Huskey, an exercise science major, is double-minoring in public health and psychology. She graduates in December.

Huskey found advertised openings for the THESIS program on Handshake, an online career-building network founded by Michigan Tech students and now widely used by universities and employers to more accessibly connect students with jobs.

THESIS stands for Tribal Health Experiential Internship Seminar. The program offers an eight-week virtual internship that focuses on promoting tribal public health — and preparing the next generation of leaders in tribal public health. It's funded by the CDC's Office of Minority Health and Health Equity through their John R. Lewis Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program.

The opportunity to explore topics related to Native American culture and resilience caught her attention.

"I'm a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. My dad's side is Native American and my mom's side is white," said Huskey. "I grew up mainly surrounded by my mom's side of the family. Because of this, I didn't get much experience with my Native American culture. I was always left wanting to know more. This is why I enjoyed this experience as much as I did — it allowed me to not only learn more about others but to learn more about myself."

Huskey was also intrigued by the chance to deepen her understanding of where her studies could take her professionally.

"Because of my interest in the health field and my public health minor, I thought that this would be an incredible opportunity for me to further explore this side of my education path," she said.

THESIS is one of seven organizations in the Lewis Scholars Program, operating under the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board in Oklahoma City. Interns explore various aspects of public health, including epidemiology and research, through the lens of Native American culture and resilience, according to a THESIS press release, which noted that "Their intensive eight-week journey culminates in the creation of research posters, which they present at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia."

Huskey's research topic was "Long-term Arsenic Exposure Effects on Neurological Health of Native American Elders."

Huskey said her THESIS experience was "extremely eye-opening," and that she especially appreciated the inspiring speakers who shared their knowledge and perspectives with program interns.

"I learned so much about creating a research poster and more specifically about my research topic and the health disparities Native Americans face," Huskey said. Her research showed that access to noncontaminated water is an ongoing issue for Native American communities; that the prevalence of arsenic-contaminated wells and water sources is high in states with the largest Native American populations in the nation; and that Native American elders are twice as likely as other ethnicities and races to develop cognitive impairment and neurological disorders. One of Huskey's most impactful observations about the intertwined health and cultural research topic is how long-term arsenic exposure affects memory.

"Getting the chance to present my research at the CDC was amazing, and I met so many wonderful people who were curious to learn more about my topic."Marlee Huskey '24, exercise science

"Native American culture is passed down historically by elders," Huskey said. "The long-term neurological damages of arsenic exposure are targeting elders and their memories, potentially making it difficult to remember traditions and pass them down."

Huskey plans to continue her education by attending graduate school for athletic training. Currently in the midst of the application process, she has a couple of offers and is waiting to hear back from other programs. Wherever her studies take her, she will carry memories of what she learned at Michigan Tech in the classroom and through her work with athletics.

"I decided to come to Michigan Tech because of the amazing opportunity the Athletic Training Student Aide Program would give me. I've been able to work with many athletic trainers here for over 1,200 hours. I've gained more experience than I believe I would have gotten anywhere else," she said. "My favorite memories from my undergraduate years are the times I spent with my fellow students in this program. Traveling to away games, whether it was just to NMU or all the way to Texas, has been a lot of fun and a great experience."

A fundamental criteria defining the success or failure of a society is its ability to provide the conditions that enable people to live long, healthy lives. Since the time of Michigan Tech's founding, advances in lifestyle, public health and biomedical sciences have dramatically improved people's lives. However, there is still progress to be made here in the United States and globally as new, multifaceted challenges continue to emerge.

Using the successful framework that produced the rapid advances in lifespan and health in the 20th century, tomorrow's leaders will continue to seek solutions to challenges in health care and the environment.

Technological solutions to these pressing problems will be the cornerstone of future innovation.

President Rick Koubek's September essay in Michigan Tech News outlined how the ability of Michigan Tech to find solutions to society's challenges stems from our agility and willingness to evolve as those challenges change. He then urged us to consider two questions that will help define how Michigan Tech will succeed in the future. "In 2035, what will society's most pressing questions be?" he asked. "And what are Michigan Tech's best opportunities for answering those questions?"

Below are three big questions the world will be asking a decade from now about how to build and sustain a healthy society — questions Michigan Tech will be well suited to help answer.

How do we provide an environment where people can be healthy?

Advances in public health, including access to clean water and reduced exposure to air pollution, have greatly improved human health and longevity. Despite these advances, however, we have not completely eliminated the impacts of our environment on human health. From the lead in Flint's drinking water supply to emerging concerns about widespread exposure to microplastics and PFAS "forever chemicals," recent examples highlight the breadth of these possible threats. The tasks ahead of us will be to eliminate environmental threats and to more quickly identify when new ones emerge.

The challenge of providing a healthy environment will be compounded by the effects of a changing climate. Excessive heat is already a major health risk, one that will expand geographically and occur more frequently. Indirect effects of climate change, such as the spread of insect-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, will pose threats to populations who have little experience coping with them. Rising to meet such challenges will necessitate that climate scientists and health scientists work together to reduce the impact of climate change on health.

How do we prepare for expected and unexpected health challenges?

Our failure to prepare for emerging challenges results in unnecessary harm to human health. While society's recent experience with COVID-19 is a dramatic example, we continue to struggle to treat people who suffer from age-old issues like heart attacks, strokes and cancer — some of the leading causes of death perennially in the U.S. Of growing concern is the crisis in access to health care in rural communities, where rapidly aging populations and a loss of both health care providers and infrastructure are combining to form a perfect storm of health and wellness dilemmas.

Primary care providers are the cornerstone of health care, yet we do not have enough of them — and not only in rural areas. Can we rethink whom we receive care from, and how? Can we reimagine access to health care altogether? Doing so will mean finding both creative ways to develop the future health care workforce and innovative solutions to support it, such as the development of personalized sensors that can do more monitoring and care in the home so fewer caregivers are needed.

Another important question of particular relevance here at Michigan Tech: Can we use advanced technology and the large amount of health care data that we possess to improve diagnosis and future treatment?

We must help envision the possibilities of predictive medicine, wherein data gathered when a person seeks treatment for one disease may show they are likely to need treatment for an unrelated condition after several years. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in conjunction with asking the right questions could greatly improve prophylactic care.

