June 12, 2023

The Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) invites you to attend our upcoming open house to celebrate our 70th anniversary with a Platinum Jubilee Celebration. The celebration will be held on Aug. 4 from 12-5 p.m.

Please come and learn more about KRC, our capabilities, the test course, the new cold room chamber and more. Plan on an adventurous afternoon of experiencing our new arctic cold testing chamber at minus 20 degrees and taking rides on the test course. Sturdy footwear is advised, and you will be required to sign a waiver if you participate in a test course ride. Food and beverages will also be served.

We hope to see you there!

For more information, please visit the KRC Platinum Jubilee page.

The Vice President for Research Office announces the Spring 2023 Research Excellence Fund (REF) award recipients. Congratulations to each of the awardees.

The REF team also wishes to thank the individual REF reviewers and review panelists, as well as the deans and department chairs, for their time spent on this important internal research award process.

The principal investigators of the awarded projects include:

Research Seed Grants:

• Briana Bettin (CS/ICC)
• Julia Burton (CFRES/ESC)
• Elena Giusarma (Physics)
• Vijaya V. N. Sriram Malladi (ME-EM/MARC)
• Mohammed Sadeghi (CEGE/MTTI)
• Chunxiu Yu (BioMed/HRI)

Scholarship and Creativity Grants:

• Sue Collins (HU)
• Christopher Plummer (VPA)
• Jun Dai (COB/ICC)

Advancement and Alumni Engagement invites the campus community to a social in honor of Brenda Rudiger, assistant vice president for advancement services, who will retire June 30.

The social will be held June 29 from 2-4 p.m. outdoors at the ATDC. We will have yard games and snacks. In case of inclement weather, the event will be in the ATDC's Ford Conference Room.

Rudiger came to Michigan Tech in March 2007 to become the director of alumni relations and executive director of the alumni association after working for several higher education institutions in Canada in both communications and alumni relations roles.

She has had a large positive impact at Michigan Tech. During her tenure with the alumni team, she developed numerous new engagement programs and expanded the number and variety of activities for the annual Alumni Reunion. In 2010, she facilitated the department's move from the Meese Center back into the Alumni House.

Over the years, Rudiger graciously took on other roles to help the University, including overseeing the annual giving team, serving on the University Senate and working on special task forces and projects such as the Generations of Discovery campaign celebration. She has especially enjoyed the opportunities to serve as an advisor to student organizations, including the Michigan Tech Student Foundation (MTSF) and Habitat for Humanity.

After 13 years working in alumni programming, Rudiger brought her knowledge of Tech alumni into a new role as AVP for advancement services in 2020 to support the advancement communications, data management and research teams.

Brenda's knowledge, dedication and positive attitude will be greatly missed by those who have had the opportunity to work with her.

Join us in celebrating her career, thanking her for her service and wishing her well.

M.S. in Geology candidate Nat Cohen will present a final oral defense online on Wednesday (June 14) at 11 a.m. Virtual attendance is invited via Zoom.

Cohen's defense is titled "Rain-induced hazards in remote, low-resource communities: A case study of flash flooding in the Usulután Department, El Salvador."

Cohen is advised by Luke Bowman and John Gierke, with Greg Waite as a committee member.

From the abstract:
Natural hazards like flash floods can cause devastating impacts, so it is important to better understand these events to improve mitigation and emergency preparedness of vulnerable communities. California, El Salvador is a data-poor agricultural community experiencing climate change impacts and associated hazards, including flash flood events. This study uses ArcGIS Pro to map regional flash flood susceptibility and applies the Water Evaluation and Planning system (WEAP) to model sub-daily flash flood events in a California drainage well-known for flash flooding.

All are welcome to attend.

International Water Power & Dam Construction Magazine mentioned Michigan Tech in a snapshot story about the current state of the U.S. hydropower market. The University’s collaboration with Dairyland Power Cooperative and Mine Storage AB of Sweden was listed in a segment on pumped storage hydropower.

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The Mining Journal mentioned the Husky Food Access Network (FAN) in a story about the area’s farmers market season starting next week. The Husky FAN was listed among the food access programs collaborating with the From the Ground Farmers Market Collective, which manages the farmers markets in Houghton, Hancock and Calumet. The story was picked up from the Daily Mining Gazette.

