Pavlis Honors College Blog

How well do students in Michigan Tech’s Enterprise and Senior Design programs address design challenges? You be the judge—volunteer at Design Expo 2021!

Hosted by the Pavlis Honors College and the College of Engineering as an annual event, Design Expo highlights hands-on, discovery-based learning at Michigan Tech.

At Design Expo, more than 1000 students in Enterprise and Senior Design teams showcase their work and compete for awards. Many team projects are supported by industry, which allows students to gain valuable experience and direct exposure to industry-relevant problems.

Do you have an hour or so to spare? Sign up to serve as distinguished virtual judge at Michigan Tech’s upcoming 21st annual Design Expo, held virtually on Thursday, April 15, 2021.

“No experience or education in engineering is required to be a judge,” says Briana Tucker, Enterprise Program Coordinator in the Pavlis Honors College at Michigan Tech. “In fact, we welcome judges from various professions, disciplines and backgrounds to volunteer to judge at this year’s event.”

As a virtual event, 2021 Design Expo includes a digital gallery of student-created videos that showcase their project work. Judging usually takes about an hour, depending on the number of volunteers.

Sign Me Up!

Visit Michigan Tech’s Design Expo Judges and Guests page for more information and to register to judge by Wednesday, April 7, 2021.

In order to serve as a judge, please commit to the following:

Attend Design Expo between 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM on April 15, 2021 to interact virtually with assigned teams via Gatherly.

Review and score assigned team videos via RocketJudge prior to the start of Design Expo, April 12-15, 2021.

Note: prior to the event, all judges and attendees will be provided resources outlining use of the Gatherly and RocketJudge platforms.

Who should judge?

Community members
Alumni interested in seeing what today’s undergraduate students are accomplishing as undergrads
Those looking to network with Michigan Tech faculty and students
Industry representatives interested in sponsoring a future project
Anyone with an interest in supporting our students as they engage in hands-on, discovery-based learning

Questions?

Feel free to contact Briana Tucker, Enterprise Program Coordinator in Michigan Tech’s Pavlis Honors College, at bctucker@mtu.edu.

“We hope you will join us virtually at the 21st Annual Design Expo. Whether a judge or simply a virtual guest, your involvement in the event is greatly valued by our student teams and makes a valuable contribution to their education.”
Briana Tucker, Enterprise Program Coordinator, Pavlis Honors College, Michigan Tech

TECH SCEnE, Research Experience for Undergraduates

Published March 18, 2021

By Jessie Neece

Global and Community Engagement

Bio-inspired, Community-centric Research Experience

TECH SCEnE – Technology, Science, and Community Engagement in Engineering is a unique undergraduate research program. The features of the program are

The program combines engineering research with direct community involvement and impact.
Each project will team the students with mentors at Michigan Tech and the Natural Resources Department at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
Projects include water quality testing for heavy metal contamination, smart adhesives for underwater applications, underwater sensor networks for long-term monitoring, simulating daylight for hatcheries and nanofiber manufacturing for personal protective equipment and filters.
Hands-on laboratory experience and field visits to the beautiful lake shores of the Keweenaw Bay and Lake Superior.

The projects directly impact the community and apply engineering solutions to address specific needs.

For more information on how to apply, see the website.

Why choose Pavlis?

Published March 4, 2021

PHC Students

We were reviewing our interview with Anderson Lind, and realized we missed one of the best parts. Watch to learn more about what makes Pavlis special.

Reduce Single Use Plastics with Mr. Lid

Published February 26, 2021

By Jessie Neece

Global and Community Engagement

Student Spotlight: Honors Pathway Program Application by Colin VanderBeek

Published February 18, 2021

PHC Students

“For me, it’s about success, and how I think Pavlis can be a catalyst for my journey.” Accountability. Creativity. Innovation. Learn more about why Colin is joining Pavlis Honors College at Michigan Tech.

Coming to Tech in the fall? Learn more about early admission for incoming first-year students.

Already a Tech student? Learn more about the Honors Pathway Program.

ETS-IMPRESS Scholarship for Transfer Students in Technology Majors

Published January 25, 2021

Scholarship

by Dr. Laura Kasson Fiss

Applying to MTU as a transfer student? Interested in engineering technology? Check out the ETS-IMPRESS scholarship program. Open to community college transfer students majoring in electrical engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology, mechatronics, cybersecurity, or computer network and system administration, this program requires participation in the Honors Pathway Program in the Pavlis Honors College as well as mentoring activities. It fulfills unmet need of $4,500. Other requirements are listed on the scholarship website, and the deadline for application is March 5.

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching a number of ETS-IMPRESS students in Pavlis Seminar II, and I’ve learned from them about their work designing satellites, implementing sustainable solutions, and using their industry experience to improve MTU’s curriculum. The community within ETS and Pavlis has helped hone their ambitions and support them through the challenges of college — which have intensified for all of us in the past year.

Check out ETS-IMPRESS scholar Caleb Devonta Rogers’ story, in which he describes his journey to MTU and his plans for his Honors Project, and remember to apply by March 5!

Meet Caleb, an ETS-IMPRESS student who wants his honors project in autonomous vehicles to benefit all drivers, whether they’re in Houghton or his Hawaiian hometown.

