Volunteer Expo is happening today (Nov. 30) from 4-6 p.m. in the MUB Commons (the location has changed)! Stop by to find your next meaningful adventure.
Twenty-five organizations from the region will showcase service and philanthropy opportunities at the expo. Whether you want to help kiddos, elders, fuzzy critters, green spaces or voters, there is an adventure for you.
This event is open to the public, so feel free to bring friends and family.
Aurenice Oliveira (ECE) has been recognized for exemplary leadership, dedication and significant contributions to Michigan Tech's student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
Oliveira was selected as a 2023 recipient of the IEEE Outstanding Branch Counselor and Branch Chapter Advisor Award, which recognizes exceptional and dedicated efforts of student branch counselors and branch chapter advisors.
This is an international award, with counselors honored from all branches within all the IEEE regions within and outside the USA.
Read more on the Electrical and Computer Engineering Newsblog.
Please join us today (Nov. 30) from 5-6 p.m. in Walker 120C for the final installment of Café Français, a biweekly French conversation hour organized by the Department of Humanities at Michigan Tech.
In this edition of Café Français, "Du bon son: la musique francophone," we will talk about music in the francophone world. The point of departure for our discussion will be a sampling of songs by French-speaking artists, some classic (Alain Souchon, MC Solaar, Céline Dion) and some more recent (Christine and the Queens, Angèle, Aya Nakamura). This will be a fantastic opportunity to hone your listening comprehension skills while discovering new artists and musical styles.
Following the "café," we will migrate to MUB Ballroom B for the Modern Languages Cultural Celebration in honor of graduating minors from 6-7:30 p.m. There will be food, beverages, fun games and karaoke. Venez nombreux!
À demain!
Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences (GMES) Ph.D. student Jacob T. Murchek will present his doctoral research proposal defense at noon tomorrow (Dec. 1) in Dow 610. Virtual attendance is also invited via Zoom. All are welcome to attend.
Murchek is advised by James DeGraff, with Benjamin Drenth, Jeremy Shannon, and Aleksey Smirnov serving as committee members.
The proposal is titled "Integration of Geophysical Data with Geologic Constraints to Infer Tectonomagmatic Controls on Mineral Systems in the Yukon-Tanana Uplands, Alaska, and Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan."
From the abstract:
Critical minerals are necessary for the everyday needs of modern human society and are paramount for the advancement of technology. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite are some examples of critical minerals used in cell phones, military equipment, vehicles, batteries, and other essential products. To increase domestic production of critical minerals, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) seeks to identify areas favorable to host deposits of such minerals through the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative. In collaboration with the USGS, the proposed research aims to identify tectonomagmatic controls of mineral systems in the Yukon-Tanana Uplands (YTU), Alaska and along the Keweenaw Peninsula (KP), Michigan using geophysical and geologic data to better understand the distribution and origin of such systems and to judge critical mineral potential in the two areas.
Both the YTU and KP have the potential to host critical mineral deposits, however mineral systems in these areas are not completely understood. Critical minerals in the YTU are most likely to occur as secondary minerals associated with precious metal mineral systems. Aeromagnetic data will be interpreted, modeled, and integrated with regional geology, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and geochemical data to aid in delineating the boundary between the parautochthonous North American Basement (NAb) and allochthonous Yukon-Tanana Terrane (YTT) that underlie the YTU. Establishing a firm boundary for these terranes has major implications for understanding the origin and distribution of mineral systems across the YTU (e.g., porphyry Cu-Au, orogenic Au) and, consequently, the potential for such systems to host critical minerals. The research will emphasize developing geophysically mappable criteria for these and other mineral systems and the plutonic suites that may be associated with their deposition and enrichment. Along the KP copper district and its southwest extension, gravity and magnetic data, and possibly seismic reflection data, will be acquired to model the structure of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS), thereby testing published cross-sectional models for the rift and the Keweenaw fault system (KFS). Better definition of the KFS is relevant to understanding migration pathways of copper-bearing hydrothermal fluids that produced economic deposits of copper and silver in the region. Quantitative geophysical modeling in the region can be tightly constrained by bedrock outcrops and rock property measurements (e.g., density, magnetic susceptibility). A better constrained subsurface model across the southeast margin of the MRS will establish a stronger tie to offshore geophysical data previously collected across Lake Superior. Such models should also improve definition of known faults in the KFS as well as to identify new faults beneath Jacobsville Sandstone, thus helping to infer mineralization pathways for copper and other elements associated with the MRS.
