December 12, 2024

Hundreds of Michigan Tech undergraduates cross the threshold from college student to graduate each semester. Two students from the Department of Biological Sciences share a look back at their journeys with us — what brought them here, what kept them going through challenges and obstacles, and what drives them to make the world a better place.

Medical laboratory science (MLS) major Jessica Gadbury ’24 from southeast Wisconsin and human biology major Riley Stichter ’24 from Dayton, Minnesota, share their advice for incoming first-year students, the challenges they have overcome, and their plans for the future. Read more on the College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog.

With the upcoming launch of the new Essential Education program and the integration of Husky Folios powered by PebblePad, now is a good time to begin learning about the platform. PebblePad Basics, a new short course, is now available on Canvas. The course is designed to provide users with a foundation for using PebblePad in their teaching.

What is PebblePad?
PebblePad is an innovative ePortfolio and learning design platform that allows students to document their learning journey, reflect on their experiences and showcase their achievements. For faculty, it provides tools to design engaging learning experiences, assess student work and support students’ personal and professional development.

What You’ll Learn in PebblePad Basics
This short course is self-paced and structured to help faculty build confidence in using PebblePad effectively. Topics include:

• Navigating PebblePad: Explore the interface and understand the core features of the platform.
• Creating Workbooks and Templates: Learn to design activities and assignments tailored to your course objectives.
• Supporting Students: Discover strategies for introducing PebblePad to your students and guiding them through its use.
• Integrating PebblePad with Canvas: Seamlessly link PebblePad with your Canvas course for streamlined teaching and assessment.

Why Take PebblePad Basics?
This course is ideal for faculty new to PebblePad who want to explore its potential for enhancing student learning, experienced users who need a quick refresher on core features, and instructors seeking creative ways to assess student learning, foster reflection or support professional development.

How to Enroll
Ready to get started? Enrolling in the PebblePad Basics course is easy:

• Go directly to the PebblePad Basics course page in Canvas.
• You can also log in to your Canvas account, search for “PebblePad Basics” in the course catalog, then click “Enroll” and begin exploring!

Need Support?
For questions about the course or additional training opportunities, contact Nancy Barr at nbbarr@mtu.edu.

A total of 30 nominations have been submitted for the 2024 Making a Difference Awards. There will be winners in each of the following categories:

• Behind the Scenes
• Legacy Award
• Outstanding Leader
• Rookie Award
• Serving Others
• Unsung Hero

A list of nominees is available on the Staff Council website. Everyone is invited to a reception honoring the nominees. The reception is scheduled from 2-3:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 in the Memorial Union Ballroom. The recipients for each category will be announced at the reception.

As a reminder, union-represented employees are entitled to release time for professional development activities, including staff recognition programs deemed relevant by the University. Employees should work with their supervisors to ensure coverage during their absence. Supervisors may contact HR for guidance on eligibility and the process for granting this release time.

Please join Nancy Barr (APUE) as she leads the Spring 2025 CTL Book Club discussing “Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth” by Daniel R. Porterfield.

Michigan Tech’s new Essential Education program is launching next fall. The program is designed to help students develop 12 Essential Abilities — some of which are mindsets, such as engaging in civic life, collaborating effectively, applying creativity to touch problems, and welcoming new challenges. This recently released book helps college faculty and staff design coursework and experiences that achieve these objectives.

The Spring 2025 CTL Book Club meeting dates are Jan. 21, Feb. 4, Feb. 18 and March 4. All meetings will be held in Library 243 at 3 p.m. All book club participants will receive a complimentary copy of the book.

For additional information, questions, accommodation requests or to sign up for the book club, please contact Barr at nbbarr@mtu.edu.

Mark your calendars! The Winter Welcome Back Committee, in partnership with the Waino Wahtera Center, Blue Key, MUB Board, Student Leadership and Involvement, IRHC Broomball Committee and more, has created a January lineup of events to keep you busy all month long.

Starting Jan. 5, stop by one of the dorms or the MUB to get a Winter Welcome Back Passport and learn more about upcoming events and ways to win prizes, including “skip the line” hockey tickets. For a sneak peek at some of January’s events, visit Involvement Link. To find out where to get your Winter Welcome Back Passport stamped for a chance to win, see the list of events below.

If you have questions about events, the passport or accessibility, please email Dawn Corwin, the chair of the Winter Welcome Back Committee and assistant director of the Wahtera Center.

