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Community English Class: $20 = 7 weeks English Instruction

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This is an announcement for the upcoming Community English Class.

This low cost evening “class” has proven to be a great opportunity to learn some English, meet new friends and to get out of the house and explore our community.This is especially true for people new to the community where English is a second language, but this opportunity is certainly not limited to newcomers or non-English speakers.

While designed for the spouses of international faculty, this class is open to graduate students, their partners, and anyone who wants to become more engaged in their community.

Those interested should email <comlanguage@mtu.edu> to register, or contact <carrie@mtu.edu> for more details. The program is taught by the Michigan Tech IESL program faculty, supported by the Michigan Tech Office of the Provost, and sponsored by the Dual Career Program.

Night Owl Leaflet Spring 2015

Michigan Tech News Article from Dec 2013

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On campus hours for student health insurance

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Representatives from the student insurance office will be on campus at the student service center (Admin building, 1st floor) on the following dates:

  • Wednesday, August 21st: 12-2
  • Thursday, August 22nd: 9-11
  • Friday, August 23rd:  9-11
  • Tuesday, September 3rd: 9-12
  • Wednesday, September 4th:  2-5

They will also be at the following events:

  • Graduate School Student Services Fair – 11:30am – 1pm, MUB Commons
  • Expo – 6pm in the Library
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Finishing Fellowship – Spring 2025 – Rhiannon Turner

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Rhiannon Turner, PhD in Physics, 2025

I’ve always been fascinated with the how things work on a fundamental level. Why does a ball roll on an uneven surface? Why does a light bulb turn on when I flip a switch? My curiosity has also stretched beyond earth’s reaches, to the stars we see in the night sky and all the other phenomena in our universe untouchable by the naked eye. Naturally, this curiosity evolved into a Bachelor’s degree in Physics (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2020) and led me to join Michigan Technological University’s physics department in the fall of 2020. While at Tech, I’ve been exploring our galaxy through gamma-ray astronomy with the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory. My research has focused on exploring astrophysical objects, like supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae, that accelerate cosmic-rays to energies a trillion times more energetic than visible light, and which produce some of the highest energy gamma-rays we detect in our galaxy. I have also been able to use my experience with HAWC and apply it to the research and development of a next-generation, ground-based, gamma-ray observatory: the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO).

I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Petra Huentemeyer, who has not only helped me find my footing in the astrophysical community, but who has also supported me in presenting my work across the world at international conferences and meetings. I have presented my work with HAWC at conferences like the International Cosmic Ray Conference and had it published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. I was also granted a position in the DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program, where I was able to conduct research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. While there, I was able to explore physics that goes beyond the Standard Model with HAWC data.

I extend my gratitude to the Graduate School, Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel, and all the donors for awarding me the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship. I would like to thank the Physics Department and the Nicholas Matwiyoff & Carl Hogberg Endowed Graduate Fellowship, as well as my advisor, for supporting my graduate studies throughout my time at MTU. I would also like to thank the scientists in the HAWC and SWGO collaborations, especially those who are in my group here at MTU, for sharing your knowledge with me and helping me to learn the beauty of our gamma-ray skies.

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2012 Geothermal Student Competition

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The US Department Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is pleased to announce the 2012 Geothermal Student Competition. The Competition is designed to support, inspire, and promote innovation, exploration, and entrepreneurship among the nation’s emerging young thinkers. The Competition platform focuses on developing and advancing the next generation of geothermal energy exploration technology that can potentially unleash an infusion of reliable, cost-effective, and clean geothermal energy into the US energy economy.

The Challenge

Undergraduate and graduate student teams, guided by a faculty member in the role of mentor, are challenged to conduct a professional-quality assessment of the Snake River Plain site in Idaho using innovative exploration technologies. Research should be based on the case study analysis provided using one or more of the following exploration technologies:

  1. geophysics,
  2. geochemistry,
  3. remote sensing; and
  4. geology.

Please note: faculty should be providing limited support. This is intended to be a student competition.

Who Should Apply?

The Competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students in science, engineering and business programs of study.

