June 30, 2000, Vol. 32, No. 38
Michigan Tech Names Wray New Provost
Budget Priorities Intact with 5+3 Percent State Appropriations Hike
No Tech Topics Next Week
Sun Ray at MTU: The Ultimate in Portable Campus Computing
Make Sure Your College-Age Child Has BC/BS Card
Husky Host Program Has a Great Year
Tompkins to Participate in UK Conference
New Committee Formed on Fringe Benefits Cost Recovery
Study Abroad Programs Offer Opportunities for Every Student
Toner Phoner Scam Alert No. 496
News You Can Use: An Apple a Day Keeps the Oncologist Away?
The Declarers of Independence: What Happened After They Pledged Their Lives, Their Fortunes, and Their Sacred Honor
In Print
On the Road
Proposals in Progress
Job Postings
Bill Curnow, director, University Relations
Marcia Goodrich, Tech Topics editor
Gail Sweeting, electronic marketing assistant
Information to be included in Tech Topics should be submitted to the Tech Topics editor in one of the following ways:
By electronic mail--send information to ttopics@mtu.edu
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News (Back to Contents)
Michigan Tech Names Wray New Provost
Submitted by the News Bureau
Kent Wray has accepted the position of provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs, effective September 1. His appointment is subject to approval by the Board of Control at its regular meeting August 3.
Wray is currently dean of engineering and technology at Ohio University in Athens. During his tenure at Ohio, Wray negotiated the establishment of the prestigious Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize in Engineering with the National Academy of Engineering and acquired $12.5 million in additional gifts to the College, raising the endowment from $28 million to $40 million. He also added four endowed professorships and developed a long-term advancement plan for the College.
He negotiated faculty and student exchanges and research agreements with five European research universities and was named chair of the Ohio Engineering Deans Council in 1998. He received the College-level Halliburton Outstanding Research and Halliburton Outstanding Teacher awards while at Texas Tech University and has 40 publications to his credit.
Before going to Ohio, Wray was chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering at Texas Tech. During his tenure there, undergraduate enrollment in the department nearly doubled and graduate enrollment more than doubled. Prior to entering academia, he was an engineer with the Kansas Highway Department and a civil engineering officer with the US Air Force. He has a BS in Physics from Washburn University and BS, MS, and PhD degrees in civil engineering from Kansas State University, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and Texas A&M, respectively.
Wray's wife, Wanda, is a trial lawyer, specializing in criminal defense, and is looking forward to living in the Copper Country and enjoying water sports in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter.
During his visits to the Michigan Tech campus, Wray was impressed with the faculty's dedication to students and student learning, as well as the University's modern facilities.
"I'm also impressed with the institution's commitment to achieve Carnegie Doctoral/Research I status, and with the incredible alumni support and the success of the Leaders for Innovation capital campaign," he said. "The strategic plan is exciting! MTU is on the move. I've always been a builder and I think there is a super match between MTU, its goals, and me."
"We're very excited about getting someone of Kent Wray's caliber to fill this important leadership post at Michigan Tech," said President Curt Tompkins. "He has an excellent track record, is a very innovative and enthusiastic administrator, and is held in high regard by his colleagues." Tompkins also thanked Stephen Bowen for what he termed "his excellent service" as interim provost since the departure of the former provost, Fred Dobney. "Steve stepped in on very short notice and has done an absolutely outstanding job of conducting the affairs of the Provost's Office during the past few months," said Tompkins. "I'm personally very grateful for all he has done to help us while the Search Committee was engaged in evaluating the provost candidates."
Tompkins also thanked the Search Committee for its effective and dedicated service.
MTU officials said Wray will receive an annual salary of $170,000, plus a car allowance of $11,454. He will also be a tenured professor in the University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, pending Board of Control approval.
Budget Priorities Intact with 5+3 Percent State Appropriations Hike
State legislators gave Michigan Tech a 5 percent increase in its 2000-01 state appropriation plus an additional 3 percent in one-time funding as a result of June 22 conference committee deliberations.
