April 3, 2024

Jason Harman, associate professor in the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, and his co-authors have been awarded the 2023 Alan Berman Research Publication Award at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

The award recognizes the best publications from each division within the NRL.

The winning publication, titled "Visual preferences in map label placement" and published in Discover Psychology, pioneers the use of cognitive decision-making models to team with map generation algorithms to quickly produce more effective digital map displays.

Join us today (April 3) for a virtual student panel and a great keynote as part of the Art in Silico event series!

Student Panel Discussion — 11:30 a.m. on Zoom
The virtual student panel kicks off online on Zoom at 11:30 a.m., where MTU students will discuss the inspiration and processes for their submissions to the Art in Silico computational art exhibition with University of Ottawa students who also prepared pieces.

Keynote Address — 5 p.m. in GLRC 202
At 5 p.m. in GLRC 202, Chantal Rodier, uOttawa's STEAM projects coordinator and artist in residence, will be giving a keynote on “Generative AI breaking artistic and programming barriers.” Rodier’s keynote will be virtually supplemented by Ryan Stec, an artist, producer, designer and professor at uOttawa. Remote attendance is available via Zoom.

Visit the Art in Silico website for Zoom links and more information!

MTU students, SDC Access Pass holders (minimum one-month) and WIBIT Wednesday Pass holders, come make a splash with our inflatable pool obstacle course called the WIBIT next Wednesday (April 10) from 5-8 p.m. at the SDC Pool!

Events will be held this spring for current MTU students and SDC Access Pass holders (minimum one-month). Not a current student or SDC Access Pass holder? Purchase a WIBIT Wednesday Pass (space is limited)!

Test your individual skills on the course or challenge your friend to a race across the obstacles.

The course is set up in the deep water and requires users to be able to pass our swim test. See the WIBIT rules and swim test content on our website for more information.

There are many different pieces of the WIBIT and each event will have a featured combination.

Potential featured pieces include:

• The Step — This piece allows users to climb up onto the course.
• The Base — Users must make their way across a horizontal surface. Be careful how fast you move, as it can get slippery!
• The Cliff — Users must navigate either side of a slope using the handles and their balancing skills.
• V-Connect — Users must use limited footing space to navigate across the horizontal structure.
• The Bridge — Users must navigate up and over an arched structure without falling through.
• The Slope — Users must climb up a six-foot wall that leads to a slide into the pool water below!

Upcoming WIBIT date, time and combination:

Wednesday, April 10, from 5-8 p.m. — Step/Bridge/Cliff/Slope

Come visit us at the pool to try out your skills! For more information, visit our WIBIT page.

Please join the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP) next Wednesday (April 10) from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Chem Sci 215 for Felix Cottet-Puinel's master's defense.

The title of Cottet-Puinel's thesis is "Changes in Flanker Task Performance Following High-Intensity Exercise in Endurance Athletes."

For more information, please go to the KIP Newsblog.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is hosting a seminar presented by Joseph Mitchell, Zildjian Company, tomorrow (April 4) from 1-2 p.m. in M&M 610.

The seminar is titled "Cymbal Manufacturing: Examining the Art and Science of Bronze Cymbal Making from Ancient Times through the Modern Era, Including Metal Alloying, Heat Treatment, Rolling, and Forming Techniques."

From the abstract:
Humankind’s existence is interwoven with musical expression (song, dance, instruments) dating back to time immemorial. In all parts of the ancient world metal craftsmen melted, poured, and hand-worked bronze cymbals. These shimmering instruments gave means for expressing joy in worship or celebration, providing brilliance of sound when played in musical ensemble, and frightening one’s enemies in battle. The cymbal, an instrument which evolved in the distant past and yet remains vibrant in today’s world of music, celebration, and religious ceremony, is examined through a lens of old-world manufacturing techniques and application of modern production technologies. Metallurgical analysis (chemistry, metallography, hardness) of various stages of cymbal production is presented (metal alloying, casting, heat treatment, forming techniques and technologies) and their effect on cymbal aesthetics and sound discussed.

Mitchell is the director of operations at the Zildjian Company of Norwell, Massachusetts, the world’s premier cymbal manufacturer. With an on-site foundry, bronze is melted, cast, rolled and subsequently cold-worked into beautiful-looking and -sounding instruments. Prior to employment at Zildjian, Mitchell was director of operations and technical at The Miller Company of Meriden, Connecticut, a slitting service center providing phosphor bronze and specialty alloy connector strip for automotive, telecommunication, electrical, medical and other industries.