Where do I Apply?

The Competition application, guidelines, and copies of the case study can all be found on the Competition website http://orise.orau.gov/geothermal

How does the Competition work?

The Competition is divided into two phases:

Phase I

Student teams, comprised of up to four students with the faculty mentor serving in the capacity of project advisor and coach, will submit an application through the website detailing their project plan. The top ten competitive applicants are selected and the winning teams, their mentors, and their schools are notified and advanced into Phase II of the competition. Teams entering Phase II all receive a $10K stipend to defray the cost associated with equipment purchase, travel and other expenses incurred during the research cycle.

Phase II

The teams are required to participate in monthly review meetings and submit regular reports documenting their progress. Phase II is completed when the Teams submit the required technical paper and present their findings to the team of expert judges at the Geothermal Council Capstone event. ORISE will manage all aspects of the competition including recruitment, program promotion, conducting an application review and coordinating Capstone judging panels, for the selection and award process.

Please contact by email geothermalstudentcompetition@orise.orau.gov or Dr. Desmond Stubbs, Program Manager at (865) 603-2461.

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ACEC Scholarships Available

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The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Michigan is planning to award $10,000+ to engineering and surveying students. To qualify for consideration for an Education Grant, an applicant must be a full or part-time student (sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student status) pursuing an engineering or surveying degree and enrolled in an ABET accredited engineering or surveying program.  Applications are available from the ACEC office or online at www.acecmi.org by clicking on Awards, then Scholarship Program.

Applicants will be judged on a written essay, their work experience, employer and faculty recommendations, community involvement and their GPA.

Applications are due to ACEC by December 19, 2014. 

Last year, ACEC Michigan awarded $13,000 in scholarships to deserving students.

2015 ACEC Scholarship Application

 

 

 

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Academic Policies for Graduate Students

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Dear graduate students,

We hope this email finds you well, engaged with your academics, and taking time to take care of yourselves.  We realize that this is a stressful time and that the disruption caused by covid-19, coupled with social and physical distancing may have impacted your ability to be successful this semester.  We’d like to share some information to support your academic success this semester.

Dropping classes

The University is allowing students to drop classes through the Friday of Week 14 (5pm, April 24) with a grade of W.  A W grade is not calculated in your cumulative GPA. There is no refund for dropped classes.

If you are supported as a GTA/GRA/GTI, please contact the Graduate School prior to dropping classes, if possible, to receive permission to be registered for less than 9 credits.

International students may drop below 9 credits in the spring 2020 semester while maintaining their student status.  If you have questions regarding your status, please contact International Programs and Services.

To drop a class, email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@mtu.edu making sure to include both the course information and your M number. The deadline for withdrawing from a single course with a W will be extended through Friday of week 14 (5pm, April 24). Please submit your request no later than 5pm.

Withdrawing

If you would like to withdraw from all of your classes, please complete a Student Withdrawal form no later than 5pm on the Friday of week 14 (April 24).  You will receive a grade of W in all of your courses. There is no refund for your tuition if you withdraw.

If you are supported as a GTA/GRA/GTI, please contact the Graduate School prior to withdrawing, if possible.

International students should contact International Programs and Services to ensure that their student status and I-20 are updated.

Non-graded classes

(EDIT: 4/24/2020. If approved by the administration, pass/fail grades will be allowed for graduate students. Please see the updated information on our blog.)

The University Senate has passed a policy to allow undergraduate students to convert graded classes to non-graded classes (pass/fail). Graduate students will not be able to change the grading mode for their classes.  The Graduate School requires that classes earn a letter grade (A, B, etc.) in order to be used toward a graduate degree.

Each graduate program may allow up to six credits of BC or C grades to count toward a graduate degree. Please consult with your graduate program director to determine the academic standards in your program.

Student support

Our student support coordinator, Anna McClatchy, is available to help you find additional resources for your personal and academic concerns.  HuskyFAN is available to provide emergency food for those in need. Finally, Counseling Services is providing individual services, group sessions, and seminars through remote services and referrals. 

