March 18, 2024

Applications are now open for the 2024 Climate Leaders Academy (CLA).

Students in the CLA will explore climate change challenges and solutions from a range of disciplines and perspectives, work directly with representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to support a selected term project, explore the policy responses to climate change and travel to the COP29 climate negotiations.

The CLA has three primary components:

1. An intensive kickoff workshop on May 23-26
2. Enrollment in a 3-credit graduate-level course taught at Vanderbilt University by Leah A. Dundon
3. Participation at the international climate change negotiations (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024

All travel is supported. Applications are competitive; the class is limited to 12 students. Details are available on the application form.

Several Michigan Tech students traveled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with the 2023 CLA class for COP28 and had a fantastic experience.

The CLA is funded with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is organized through Vanderbilt University and the NSF-supported Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH) together with Michigan Technological University, Boston University and Tennessee State University.

The program is open to graduate students in any field. You must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a permanent resident of the United States.

After an exceptionally productive week of repairs to the compact shelving on the Garden Level of the Van Pelt and Opie Library, we are happy to report that all shelving units are back in operation. This means that our full physical collection is now accessible without physical intervention!

Thank you to all our researchers for your patience during the outage.

The Human Resources office will be closed from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday (March 22) for a departmental meeting. Inquiries during this time can be sent through our HR Support Center portal or via email to hr-help@mtu.edu.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Join us tomorrow (March 19) for La Peña! Come unwind and meet new people at the Spanish Conversation Hour, all while you refresh your Spanish!

Everybody is welcome. We will meet from 5-6 p.m. in the HDMZ (Humanities Digital Media Zone), Walker 120A.

And don't forget to add to your calendar the Last Peña of the semester: April 2.

Spring has officially sprung, giving way to a new season. In addition to the new season, the Iranian Community at Michigan Tech is celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Sunday (March 24) from 5-9 p.m. in the MUB Ballroom. This event will be Michigan Tech's ninth Nowruz celebration, featuring a banquet, live Persian music by the multicultural music band and stand-up comedy by Tehran, followed by an after-party.

We, the Iranian Community at Michigan Tech, are honored to invite everyone to join us at this festive event. Tickets will be sold in the MUB Commons Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (March 20-22), from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day or until we sell out. Student tickets are $15 and nonstudent tickets are $25.

View our event flyer.

Nowruz means "new day," the exact astronomical beginning of spring and the first day of the new year in the Persian calendar. Iranians, along with many countries across the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond, celebrate this day as a day of positive transformation, in a sense paralleling the transition from the cold, dark days of winter to the warmer and brighter days of springtime.

In Iran, Nowruz ushers in a celebratory period of two weeks, in which families take part in cleaning their homes, visiting relatives and sharing festive meals and gifts. Families traditionally lay out a “haft-seen,” or a selection of seven symbolic items each beginning with the letter S, including fried fruit, sprouts or grasses, and spices. The Iranian Community at MTU will present a haft-seen at the Van Pelt and Opie Library.

Nowruz was recognized by the U.N. in 2009 as a tradition of intangible cultural heritage that “promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families, as well as reconciliation and neighborliness,” according to the U.N.

Menu for Thursday (March 21):

• Cauliflower General Tso's (Vegetarian, Soy, Sesame, Gluten, Dairy, Egg)
• Orange Chicken (Sesame, Dairy, Gluten, Egg, Soy)
• Basmati Rice (Vegan, AD, AG)
• Garden Salad (Vegan, AD, AG)
• Vegetable Stir Fry (Vegan, AD, AG)
• Vegetable Spring Rolls (Vegetarian, Dairy, Sesame, Gluten, Egg)

Join Carved and Crafted Catering for this week's C3 Luncheon. The luncheon is held each week on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge (MUB 107). All faculty and staff, along with their guests, are invited.

The C3, or C-Cubed, lunch buffet menus are created and prepared by Chef Luis Delgado and his culinary team. As the name suggests, the meals are meant to foster conversation, community and collegiality. Attendees may bring their lunch instead of purchasing the buffet. Fruit-infused water, coffee, tea and cookies are available free to all attendees.

