July 28, 2023

Coaches Tom and Kristen Monahan Smith and the Michigan Tech Nordic ski team have announced the addition of three women, two men and one new staff member to their rosters for the 2023-24 season.

The incoming class is represented by student-athletes and staff from Minnesota, Washington, Norway, Sweden and France.

Incoming student-athletes:

• Axel Aflodal of Oestersund, Sweden
• Bridget Burns of Spokane, Washington
• Greta Hanson of Oakdale, Minnesota
• Mikkel Kalta of Haslum, Norway
• Hailee Zimpel of Elk Rapids, Minnesota

Incoming coaching staff:

• Felix Cottet-Puinel of Morzine, France — Graduate Assistant Coach

The 2023-24 Nordic Huskies will be represented by 11 men and 10 women, including nine returning men, seven returning women and three returning coaches.

Read more about the recruits at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering candidate Noah Zins will present his master's defense on Wednesday (Aug. 2) at 8 a.m. in person in EERC 501 and virtually via Zoom.

The title of Zins' defense is "Neuromorphic Computing Applications in Robotics."

Zins is advised by Hongyu An.

M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering candidate Shruti Vaidya will present her master's defense next Thursday (Aug. 3) at 9:30 a.m. in person in EERC 501 and virtually via Zoom. 

The title of Vaidya's defense is "Automatic Optical Inspection-based PCB Fault Detection using Image Processing."

Vaidya is advised by Christopher Middlebrook.

Isabella Jaszczak will defend her master's thesis on Tuesday (Aug. 1) at 3 p.m. in M&M 610. Her defense can also be attended virtually via Zoom.

The title of her thesis is "Quantifying the Evolution of Strengthening Mechanisms for Commercially Produced Niobium and Titanium HSLA Steel Sheet."

Jaszczak is advised by Paul Sanders.

From the abstract:
Strength uniformity along the coil length of commercially produced high-strength, low-alloy (HSLA) steel hot-rolled sheet is crucial to avoid the downgrading of product that does not meet strength specifications. In addition to contributing to precipitation strengthening through the growth of niobium-titanium carbides ((Nb,Ti)-C), niobium deters recrystallization and refines ferrite grain size. The potency of these strengthening mechanisms relies heavily on the austenite to ferrite transformation kinetics of the hot-rolling process. While niobium’s effect on precipitation strengthening, Hall-Petch strengthening, dislocation strengthening, and solute strengthening have all been studied in literature independently, the interactions of these mechanisms with each other and coiling temperature in a commercial production setting has not been explored. The strengthening behavior of niobium microalloyed HSLA steels compared to a non-niobium HSLA steel is quantified and correlated using commercially produced samples and a design of experiments with factors coil temperature and location on coil length. Hall-Petch grain size strengthening and geometrically necessary dislocation strengthening are determined from electron backscatter diffraction mapping. Orowan precipitation strength is quantified from image analysis of (Nb,Ti)-C precipitates captured on carbon extraction replica films using a scanning transmission electron microscope. Solubility of alloying elements in the ferrite matrix, and therefore solute strengthening, is calculated with Thermo-Calc. This study observed a trend of increased orowan strength that balanced the decrease in Hall-Petch strength that occurred as coiling temperature increased.

Yoke Khin Yap (Physics) is visiting Cambridge University, U.K., and will deliver a research seminar in the Cambridge Graphene Centre (CGC) today (July 28).

Yap will meet with researchers in the CGC, the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and the Department of Electrical Engineering. His seminar will be titled “Boron Nitride van der Waals Heterostructures for Advanced Electronics and Biomedicine.”

Isaac Wedig ’23 (Ph.D. Integrative Physiology) and Steven Elmer (KIP) are co-authors of a paper published in Frontiers in Physiology.

The article is titled “Blood Flow Restriction as a Potential Therapy to Restore Physical Function Following COVID-19 Infection." It was included as a part of a special research topic on “Intervention for Prevention, Management of and Rehabilitation from COVID-19.”

The full article can be accessed through the Frontiers in Physiology website.

David Reed (VPR) was quoted by Michigan Business Network in a press release picked up from the office of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about the state budget passed for fiscal year 2024. The state has set aside $5 million for a critical mineral battery recycling research hub and will partner with Michigan Tech on the project. 

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Sarah Hoy, John Vucetich and Rolf Peterson (CFRES) were mentioned by MediaDecision in a story about moose conservation in Michigan and Minnesota. 

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WJMN Local 3 mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the Western UP Planning and Development Region’s Farm to School program. The story named MTU as one of WUPPDR’s partners on a Farm to School grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund that ended this spring.

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The Traverse City Record-Eagle mentioned a STEAM course being offered by Michigan Tech at the Sabin Data Center next Thursday (Aug. 3).

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The Leelanau News profiled Dave Fenlon ’09 ’17 (B.S. M.S. Biological Sciences), now a park ranger and educator at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Banner Production System Maintenance

A production system maintenance window is scheduled for Sunday (July 30) from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The following production services will be unavailable during that time:

• Banner
• Banweb
• MyMichiganTech
• Aspire
• Confluence
• Course Tools
• Fischer/mylogin.mtu.edu
• mtu.edu/tips
• OAP Rental System
• Oracle Reports
• Papercut Printing
• Perceptive Content (Imagenow)
• Pinnacle
• Sunapsis
• UC4/Appworx
• Virtual Cashiering
• WebFocus

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

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Wireless Network Downtime Tomorrow

Tomorrow (July 29) beginning at 9 p.m., Michigan Tech IT will be performing software upgrades that will cause wireless downtime for all of campus. This will also affect wired connections in Daniell Heights. The wireless network should be available by 8 a.m. on Sunday (July 30) when the work is complete.

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

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MS Defense: Isaac Lennox, KIP

Isaac Lennox will defend his master's thesis on Monday (July 31) from 10-11 a.m. in ATDC 101. His defense can also be attended virtually via Zoom.

The title of his thesis is "Exercise is Medicine® on Campus: A National Analysis and Assessment of Community Impact." Please visit the KIP Newsblog for more information and Zoom details.

Lennox is co-advised by Steven Elmer and Kelly Kamm.

From the abstract:
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) founded Exercise is Medicine® on Campus (EIM-OC), which calls upon colleges and universities to promote physical activity on their campuses. The distribution of EIM-OC programs across the U.S. has not been reported, and the impact that EIM-OC programs have on community-level physical activity prevalence is unknown. The purpose of my thesis was to evaluate and enhance the EIM-OC initiative to promote physical activity and overall health in the U.S.

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Hockey Camp Group 1

July 28, all day | Student Development Complex (SDC), Macinnes Student Ice Arena

Gain fundamental skills and broad knowledge of the sport for all age levels. Co-ed camps and clinics focus on team play, positional play, defensive play, strengthening...

Hockey Camp Groups 2 and 3

July 28, all day | Student Development Complex (SDC), Macinnes Student Ice Arena

Gain fundamental skills and broad knowledge of the sport for all age levels. Co-ed camps and clinics focus on team play, positional play, defensive play, strengthening...