What new therapies can be found to treat known and unknown diseases?

While the use of AI is greatly advancing the design of both synthetic and biologic drugs — and also inventing new drug classes altogether — many drugs still have side effects that are not envisioned until the drug is making its way through human trials.

Similarly, advancements in genetic sequencing — which can tell us a lot about a person's health and disease state — have made the sequencing more accurate, effective and affordable. Genetic treatments have been used successfully for COVID vaccines, and they show promise to potentially cure diseases like hemophilia. We are also starting to see gene editing making its way to in vivo systems.

Such progress raises a number of important questions that researchers at Michigan Tech are prepared to help answer: Can better models help us know a drug's full side-effect profile and mitigate it before we enter human trials? Can we better understand the biology of diseases to bring about better therapies? Can we edit out mutations that cause disease? What ethical considerations need to be explored in genetic medicine? Finally, what role do medical devices have in the treatment of disease? Can we create synthetic organs or devices to augment or replace diseased tissues?

*****

Society in 2035 will surely be asking a wide range of questions about human health beyond those we have highlighted here. As other authors in this series have noted, answering these questions and solving the problems they pose will require collaborative approaches and multidisciplinary perspectives. A few examples to emphasize the point:

• Artificial intelligence and other computing tools are already becoming integral to biomedical research.
• Many emerging infectious diseases have their origins in wildlife species, so determining areas of risk and monitoring for potential new human pathogens will not only meld ecology and epidemiology, but also depend on the social sciences to help understand the circumstances where people and wildlife come into contact.
• Science, engineering and computing are all needed to develop cost-effective treatments, and social sciences and the humanities are needed to successfully communicate to a public wary of new technology.
• Nursing and pre-health graduates will be needed to address concerns about access to health care, especially in rural areas.
• All of this will occur in the context of a rapidly warming climate that will exacerbate existing concerns and present new and unexpected challenges that only diverse teams of researchers will be able to address.

Addressing such challenges will require continued convergence among disciplines at Michigan Tech. Fortunately, the University has invested in building a culture of multidisciplinary research through its 16 research centers and institutes, which serve as incubators for interdisciplinary research collaborations that bridge academic colleges and departments.

The networking and connectivity of Michigan Tech's research centers and institutes create a research enterprise able to anticipate future obstacles and opportunities, and to pivot quickly in a changing landscape.

This is the agility President Koubek celebrated in his opening call to action. That agility, and the culture of collaboration that gives rise to it, are precisely what will distinguish Michigan Tech innovators as current and future leaders in providing solutions to improve human health and well-being.

A film about musician Brian Eno that uses generative artificial intelligence technology to create a unique experience for the audience each time it's shown is part of a stellar lineup of independent films at this year's 41 North. Film topics range from hummingbird rescue and a small-town radio telescope to the business of grief in a world with AI, and how we measure happiness.

Since the film festival's debut 10 years ago, 41 North has grown thanks in part to the depth, variety and quality of its cinematic offerings. Accessibility is also a draw. Housed in Michigan Tech's Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, all film festival screenings and events are free and open to the public. Another factor in the fest's longevity is the way it inspires campus and community, said Erin Smith, the driving force behind the event.

"When you sit in an audience with others and you experience a new understanding of something or you laugh or worry about something together, it can be transformative in a way that's not possible at home, even with the best home theater system," said Smith, the director of Michigan Tech's Humanities Digital Media Zone and a teaching professor in digital media and cinema for the Department of Humanities. Smith began the event in 2006 as the Northern Lights Film Festival because she wanted her students to experience films with a live audience.

As it has grown, the festival has enjoyed support from volunteers, sponsors, filmmakers and University departments across campus. The presentation of "Eno," which is sponsored by the Michigan Tech College of Computing and the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC), illustrates the festival's multidisciplinary approach to building community and encouraging dialogue.

From the beginning, it was important to Smith to bring students independent films they would not otherwise have the opportunity to see. She's persistent in her quest to bring films that will appeal to a variety of audiences and prompt meaningful discussions. Scouting is an ongoing process. She attends film festivals across the country, closely follows the work of her favorite filmmakers and isn't afraid to pursue something that first appears to be out of reach.

Drawing filmmakers to a remote and relatively small film festival is a challenge. But Smith has leveraged that to work in the fest's favor. "Sometimes when I show people where we are on a map, they don't really understand how remote we are and how far we are from opportunities like these — and that sometimes wins the day," she said.

Bringing a New AI Film to the Festival

Smith first saw "Eno," a 2024 documentary about musician and artist Brian Eno, at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, last April. She knew immediately she wanted to bring it to 41 North.

Produced by director Gary Hustwit in partnership with creative technologist Brendon Dawes, "Eno" brings the provocative innovation of generative AI to filmmaking. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has since been screened at dozens of venues and film festivals around the world.

In a serendipitous moment on her way home from Full Frame, Smith happened to see Hustwit at the airport. "I went up to him and gushed about the film, talked about Brendan Dawes and told him a little bit about the 41 North Film Festival," Smith said.

Not long after, Smith began her efforts to bring the film to Houghton. "It was a little tortured. It's always a process, getting a film like this," Smith said. "I reached out pretty early, but I didn't hear back." She reached out again. Finally, the deal was struck.

"I don't know exactly what factors aligned to make this happen," Smith said. "But we're very fortunate to have this exceptional film as part of the festival this year."

Hustwit will screen two iterations of "Eno" at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. A reception and Q&A will take place between showings. Hustwit will be at the event in person, with Dawes joining via Zoom.

"With live theater and concerts, you always expect there to be something unique and specific about a particular performance," said Smith. "With 'Eno,' Hustwit and Dawes bring the documentary film into that arena. As Gary tours with it, he generates a kind of live performance every time."

The College of Computing and ICC's sponsorship of "Eno" is in keeping with ongoing efforts to showcase the creative and human potentials of computing. Professor Charles Wallace in the Department of Computer Science is among faculty who is asking students to attend the screening and will be attending himself.

"Generative AI, as it is now commonly used, can fall into a pit of conventionality," said Wallace. "What's being generated is based on a body of data that the system has been trained on. At its worst, it can seem like an unimaginative rehash of that data. The idea behind 'Eno' cuts against that. It's using the same technology to recast a story with an endless variety of viewpoints and timelines."