M.S. in Computer Science candidate Marcus Scese will present his final oral examination (defense) tomorrow (Dec. 1) at 4 p.m. in Rekhi 101 and via Zoom webinar.
The title of Scese’s defense is “Design and Implementation of a GraphQL Mesh Gateway: Federating API Endpoints Based on a Defined Data Model.”
Scese is advised by Associate Professor Charles Wallace.
Read the defense abstract on the Computing News Blog.
Janeth Valverde from CRESST/UMBC/NASA/GSFC (Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II/University of Maryland, Baltimore County/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) will present at this week's Physics Colloquium.
The seminar will be presented in person at 4 p.m. today (Nov. 30) in Fisher 139.
Read the abstract and speaker bio at the University Events Calendar.
The next Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar will take place at 3 p.m. on Monday (Dec. 4) in GLRC 202.
Dan Titze, research physical scientist, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will present "Developing Realtime Forecasts for the Great Lakes: Improving Simulation of Coastal Processes."
Read the abstract on the University Events Calendar.
First-year Michigan Tech hockey forward Isaac Gordon is the CCHA Rookie of the Month for November.
Gordon tallied nine points for the Huskies in the second month of the season, scoring seven goals and adding a pair of assists in November. He had 23 shots on goal and was a plus-3.
Gordon netted his first career hat trick on Nov. 3 against Augustana and then scored the next night against the Vikings. He had a goal and an assist at Bemidji State on Nov. 11 and then tallied a goal each night in the Huskies' CCHA sweep at Minnesota State.
Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.
The Michigan Tech women's basketball team slipped up at Concordia St. Paul, losing 71-62 inside the Gangelhoff Hall on Tuesday (Nov. 28).
The Huskies nearly pulled off a comeback after trailing by eight points with 3:22 remaining in regulation, but were not able to make up the deficit.
"I thought Sara (Dax) came out really aggressive and confident for us," head coach Sam Clayton said. "But, it was another game with too many turnovers. We really have to learn to value every possession if we want to play like we're capable. We also gave up too many offensive rebounds. The only option is to respond and bounce back in conference play next week."
Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.
The Mining Journal, WNMU-FM and Michigan Business Network picked up a Michigan Economic Development Corporation press release announcing a $838,000 grant awarded to Michigan Tech to expand semiconductor education and training programs across the Upper Peninsula and respond to Michigan’s increased demand for skilled technicians and engineering professionals in the semiconductor industry.
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The Keweenaw Report picked up Michigan Tech’s announcement of Kellie Raffaelli being named our new dean of students.
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The ’Gander mentioned Michigan Tech in a listicle featuring the best small Michigan towns to spend a winter’s day in. Houghton was included in the piece, and Winter Carnival was named as the city’s can’t-miss winter event.
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The Daily Mining Gazette covered Michigan Tech women’s basketball guard Alyssa Wypych being named the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week.
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Outside Bozeman mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about why the southwest Montana town is an ideal training ground for Nordic skiers. MTU Nordic ski alum Sarah Goble ’20 (B.S. Economics) was quoted.
Fraternity and Sorority Awards Nominations Closing Soon!
Nominations for outstanding leaders and chapters in Sorority and Fraternity Life are open now. Please submit individuals and/or chapters for awards (wellness, leadership, service and more!).
In addition to students and sorority and fraternity chapters, awards are given to a faculty member, an advisor and a staff member who supports the Greek Life community. Please consider helping us recognize campus members who go above and beyond for our students.
Brief descriptions are easy to submit using the Greek Awards webpage.
Nominations for awards close Sunday (Dec. 3).
Interested in attending the 18th annual celebration? It will be held Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Building Ballroom.
