas on Friday (March 3) and had primary helpers on Tech's second and fifth goals Saturday (March 4). He also assisted on Kukkonen's shorthanded tally to notch a career-high three-point night Saturday. Pietila is second on the team with 15 assists and ranks fourth on the team with 34 blocked shots.

Kukkonen had three points in the CCHA playoff sweep of the Tommies. He assisted on Thorne's game-winner Friday and tallied a pair of goals Saturday, including the game-winner and a shorthanded tally. Kukkonen has eight goals in the last six games and is on a six-game point streak. His 18 goals lead CCHA first-years and rank third overall in the conference. Kukkonen has the fifth-most goals by a Michigan Tech first-year in program history and his 18 goals are the most by a Tech first-year since 1988 when Kelly Hurd potted 18.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech women's tennis beat the University of Mary but succumbed to Augustana University during their spring break trip to Orlando, Florida.

The Huskies swept doubles and earned three singles wins to defeat the UMary Marauders 4-3 on Sunday (March 5) at the USTA National Tennis Center.

"UMary had some crafty players, but we were able to sneak out a win," said head coach Kristin D'Agostini-Yep. "Hopefully, we'll continue to have a good week."

Neva Manas and Ewa Podulka did not drop a game at No. 3 doubles and the Huskies led 3-0 with retirements at No. 2 singles and No. 5 singles. Marina Fernandez won her match 6-0, 6-0 for the deciding point at No. 6. Dominika Bobik battled to a third-set super-tiebreak at No. 1 singles but fell 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

Against the Augustana Vikings, Tech nabbed the team doubles point but succumbed in singles, losing 4-1 Monday (March 6) at USTA National Campus.

"We played well and both our teams fought hard today," said D'Agostini-Yep. "It came down to the last couple of matches."

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Michigan Tech men's tennis fell 4-2 to the Augustana University Vikings on Monday (March 6) in nonconference play at USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

Leon Sell and Eli Pinnoo collected wins in singles. Vitor Jordao also made his return to the lineup and won 6-3 at No. 2 doubles with Nikolai Prosjanykov. The Huskies fell to 0-5.

"Matches were tight today for both teams," said head coach Kristin D'Agostini-Yep. "They fought hard and I was happy Leon and Eli were able to win in singles against good competition. Today's result came down to the last couple of matches."

Read more at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Wednesday (March 8)
• Valorant vs. George Mason, 7 p.m. NSL Varsity Premier. Watch the Twitch stream.

Saturday (March 11)
• Rocket League A vs. The World, Noon CCA East Open #4
• League of Legends vs. Illinois Chicago, 4 p.m. cLoL

Sunday (March 12)
• CSGO vs. Talladega, 8:30 p.m. NSL Varsity

Times are subject to change. Check Twitter @MTUEsports and the Esports schedule for updates.

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Esports News
Read more in the MTU Esports weekly update.

Job Postings for Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Staff and faculty job descriptions are available on the Human Resources website. For more information regarding staff positions, call 487-2280 or email humanresources@mtu.edu. For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.

Assistant Athletic Director – Business Operations, Athletics. Apply online.

Associate Director of Operations (Internal Only), Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. Apply online.

Custodian (12 months/ 40 hours/ first shift) #23056, Facilities (AFSCME posting dates March 8 to March 14, 2023 — external applicants are encouraged to apply; however, internal AFSCME applicants are given first consideration if they apply during the internal AFSCME posting dates). Apply online.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer that provides equal opportunity for all, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Accommodations are available. If you require any auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations to apply for employment, or for an interview, at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or humanresources@mtu.edu.

Iosif Pinelis (Math) is the author of a paper accepted for publication in Mathematical Inequalities & Applications.

The paper is titled "An intertwined Cauchy–Schwarz-type inequality based on a Lagrange-type identity."

A preprint version of the paper can be viewed and/or downloaded online.

Jin Choi (ECE) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $180,000 research and development grant from the University of Florida.

The project is titled "NSF Convergence Accelerator Track I: Energy-efficient MetaConductors for Convergence of Sustainable Electronics (E-MC2 of Sustainable Electronics)."

Erika Vye (GLRC), Emily Gochis of the Western Upper Peninsula MiSTEM Network and Jennifer Lynn of the Copper Country Intermediate School District presented “Rocks & Roots — How Geology Shapes Our Heritage” at the 70th Annual Michigan Science Teachers Association Conference held in Lansing, Michigan, on March 3-4.