"This is the largest increase Michigan Tech has seen in twenty years, and it will make it possible to implement the 3-plus-3 average salary increment for faculty and nonunion staff, plus fund Internet2 and fully support the existing faculty lines in biomedical engineering," Interim Provost Stephen Bowen said. "We'll also be increasing the library acquisitions budget and acting on on a number of other requests."
While most other state universities received larger increases in their state appropriations, Bowen said those numbers may change next year.
"One big problem we had politically was that Michigan Tech is among the highest in the state in terms of per capita state support for state resident students," Bowen said. "Other universities have been very liberal in how they count resident students, and that worked against us." Next year, he said MTU plans to adopt a different reporting format, which should put the University on a more-even playing field.
In addition, enrollment figures for fall 2000 continue to be encouraging. Currently, the University is anticipating an increase of about 140 incoming students over last year.
Sun Ray at MTU: The Ultimate in Portable Campus Computing
Chris Williams holds up a Tech Express card between her third and index fingers and waves it toward her audience. "Here's Michigan Tech's laptop," she says.
Next fall, MTU students living in the residence halls will be the first college students in the world to have Sun Rays--the ultimate in portable campus computing--right in their rooms. Using this new concept, they will be able open their files and software not only in their rooms, but also from terminals all over campus. And it will be almost as fast and easy as waking your computer up from a nap.
Williams, a senior system administrator in the ME-EM department, explains. Sun Ray terminals don't have their own harddrives; they operate off of centrally maintained servers. Most Unix-using departments on campus now have these servers for their faculty, students, and staff as part of MTU's new Sun Ray system. Participants can access their files on those servers, including their home directories, via Sun Ray terminals located across campus. All they have to do is put their Tech Express cards into a slot on the attached Sun Ray appliance (it's a piece of equipment about the size of a hardbound book installed next to the terminal) and type in their password.
Here's the neat part. Say you're a grad student doing work on a Sun Ray terminal and you want to show it to your advisor. All you have to do is pull out your card, bring it to your advisor's office, stick it into their Sun Ray, and type in your password. Your work will pop up on the screen, just as you left it. You don't have to start up the computer or even open an application; you'll be able to resume your work exactly where you left off.
"Or say you're a student in the ME-EM, and you've worked on and off all day in the lab," Williams said. "At night, you can put your card in the Sun Ray in your dorm room, and the work comes up, just as you left it."
Information Technology has ordered 1,500 Sun Ray appliances to install by fall semester to join the 200 that are already on line here. About 1,000 will be rented to residence-hall students. IT plans to install a number of free-standing Sun Rays across campus, like public telephones, so users will never be too far from their work.
And while Sun Rays will be especially useful for students enrolled in participating departments, they also have advantages for students in other disciplines.
Sun Rays provide e-mail and Web access with absolutely no installation or maintenance hassles. "Just plug it in and it works," Williams said. And if for some reason it doesn't, just bring the appliance to IT for a free replacement. "That means no more problems with computer support, and no more hardware and software hassles for students," Williams said.
MTU got to be the first university ever to offer Sun Rays thanks to its partnership with Sun Microsystems. Michigan Tech has been serving as a Sun Ray beta site for the past few months, and is considered a Sun Center of Excellence for Information Appliance.
So far, all engineering departments except electrical and computer engineering have established Sun Ray servers. The School of Business and Economics and the School of Forestry and Wood Products are also participating, as is the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
Sun Rays don't do everything, and many students will still want their own freestanding computers. Sun Rays aren't compatible with Mac operating systems (a problem for some areas, especially humanities), and they won't work off campus. And residence-hall students who want to, for example, play computer games will still want their own machines.
But for on-campus users, Sun Ray is taking Michigan Tech computing to another level.
"This is as portable as campus computing gets," Williams said. "You don't have to carry a seven-pound laptop around. All you need," she said, presenting her Tech Express card, "is this."