The buffet lunch is $15 per person. Cash, credit cards and gift cards are accepted. Gift cards can be purchased in the Memorial Union office (MUB 101).

AG = Avoiding Gluten
AD = Avoiding Dairy

Michigan Tech Athletics and Recreation are hosting several upcoming events for athletes of all ages. Check out Michigan Tech Recreation's Camps, Clinics and Tournaments page for the latest updates on each event.

• Boys' Basketball: Spring 2024 Little Huskies
  April 15-18 | Learn More
  Michigan Tech's Little Huskies Boys' Basketball Camp is just about the best introduction to basketball you can imagine — personalized coaching that emphasizes both individual skills and team play, with plenty of time for gently competitive games in the SDC Varsity Gym. And Michigan Tech's campus is a great environment for meeting new people and making friends.

• Girls' Basketball: Spring 2024 Little Huskies
  April 8-11 | Learn More
  A great introduction to the sport for young, budding basketball players held in the SDC Varsity Gym and Multipurpose Room. Students learn fundamental skills for team play and individual skills like ball-handling, shooting, defense and more — all from coaches and instructors who are renowned in their field.

• Volleyball: Spring 2024 High School Skill Academies
  April 13, 14 and 20 | Learn More
  The spring high school skills academies are position-specific, high-intensity skill training designed for athletes with prior experience playing volleyball. Each academy, led by the Michigan Tech volleyball coaching staff and current players, will provide five hours of focused instruction designed to improve the athlete's skill set. Additionally, local coaches of all levels are welcome to attend and enjoy the opportunity to observe firsthand and collaborate with MTU coaches and players. There is no cost for coaches to attend. However, we do require coaches to pre-register for each clinic by emailing Mallory Nickelson at mnickels@mtu.edu.

• Doghouse Classic: Spring 2024 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament
  April 20 | Learn More
  Begun over 30 years ago, the Doghouse Classic is a longstanding tradition in the Houghton and Hancock area. Michigan Tech Recreation is excited about the opportunity to host the tournament and bring the Doghouse back to its former glory! The tournament schedule and game schedule are TBD. The goal is to host a boys' and girls' division for grades 4-8, JV and Varsity. There will also be men's and women's open divisions available to all ages.

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering candidate Gaurish Gokhale will defend his doctoral dissertation on Friday (March 22) at 10 a.m. in person in EERC 501. Virtual attendance is also invited via Zoom.

The title of the dissertation is "Transient Simulations of Power Systems with Inverter Interfaced Resources."

Gokhale is advised by Bruce Mork.

In honor of World Water Day, Miriam Rios-Sanchez will talk about “Understanding the Hydrogeology of Mountainous Regions in Latin America - Education and Professional Learning Strategies to Build Community Capacity and Empower Student Engagement” on Friday (March 22) from 3-4 p.m. in the MUB Alumni Lounge. (Come a little early for a meet-and-greet with light refreshments from 2:45-3 p.m.)

Rios-Sanchez is a faculty member at the Center for Sustainability Studies at Bemidji State. She is a strong advocate for finding opportunities to serve underrepresented students and has a passion for mentoring, having been an academic mentor and advisor to the TRIO/McNair Scholars Program and the site coordinator of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Louis Stokes North Star STEM Alliance in Minnesota).

Rios-Sanchez’s research interests include applications of remote sensing and digital elevation modeling techniques for geological sciences, regional groundwater exploration, aquifer evaluation and management (geological mapping, tectonics, flow system delineation, assessment of subsidence and other impacts) and natural hazards. She has a particular interest in the influence of groundwater in natural hazards, such as flooding, landslides and volcanic activity.

This event is sponsored by the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University. If you would like to meet with Rios-Sanchez, please contact Erika Vye at ecvye@mtu.edu.

Department of Computer Science (CS) tenure-track faculty candidate Qi Li will give a research presentation on Thursday (March 21) from 1-2 p.m. in Rekhi 214.

The title of Li’s talk is “Data Driven Cyber-Physical Energy Systems.”