The team represented the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative in the session “Place-Based Education with the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.”

Thomas Oommen (GMES) was quoted by the Los Angeles Times in a story about the slow-moving Portuguese Bend landslide affecting the city of Rancho Palos Verde in southern California. The story links to a report about the landslide co-authored by Oommen in 2019.

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Shiyue Fang (Chem) was mentioned by Chemistry Views in a story about study findings suggesting that a person’s epitranscriptomic system could be partially responsible for the difference in COVID-19 symptoms experienced by individuals.

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Master’s student Naomi Sang (health informatics) was mentioned by the Kenyan Digest in a story about the Kenya Airlift Program, which helps Kenyan students study in the U.S. 

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Bridge Michigan mentioned Michigan Tech in a guest opinion piece advocating for an in-state “‘mining-to-mobility-to-sustainability’ strategy” to support advanced manufacturing’s demand for minerals and other raw materials.

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The Daily Mining Gazette and WLUC TV6 covered Michigan Tech women’s basketball being selected to the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament.

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The Daily Mining Gazette, WJMN Local 3 and the Rink Live covered Michigan Tech hockey’s Jed Pietila and Kyle Kukkonen being named CCHA players of the week.

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The Daily Mining Gazette interviewed Michigan Tech hockey alum Blake Hietala ’15 (B.S. Sports and Fitness Management, B.S. Marketing) in a story about the recent success of the NAHL’s Wisconsin Windigo. Hietala is the team’s head coach.

Nominations Sought for KCP Future Faculty Fellowships

Applications are being accepted for the King-Chávez-Parks (KCP) Future Faculty Fellowship, a program funded by the state of Michigan. The purpose of the KCP Future Faculty Fellowship Program is to increase the pool of academically and economically disadvantaged candidates pursuing faculty teaching careers in postsecondary education.

Funding may begin in summer or fall of 2023. Complete applications received by 4 p.m. next Wednesday (March 15) will receive priority for consideration. Pending availability of funds, applications received will be considered on a rolling basis until the state’s application portal closes on April 30. Please note that April 30 is a Sunday, and no staff are available to assist with applications. Applicants are highly encouraged to submit well in advance of the portal closing.

Applicants will complete the following steps:

• Review the eligibility criteria to ensure eligibility (see step 1)
• Gather the materials needed for an application (see step 2)
• Create an account on the MiLogin for Citizens portal (see step 3)
• Submit an application on the MiLogin portal (see step 4)

KCP fellowships provide students up to $20,000 (M.S. students) or $35,000 (Ph.D. students) to pursue their degrees. Funds may be used to support students, including faculty and staff, pursuing degrees at Michigan Tech. For Michigan Tech students, the Graduate School and nominating department must also contribute matching funds to help support the student.

Complete information about eligibility criteria and materials needed for an application is available on our webpage. Please note that applications will be submitted through the MILogin Citizens Portal. Questions about eligibility or the application procedure can be directed to Debra Charlesworth at ddc@mtu.edu.

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Card Services Upgrade In Progress, Ends at 5 p.m. Today

Michigan Tech IT's upgrade of the card services system on campus is currently in progress. The upgrade began yesterday (March 7) at 11 a.m. and ends today (March 8) at 5 p.m. During this time, CS Gold access readers, meal readers and access to some Keywatcher Kiosk rooms will work in their offline mode. After the maintenance is complete, transactions will be uploaded back into CS Gold.

The following services will be affected:

cardservices.mtu.edu website
Husky Card Printing
Mobile Readers
Vending Readers
Micros Point of Sale Systems (will be available but unable to process transactions with the card services system)
Experience Tech Tracking System and related WebFOCUS reports
Husky Print

For more information on upgrade considerations specific to departments, please review our Knowledge Base article.

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

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

Michigan Tech Night at Little Caesars Arena

Wednesday, March 8, 7:30 p.m. | Little Caesars Arena

Join fellow Huskies for Michigan Tech Night at Little Ceasars Arena on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, for a classic matchup of the Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks....

NCAA Skiing Championships (Lake Placid, NY)

March 8, all day

NCAA Skiing Championships (Lake Placid, NY), Skate Interval Start