Academic grievances

If you have a grievance about any grades you have received this semester, please use the Academic Grievance policy to address these concerns.

Good standing

(EDIT: 4/24/2020. Senate Proposal 54-20 puts probation and suspension on hold for spring 2020.)

Graduate students must maintain good standing in order to continue pursuing a degree.  In general, this requires a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and making progress in research.  

A switch in academic standing from good to probationary status may occur after a poor academic performance. This is simply an indicator (or warning) that improvement is needed and has no impact on a student’s ability to participate in a degree program in the next semester.

However, if a student is currently on academic probation, continued poor performance would lead to academic suspension.  All students who are suspended are encouraged to appeal this decision so that they can remain active in their academic program.  The Graduate School reviews these appeals holistically and understands that it may have been an extra challenge to return to good standing this semester.

We are here to help.  Please let us know how we can assist you this semester. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Sincerely,

Graduate School

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Graduate Students Invited to Participate in Safe Place Program

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With the increased enrollment of students who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (GLBTQ), the Michigan Tech Safe Place Program has been redesigned to be a comprehensive and in-depth resource to better prepare faculty and staff to address the needs of these students.

The revamped training program addresses a wide range of terms that GLBTQ students use to define their identities, issues that GLBTQ students often deal with during the coming-out process, concerns that GLBTQ students face both in and out of the classroom, ways that faculty and staff can create inclusive classroom and office environments, where faculty and staff can refer students who need to report harassment and the on- and off-campus resources available to students.

Faculty, staff, graduate students and undergraduate student employees are invited to participate in the program. The fall 2012 training times and the online registration form are available at Safe Place.

Published in Tech Today

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Science and Engineering Expo on National Mall

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Michigan Tech will have a dual presence at the first annual USA Science and Engineering Festival, Oct. 23-24, on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

The Science and Engineering Expo is the grand finale of a two-week event promoting public interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. More than 1,500 interactive activities for all ages, hosted by more than 350 of the nation’s leading science and engineering organizations, will expose attendees to a broad spectrum of science. All events are free and open to the public, and hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to attend.

NSF Program Answers Burning Questions About Volcanoes

How can you tell if a volcano is about to blow? What tools do you use to monitor a volcano? What’s so important about volcanoes, anyway? The world–including thousands of school-age youngsters–will get hands-on answers from Michigan Tech.

Tech’s volcano exhibit is in Freedom Plaza (Section PA-13, Booth #1317). Graduate students Luke Bowman, Kyle Brill and Anieri Morales Rivera will demonstrate equipment and techniques used by field researchers to monitor volcanic activity. By doing this monitoring, volcanologists can learn more about volcanic processes and identify potential precursors to eruptions.

The team hopes its exhibit will get people interested in geology. “Geology is a science full of wonders, excitement and lots of things to discover,” says Morales Rivera, “from understanding natural processes that may become a hazard to humans, such as volcanoes, to improving our knowledge of Earth and planetary sciences.” People are “exposed to geology in a daily basis,” she points out, “from the use of mineral resources to the location of petroleum and water supplies.”

To help illustrate what they look for when monitoring volcanoes, the Tech team is bringing an accelerometer and a Forward-Looking Infrared, or FLIR, camera. To demonstrate the accelerometer, which measures seismic activity, guests will be invited to jump on the ground, creating earthquake-like vibrations that the accelerometer will pick up and display as a seismogram.

The graduate students will also show visitors pictures of themselves taken with the FLIR camera, which measures an object’s radiant energy, translates it into temperature, and displays an image using light intensity or color brightness to show levels of heat.

“Scientists can’t predict eruptions,” says Morales Rivera, “but we can talk about the probability of one based on changes in the volcano’s behavior, such as increased seismicity, changes in gas concentrations coming out of the volcano, and deformation of the volcano itself.”

The exhibit will also explain the kinds of hazards posed by a volcanic eruption, from ash clouds that can block sunlight and interfere with airline flights, to lava flows that can burn everything in their path.

The Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences is one of only 15 National Science Foundation-funded projects invited to participate nationwide. Tech’s project is part of the NSF’s Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) program. Tech operates PIRE programs in Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru.