Mitchell also worked as plant metallurgist at True Temper Sports of Amory, Mississippi, the world’s No. 1 golf shaft brand. At True Temper, coiled steel strip is welded into tubing and subsequently undergoes numerous heat-treating and metal-forming processes. Beginning his career with an AAS in Metallurgical Science Technology, Mitchell also earned a B.S. and MBA from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan.

The next Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) Graduate Seminar speaker will present at 4 p.m. tomorrow (April 4) in MEEM 112.

Sangyoon Han (BioMed/HRI) will present “Force, Stiffness, and Cell Behavior.”

Han's research interests center around understanding how mechanics affects cell/molecular biology, referred to as mechanobiology. He develops a minimally perturbing experimental approach and captures the heterogeneity of dynamic mechanochemical states using live cell microscopy, computer vision and inverse dynamics to probe feedbacks between cellular structure and mechanical forces.

Michigan Tech hockey forward Isaac Gordon has been named the CCHA Rookie of the Month for March. It's the second time this season Gordon has received the honor.

Gordon paced all CCHA rookies with eight points in March, scoring three goals and adding five assists in seven contests. He helped the Huskies win their first Mason Cup Championship and make their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, posting one power-play tally in the process. He had three straight multipoint games, including back-to-back three-point contests against Bowling Green in the Mason Cup Quarterfinals.

Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Wednesday (April 3)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 vs. Glenville State University, 7 p.m.NACE Varsity Plus RO6. Watch the Twitch stream.

Friday (April 5)
• Counter-Strike 2 vs. Syracuse University, 7 p.m. NACE Varsity Premier RO12. Watch the Twitch stream.

Times are subject to change. Check Twitter @MTUEsports for updates.

*****

Esports News
Read more in the MTU Esports weekly update.

Missed a game? All past streams are available on YouTube.

Sarah Hoy (CFRES) was quoted by the Chicago Tribune in a story about the wide-ranging impacts of record-low ice cover on the Great Lakes, including the warm-weather suspension partway through Michigan Tech’s 2023-24 winter study of wolves and moose. The story was picked up by Yahoo! News and Yahoo! News U.K.

*****

Jim Baker (VPR) was quoted and David Shonnard (ChE) was mentioned by the Mining Journal in a story about the Entrepreneurial Fellows Program, a collaboration between Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan University. MTU students Michael Ngala, Emmanuel Teigong and Brenda Chepngeno were mentioned as program participants, and Ngala was quoted.

*****

Professor Emerita Eunice Carlson (BioSci) was interviewed by the Daily Mining Gazette for a story about her opposition to the U.S. Navy’s Project Seafarer, a nuclear submarine communications system across the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin proposed in the 1970s. Carlson helped organize People Against Sanguine and Seafarer (PASS) and was eventually interviewed by Dan Rather for a feature story on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

*****

Ph.D. student Ayodele James Akinola (rhetoric, theory, and culture) was mentioned by BusinessDay Nigeria in a story about his presentation at the Global Digital Humanities Symposium 2024, hosted by Michigan State University from March 18-23. Akinola presented his analysis of about 24,000 TripAdvisor reviews of themed hotels in Las Vegas, exploring how modern digital platforms can subtly perpetuate historical power dynamics and cultural stereotypes.

*****

MTU student Steve Prudhomme, a member of fraternity of Lambda Chi Alpha, was quoted by the Mining Journal in a story about the Easter dinner hosted by Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly in Hancock last Saturday (March 30). Prudhomme was one of the Huskies volunteering at the event. The story was picked up from the Daily Mining Gazette.

P.A.W.S. Training Program for Peer Supporters is Accepting Nominations

P.A.W.S. (Peer Awareness for Well-being and Support) is a newly adopted program at Michigan Tech that equips students with the knowledge and tools to effectively recognize the signs of a mental health crisis, give appropriate and supportive aid, and refer a peer who is struggling to professional mental health resources. The program seeks to involve students from multiple backgrounds and experiences who are natural, key peer supporters on campus and want to help bring a higher level of mental health awareness and advocacy to the Michigan Tech community.

Promoting student mental health and well-being is a whole-campus effort, and Michigan Tech students are crucial in helping to support student mental health on campus. Research shows that students who struggle with mental health often reach out to their peers first, while a smaller percentage reach out to their on-campus counseling center.

Over six weeks of training, P.A.W.S. gives students the skills to help their peers experiencing crisis or distress. Participants meet each week for one hour. The core purpose of P.A.W.S. is to increase the number of peer support leaders on campus who are trained to identify and confidently refer their peers to the appropriate professional mental health resources, and who embrace a holistic approach to well-being by expanding and enriching the network of support on campus.