Have a festive fourth! Tech Topics resumes publication July 7.
Make Sure Your College-Age Child Has BC/BS Card
If your child is going away to college, make sure they carry their own Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan identification card. If they don't have a card of their own yet, contact the Benefits Office at mawilcox@mtu.edu or 487-2517.
Also, before your child leaves for college, call 800-810-BLUE (2583) for a list of the Blue Cross Network doctors and facilities in their new location.
Husky Host Program Has a Great Year
The Husky Host program, a cooperative effort of the Admissions Office and Residential Services, introduced a record 250 prospective students to Michigan Tech last year, a 60 percent increase over 1998-99.
In the company of a volunteer residence-hall student, prospective students get a taste of college by spending one or two nights in the dorms, attending classes, eating in the dining halls, meeting other students, and seeing some of the local area.
"What's really special about this program is that residence hall students volunteer to do the hosting," said Jim Schultz, coordinator of residential operations. "Each host may help out two or three times a year, but some of the residents host much more often." He cited undergraduates Chad Sopjes, who hosted seven students for a total of twelve nights last year; and Beth Auffenorde, who hosted four students for four nights.
At the end of the academic year, volunteers came to a pizza party in the Campus Café, and each received a Husky Host T-shirt and mug.
Admissions Director Nancy Rehling is pleased with the program's success. "It has proven to be a terrific part of the recruitment effort," she said.
Tompkins to Participate in UK Conference
Submitted by the News Bureau
President Curt Tompkins will be heading to London next week to participate in an enterprise conference bringing together enterprise and technology experts from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The conference, titled "Enterprise and Technology For All--Seizing the Opportunity," will be held July 5-6 in historic Lancaster House and will be hosted by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers, and the US ambassador to the UK, Philip Lader. Approximately 250 entrepreneurs, financiers, and public policy and media innovators from both countries are expected to attend.
Discussion sessions will focus on how emerging technologies can be harnessed in the UK to optimize and extend employment, regional development, and wealth creation benefits to the broadest spectrum of citizens.
Tompkins will serve on discussion panels focusing on "Improving Technology Transfer" and "How Can the UK Ensure It Has the Skills Necessary to Take Advantage of New Technologies and What Has Been Learned From the Introduction of Such Technologies into Education?"
New Committee Formed on Fringe Benefits Cost Recovery
A new committee has been formed to make recommendations on how the University charges research sponsors for the cost of researchers' fringe benefits.
Like other universities, Michigan Tech charges sponsored accounts a fringe benefit rate in addition to salaries. Presently, that rate is 38 percent, which covers fringe benefits for employees, primarily retirement and health insurance. For employees who are supported by "soft money" and do not receive salary from the general fund, that rate is 46 percent, since it also covers sick leave, vacation, and holiday pay. For general fund employees, vacation, sick leave, and holiday pay are paid from the general fund. Even the higher, 46-percent rate does not cover the entire cost of benefits, which is actually 57 percent. "This is due in part to our good benefits package," Interim Provost Stephen Bowen said, noting that it is among the most generous offered by the state's public universities.
Because the fringe benefit cost recovery charges can be a substantial, the new Fringe Benefits Cost Recovery Planning Committee will be looking into whether they affect the competitiveness of MTU researchers as they solicit outside funding. The committee will also see if the rates are consistent with the University's goal of promoting research.
The Fringe Benefits Cost Recovery Planning Committee will be chaired jointly by Human Resources Director Ellen Horsch and Associate Professor Tony Rogers (Chemical Engineering). Other members are Professors Bruce Seely (Social Sciences) and Jim Pickens (SFWP), Associate Professors Bob Keen (Biological Sciences) and Larry Davis (SBE), Assistant Director for Benefits/Wellness Ingrid Cheney, Director of Budgets Debbie Lassila, Financial Analyst Mike Hendricks (Accounting Services), Staff Assistant Helene Hiner (Vice Provost for Instruction), and Research Services Director Anita Quinn.