Wallace notes that Michigan Tech's annual Art in Silico exhibition and event series, also supported by the College of Computing and ICC, explores synergies between art and technology in a similar way.

Wallace has been a fan of Eno's music since he was a teenager. "Eno brings a spirit of humanity and spontaneity to everything he's done in his music and art, so I'm not surprised that this film blends those concepts," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting a fresh new perspective on one of my heroes."

Smith said that Hustwit and Dawes formed a company called Anamorph to develop the proprietary software used to produce "Eno."

"They've been protective of what they're doing, but festival-goers will have an opportunity to learn more about the software at the Q&A following the first screening of the film," said Smith.

Supporting (and Supported By) Community

Staging the festival is a feat of organization and determination. Smith remains motivated by 41 North's impact on students and the community. Several Michigan Tech students have joined the independent film circuit — and some have brought their own films back to the festival.

One of Smith's favorite community thank-yous came from the Gemignani brothers, local restaurateurs who raced to see "King Georges," a documentary about chef Georges Perrier, between shifts at their restaurant in 2015. The brothers shared that they spent a joyful evening discussing the film as they prepped food for the next day's menu.

Smith is especially grateful to Tech's humanities department for its continued support and understanding of the value the festival brings to students and regional audiences. The Rozsa Center's assistance has been key to elevating the event, as well. The Rozsa assists with sound and lighting, film showings, public receptions and discussion panels. Not to mention concessions that make plopping into a comfortable theater seat for an afternoon or evening that much more palatable.

"I couldn't do any of it without all the University and community support," Smith said. Among the many individuals that make 41 North possible, Smith particularly wishes to recognize long-time volunteer coordinator Allison Neely, calling her the festival's "unsung hero" and a bridge to the Rozsa since 2016.

What to Watch at This Year's Festival

This year's festival brings the community 20 independent films. Most showings take place in the Rozsa Center, although two films will be shown in Fisher Hall, Room 135 in collaboration with the student Film Board. The festival schedule is also interspersed with music, panel discussions and kid-friendly workshops. No tickets are required and all films and events are free.

A full schedule and descriptions of each film are available online. In addition to "Eno," several other films stand out in this year's lineup.

Opening Night Documentary: "Agent of Happiness"

Can we quantify and measure happiness? The Kingdom of Bhutan makes the case that we can, and even has a Ministry of Gross National Happiness that does just that. The 41 North opening film "Agent of Happiness" follows happiness agent Amber Gruung as he meets with people across the country to empathetically administer a 148-question happiness survey. The film also explores Gruung's questions about his own quality of life. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Kayla Gabehart, assistant professor of environmental policy, and Daniel Shtob, assistant professor of sustainability and health, from Michigan Tech's Department of Social Sciences.

"Eternal You" Explores Grief in the Era of AI

In "Eternal You," documentary makers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck ask the question, "What if you never had to say goodbye to a loved one?" The dead return to digital life through open-language-model AI technology that enables realistic conversations with virtual reality avatars built using characteristics of the deceased. The film offers perspectives from end-users, tech experts, journalists, programmers and psychologists to explore the vast and often disturbing implications of this new technology. The film will be followed by a panel discussion with Department of Humanities faculty members Carrie O'Connel, visiting assistant teaching professor of communication, culture, and media, and Alexandra Morrison, associate professor of philosophy, as well as Jeffrey Pettibone, a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology and Human Factors.

Great Lakes Conservation and Sovereignty in "Bad River"

The Wisconsin-based Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa battles for sovereignty through shocking revelations, devastating losses, defiance and resilience. "Bad River" chronicles this battle and the tribal nation's David versus Goliath battle to save the largest freshwater resource in America: Lake Superior. Co-sponsored by Michigan Tech's Engagement and Belonging office, this film will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Michigan Tech alumnus and filmmaker Kalvin Hartwig '10.

Closing Documentary "Every Little Thing" Cares for Earth's Tiny Creatures

This year's closing film is "Every Little Thing," a 2024 Sally Aitken production. The film follows a woman in Hollywood as she cares for injured hummingbirds, witnessing their fragility and resilience.

At 10,000 specimens and counting, Michigan Tech's digitized insect collection is relatively small. But its value is huge because of the unique historical perspective of the region you won't find anywhere else, said Tara Bal, an assistant professor of forest health in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science.

Though the collection includes North American and international specimens, it primarily focuses on Michigan's Houghton and Baraga counties. That's valuable, said Bal, because highly populated areas of the state are well represented in many larger university or museum collections. With the oldest specimen dating back to 1936 and new specimens being added annually, Tech's collection offers the ability to measure and record change in the region's biodiversity.

Bal became aware of accumulating student insect collections when she was a graduate student working at Michigan Tech's Ford Center and Forest for the University's integrated field practicum, a CFRES tradition of full-semester fieldwork known as fall and summer camp.

"All the students in Andrew Storer's forest health class were required to do an insect collection. At the end of the semester, I was surprised at how many never picked up their boxed collections," Bal said. With Storer's permission, she retrieved the collections left behind. "I sorted out the good ones. Over the years, I've given tons of boxes to elementary school teachers and alumni who are doing environmental education," she said.

Bal became the College's sole instructor of insect ecology in 2013 and forest health in 2018 at both summer and fall camps. She gives students the option to do either an insect or fungi herbarium collection. "It's usually about 50/50," she said. "Collections are an effective way to dive into these groups of organisms and get familiar with how to use the terminology and field keys."

Then came COVID-19. "After a while teaching mostly from home, I got bored," Bal recalled. She retrieved a box of ladybugs, thinking she could photograph them for an insect conservation lesson. "I started sorting and counting. That snowballed into 'This needs to be a catalog of everything we have!' I knew that I had insects students collected from about 2005 onward, while the collections in the cabinets were older — 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and more."

Over 2020 and 2021, Bal moved the oldest collection trays and cabinets from the Ford Center into her lab and began hiring CFRES Earn and Learn students to sort, count and enter the tag information: date collected, state, county, collected-by name and any other information included on the tag.