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CS Colloquium with Weihua Zhou
Assistant Professor Weihua Zhou (AC/Math/BioMed/ECE) will present a Department of Computer Science (CS) colloquium lecture tomorrow (Dec. 1) from 3-4 p.m. in Rekhi 214 and via Zoom webinar.
The title of Zhou’s talk is “Deep Learning for Multi-Modality Information Fusion in Chronic Disease Management.”
Read the talk abstract on the Computing News Blog.
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MS Defense: M A Aziz Jahan, ECE
M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering candidate M A Aziz Jahan will present his master's defense today (Nov. 30) at 3 p.m. in person in EERC 122 and virtually via Zoom.
The title of the defense is "Wavelet-Based Real-Time Harmonic Phasor Estimation in Signals with Harmonics, Interharmonics and Transient Events."
Jahan is advised by Flavio Bezerra Costa.
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Workshop: 'Guidance for (Land) Acknowledgements Within Ojibwa Homelands'
Join the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC) today (Nov. 30) from 5-6:30 p.m. in Walker 120A for a new workshop: "Guidance for (Land) Acknowledgements within Ojibwa Homelands."
Honoring land and life within Ojibwa homelands is the shared responsibility of all peoples, including Michigan Tech community members. In this November’s national celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month, we center the spotlight on the Keweenaw’s history and landscape to learn more about the original stewards, the Anishinaabe Ojibwa, and their long-held and contemporary practices, as they have done since time immemorial.
In this workshop, we will engage participants in ways Michigan Tech community members can be active in our responsibilities to honor land and life. Specifically, we will share information and resources on local history and tribal nation communities, as well as how to practice acknowledging our place within the Keweenaw as informed and respectful community members. We’ll also hear from students, staff and faculty about their experiences in practices of acknowledging, share stories of personal growth, and provide space to address participant thoughts and questions in a good way.
All are welcome to join this timely dialogue in celebration of Indigenous heritages and our shared commitment to Keweenaw lands and livelihoods.
Refreshments will be provided!
Sponsored by IPEC, the Great Lakes Research Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Van Pelt and Opie Library.
Contact Kendall Belopavlovich at kybelopa@mtu.edu for more information.
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Retirement Planning Phishing Alert
Please be aware that phishing attacks are circling that encourage Michigan Tech employees to reach out for retirement or pension planning to groups that are not affiliated with Michigan Tech.
Please be aware that as an active Michigan Tech employee, you will only be contacted directly by TIAA CREF, Fidelity, or MPSERS (Office of Retirement Services).
Our email system does attempt to identify spam emails and phishing attacks, and frequently isolates these emails — but some do get through. Please reach out to Benefits Services if you are questioning the validity of anyone contacting you for retirement planning.
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Editing Services
Professional editing services are available to all members of the Michigan Tech community through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
Editing services are provided by highly qualified English language instructors with expertise in grammar, writing and language instruction. Rates are $25 per hour.
Email ekastamo@mtu.edu to get an estimate and free sample edit.
Visit our webpage for more information.
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Modern Languages Fall Cultural Celebration
Modern Languages & Cultures in the Department of Humanities is happy to host a celebration of our students, especially those graduating this fall 2023 with a minor in French, German or Spanish.
We will gather today (Nov. 30) from 6-7:30 p.m. at the MUB in Ballroom B.
Come play games, sing karaoke songs in four languages, meet people and have fun! Taste a snippet of our homemade food. Friends are welcome!
For more information, contact Leyre Alegre.
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Free Software Carpentry Workshop in Python
An in-person Software Carpentry Workshop in Python will take place Dec. 11-12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in GLRC 202. The workshop is free for all Michigan Tech students, faculty and staff. Please note that learners are expected to commit to attending the entire workshop.
This workshop curriculum includes:
The target audience for the workshop is learners who have little to no prior computational experience. The instructors will prioritize the creation of a friendly environment to empower researchers and enable data-driven discovery. However, even those with some experience will benefit from the workshop, as the goal is to teach not only how to do analyses, but how to manage the process to make it as automated and reproducible as possible.