The committee will set up a Web site, which will be announced at a later date.
Study Abroad Programs Offer Opportunities for Every Student
By Ember Sullivan
The number of Michigan Tech students involved in overseas study has nearly tripled for the coming year, due largely to innovative programs developed by Jim Cross, director of international education.
Since he came to MTU in January 1999, Cross has been working to increase the number of students participating in the study abroad programs. He found that the percentage of MTU students participating in overseas study was considerably less than the national average. Just one year ago, less than one percent of Michigan Tech's undergraduate students took a semester or summer abroad.
Cross began surveying undergraduates to find out why. He discovered that, while 70 percent of MTU undergraduates were indeed interested in studying abroad, they worried about the cost, delaying their graduation, and their lack of fluency in a foreign language.
So, Cross said, "We worked towards establishing programs of reasonable cost, credits that were transferable to prevent delayed graduation, and technical courses being offered in English coupled with foreign language training."
What was needed was a study-abroad curriculum that catered to the technological and scientific needs of most MTU students.
"Working closely with the academic departments, we are striving to facilitate study abroad for more Michigan Tech students, especially in the engineering and applied sciences curricula, without sacrificing any of the cultural richness that comes with an international experience," he said.
The "Engineering in Paradise" semester in Jalapa, Mexico, does just that. Students can take technical courses needed for their major, plus a Spanish language class, a Mexican culture and civilization class, and a cultural immersion tutorial that meet general education requirements.
"Historically, students who participated in study-abroad programs studied a language or the liberal arts," said Cross. "By offering classes that are essential to the students' majors, our program at Michigan Tech is breaking away from the norm."
This summer, three MTU faculty and fifteen students are taking a summer abroad. Associate Professor John Beard (ME-EM) is teaching classes in automotive engineering in Belfort, France. Assistant Professor Carl Blair (Social Sciences) is teaching archaeology classes in Cumberland, England. And Professor Karol Pelc (SBE) is teaching business classes in Paris.
"Students come to Michigan Tech to get a quality education," said Cross. "When both the students and faculty are travelling abroad, the students are getting the benefit of a world-class education from MTU faculty."
Cross emphasized another benefit that taking a semester abroad will give to Michigan Tech students.
"The American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) surveyed several hundred companies to determine the top skills they are looking for in employees. According to ASEE's survey, knowledge of world affairs ranks within the top ten skills that employers are looking for when hiring. The knowledge and experiences a student will gain from studying abroad for a year, semester, or a summer are invaluable."
As a result of the new programs and promotions, the number of Michigan Tech students studying abroad has grown from 21 in 1999 to 61 in 2000, and Cross anticipates even more growth in the program.
For more information, visit the Center for International Education's Web site at http://www.mtu.edu/cie or contact Cross at 487-2060 or jpcross@mtu.edu.
Toner Phoner Scam Alert No. 496
Constant vigilance appears to be the price of having a copier. Toner phoners have once again been calling campus offices, trying to sell cartridges at inflated prices, and, in at least one case, lying about their identity. (Whoever they were, they weren't from Sayen's.) If you get any unsolicited calls from someone offering to sell toner cartridges, refer the caller to Purchasing and hang up.
News You Can Use: An Apple a Day Keeps the Oncologist Away?
(The following article is extracted from a June 21 Cornell University press release.)
Time to adjust an old adage: It's the phytochemicals in the apple each day that keep the doctor away.
A combination of plant chemicals, such as flavanoids and polyphenols--collectively known as phytochemicals--found both within the flesh of apple and particularly in the skin--provide the fruit's antioxidant and anti-cancer benefits, say Cornell food scientists.
Their laboratory study, funded by the New York Apple Research Development Program and New York Apple Association, is published in the June 22 issue of Nature.
According to Assistant Professor Rui Hai Liu of Cornell University, it's the combination of antioxidants in apples that has anti-cancer properties.