More than 10 Earn and Learn students helped on the project, including Tom Panella. Panella, who earned his Master of Forestry (MF) from Michigan Tech in 2022, is currently a Ph.D. candidate studying forest health. A description of the collection will be featured in his dissertation.

Panella wasn't looking for a research project. The MF is a professional coursework-based degree with no thesis or report component. "I had no intention of pursuing research. However, the more time I spent learning about research projects and helping out Ph.D. students with fieldwork, the more I fell in love with it," said Panella. "I've also been interested in plant and animal taxonomy — the science of classifying organisms — from a young age, and was considering careers related to it. When I shared this with Tara she quickly introduced me to the insect collection and I was instantly hooked."

"It felt like this uncovered treasure chest of amazing creatures spanning back to the 1930s. I started identifying specimens down to species and discovered we had many occurrence records that have never been documented in the western U.P."Tom Panella, Ph.D. candidate and Michigan Tech Insect Collection manager

"Tom was instrumental in getting the catalog uploaded and has since migrated the collection over to ecdysis," said Bal, referring to the digital platform, whose system is funded by the National Science Foundation. "If I'm the curator of the Michigan Tech Insect Collection, then Tom is the current collections manager."

Panella said one of the most interesting aspects of the collection is its "two very unique halves."

"We have historical collections from amateur and professional entomologists, with the 1960s and 1970s being especially well represented," he said. "The other, largest portion of our collection is derived from student collections from the early 2000s to present. These two halves give us a very unique glimpse into two different periods of time featuring very distinct collectors with different goals."

Panella said the varied perspectives and time periods enable the collection to uniquely capture insect communities through time and location in ways that data collected with more systematic sampling methods can't. "The student collections tend to feature larger and more charismatic species, while the collections from the '60s tend to be more narrowly focused on species these collectors were interested in," said Panella. "This gives us data for many rare species that would otherwise go undetected. Researchers can use this data to better understand how insect communities have changed over time. These changes can have big impacts on how our ecosystems function."

The Michigan Tech Butterfly Effect

In addition to capturing the interest of an unanticipated research partner to help assemble the collection, fate was on Bal's side. Given her expertise and interest in entomology, it isn't surprising that insects came up in a conversation she had at the dedication of the Nara Family Maple Center. She was telling a University staff member about the insect collection project.

"The staff member mentioned that she'd just bought a house and there were all these old insect traps in the yard and woods when her family moved in. I mentioned they were likely from previous faculty and students like Ken Kraft — I used that name a lot because of how many nicely labeled specimens he had — and she said, 'What? That's whose house we bought!' She put me in touch with Ken's daughter, who was so glad to hear we were revitalizing his insect collections," said Bal. "Ken was a forestry faculty member in 1963-1964. He moved to biology, industry, then back to forestry before retiring. We have yearbook pictures of Ken and other faculty and students pinning insects."

Bal's search of drawers and boxes yielded thousands of Kraft-tagged specimens with most every order represented — except for Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants).

That really bugged her.

"For someone collecting widely across many insect orders, who had included many other flying insects, it seemed odd that these important groups were missing," she said, adding that a limited number were located in the Michigan State University Collection.

Her detective work led her to Thomas Werner in Michigan Tech's Department of Biological Sciences. Werner, a North American fruit fly authority, also studies butterflies. He had the missing pieces of the puzzle.

"He was getting ready to clean out an old cabinet and, it turns out, had a huge amount of Ken Kraft's moth specimens he was happy to hand over," said Bal. "We want to continue sharing resources — and we have years and years of identification work to do."

Dragonflies, Bumblebees and Donors Welcome

The Michigan Tech Insect Collection will continue to grow as CFRES students at summer and fall camps continue their field practicum projects and as specimens from local research projects are donated. Other types of contributions are also needed.

The project welcomes funding for additional students to help with research and cataloging. Storage trays and cabinets would be helpful, too. "We've already run out of room and are into temporary cardboard boxes, which are not good for long-term storage because pests can get in and destroy specimens," Bal said.

Funding would enable students to go deeper into taxonomy than their Earn and Learn hours permit. "We want to increase our focus on dragonflies and bumblebees next, both super important groups that may have new species records for our region or endangered species records just waiting to be confirmed," said Bal.

Next steps in the more thoroughly identified groups, including beetles, butterflies and moths, include researching first, new and historic records and publishing more information about the findings.

"Opportunities with a new historic collection like this are endless."Tara Bal, assistant professor of forest health and Michigan Tech Insect Collection curator

Panella has been poring over College yearbooks to research both the alumni names on the collections and the history of entomology studies at Michigan Tech. The first course was offered in 1939-40, just three years after a forestry major was established at the University.

Panella, who completed an insect collection of his own when he took Bal's forest health course during his MF work, said the project was one of the most memorable of his field practicum semester. "Now, as someone who is actively managing this collection, I get to see hundreds of student collections," he said.

"By cataloging these student collections, I feel as though I'm not only preserving those fond memories students created, but also putting their hard work into something that can have real impacts on our understanding and management of our natural areas."Tom Panella, Ph.D. candidate and Michigan Tech Insect Collection manager

"Similarly, the older collections we've absorbed were clearly a labor of love for the people that created them," said Panella, who understands what it's like to be intensely involved in a hobby like collecting. "The fact that we're able to preserve these collections that someone cared about so dearly and put them to good use is really important to me. My dad was an avid bug collector in his youth. Over time he wanted to save space and got rid of his collection. He's talked about how much he would have loved to have seen those specimens get used for something like this."

"I love that we're able to cement people's passions and enable future researchers to geek out over them and make unique discoveries."

Armed with a banana-baited live trap and a strong desire to disprove a gap in a species distribution map, the Michigan Technological University professor of genetics and developmental biology found a single specimen of the species Drosophila narragansett on the Maasto Hiihto public recreation trail in Hancock, Michigan.

Researchers suspected that Drosophila narragansett, a silver-faced fruit fly, was extinct. "Astonishingly, it seems not to have been collected within the past 60 years despite its broad range," said Werner.

The investigation that led to the elusive fruit fly was entirely unplanned. It started with an irresistible research paper in the hands of Werner, an educator who has been raising awareness about the scope and importance of fruit flies throughout his career.

