Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Brown Bag Lunch Seminar

Published November 3, 2016

The School of Business and Economics will host its third brown bag lunch research seminar of the semester on Thursday, November 10 at 12:00pm in Academic Office Building 101. Dr. Mark Rudnicki and Dr. Terry Sharik of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science will present their recent study. Pizza and soda will be provided.

Title: Forest Bioeconomy and the Circular Bioeconomy

The forest bioeconomy refers to economic activities that use renewable bio-based resources from forest ecosystems, land or water, for production of services, products or energy. For the bio-economy to be efficient and effective and to remain viable, it must foster reuse, recycling and safe re-entry of by-products into the environment. This life cycle approach is referred to as a “(bio-based) circular economy” and is a foundation for sustainable development. Our challenge will be to help communities and industry design and develop a bio-based product portfolio consistent with their existing strengths and future possibilities by supporting education, research and business-based partnerships.

The bioeconomy presents significant benefits to all business and community stakeholders in the value chain. Central to a bioeconomy are resource protocols that, a) ensure sustainable management, b) optimize use of forest and mill residuals, c) capitalize on waste to use principles, d) engage community and business leaders in planning and development, e) create cross sector business relationships that stimulate investment, and f) advocate for policy that enables communities and accommodates business. The forest bioeconomy has the potential to dramatically advance and improve the social and economic well being of all those engaged, from land owners and operators to product distributors. You are part of the resource needed to realize that potential.

By implementing a circular bioeconomy, the forest industry can be more competitive by creating strong and expanding markets for wood fiber. Equally important is the opportunity to improve social license and increase opportunities to demonstrate the responsible and sustainable nature of the forestry sector.

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Elevator Pitch Competition Results

Published October 31, 2016

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On Thursday, October 6th the School of Business and Economics, Smart Zone, Michigan Economic Development Program and Michigan Tech Center for Social Innovation hosted the annual Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition. In addition to cash prizes, tickets to the Silicon Valley Experience were also awarded to ten of the participants. Congratulations to all of our winners:

1st Prize – Emmet Eurich, VaccuShot

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Emmet is a second year chemical engineer at Michigan Tech from Midland, Michigan.

Vacuu-Shot is a business whose sole purpose is to make the archery world a safer and better place for all of those who are and will be archers, without the risk of injury. Vacuu-Shot is based around his design, which replaces the high tension limbs and cables, as well as all of the complex moving parts found in compound bows that cause these injuries, with a vacuum piston system, lever-action limb system, and cast non-flexible frame. Vacuu-Shot plans on having their first bow line, called The Rochmaninoff, at the ATA Trade Show in Indianapolis by January of 2017.

2nd Prize – Tommy Stuart, Delving Deeply

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Tommy grew up in Rochester, Michigan before moving to New Jersey, Kentucky, Iowa and back to Michigan. He has had a variety of experiences before landing himself here as a part time student taking courses in information technology here at Michigan Tech.

Delving Deeply is a project Tommy is working on with his team in the Husky Game Development enterprise program. They are called Team 13, or “Pizza Lab” and are made up of Tommy, James Turkette, Trevor Hamilton, and Scott Murphy. Their game is a single player top down action adventure, similar to the older 2D Legend of Zelda games. By Decemeber they are hoping to have at least four eonnected dungeon rooms, and a puzzle or two for the player to solve while battling enemies and moving between rooms. Their full game will be significantly larger and hpoe to release it by May 2017.

3rd Prize & Audience Favorite – Parth Bhatt & Dhavan Sharma, The Indian Restaurant

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Parth and Dhavan are both graduate students at Michigan Tech from Gujarat State in India. Parth is studying applied ecology and geographic information sience and Dhavan is in the biomedical engineering program.

After moving to Michigan Tech in August 2016, the two discovered there was not an Indian Restaurant in the area. They found that Michigan Tech has a large community of Indian, Chinese, Nigerian and American students and professors who love Indian food but have no where to go to eat it. Both have experience working in the food industry in India and want to serve the Keewenaw community with tasty and healthy Indian cuisine.

Best Technology – Kyle Ludwig, Tru

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Kyle is a fourth year transfer student studying computer engineering from Traverse City, Michigan.

Tru was an idea he had to help empower people to adopt healthy lifestyles. Since last year, Tru has grown from just Kyle to a five member team in Computer Science and Computer Engineering working on design and evelopment. They are currently creating an automated nutrition plan for Android which adapts to personal goals and preferences over time, much like a Spotify playlist. It is as simple as a left or right swipe on each suggestion to plan your next meal. A weekly grocery list, recipe directions and scheduled times to prepare meals are also given. Their launch page will be up soon, likely under a new name for insider access and updates.

Best Social Innovation – Datta Sendesh, Teelax

Need a course? Make it easier with advanced search

Published October 25, 2016

By Jodie Filpus

Academics

Find classes to meet your general education requirements. Using the “Attribute Search” will help you find classes available for a particular semester.

Advanced functions are available to search for classes on this site here

After you select the term (Spring 2017, Summer 2017) you will go to the search functions (see picture below)

SUBJECT: Select multiple subjects by using the “Ctrl” + right click function or you can select all subjects with a left mouse click and highlight all subjects by dragging down.
CAMPUS: If wanting online courses select “MTU Online” in “Campus” search. NOTE most online options are available in Summer terms.
PART OF TERM: AKA Track A (1st Half of Term) or Track B (2nd Half of Term) is helpful especially in Summer to select the track you would wish to take a class.
ATTRIBUTE TYPE: Finally…need a course to fulfill a particular General Education requirement (attribute) such as a HUFA (Humanities and Fine Arts) course? This can provide a list of courses available to fulfill a requirement for a particular semester. TIP: Select multiple subjects or subjects you are interested in

Accounting Club Visits Milwaukee

Published October 21, 2016

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On October 13 and 14, Kappa Sigma Iota (KSI accounting club) visited Milwaukee to experience some business in action. The students were hosted by Becker Professional Education. Their first stop was Schenck CPA firm, then they visited with PwC Advisory (the second largest CPA firm in the world) with a final stop at Bemis Manufacturing. Students on this trip were able to meet with everyone from managing partners to newly hired accountants. Some student comments on their experience:

“Accountants sure do love their jobs!”

“Excel is the tool of business, and I need to learn to use it better.’

“I got a better understanding of what they are looking for when they ask situational questions during an interview.”

KSI is already beginning to prepare for their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) which will take place in February. Through this initiative students in the accounting club assist community members and area students with completing tax returns.

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Brown Bag Lunch Seminar

Published October 7, 2016

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The School of Business and Economics will host its second brown bag lunch research seminar of the semester on Friday, October 14 at 12:00pm in Academic Office Building 101. Dr. Emanuel Oliveira will present his recent study.

Title: Union density and entrepreneurship: A motivational approach

Abstract: Prior economics literature has examined the role of union density on rates of
entrepreneurial entry and found a negative relationship. Reasoning that strong unions increase
costs and risks for entrepreneurs, researchers found that raw counts of new entries declined with
increasing union density. By differentiating between necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship,
and looking to motivation theories, our study challenges at least part of these earlier findings.
The results of our multilevel modeling analyses deployed on a large cross-country sample of
entrepreneurs suggest that: (1) union density is positively associated with opportunity-based
entrepreneurship; and (2) union density is negatively associated with necessity-based
entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship literature suggests that only opportunity entrepreneurship
is positively associated with economic development. Thus, our findings may transform the
understanding of the role of union density and lead to alternative policy recommendations.

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