Young man leaning against a brick wall — “When I had discovered the ETS-IMPRESS scholarship, it took very little time to understand how helpful it would be to my life both in and out of college. Not only was I able to afford to go to college, but I was also getting more out of my college experience.”
*–Brad Gipson, 3rd-year CNSA major*

Celebrating our fall 2020 graduates

Published December 17, 2020

PHC Students

Congratulations to our fall 2020 graduates! You’re leaders. Authors. Researchers. Global travelers. Volunteers. We’re honored that you chose to spend part of your time at Michigan Tech in the Pavlis Honors College, we’ve enjoyed watching what you’ve accomplished here, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Video: A few words of welcome and congratulations to our 2020 Pavlis Honors Pathway Program graduates, from Dean Lorelle Meadows and the PHC team.

In addition to her environmental engineering major and global and community development partnerships minor, Maya volunteered with local community organizations, coordinated philanthropy efforts for her sorority, and studied abroad in Accra, Ghana.

Mechanical engineering major Annalisa built her custom pathway around an internship, a children’s book, and spending a semester at a design-and-build school in Vermont (including treehouse engineering!).

Tessa majored in biochemistry and molecular biology, minored in pharmaceutical chemistry, and plans to get her master’s and PhD. While an undergraduate, she worked in a genetics lab, co-authored two books, helped kids get excited about STEM, and tested samples for Michigan Tech’s COVID-19 lab.

Amanda Moya

In addition to her mechanical engineering major and certificate in global technological leadership, Amanda’s Global Leadership Pathway culminated in a trip to Ghana in 2017. Amanda spent her last semester completing her degree remotely while working full-time for Georgia-Pacific in Oregon, helping meet the new demand for toilet paper and paper towels.

Tech Student Earns Peace Corps Prep Certificate

Published December 14, 2020

By Jessie Neece

Global and Community Engagement

Maya Chappell (BS, Environmental Engineering, December 2020) completed the Peace Corps Prep program at Michigan Tech and was awarded a certificate by the U.S. Peace Corps this fall for her accomplishments. Peace Corps Prep is an official partnership between Michigan Tech and the Peace Corps to prepare undergraduate students for Peace Corps service after graduation. Students in the program focus on courses and hands-on experiences to build intercultural sensitivity and technical skills that can be used for Peace Corps service. Maya focused her technical training on water resources, combining a number of courses in civil and environmental engineering with an International Senior Design project partnering with a community in Ghana and an internship at TTM Technologies. Maya further embraced challenges and sought diverse perspectives as an undergraduate by studying abroad and volunteering in Ghana, where she also took a class in the Twi language. She holds leadership positions in several student organizations and was a recipient of the Community Ambassador scholarship for her work building local community service opportunities for students at Tech. Maya will move to Texas to start a job with 3M after graduation and hopes to one day also join the Peace Corps.

GivePulse at Tech

Published December 14, 2020

By Jessie Neece

Global and Community Engagement

GivePulse Background

GivePulse is an online platform that connects non-profit agencies, student groups, universities and more to their community. The online portal easily allows organizations to list, find, and create events in the area, as well as measure the impact being made within the community. Students can use GivePulse to find volunteer opportunities, projects and beneficial partnerships.

GivePulse at Tech

Since the start of the fall semester, we have 850 users who have devoted 2,068 hours and 729 impacts to the community. According to GivePulse, this has created a total economic impact of $56,254. There are currently five ongoing opportunities for students to sign up with including working with HuskyFAN. We have 42 affiliated community organizations to reach out to if you have a special interest in volunteering or collaborating on a project.

This year we were able to house the registration and site matching through GivePulse for our Make a Difference Day, National Day of Service event. Make a Difference Day 2020 had 590 volunteers at 71 service locations. Service locations were located from Chassell all the way to Calumet. Student volunteers were able to rake and winterize for local residents, tear out the old carpet for the women’s shelter, and organize the local food pantry. Despite the weather (snow), students still showed up and showed their tenacity.

Other past events included the Red Cross Blood Drive, wood chopping for Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, Adopt-a-Highway clean up, and Keweenaw Day volunteering.

Creating Your User Account

There are two main ways you can log in and create your User Account on GivePulse.

The first way is through Involvement Link.

Log in to Involvement Link

Click on the Service Tab

Service Opportunities will be published from GivePulse on Involvement Link. You will be able to search by date, causes, and type. Click on the opportunity you are interested in registering for and you will be brought to the GivePulse Database. First-time users will be prompted to set up their user account.

The second way to create your account is by going to GivePulse on your web browser.

Click Log in via MTU
Sign in with your Michigan Tech ISO and password.

Registering For Volunteer Opportunities

Once your user account is set up with GivePulse, you can start registering for events/volunteering opportunities.

Find the opportunity you would like to volunteer for and click the green Register button. Depending on the opportunity you may need to answer different registration questions. You will receive an email once you have completed registering.

Impacts

Impact is the term used to describe all the potential ways you will be engaging with the community. An impact can be funds donated, funds raised, goods donated, hours trained, or volunteer hours served.

Whether you have served your community at an event you found through GivePulse at Michigan Tech or you volunteered on your own, you can track your impacts.

Log in to your GivePulse Account and click the green Add Impact button. This is your opportunity to reflect and track on your community engagement experience.

SURFs open for 2021

Published December 8, 2020

Uncategorized

Applications for 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURFs) are now open. Fellowship recipients will spend the summer on an individual research project under the guidance of a Michigan Tech faculty mentor. SURFs are open to all Tech undergraduates who have at least one semester remaining after the summer term. Awards are up to $4,000.

How to apply

Applications are due by 4 p.m. on February 12, 2021. For more information on the SURF application process, watch the workshop video included on this page. To access application materials and instructions, visit the SURF webpage. If you have any questions, contact surf@mtu.edu.