He has co-authored two volumes of the Encyclopedia of North American Drosophilids. Volume one covers fruit flies of the Midwest and Northeast. Volume two lists species of the Southeast. His co-authors are John Jaenike, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Rochester, and former student Tessa Steenwinkel. Steenwinkel, a 2020 MTU graduate in biochemistry and molecular biology, earned her master's in biological sciences at Tech in 2021. She is now a development, disease models and therapeutics graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine.

Mysterious Map Sets Professor on the Hunt

Because he's one of a very few experts on fruit fly identification, research papers submitted for peer review frequently come Werner's way. He was on Christmas vacation with family in Mexico in 2023 — definitely not planning on reading research papers — when an emailed request caught his attention.

"I thought, 'Oh gosh, I don't want to review a long paper right now," said Werner. "But then I looked at it and saw it was from David Grimaldi, from the American Museum for Natural History in New York. He's a great guy who writes about all the weird fruit flies that people don't get to see. All the understudied species."

Grimaldi's latest paper focused on the Drosophila affinis species group. "These are the little black fruit flies. Some in this group are very common. Some are not so common," said Werner. He'd just spent a year reviewing the group for his third book, covering fruit flies of the Northwest, slated for publication next year. After reading about two thousand scholarly papers on the group, he felt he couldn't say no to the review.

Werner resolved to read the paper when he was home from vacation. But he couldn't stop himself from taking a peek. "I started reading the first couple of sentences and I just plowed through this whole thing the whole night, reading it on my phone. It was so interesting. I was so drawn into it. I just couldn't not read it, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I have all these ideas!' It was like 'Whoa, this is the nicest paper I've ever read!'"

Werner was especially intrigued by a hand-drawn species distribution map included as a figure in the paper. It showed a zone of exclusion for two common fruit flies encompassing a relatively small area just shy of his backyard in the Keweenaw Peninsula, home to Michigan Tech in the state's Upper Peninsula. What's more, Werner had seen the species in the Huron Mountains, about 50 miles east of Keweenaw, where he cataloged 35 species of fruit flies. The no-fly zone didn't make sense.

"I wondered why anyone would draw the line below here for this common species," said Werner.

This summer, he planned a leisurely trip north into the exclusion zone, hanging fly traps baited with bananas to prove the species was present. "It was just like a little thing, just to prove my point," said Werner, who doesn't normally research so close to home because he's familiar with all the local species. Or so he thought. He never expected that his casual experiment would yield a rare species. And he didn't notice anything different about the two flies he captured until he went back to the lab, administered ether to put them to sleep and followed his impulse to look them in the eye.

"Drosophila narragansett and the super common Drosophila athabasca look exactly the same, except when you lift them up to look at them face-on," Werner explained. "My inner voice is often right. It said, 'Look at their faces.'"

Ethalyzed fruit flies sleep on their sides. Manipulating the tiny insects to get a full facial view is difficult.

"You have to carefully lift them up and turn them so that you see straight in the face," Werner explained. "You have to go up with the focus to see. And the first face was silver. And I thought, 'No, no, that cannot be. That cannot be.'"

Wondering if he was hallucinating, Werner looked at the second fly, whose face was black. The contrast was clear. "I was in a cold sweat," Werner said. "They started waking up. I put them away. I started texting my collaborator John, in Rochester, New York, who co-authored the books with me and Tessa."

Jaenike, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Rochester, specializes in evolutionary ecology and is well known for his research on fruit flies. The researcher had an unconfirmed Drosophila narragansett specimen show up in his front-yard compost bin seven years earlier. During shipping to the Werner lab for imaging, the specimen's face fell into a preservative that turned it black. Jaenike's lab was able to produce a partial genetic sequence from the remains. "It was 97% close but not entirely clear," said Werner.

Werner's find is now the first specimen of the species to be completely sequenced. "My collaborator Bernard Kim, who works in Dmitri Petrov's lab at Stanford University, recently confirmed its identity. It is indeed Drosophila narragansett!" he said.

Fruit Fly Documentation and Discoveries Continue

Drosophila narragansett is not Werner's first rare find. He previously discovered a fruit fly species, Amiota tessae, which he named for his graduate student mentee Steenwinkel.

The potential for other unique finds awaits. For three years, Werner has been taking his lab on the road each summer in order to document fruit flies across North America. "It's just like being in the home lab," Werner said. "Except the air is fresher."

The experience has transformed the way Werner pursues his research. "I want to be able to spend part of my time doing fieldwork and part of my time doing lab work. I find a lot of joy in both of those activities," said the award-winning educator, who revels in sharing his knowledge with his students at Tech and elsewhere. "It has changed the way I do science."

Werner has been collaborating with Kim on genomic sequencing of fruit fly species since the two met in 2020 on Zoom. At the time, Kim was a new postdoctoral researcher in the Petrov Lab at Stanford and reached out for help. Kim joined Werner this past summer on the Pacific Northwest fieldwork for the encyclopedia's third volume. So did Stanford graduate student Daniel Shaykevich, who is working on a documentary about the expedition.

Werner had not studied the local fruit fly population in his hometown for years. But he plans to go back to the trails next summer.

He thinks timing may be part of the reason the believed-to-be-extinct fruit flies could not be found. Early summer is not the most active period for fruit flies in the region. "August is the time when our produce baskets become a magnet," said Werner.

His traveling lab is likely to progress much farther afield.

"There are another thousand fruit fly species on the Hawaiian islands alone," said Werner. "That may be next on my list."

The faculty and students of Michigan Technological University's Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) theatre program have experimented with multiple locations and themes over the years because variety is essential to the learning and skills that come from producing the event. This year, students chose their approach to fit the location and their selected theme: Fears and Phobias.

Kent Cyr, technical director and associate professor of visual and performing arts, said visitors are in for a hefty dose of creepy clowns.

"Our hope is if you do not have any fears or phobias, you will have by the time you leave."Kent Cyr, technical director and associate professor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts

The project includes students of all academic years, from first-years to seniors, across the department's degree programs. Huskies studying audio production and technology, sound design, and theatre and entertainment technology are involved, with more experienced students providing leadership and guidance to those joining the production for the first time.