Please register for the workshop by Sunday (Dec. 3). Space is limited and the workshop will likely fill quickly.
Questions? Please email Associate Professor Laura Brown (CS) at lebrown@mtu.edu.
Find more information on the Computing News Blog.
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ME-EM Graduate Seminar Speaker: Kurt Schneider
The next Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) Graduate Seminar speaker will present at 4 p.m. today (Nov. 30) in MEEM 112.
Kurt Schneider will present “Engineering Skills of the Future.”
Schneider has worked for General Motors for 33 years. In his time at GM, he has held positions in multiple areas, including Performance Integration, Noise and Vibrations, and CAE.
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PhD Defense: Daniel Freiberg, MSE
Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering candidate Daniel Freiberg will present a doctoral defense today (Nov. 30) at 10 a.m. in person in M&M 610 and virtually via Zoom.
Freiberg is advised by Paul Sanders.
The defense is titled "Improved Ductility in an Artificially Aged Al-Zn-Mg Alloy with Mn Additions."
From the abstract:
Further lightweighting of aluminum-intensive vehicle (AIV) body structures is of high priority to increase vehicle range. 7000-series alloys can offer in-service strength levels of 500 MPa which could provide a 30% weight reduction over existing 6000 series structural parts. However, these alloys do not have a stable T4 temper and are not able to be conventionally stamped due to low formability. Hot stamping has been demonstrated as a viable method to forming a 7000-series part where a blank is solution heat treated, formed and simultaneously quenched, followed by a two step artificial age treatment raising the part to its in-service strength.
A key challenge to implementing a hot stamped and two-step aged 7000-series part is that they are not readily joinable via self-pierce riveting (SPR), because they lack room-temperature ductility. Precipitation-hardened alloys like 7000-series alloys are susceptible to localized planar slip, which degrades the local ductility needed to form a successful SPR joint. In this work a strategy to reduce planar slip was proposed, in which a dispersion of sub-micron sized, non-shearable, Mn-based dispersoids was added to a dense distribution of nano-sized strengthening precipitates. Model Al Zn-Mg alloys with various additions of Mn were cast, homogenized, and fabricated into wrought sheet material that was solution heat treated and two-step artificially aged.
In the two-step aged condition, the addition of Mn increased ultimate tensile strength, but did not affect tensile yield strength. Mn additions improved ductility due to the formation of Mn-dispersoids that facilitated dislocation cross-slip onto adjacent slip planes, resulting in a more finely-spaced arrangement of slip bands that reduced grain boundary stress localization. A more homogenous slip distribution was observed in TEM and slip-line spacing was quantified using EBSD data collected from strained specimens that were thermo-mechanically processed to have similar grain sizes.
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BioSci Seminar Series Speaker: Emily Washeleski
Emily Washeleski will present as part of the Department of Biological Sciences (BioSci) Seminar Series today (Nov. 30) from 3-4 p.m. in GLRC 202.
The presentation is titled "Screening for microbial natural products: A CURE approach."
From the abstract:
Found around the globe in temperate and extreme environments, microbial communities have metabolisms adapted to large numbers of niche environments and therefore provide a largely untapped reservoir of potentially useful metabolites. Given the sheer number of species, developing different high-throughput methods of screening is of primary importance in recovering novel compounds. Using bacteria as its sole food source, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has potential for detecting bacterial metabolites of interest. This presentation will cover the piloting of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) based on C. elegans feeding assays using environmental bacterial isolates. Over the course of one semester, students taking part in the Spring 2021 Genetics laboratory screened locally isolated bacteria for potential RTK/Ras/MAPK signaling antagonists using Synthetic Multivula(SynMuv) mutant C. elegans strains. Of the 40 isolates tested, 3 showed significant phenotype suppression appropriate for downstream analysis, highlighting the CURE model as an introductory research experience capable of novel data generation.
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BioSci Seminar Series Speaker: Karl Schneider
Karl Schneider will present as part of the Department of Biological Sciences (BioSci) Seminar Series today (Nov. 30) from 3-4 p.m. in GLRC 202.