"Scientists are interested in isolating single compounds--such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene--to see if they exhibit anti-oxidant or anti-cancer benefits. It turns out that none of those works alone to reduce cancer. It's the combination of flavonoids and polyphenols doing the work."
Some of the phytochemicals are known to be anti-allergenic, some are anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-proliferative," said Liu's collaborator, Chang Yong Lee, Cornell professor of food science at the university's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. "Now I have a reason to say an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
The researchers found that vitamin C in apples is only responsible for a small portion of the antioxidant activity. Instead, almost all of this activity in apples is from phytochemicals. The researchers found that eating 100 grams of fresh apple with skins provided the total antioxidant activity equal to 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C.
"Eating fruits and vegetables is better than taking a vitamin pill," says Liu.
Using red delicious apples grown in New York state, the researchers compared the anti-cancer and anti-oxidant activity in the apple flesh and the fruit's skin. Using colon cancer cells treated with apple extract, the scientists found that cell proliferation was inhibited. Colon cancer cells treated with 50 milligrams of apple extract (from the skins) were inhibited by 43 percent. The apple flesh extract inhibited the colon cancer cells by 29 percent.
The researchers also tested the apple extract against human liver cancer cells. At 50 milligrams, the extract derived from the apple with the skin on inhibited those cancer cells by 57 percent, and the apple extract derived from the fruit's fleshy part inhibited cancer cells by 40 percent.
(Ozzie Klein submitted this; sorry, we don't know who wrote it.)
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.
They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes this year while enjoying your Fourth of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: freedom is never free!
Regular Features (Back to Contents)
Assistant Professor Richard Gertsch (Mining Engineering) published the first of a year-long series of monthly essays, "The Land of Opportunity," for the "Rock in the Box" column in the June 2000 edition of Mining Engineering magazine, a publication of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
Associate Professor Vernon P. Dorweiler (SBE) published a book review of Constituent Interest and U.S. Trade Policies, by editors A. V. Deardorff and R. M. Sterns, in the International Trade Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3.
Graduate Research Assistant Deborah A. Taege (Civil and Environmental Engineering) presented a paper, "Field-Scale Study of the Performance of Air Sparging for Removing a Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquid (Tetrachloroethylene) from a Coastal Plain Aquifer," at the 32nd Mid-Atlantic Industrial and Hazardous Waste Conference, held June 26-28 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Her paper was coauthored by Associate Professor John S. Gierke (Geological Engineering and Sciences), Associate Dean of Engineering Neil J. Hutzler, and Research Engineer/Scientist II David L. Perram (Civil and Environmental Engineering).
Assistant Professor Amy Hietapelto (SBE), TECH Challenge Course Training Coordinator Sharon Tyrell (Student Affairs), and Associate Dean of Student Affairs Steven Tyrell presented a preconference workshop, "Challenge Course: Trust and Team Building Inside and Outside the 21st-Century Classroom," on June 7 at the Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference in Altanta, Georgia.
Investigators, their proposals, and their potential sponsors are
Job descriptions will be available at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, or by e-mail at <JOBS@MTU.EDU>.
The following positions will be posted Friday, June 30, 2000, at 1:00 p.m. through noon, Friday, July 10, 2000, in the Human Resources Office.
Office Assistant N5--Corporate Services (UAW external posting)
Office Assistant N5--Transportation Center (UAW external posting)
Assistant/Associate Professor--Civil and Environmental Engineering
Food Service Supervisor--Residential Services-Dining Services (Regular, full-time, nine-month position)
University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, July 10, 2000, to be considered as internal candidates for bargaining unit positions only. Applicants from the recall pool will be given first consideration for non-bargaining-unit positions only. Vacancy announcements are normally posted every Friday at 1:00 p.m. in the Human Resources Office. Complete job descriptions are available in the Human Resources Office or by calling 487-2280. More information regarding employment opportunities is available by calling the Job Line at 487-2895. Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.