"It can be really challenging working as a leader when you're only two to three years older than your crew. Sometimes, it comes with imposter syndrome, but having a good team fixes that!" said production manager and audio production and technology major Jos Olson '26.

The project's student leadership team chose the Fears and Phobias theme after reflecting on the strengths and challenges of past productions.

For example, past experience showed that scripted storytelling is a challenge. As visitors move through the walking tour, those at the back of larger groups can miss key story beats that are essential to understanding the overall narrative. To address that, the team proposed pockets of set pieces and themes based around basic fears and phobias.

The theme was heavily influenced by where the tour is taking place.

"We have lots of problems with filling up open spaces and continuing the story through each area. It has influenced my technical process by thinking more on my toes and figuring out what in each space we can use to our advantage," said student leader and production manager Molley Pelkey '26, a theatre and entertainment technology major.

Past haunted experiences have been staged in the Quincy Mine's east adit, the Quincy Smelter and even as a driving tour on the mine grounds in 2020 to allow for social distancing. Each setting required unique solutions to accommodate audiences at what is essentially a touring production.

"This is actually one of my favorite events that we do, because even though it is always new, always different, and it has varying degrees of success, we are always working to improve," said Kent Cyr. "We are always coming up with new challenges, seeing new challenges, being challenged in different ways. It gets my brain working in a way I don't often get to do in a theater show."

The driving tour in 2020 is a prime example. The event had an unexpectedly large turnout, raising around $6,500 at a requested donation of $10 per vehicle. Since all proceeds go to benefit the Quincy Mine Hoist Association, the turnout was gratifying. But the line of cars extending beyond the parking lot and onto the highway was an unintended consequence.

While challenges can impact the experience of those attending the event, program organizers welcome them as an essential learning experience. Students gain an understanding of what it's really like to bring a production to life far from the static and controlled environments of Tech's Rozsa Center or McArdle Theatre. The limitations inspire creativity and teamwork.

Huskies Team Up for Innovative Creative Solutions

"Our majors are small in student class size, so it really feels like friends and family working together," said theatre and entertainment technology major Tara Estrada '25, the assistant production manager and assistant costume manager for the Haunted Hoist.

Pelkey said there are many design aspects to consider, from what materials to purchase to how to build props and make everything fit into each scene. "But along with those challenges I really enjoy spending working hours with some of the younger students. It not only helps build a relationship as a mentor to them, but also builds our relationships as peers," she said.

The Quincy Mine has provided its own spooky atmosphere in previous years, including natural fog. That natural moisture also makes it difficult to keep equipment and costumes dry. Costume designer Mary Cyr, VPA assistant teaching professor, has designated some costumes to the haunted experience permanently because they're stained with mine mud.

Hosting the haunted experience at the Quincy Smelter also tested the production in new ways. The historic site is overseen by the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission and must be preserved exactly as it was left. Detritus like broken glass, left-behind equipment and other historic artifacts cannot be moved to accommodate the production. Students instead planned around them to leave the site undisturbed.

The Quincy Mine Hoist production encompasses an approximately 700-foot walking tour that moves through multiple areas of the hoist not normally open to the public. Production organizers have to account for low ceilings, tight hallways and maneuvering around historic mine equipment.

Keeping Students, Staff and Visitors Safe

Safety is a high priority for any production, and the Haunted Hoist provides the perfect opportunity for students to learn proper safety procedures both behind the scenes and during the event. While the production is supposed to be scary, the production team is trained to ensure that no one is in real danger. Everyone is required to wear personal protective equipment, including hard hats, while on location. No one works alone at the site. The buddy system is standard operating procedure, even when the task is to go around the corner and grab tools. As it was in the days of copper mining, any accidents could be far more serious if unnoticed by the rest of the team.

Kent Cyr said students learn to work within the necessary constraints. "If you're trying to get to the back of the computer or audio rack and you've got a hard hat on, then you're like, 'I can't see and my head doesn't fit anymore!' Well, too bad. Figure it out, that's the deal," he said.

Students also learn to pace themselves. The production plan includes breaks for performers, with plenty of "scarers" to step into roles so everyone gets breaks to warm up, eat and decompress during a night of intense performance.

If the production gets too intense for any visitors, there's a plan for that, too. The set includes features like hidden doors that can be used in case of emergency. All students are required to know the predesignated exit zones, and there are team members assigned to look out for potential concerns.

"We have trained specific students and positioned them at specific points to make sure that, should something happen where an audience member needs to not be in the situation, we can get them out," said Kent Cyr.

"We try to keep the atmosphere open, happy and fun. There's so many skeleton jokes and haunted house humor constantly."Tara Estrada '25, theater and entertainment technology major

VPA students work on audience awareness and try to tailor the experience to the age of the patrons they're trying to scare. That said, the goal is to scare the audience. Kent Cyr cautions parents from bringing very young children to the Haunted Hoist, especially if they don't want their kids to gain a phobia of clowns.

Learning the Ropes in a Nontraditional Industry

The Haunted Hoist experience provides opportunities for students to learn self-advocacy and professionalism in preparation for a demanding industry where nine-to-five jobs are not the norm.

"When I was working as a theater tech, no one asked me how many hours I wanted to work, they just said do the job. When you go out into the world, it's going to be the same," said Kent Cyr. His hope is that Huskies will learn early on to draw healthier boundaries in their careers.

Students participating in the Haunted Hoist take either a one-credit or a three-credit class, and take on the roles of fabricators, designers, installers and scarers.

"It's a unique event unlike any other entertainment show we put on throughout the year," said Estrada. "Some challenges are time management with classes and breaks, trying not to take up everyone's free time while still getting things done."

The goal is to keep in line with the number of working hours expected for a traditional classroom course, but with the understanding that "homework" hours are fulfilled as part of the production process. Those taking the one-credit course will work roughly 40 hours on the production, while those taking the three-credit course work about 90 hours. Regular reviews of student time sheets throughout the course prompt conversations around efficiency, time management and reducing outside interruptions while working.