Read the talk abstract and candidate bio on the Computing News Blog.

Join us Friday (March 22) from 1-2 p.m. in the Petersen Library (Walker 318) for brown bag talk sponsored by the Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture (RTC) graduate program and the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC).

The talk is titled "Agency, Ethics, and AI: A Conversation About the Ontology of Human and Non-Human Agency."

Join Department of Humanities (HU) faculty Jason Archer, Scott Marratto and Alexandra Morrison in a brown bag discussion. Each faculty member will give a short presentation. Light refreshments will be served.

The first presentation will address 20th and 21st century phenomenological philosophy that, through its rigorous descriptions of concrete lived, embodied experience, challenges "mind-centered" and exclusively cognitive models of human agency.

The second will address how contemporary research in STEM ethics draws on that same phenomenological tradition to reveal the ways in which human engagement with technical objects and sociotechnical systems transform moral perception and agency.

The third will discuss the way in which a similar understanding of hybrid agency critically informs state-of-the-art research in science and technology studies (STS), communication and sensory studies, including human-machine communication and haptics.

See the event flyer on the IPEC News Blog.

Please join the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP) on Friday (March 22) from 3-4 p.m. in Fisher 132 for our March seminar.

The guest speaker will be Sarah Konefal from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The title of the presentation is "Drug Overdose and Co-occurring Conditions in Michigan."

For more information about the speaker and her work, please visit the KIP Newsblog.

Michigan Tech men's basketball guard Marcus Tomashek has been named to the D2CCA All-Region Second Team.

Tomashek had one of the best second-year campaigns in Division II, earning GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week accolades a conference-leading three times. He was named to the All-GLIAC First Team earlier this month.

Read more about his outstanding season at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Yu Cai (AC/IC/ICC) was quoted by All About Cookies in an article discussing the security implications of cable and streaming services. Cai offered expert insights on the comparison of safety and privacy between cable services and online streaming platforms.

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Nancy Langston (SS) was mentioned by Bridge Michigan as a panelist in an upcoming Bridge Lunch Break discussion about Michigan’s warming winters. The free Zoom discussion will be held virtually March 28 from 12-1 p.m.

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WLUC TV6 mentioned Michigan Tech’s Mind Trekkers traveling STEM road show in a story about Copper Island Academy’s Science and STEM Night last Thursday (March 14), which also marked the official opening of the school’s new gymnasium.

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Mississippi’s Vicksburg Daily News mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the kickoff of the Ice Control for cold Environments (ICE) program by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ICE’s goal is to “manipulate ice material properties to safeguard military assets and personnel, bolstering operational effectiveness in harsh cold conditions.” MTU was listed among the program participants. The story was picked up from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.

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The Center for Rural Strategies’ Daily Yonder mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about Utah’s Snow College, an emerging hub of tech talent that’s using the Handshake app to connect students to remote job opportunities. The story noted Handshake’s MTU connection: the app was founded by former Huskies (Garrett Lord, Ben Christensen and Scott Ringwelski).

COE Dean Semifinalist Presenting at Open Forum

The College of Engineering (COE) Dean Search Committee has invited four semifinalist candidates to Michigan Tech for on-campus interviews.

Candidate 3 Open Forum Presentation:
Monday, March 18, at 2 p.m. in the MUB Alumni Lounge
The third candidate's interview will be held today and tomorrow (March 18 and 19). The candidate will present their administrative philosophy and vision for COE at an open forum at 2 p.m. today in the MUB Alumni Lounge.

Information on all candidates, interview dates and open forum information can be viewed at the Academic Affairs Dean Search page. A Michigan Tech login is required to view resumes and provide comment. The open forums will be video recorded and posted to the website for viewing.

The COE Dean Search Committee encourages the campus community to interact with each candidate during the interviews and provide feedback by completing the anonymous comment form provided at the website. Feedback forms will be available for 72 hours following the last candidate's visit.

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CFRES Dean Semifinalist Presenting at Open Forum

The College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES) Dean Search Committee has invited four semifinalist candidates to Michigan Tech for on-campus interviews.