• Jan. 5 — Welcome Back Tables | Various Res Halls and MUB, 12-3 p.m. (Pick up Passport)
• Jan. 7 — Broomball Festival | Walker Lawn, 4-7 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 8 — Get Your Life In Order (GYLIO) – With Success Coaches | Wads G042, 12-3 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 9 — Ask The DOS a Question | Library, 11 a.m. to noon (Passport)
• Jan. 9 — Get Your Life In Order (GYLIO) – With Success Coaches | McNair West Lounge, 12-3 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 9 — Clay Creations | MUB Commons, 5-7 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 9 — Healthy Relationships Presentation | Wads, 6-8 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 10 — “The Wild Robot” Film Screening | Fisher 135, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
• Jan. 11 — Photo Scavenger Hunt | DHH Ballroom, 2:30 p.m.
• Jan. 11 — “The Wild Robot” Film Screening | Fisher 135, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
• Jan. 11 — Presentation Night with Dungeons & Dragons | Fisher 139, 7 p.m.
• Jan. 13 — Learn about the American Society of Mechanical Engineers | MEEM 403, 6 p.m.
• Jan. 14 — Ask The DOS a Question | Library, 11 a.m. to noon (Passport)
• Jan. 14 — Get Your Life In Order (GYLIO) – With Success Coaches | DHH Ballroom, 12-3 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 14 — Healthy Relationships Presentation | DHH, 6-8 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 15 — Greek Fair | Library East Reading Room, 3-6 p.m.
• Jan. 17 — Winter Carnival Trivia Night | MUB Commons, 9:30-11 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 17 — MLK Day Reading Service Project | Various Regional Elementary Schools, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Sign Up on GivePulse
• Jan. 18 — Silent Disco | MUB Ballroom, 8-10 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 20 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration (Passport)
  • Brunch | MUB Ballroom, 10-11:30 a.m.
  • Interfaith Prayer Service | Library, noon
  • Peace March | Husky Statue, 1 p.m.
• Jan. 21 — Ask The DOS a Question | Library, 11 a.m. to noon (Passport)
• Jan. 21 — Spring Involvement Fair | MUB, 6:30-9:30 p.m. (Passport)
• Jan. 25 — InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Broomball Games | Evangel Community Church, 2-5 p.m.
• Jan. 25 — Blizzard Baja | South Range Snowmobile Club, 6-8 p.m.
• Jan. 28 — Career Fair | SDC, 12-4 p.m.
• Jan. 31 — Blizzard Bash | WADS Annex and Campus Cafe Lounge, 6-8 p.m.
• Feb. 1 — Fans in the Stands | SDC, noon (women's game) and 2 p.m. (men's game)

Michigan Tech men's basketball coach Joshua Buettner has announced the signing of Justin Bliesner — a 6 foot 5 inch forward from Mequon, Wisconsin — for the Huskies' 2025-26 academic year.

"Justin is the type of student-athlete that fits our program and culture perfectly. He's played for a high-level high school and AAU program," Buettner said. "He makes everybody on the team better and does all the little things that lead to success, while being a terrific student and person."

Read more about Bliesner at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Job Posting for Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024

Staff and faculty job descriptions are available on the Human Resources website. For more information regarding staff positions, call 906-487-2280 or email humanresources@mtu.edu. For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.

Manager of Administration – Executive Assistant to the Dean, College of Computing. Apply online.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer that provides equal opportunity for all, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Accommodations are available. If you require any auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations to apply for employment, or for an interview, at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or humanresources@mtu.edu.

Ponkrshnan Thiagarajan ’23 (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering) and Susanta Ghosh (MAE) are the authors of a paper published in Neurocomputing.

The paper is titled “Jensen–Shannon divergence based novel loss functions for Bayesian neural networks.”

The paper addresses the question, “Can we overcome the unboundedness encountered in KL divergence-based variational inference in Bayesian neural networks?” The authors’ answer is yes, by using the generalized Jensen–Shannon divergence. The resulting model also provides better regularization.

Phys.org, Universe Today and Curiosmos mentioned Michigan Tech Ph.D. candidate Ögetay Kayalı (Physics) in stories about his recent research proposing a new method for detecting Dyson rings — hypothetical structures that could be built around stars to capture their energy. Kayalı and the research team suggested that studying light patterns from pulsars (rapidly spinning neutron stars) could reveal subtle signals indicating the existence of these advanced technological structures.

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The Keweenaw Report mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about several Huskies being honored at the Society of Women Engineers WE24 Conference. Awardees included Julie Huffman ’87 (B.S. Electrical Engineering), who received the Rasnik Challenger Medal Award, senior undergraduate Skyler Brawley (computer engineering), who earned the Outstanding Collegiate Member Award, Amanda Smies ’18 (B.S. Materials Engineering), who was awarded the Trailblazer Award, and Gretchen Hein ’96 (Ph.D. Environmental Engineering), who earned the Distinguished Educator Award.

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The Daily Mining Gazette quoted Josh Buettner (ATH) in a story about the Michigan Tech men’s basketball team’s four-game winning streak. Buettner emphasized the team’s offensive balance and highlighted contributions from multiple players, including Marcus Tomashek and Dawson Nordgaard.

