College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog

Tag: Winter Carnival

Audio Engineering Society’s Snow Speakers are the Bass-Thumping Heartbeat of Winter Carnival

Published
By
A DJ performs outdoors at night behind a set of speaker racks and DJ booth made out of snow. Colored lights reflect off of a disco ball above, and below students dance to the music. A banner in front of the speakers says “Audio Engineering Society” with their logo, the WMTU logo and the Michigan Tech logo.
Audio Engineering Society continues their long-standing tradition of providing the soundtrack to Winter Carnival, this year with a feat of engineering that carnival-goers will feel as well as hear.
(All images courtesy of Michigan Tech’s Audio Engineering Society)

Every year students come together to turn Michigan Tech’s snowy campus into a wonderland of snow statues during Winter Carnival. For many years, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) has provided the soundtrack for the traditional All-nighter, bringing the energy with their signature snow speakers and a rotating cast of volunteer DJs.

Built in the center of the action on Walker Lawn between broomball courts and Husky Plaza, the snow speakers spread music across campus, livening the spirits of statue builders, volunteers, and visitors.

Continue Reading →

Happy New Year, 2023!

Published
By

Happy New Year from the College of Sciences and Arts at Michigan Tech!

Campus Abuzz With Activity

large snow sculpture of building
Phi Kappa Tau’s winning sculpture from Winter Carnival 2022
Broomball player in the snow
Broomball under the lights

Despite the short, cold days, campus is buzzing with activity, both inside and out! Outside my office window, the broomball season just kicked off after a brief postponement due to some unfortunate rain that also wreaked temporary havoc on the ski hill. Scaffolding and plywood have invaded campus as the month-long snow sculpture competition is underway in advance of Winter Carnival 2023 February 9-11. This year’s theme is “Tasty foods for wintry moods”.

Our incredible Rosza Center for the Performing Arts had its first sold out show since before the pandemic. We were fortunate to welcome the national touring Broadway show Hairspray. We rely on donor and foundation support to help bring these national shows to the UP and keep ticket prices affordable.

Xiaoqing Tang
Associate Professor Xiaoqing Tang
Paul Goetch
Assistant Professor
Paul Goetsch
Stephen Techtmann
Associate Professor Stephen Techtmann

Biological Science Excellence

I want to highlight this month the amazing performance of our Biological Sciences department both in the classroom and in the laboratory. Last semester 70 instructors from across the university were recognized for having teaching evaluations in the top 10% of comparable sized classes. Out of these 70 spread across 25 departments, a whopping 12 came from Biological Sciences (better than 1-in-3!). Department-wide the average score was 4.47/5.

Meanwhile in the laboratory, three faculty scored big grants this month. Steve Techtmann received another $2 million from DARPA, bringing his total funding on the project to $6.6 million. Steve is an environmental microbiologist who is studying ways to use microbes to help turn plastic waste into edible proteins. Paul Goetsch received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. This approximately $1 million grant is the most prestigious award the NSF has for pre-tenure faculty. Paul is an expert in molecular genetics and biochemistry, including the use of the famous CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tool. And finally, Xiaoqing Tang received her third large grant from the National Institutes of Health. Xiaoqing studies the role of MicroRNA with applications to diabetes research. We pride ourselves in CSA on excellence in both research and teaching, and biological sciences exemplifies that!

Alumni and Donors Key To Success

Critical to everything we do are our alumni and friend donors. All your donations to our departments, scholarships, and the general fund are vitally important to our success. Thank you so much for supporting Michigan Tech! For CSA giving opportunities please visit: https://www.mtu.edu/sciences-arts/giving/

If you are ever back in town I hope you will stop by, say hello, and share with me your MTU story. Please do not hesitate to email me any time at djhemmer@mtu.edu to share your MTU experience or offer suggestions.

Best wishes,
David Hemmer
Dean- College of Sciences and Arts

PS: You can always follow us on social media.

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Continue Reading →