Candidate 1 Open Forum Presentation:
Monday, March 18, at 4 p.m. in Admin 404
The first candidate's interview will be held today and tomorrow (March 18 and 19). The candidate will present their administrative philosophy and vision for CFRES at an open forum at 4 p.m. today in the Administration Building, Admin 404.

Information on all candidates, interview dates and open forum information can be viewed at the Academic Affairs Dean Search page. A Michigan Tech login is required to view resumes and provide comment. The open forums will be video recorded and posted to the website for viewing.

The CFRES Dean Search Committee encourages the campus community to interact with each candidate during the interviews and provide feedback by completing the anonymous comment form provided at the website. Feedback forms will be available for 72 hours following the last candidate's visit.

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IPEC Social Event: Welcoming New and Prospective Members

Join us for this semester’s IPEC Social Event on Thursday (March 21)! We welcome returning, new and prospective members of the institute.

• When: Thursday, March 21, from 4-6 p.m.
• Where: Walker 139, IPEC Office
• What: A general meeting to welcome members and prospective members to the updated IPEC office space.

We will provide light refreshments during the event.

Contact IPEC Director Stefka Hristova at shristov@mtu.edu for more information.

See full event details on the IPEC News Blog.

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'Mentoring Graduate Students' Workshop

The Graduate School and Provost’s Office will host a faculty workshop, “Mentoring Graduate Students,” on Wednesday (March 20) from 3-4:30 p.m. in MUB Alumni Lounge B.

The workshop will focus on best practices for mentoring graduate students. We will discuss the upcoming National Science Foundation requirement that all proposal submissions include a graduate student mentoring plan; a new advising and mentoring agreement developed by the Graduate School will frame the discussion. All faculty who work with graduate students are invited to attend. Faculty are free to attend all or part of the event as their schedule allows.

To help us with planning, please complete our Mentoring Graduate Students Workshop RSVP form to let us know that you will attend.

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GMES Faculty Candidate Presentation with Daisy Ning

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences (GMES) faculty candidate Daisy Ning will give a presentation today (March 18) from noon to 1 p.m. in Dow 610. Virtual attendance is also invited via Zoom. All are welcome to attend.

Ning's presentation is titled "Enhancing Energy Sustainability via Integrated Subsurface Characterization."

From the abstract:
Addressing climate change necessitates a shift towards enhancing energy sustainability. This involves strategies aimed at mitigating global warming by reducing carbon emissions and promoting the adoption of low-carbon fuels. Within this framework, this presentation introduces four key topics in sustainable energy: Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS), Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), underground hydrogen (H2) storage, and hydrocarbon exploration in unconventional reservoirs.

One critical distinction among these four topics lies in the approach to hydraulic fractures, whether to create them effectively or to avoid them altogether. Hence, the first case study delves into integrated multi-scale, multi-physics datasets to optimize stimulation design. This involves analyzing lithology, faults, natural fractures, cross-well strain responses, and stress regimes. More specifically, the interpretation of low-frequency Distributed Acoustic Sensing (LF-DAS) data is explored to enhance understanding of hydraulic fracture connections. These insights pave the way for more effective and environmentally friendly stimulation design.

In the second case study, static and dynamic modeling are employed to evaluate the feasibility of sequestering over 50 million metric tons of CO 2 within 30 years as part of a CCUS initiative. This foundational work has laid the groundwork for the implementation of the first commercial-scale CCUS project in Colorado.

Ning holds a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering and a minor in geophysics. After working in the oil/gas industry as a reservoir engineer for two years, she is currently a research associate at the Colorado School of Mines. Her research ranges from unconventional reservoir development by integrating distributed fiber optics sensing (DFOS) with microseismic, geology and seismic data; carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); and enhanced geothermal system (EGS). She currently is the principal investigator (PI) of an $11 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded CCUS project and a co-PI of a DOE-funded geothermal EGS demonstration project.