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MLive mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the season opening at Mont Ripley Ski Area tomorrow, Dec. 13. The oldest ski hill in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Mont Ripley offers 24 skiing and snowboarding runs, a terrain park with 30 features, three tubing runs and three chairlifts.

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WLUC TV6 mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the 58th Great Lakes Invitational (GLI), which will air on TV6 and FOX UP for the second consecutive year. Hosted by Michigan Tech, the 2024 tournament will take place Dec. 29-30 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids featuring four Michigan teams: Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan.

UPS/FedEx Package Delivery Over Winter Break

Central Receiving will be closed during the 2024-25 winter break for UPS and FedEx deliveries. We are unable to accept packages for departments that are closed during this time. We recommend contacting the shipper to adjust the delivery date for when your office reopens.

The dates of our winter break closure are as follows:

• Tuesday, Dec. 24, to Wednesday, Jan. 1 — Closed

We will return to regular operating hours on Jan. 2.

We would like to remind the campus community that personal packages should be specifically addressed to go directly to your department if you choose to have them shipped to campus. You can help keep our response time for delivering University packages consistent during this high-volume season and year-round by having personal packages delivered directly to your department (or your home).

To ensure timely delivery of packages directly to your department by the shipper, please ensure that you clearly provide the following information when placing an order:

• Your Complete Name
• Building Name
• Room Number
• 1400 Townsend Drive
• Houghton, MI 49931

Please contact Central Receiving at centralreceiving-l@mtu.edu should you have any questions or need assistance with special receiving or shipping needs.

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CEGE Fall 2024 Senior Design Colloquium

The Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Department is pleased to invite the University community to attend the fall 2024 senior design team presentations. This semester, students have undertaken a wide range of projects to fulfill the Department’s senior design requirement.

The presentations will be given tomorrow, Dec. 13, from 8 a.m. to noon in Dow 641 or on Zoom.

Join the CEGE Senior Design Presentations on Zoom.

Michigan Department of Transportation invites innovative and experienced firms to submit proposals for the design and engineering of two crucial infrastructure projects: the M-26 Mass City Roadway and the M-123 Paradise Reconstruction. These projects are vital components in addressing both regional transportation and environmental challenges, while also improving the quality of life and sustainability in these communities.

Find more info on the CEGE Senior Design Colloquium and see the event poster on the CEGE Undergraduate Advising Blog.

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Laboratory Pre-Inspection Documents

As a part of continuously improving the culture of safety across campus, the Research Integrity Office is updating the laboratory inspection process. Laboratory safety inspections are required for all research spaces (teaching, instructional and non-research spaces not included).

The pre-inspection process will collect required documentation from each research laboratory manager (primary faculty/staff member responsible for the laboratory). Department safety liaisons will also be contacted and engaged throughout the process.

If you are the primary person responsible for a laboratory, please submit the following forms by tomorrow, Dec. 13. If you are unable to meet this deadline, please submit them as soon as possible.

• Hazard / Risk Assessment — Identify all hazards (required for each unique laboratory)
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) — Describe each hazard and procedures to safely operate and mitigate each hazard
• Training Documentation — Certification that all users have been properly trained on all necessary SOPs and laboratory equipment

This will ensure that all researchers and their staff are aware of all the hazards in their laboratories and have the tools and plan to mitigate them, and ensure they have the relevant training they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. These documents are required during unscheduled regulatory MIOSHA inspections.

Laboratory inspection scheduling will begin in January 2025 and be prioritized based on the submitted hazard/risk assessments. Thank you for being committed to keeping safety at the forefront of your research.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to labinspections@mtu.edu. Thank you!

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

PhD Defense: Michael Sulwer

Thursday, December 12, 1–2 p.m. | Minerals and Materials Engineering Building (M&M), M&M 610

Materials Science and Engineering Advisor: Paul Sanders Bayesian Alloy Design with Additive Synthesis

Rochester Alumni Holiday Party 2024

Thursday, December 12, 6–8 p.m. | Rochester Mills Beer Co

Join volunteer alumni hosts Diane Cesarz '94, Peipei Zhao '09, and Scott McBain '86, in celebrating the winter season in Rochester, MI! Michigan Tech alumni and friends are...

Michigan Tech: Admitted, Now What?

Thursday, December 12, 7–8 p.m.

Join us to learn about the next steps after acceptance! We'll talk about what you need to do for financial aid and scholarships, go over the housing contract, discuss roommate...

Worship Ambiance

Thursday, December 12, 7:00–8:30 p.m. | Wadsworth Hall

Experience the atmosphere of worship, our bi-weekly gathering for believers and those who yearn to have a deeper relationship with God, deepening their understanding of Jesus...