“The NSF Office for International Science and Education, which manages the PIRE program, was very excited about our selection,” says Chair John Gierke (GMES). “We were the only PIRE project that was selected.”

Does the Tech team feel intimidated? Of course not, says Bowman. “We hike active volcanoes. We can handle the Mall.”

Tech’s MindTrekkers are also traveling to the National Mall. The group, which is a traveling science road show produced by Youth Programs, will share some of the stranger mysteries of science.  Read the complete article in Tech Today

by Jennifer Donovan, director of public relations

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Fall Enrollment Figures Announced

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Michigan Tech submitted its official fall undergraduate and graduate enrollment figures to the state Wednesday night.

The total number of students on campus this fall is 6,945, including 1,410 new undergraduates, both first-year and transfer students. Of those new undergraduates, 1,027 are Michigan residents, 349 are women, 93 are underrepresented minorities and 54 are international students.

“Four and half years ago we enrolled one of the largest undergraduate classes in recent memory,” said Les Cook, vice president for student affairs. “Last May those students graduated, and 95 percent of them were successfully placed. With that exceptionally large number of graduates taking their place in the world and decreasing numbers of students graduating from high schools in Michigan, it is more challenging for us to fill all their spots at the University. But we’re doing well, and I think that the high placement rates and starting salaries of our graduates bode well for the long run. The market is there. Right now, our Fall Career Fair already has the second-largest number of companies attending in our history, and businesses are still registering.”

Although the total number of women at Michigan Tech dropped slightly, the number of female students in the College of Engineering rose to 835 from last year’s 795. That brings the percentage of women engineering undergraduates up to 20 percent. Since 2005, the number of undergraduate women enrolled in the College of Engineering has increased 36 percent, from 612 to 835.

Overall, women make up 25 percent or one in four of the undergraduates at Michigan Tech.

“We’ve done a lot in the background over the past couple years to begin to position Michigan Tech as a ‘go-to’ place for women interested in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields and management,” said President Glenn Mroz. “It’s a process that will continue. This fall we’re gearing up a new marketing campaign to reach out to women interested in understanding, developing, applying, managing and communicating science and technology. After all, women make up about 55 percent of the college-bound population; their science and math abilities are exceptional, and employers are continually looking for more gender balance in their workforce.”

The total number of graduate students rose to 1,322, a 1.5 percent increase over fall 2011. First-time master’s degree students this year total 257 and first-time doctoral students, 98.

Michigan Tech also saw a fourth consecutive year of increases in graduate degrees granted, reported Jacque Smith, director of marketing and advancement for the Graduate School. In the 2011-12 academic year, 352 graduate degrees were granted, including 289 master’s and 63 PhDs.

“These numbers are encouraging and are moving us closer to our goal of having 3,000 graduate students at Michigan Tech,” said Graduate School Dean Jacqueline Huntoon.

“Jacque and I both want to thank all of the people who worked so hard over the past two weeks to get all of the students in special situations enrolled before the official count date,” Huntoon added. “This includes the Graduate School staff, the Registrar’s Office staff and everyone in Accounting. Without all of these people’s collaborative efforts, we would not have been able to exceed last year’s numbers before the official count date.”

by Jenn Donovan, director, public relations
Published in Tech Today

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Safe Place Training in Spring 2013

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With the increased enrollment of students who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (GLBTQ), the Michigan Tech Safe Place Program is designed to be a comprehensive and in-depth resource to better prepare faculty, staff, and graduate assistants to address the needs of these students. The training program addresses a wide range of terms that GLBTQ students use to define their identities, issues that GLBTQ students often deal with during the coming out process, concerns that GLBTQ students face both in and out of the classroom, ways that faculty, staff, and graduate assistants can create inclusive classroom and office environments, where faculty, staff, and graduate assistants can refer students who need to report harassment, and the on- and off-campus resources available to students. All graduate students are invited to participate in the program. The spring 2013 training times and the online registration form are available at http://safeplace.mtu.edu/register.php.

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