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Atmospheric Sciences Grad Student Presentations

This week's Atmospheric Sciences graduate student presenters will be:

• Hamed Fahandezh Sadi (Physics; advised by Raymond Shaw)
• Shreya Joshi (Physics; advised by Claudio Mazzoleni)

This will be an in-person event — the students will give their talks at 4 p.m. today (March 18) in Fisher 101.

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

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Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar with Libia Hazra and Cassandra Reed-VanDam

The next Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar will take place at 3 p.m. today (March 18) in GLRC 202.

Libia Hazra, Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering candidate, Michigan Tech, will present "Food Web Structures in Lake Superior Revealed by Stable Isotopes Help to Trace Bioaccumulation Pathways of PCBs."

Cassandra Reed-VanDam, M.S. in Applied Ecology student, Michigan Tech, will present "Restoration is repairing relationships: Bridging Indigenous and Western Sciences to Assess Wild Rice (Zizania palustris) Restoration Efforts in Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Homelands."

Read the abstracts on the University Events Calendar.

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'Telling Your Story' Workshop: Registration Available

Your ability to pitch greatly improves when you explain your business venture in a compelling way. What need does your product or service fill? What impact will it have? Communicating your value proposition through the art of storytelling is an important part of connecting with your audience.

In the Telling Your Story workshop, Laura Kasson Fiss (PHC/HU), who teaches writing, literature and a course through Pavlis Honors College on telling your story, will walk pitch contestants through a process to help them identify key elements of their stories to pitch their innovations. We'll talk about ways to arrange narrative elements to create a story arc and how to mobilize techniques of storytelling in the service of your innovation.

Workshop Details:

• What: Telling Your Story Workshop
• When: Monday, March 18, from 4-5 p.m.
• Where: Pavlis Honors College West Collaboration Space, M&M 722
• Registration: Students, staff and faculty were invited to register by Sunday, March 17.

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

Simple Machines: Poetry, Letterpress, and the Art of the Little Magazine Presented by Michigan Tech Art

Monday, March 18, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Rozsa Galleries

Simple Machines is a two-edition, international, letterpress poetry magazine founded and edited by Michigan Tech’s M. Bartley Seigel, funded through a Research Excellence...

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Faculty, Staff, Graduate Student Portrait Session (by appointment)

Monday, March 18, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, Ground Floor Photography Studio G30

Faculty, staff, and graduate students can have a complimentary professional portrait taken by University Marketing and Communications (UMC). WHEN: March WHAT TIME: 10:00...

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Celebrate Open Education Week 2024

Monday, March 18, 12–1 p.m.

On Monday, March 18th at noon the Van Pelt and Opie Library will celebrate Open Education (OE) Week with a virtual panel discussion on Zoom with creators, users, and...

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Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar

Monday, March 18, 3 p.m. | Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC), 202

Food Web Structures in Lake Superior Revealed by Stable Isotopes Help to Trace Bioaccumulation Pathways of PCBs Libia Hazra, PhD Candidate, Environmental Engineering,...

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Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Student Presentations

Monday, March 18, 4–5 p.m. | Fisher Hall, 101

Please join this week's Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Student Presenters, Hamed Fahandezh Sadi (Physics) and Shreya Joshi (Physics) for their in-person presentations on...

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Telling Your Story

Monday, March 18, 4–5 p.m. | Minerals and Materials Engineering Building (M&M), 722

Join us for the Husky Innovate workshop "Telling Your Story." Your ability to pitch greatly improves when you explain your business venture in a compelling way. What need...

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Huskies Group Swim Lessons - Parent & Child Aquatics - Spring 2024 Session 2

Monday, March 18, 5:10–5:50 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Ages 6 months to 3 years. Come make a splash in Huskies Group Swim Lessons! American Red Cross Parent and Child Aquatics levels are being offered at the SDC Pool for ages 6...

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Huskies Group Swim Lessons - Preschool Aquatics - Spring 2024 Session 2

Monday, March 18, 5:10–5:50 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Ages 4-5 years. 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....

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March GBM

Monday, March 18, 7–8 p.m. | Fisher 101

Our speaker is Sean Pengelly, P.E. from Lake State Railway. Sean will be speaking on business development for shortline railroads including topics like reactivating industry...