The presentation is titled "Revealing early cell cycle dynamics in epithelial ovarian cancer cells with CDK4/6 inhibition."
From the abstract:
Despite decades of research and the development of initially effective treatment strategies, epithelial ovarian cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide. Quiescent, stem-like side populations of cancer cells within the tumor microenvironment could be the culprit behind the recurrence of the disease following remission in the majority of ovarian cancer patients . The pocket proteins pRb and p130, along with the DREAM complex, coordinate the repression of late G1 and S phase gene expression which is essential for maintaining quiescence. Cell cycle regulatory proteins are often mutated during oncogenesis, and it remains unclear what minimal functional components are necessary for cancer cells to retain the ability to quiesce. We used the CDK4/6 inhibitors palbociclib, abemaciclib, and ribociclib to induce quiescence and synchronize populations of cell lines in culture (2 epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and HEYA8 and 1 immortalized primary fallopian tube epithelial cell line FT282). We performed flow cytometry and western blotting to confirm the effective induction of quiescence following treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors. Analysis of the transcriptome via mRNA sequencing revealed the genes actively expressed as well as the relative changes in gene expression during and following this period of artificially induced quiescence. Finally, chromatin immunoprecipitation exposes the spatiotemporal dynamics of DNA binding by relevant transcription factors, including pRb and the DNA binding components of the dream complex. Taken altogether, these analyses enable a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying quiescence in epithelial ovarian cancer. Also, the establishment of a model for cell cycle synchronization with CDK4/6 inhibition and the subsequent analytical pipelines described herein can be expanded to later phases of the cell cycle, protein targets within other relevant signaling pathways, and other types of cancer. Novel data pertaining to the maintenance of quiescence in epithelial ovarian cancer will hopefully contribute to the development of better diagnostics and treatments for the detection and prevention of recurrent tumors.
To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.
Materials Science and Engineering Advisor: Paul Sanders Improved Ductility in an Artificially Aged Al-Zn-Mg Alloy with Mn Additions Attend Virtually:...
*****Biomedical Engineering Advisor: Sangyoon Han Matrix stiffness sensing by nascent adhesions and the role of RIAM in adhesion assembly Attend Virtually:...
*****"Meet the MTRI Researchers: Opportunities for Collaboration with the Michigan Tech Research Institute". We hope you will join us for a virtual session of the VPR Research...
*****Free MATLAB Workshop! Women in Physics is hosting a MATLAB workshop that is available to anyone who is interested. It is a 7 week course that will begin with the basic...
*****Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisor: Flavio Bezerra Costa Wavelet-Based Real-Time Harmonic Phasor Estimation in Signals with Harmonics, Interharmonics and Transient...
*****Computer Science Advisor: Keith Vertanen An Ambiguous Technique for Nonvisual Text Entry Attend Virtually: https://michigantech.zoom.us/j/83264830959
*****PhD candidate Dylan Gaines, Computer Science, will present his final oral examination (defense) on Thursday, November 30, 2023, at 3 pm via Zoom webinar. The title of the...
*****ME-EM Graduate Seminar Speaker Series proudly presents Kurt Schneider Engineering Group Manager Advanced Dynamics, Noise & Vibration Abstract In this presentation a...
*****Janeth Valverde from CRESST/UMBC/NASA/GSFC (Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II/University of Maryland, Baltimore County/NASA Goddard Space...
*****Do you have service hours that you need to fulfill? Not sure where to go for those hours? Or maybe you are curious about new opportunities and experiences for giving back and...
*****Adult Huskies Swim Lessons provides aquatic education for the beginner to the intermediate swimmer who is looking to become more comfortable in the water and learn the...
*****Adult Huskies Swim Training provides additional attention and competitive guidance to swimmers ages 18 and older who are looking to improve their swimming skills and fitness...
*****Modern Languages & Cultures at the Department of Humanities is happy to host a celebration of our Minor students, especially those graduating this Fall 2023 with a minor in...
*****Join Michigan Tech's RedTeam for their weekly club meeting! Each meeting we discuss cyber news articles and give talks pertaining to the field of cybersecurity.