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The Daily Mining Gazette and WJMN Local 3 covered the new Upper Peninsula record for fastest mile, set by Michigan Tech track and field veteran Clayton Sayen ’22 ’23 (B.S. Marketing/Engineering Management, MBA) at a community track night at Houghton High School. Sayen shaved more than six seconds off the old record, finishing the mile in four minutes, 5.97 seconds. The Gazette also mentioned the 23rd annual sub-five-minute mile run by Robert Young (ATH) at the event.

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The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the economic boost brought by the NCAA Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Tournament Regional in March. According to the story, 76% of the tournament tickets sold were purchased by people from outside the area.

Virtual Interest Session: Online MS in Applied Statistics

Kui Zhang (Math), Vice President for Global Campus and Continuing Education David Lawrence and program admissions advisors will be hosting a 45-minute virtual interest session on Michigan Tech's online M.S. in Applied Statistics (MSAS).

Save the date: The interest session will run Thursday (June 15) from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. ET via Zoom.

Register for this interest session.

Attendees will learn more about this versatile online degree, including registration requirements, program details and career trajectories.

If you have any questions about this online event, please email Amanda Irwin at globalcampus@mtu.edu or phone her at 906-487-1000.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Use Your Staff Service Award Days

Benefits Services is reminding you to use your staff service award days, so you don't lose them. The deadline to use them is the end of the current fiscal year, June 30.

To see your current available balance, log into Banweb. Under the Employees tab, click Leave Balances. Your hours will be listed as "Service Award Recognition." They can be entered as Payroll Earn Code 430 or listed as "Service Award Day" on your timesheet.

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Employee Financial Health Webinars by TIAA

Michigan Tech employees are invited to join the Benefits Office for the remaining free, online, live financial health webinars offered through Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) this June:

• Inside Money: Managing Income and Debt — June 14, noon
  It’s your budget — take control. Everyone talks about a budget, but how many of us actually make one? Most people have some debt, but how many understand its effects on their lives and their futures? Let us show you the real impact of budgeting and debt — and how to help make your money work.
  Register now.
  
  
• At Your Fingertips: Manage Your Money from Wherever You Are — June 21, noon
  Learn about TIAA’s commitment to digital, and how we’re leveraging the latest technologies in our online and mobile tools to help you save time and achieve financial success while you’re on the go.
  Register now.
  
  
• Start to Finish: Make the Move Toward Long Term Financial Security — June 28, noon
  For anyone halfway down the road to retirement, this webinar is a critical checkpoint. This webinar takes you through the keys to successful money management, how to juggle competing financial demands, and retirement saving strategies that can help put you on the path to lifelong financial security.
  Register now.

All webinars are recorded and available for viewing 90 days after the live event. Visit TIAA.org/webinars to register or watch past presentations on demand.

Spanish-Speaking Webinars
Starting in 2022, TIAA is offering financial education webinars in Spanish. The webinars can be accessed at TIAA.org/RecursosEducativos.

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Office Supply Swap Pilot Program

The Office Supply Swap pilot program, organized by Michigan Tech’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Monday (June 19) in Memorial Union Building (MUB) Ballroom B. All items will be available at no charge. The swap is open to current MTU faculty and staff — individuals will be asked to present their Tech ID at the door for verification. These items are available for the purpose of carrying out University business and are not made available for personal use.

Leading up to the swap, donations of gently used office supplies will be accepted Thursday (June 15), and we encourage all MTU academic, athletic and auxiliary units to participate. We will be accepting a wide range of common office supplies, such as paper goods, writing utensils, filing supplies, mailing supplies and office organization items. We will also be collecting CDs, VHS tapes, DVDs, etc., for recycling through a third-party vendor.

A complete list of acceptable items may be found on our blog.

How It Works:

1. If you intend to donate, please complete the Office Supply Swap Participation Form with your unit/department’s intention to participate.
2. Clean house! Gather items that are eligible for donation.
3. Neatly box or bag the items.
4. Donate in the method you indicated on the form: Loading Dock or bring to MUB Ballroom B.
5. (Optional) Visit the swap next Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Why Participate?

The intention of the Office Supply Swap is to allow for the exchange of common office supplies that already exist on campus to minimize the need for purchasing new items and to alleviate departmental clutter. Additionally, we seek to provide an avenue for recycling office items by diverting them from the landfill.

For any and all questions, comments or concerns, email sustainability@mtu.edu.

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

Middle School Development - Boys Basketball

Monday, June 12, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Varsity Wood Gym

This camp is for players entering grades 6 - 8 as of Fall 2023. What could be better than three days spent learning basketball moves from head coaches at Michigan Tech? Our...