"I am learning so much about being a leader and how to better communicate with others. These projects are more than just 'I need to do this,' or 'I need to do that.' But, I learned that 'We need to do this' and 'We can do that.' Leading is a team effort and I am enjoying every step of the way."Molly Pelkey '26, entertainment and theater technology major

"Navigating 'When I'm at work, I'm at work' and 'When I'm not at work, I am not at work' is part of our training," said Kent Cyr. "It is part of what we need to be working on with these students because we can't have a work-life balance in this field without it."

"I chose this major because I love seeing shows and events start from nothing and grow into something beautiful for people to enjoy," said Pelkey. "We definitely have come a long way from the start of this idea, and there have been lots of stressful nights, but also fun times."

Research is the backbone of the technological advantage the U.S. has held since World War II, and the security of our nation depends on technological superiority. The world is getting smaller through digital connectivity, open-source data, the ability of artificial intelligence to generate secure information from a cacophony of open sources, and increased collaboration across international borders. This increases the need for decisive advances in national security.

At Michigan Tech, our faculty, staff and students understand and appreciate the need to support national security research efforts. Over the next decade, national security needs will rapidly expand in the areas of both physical security and cyber security. This extends beyond just protecting the nation's military secrets, affecting areas such as food security, water security, industrial intellectual property security, climate resiliency, energy security, cybersecurity, civil infrastructure security and more. Protecting the interests of our nation means developing and protecting the best technology in all areas.

However, being the worldwide leader in technology also makes the U.S. the top target for espionage, including industrial espionage, cyber attacks and physical threats. Michigan Tech is poised to help mitigate these national security risks while at the same time developing new technologies with integrated protections.

Below are three of the most pressing national security questions that society will be facing in 2035, as well as Michigan Tech's best opportunities for answering them. The convergence of our core values as an engineering and scientific university with strengths in computing, cybersystems and defense platforms creates the opportunity for us to lead in this vital area of technology discovery.

How do we continue to fill our domestic workforce needs in all national security areas?

In 2035, there will be a massive demand for advanced science and technology workers in the national security arena due to completed and impending retirements of baby boomers and Generation X. This is the single greatest threat to our national security. Without continued development of new and innovative ideas and the ability to turn those ideas into actions, the U.S. will not be able to stay ahead of our competition. This requires a massive investment in domestic talent from diverse backgrounds at all degree levels: B.A., B.S., M.S. and Ph.D.

The required talent closely resembles the student body of Michigan Tech: engineers, physical scientists, computer scientists, social scientists, business and finance experts, mathematicians and more. More importantly, that talent needs to be cross-trained in multiple fields and understand how to work fluidly in interdisciplinary groups.

Workers from all disciplines will need to be fluent in applying machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to their specific disciplinary problems. The successful completion of graduate degrees by domestic students from diverse backgrounds will be vital to maintaining next-generation technological superiority. In addition, the breakneck speed of technological advancement will make continuing education a requirement for the existing workforce. Artificial intelligence will only increase the speed at which technology advances and will further cement the need for continuous education throughout a career in national security.

We can position Michigan Tech to lead in developing the workforce of 2035 through innovative recruiting and course delivery methods, cross-training of our students, strengthening our research portfolio and developing a pipeline of diverse students ready to secure our nation's people, infrastructure and data.

How do we address the strategic national security concerns brought about by impending climate change?

Climate change is not commonly talked about or thought of as a defense issue. However, in a 2021 climate risk analysis report to the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) identified climate change as a reshaper of operational environments and a direct threat to global stability. Climate change is a recognized threat multiplier, meaning it exacerbates existing global tensions and vulnerabilities, from political instability to resource scarcity.

Changes in the Arctic are opening up new transit ways and resource extraction opportunities that need to be protected, monitored and defended. Changes in available arable lands and water resources are driving population displacements and causing conflicts over these scarce resources. Changes in sea level are affecting the accessibility of naval ports. Extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change, have already caused billions of dollars of infrastructure damage for the United States military and are predicted to be one of the most likely and severe global risks for everyone over the next decade.

Michigan Tech's researchers and faculty have already established multidisciplinary collaborations bringing together their expertise in defense applications, environmental sciences, geospatial analysis, and large-scale data analytics — which are just a few of the disciplines that will be needed to address these issues head-on for the DoD.

Tech researchers understand a variety of natural ecosystems — including water, arctic and terrestrial environments — and are leaders in climate research. Tech is poised to provide infrastructure solutions, sustainable energy solutions, climate migration analysis, remote sensing monitoring tools, and a variety of other sustainable technologies required by the DoD as it tackles the effects of climate change on our national security.

As a midsized university, Tech is both large enough to have the technical breadth required to address these issues and "small enough" to have true interdisciplinary teams formed through collaborative efforts. We have the agility to respond to needs with both the speed required by the DoD and the scientific rigor to create the right solution at the right time.

How can the US military adapt to the proliferation of 'MacGyvered' technology solutions in the battlespace?

The recent conflicts in both Ukraine and Gaza highlight a distinct change in the battle landscape — low-cost, disposable solutions created from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts are joining "exquisite" engineered technologies as an integral part of the overall posture. Some of these COTS systems are capable of going toe-to-toe with the traditional systems, as seen in Ukraine, where disposable drones are effectively combating and disabling tanks. A favorite term among the service components is "MacGyverability" — the ability to take readily available resources and make a solution that is effective, within budget and able to be delivered/created in a timely fashion.

By 2035, as the cost of the component hardware continues to fall and the proliferation of open-source solutions allows for easier adoption, how can U.S. armed services guarantee that the men and women serving the nation have access to the best technology available? How can we more effectively support our allies and help them MacGyver their own solutions? How do we maintain our technical advantage within this new paradigm?

To retain our technological advantage with these MacGyvered solutions, we need to fight smarter, not harder.

This is exactly the mentality of the Michigan Tech community. Huskies are already accustomed to taking minimal resources and getting maximal results. We focus not just on the fundamental technologies, but also the applications driving the need for these technologies. In 2035, Michigan Tech will be poised to lead in providing effective components for these technologies — whether they be cutting-edge algorithms that are hardware agnostic, newly developed platforms and sensors, or exploitations of existing COTS hardware that unlock the highest performance. We can reach this position of leadership through the expansion of current research thrusts in hardware, software and algorithms; the establishment of additional cross-disciplinary research teams; and the continued support of hands-on learning experiences for the next generation of researchers and engineers.