Once students have completed the six-week training program, they are considered members of the P.A.W.S. network for the remainder of their time at Michigan Tech. Completing this program will open up future opportunities for participating in mental health and well-being advocacy on campus, getting involved in future continuing education or peer programs, and being a leader in promoting mental health resources on campus. With only six weeks of training, students will learn valuable skills that are useful even after their years at Michigan Tech.

Each week brings up a new topic for students to discuss with peers in their group:

• Session 1: What is Mental Health?: Acceptance and Avoidance
• Session 2: Core Supportive Skills
• Session 3: Depression and Anxiety
• Session 4: High-Risk Coping Strategies & Behaviors
• Session 5: Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors
• Session 6: Helping Others Get Help

Faculty, staff and students who are passionate about mental health awareness on campus are invited to nominate a student for the P.A.W.S. fall 2024 cohort. Nominated students must have at least one year left in their academic program and will receive an email requesting a completed application form and their schedule availability. Nominations are accepted year-round, but please submit nominations for fall 2024 by Sunday (April 7).

Limited spots are available. Nominees not accepted into this cohort will be waitlisted for the next semester.

To Learn More: Check out our website or email us at PAWS@mtu.edu.

*****

MS Defense: Ketan Patil, CS

M.S. in Computer Science student Ketan Patil will present his final oral examination (defense) today (April 3) from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in Rekhi 101.

The title of Patil’s talk is “From Technical Resolution to Agile Evolution: A Blended Role at Humane Interface Design Enterprise (HIDE).”

Read the talk abstract on the Computing News Blog.

*****

Deadline Extended: Join the PHC Undergraduate Research Internship Program

Did you miss the Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP) application deadline? Don’t worry, the deadline has been extended to Friday (April 5) at 5 p.m.!

The Pavlis Honors College (PHC) invites you to embark on an enriching journey through URIP for the 2024-25 academic year. URIP provides an opportunity to establish a beneficial collaboration between an undergraduate student and a faculty research mentor.

With the deadline extended, now is the time to seize the opportunity. The internship program will run from September 2024 through mid-March 2025 and is open to any undergraduate student on campus with an identified faculty research mentor. Faculty and students who are already working together are welcome to apply.

Visit the PHC's URIP website for application details and take the first step toward becoming an undergraduate research intern.

For guidance or assistance during the application process, please reach out to Rob Handler at rhandler@mtu.edu. We're here to support you every step of the way.

So, what are you waiting for? Dive into research, expand your knowledge and leave your mark on the world. Apply now and join us in shaping the future!

*****

This Week's C3 Luncheon Menu

Menu for Thursday (April 4):

• BBQ Brisket (AD, AG)
• Bun (Soy, Gluten, Egg, Dairy)
• BBQ Tofu (Vegan, Soy, AG, AD)
• Pasta Salad (Vegetarian, Gluten, AD)
• Crispy Onions (Vegan, Gluten, AD)
• Mac and Cheese (Vegetarian, Dairy, Gluten, Egg)
• Garlic Green Beans (Vegan, AD, AG)
• Mashed Potatoes (Vegetarian, Dairy, AG)
• Coleslaw (Vegetarian, Egg, AG)

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).

We look forward to seeing you at our next luncheon!

AG = Avoiding Gluten
AD = Avoiding Dairy

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

Master's Defense: Ketansingh Anil Patil

Wednesday, April 3, 2:30–3:30 p.m. | Rekhi Hall, 101

Computer Science Advisor: Robert Pastel From Technical Resolution to Agile Evolution: A Blended Role at Humane Interface Design Enterprise (HIDE)

MS Defense: Ketan Patil, Computer Science

Wednesday, April 3, 2:30–3:30 p.m. | Rekhi Hall, 101

Graduate student Ketan Patil, MS in Computer Science, will present his final oral examination (defense) on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, from 2:30-3:30 pm in Rekhi 101. The title...

Master's Defense: Colin Schaefer

Wednesday, April 3, 3–4 p.m.

Mechanical Engineering Advisor: Vinh Nguyen A physical test artifact for evaluating edge cases of individual and fused automated driving perception sensors Attend...

Students For Life General Meeting

Wednesday, April 3, 5–6 p.m. | Fisher 230

Students For Life general meeting

Board Game Group

Wednesday, April 3, 6–8 p.m. | DHH Ballroom

Come hang out with us for a few hours in the evening and play some fun games! Feel free to bring your own games, too (if interested)! We will have games like UNO, Apples to...

Michigan Tech Recreation Indoor Triathlon

Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool, Multipurpose Room

You don't have to win, you just have to TRI! Michigan Tech Recreation is hosting an indoor triathlon for MTU students and SDC Access Pass Holders (minimum one-month)! Unlike a...