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So, how is Michigan Tech positioned to address the evolving national security needs as we approach 2035?

Michigan Tech has a significant defense portfolio, with over 35% of external federal funding in fiscal year 2024 coming from the U.S. Department of Defense. We have positioned ourselves as a trusted partner of the DoD, with the scientific and technological expertise to tackle the toughest challenges. As a nonprofit educational institution, the government looks to us and other like-minded groups to provide accurate, scientific guidance in a manner that is not driven by profit. There is no doubt in their minds that Michigan Tech is driven by the desire to support and defend our nation — a goal we can work toward through the privilege of problem-solving for the DoD. Through the University's technological backbone, cross-domain expertise and ability to be agile and respond quickly to changing research thrusts, we are poised to continue our strong relationships within the defense and intelligence industries and remain at the forefront of solving the toughest technological challenges.

From large mainframes to personal computers to the mobile devices of today, how we engage with computing has profoundly changed over the course of one generation. Each of those transitions represented a major inflection point in the ubiquity and centrality of computing — and now it's happened again. ChatGPT signaled a whole new future, spurring artificial intelligence arms races between nations, companies and researchers. It isn't hyperbole to say all aspects of society and industry will be impacted by advances in computing and AI. This is particularly true in prestige industries like health care, mobility, finance and entertainment, but also for less flashy areas like the trades, manufacturing and retail.

These advances will undoubtedly lead to increased productivity and usability, and more personalized services, but will also introduce new challenges. For example, smart policing using data science and AI to identify high-risk areas in which to deploy police services is a very attractive idea on its surface; however, too often these tools reinforce biases and calcify generations-old socioeconomic inequalities, leading to as much damage as good. The excitement around and rapid uptake of such technologies will need to be moderated by deeper analysis and mitigation of the unintended ramifications.

In the following paragraphs, we present three pressing questions regarding the coming impacts of AI. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. We hope it will illustrate that while computing expertise underlies AI algorithms, a broader set of knowledge is needed to apply them responsibly and effectively. By leaning into this, Michigan Tech can situate itself to be a leader in the application of AI to other domains.

How will AI-driven design reshape product development?

AI can be creative, meaning it can uncover solutions humans have not explored. This has already happened with complex games like chess and Go, and it is also occurring in engineering, where analysis and design tools with AI are rapidly being integrated into the field.

As a broader set of solutions is presented, and as AI undoubtedly becomes an even more valuable tool to assess and optimize for multiple simultaneous object functions, the expertise and insight of the engineer becomes critically important. Engineers must have a deep understanding of the domain while working in cross-functional teams. They also need to understand the quality and limitations of the computational models and be able to assess how the changes will impact not only performance but all requirements through the product life cycle.

AI models are inherently nondeterministic, so when the engineer uses them to create a design, many possibilities are returned. It then falls upon the engineer to critically evaluate and analyze the designs, discarding problematic options and refining those that show promise. The final choices must undergo thorough review and be effectively and efficiently validated through testing under real-world conditions.

Michigan Tech, recognized for its strong emphasis on hands-on learning, is uniquely positioned to integrate AI into engineering design.

We'll need to be asking questions like how can we ensure transparency throughout product development to ensure the output is usable and safe, and reliably minimizes negative and unforeseen consequences? By considering multiple use cases and potential unintended consequences of AI, Michigan Tech can advance its application throughout the entire product lifecycle — from initial concept through development and validation, all the way to end-of-life management.

What will the role of humans in software engineering be when AI can write code faster and more correctly than people?

Parents of prospective students frequently ask us if programming will continue to be a viable career option in the age of AI. This is a reasonable question, as AI is already democratizing software development. In the past, people learned to program by starting with the simplest "Hello World" 3-4 line programs, then adding complexity from there. With AI, one can easily jump into more complicated and engaging software from the outset. In a world where adolescents can create attractive and fun video games after a brief coding intro and much trial and error using ChatGPT, it's easy to understand why parents are worried about the viability of programming and software development as a career.

Our answer to concerned parents: Fear not, there will always be a role for designers and developers. However, as software platforms become more complex, the developer's job will be profoundly different.

AI will be increasingly used to create code, especially simple subroutines and APIs (interfaces between distinct portions of the application). Humans will be needed to strategize on how to extend and maintain complex enterprise-scale codes. Dianne Marsh '86 '92 (B.S. M.S. Computer Science) emphasized this very point during a talk she delivered at Michigan Tech a few years ago. She pointed out that the code at Netflix, where she then served as the director of consumer product security and trust, has grown to be so complex that no single individual truly understands everything it does. As such, developers increasingly focus on creating and implementing test cases to assess the quality of code and its impact on the entire system. The proliferation of AI-generated code will only accelerate this trend throughout all industries.

How do we ensure AI is ethical and does not perpetuate existing inequalities?

Amazon recently quit using a natural language processing review of employment applications because it favored words more commonly used by men. This is just one of many troubling examples of AI bias causing problems in society. Equally disconcerting is the tendency for large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to hallucinate, stating as fact things that are simply not true. Currently, when LLMs are wrong, they are confidently wrong — meaning there is no warning to the user that one statement is lower confidence than another. These issues are already limiting AI's utility and eroding trust in it. Even the recent recipients of the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics — recognized for their fundamental work leading to the development of artificial intelligence — used the announcement as an opportunity to caution about the potentially negative impacts of AI.

AI's reach is already expansive; it will be ubiquitous in 2035. However, after the newness of AI wears off and the hype subsides, its presence will likely be less obvious to us as it fades into the background as an enabling technology. As this happens, we have to be even more focused on assessing AI bias and its unintended impacts. Looking out to the "machines take-over" sci-fi limit of AI, we must also make sure that AI respects human life first and foremost. In the same way we train software developers to incorporate security in their design, and just like we train mechanical engineers to think about manufacturability and serviceability, we must also train AI developers to address the ethical and societal impacts of their AI creations.

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While AI presents numerous challenges, it also introduces wonderful opportunities. AI has already made writing more efficient, has streamlined supply chains, and has demonstrated remarkable creativity. AI also does an extremely good job of prediction and identification, skills that it will only get better at with time. For example, AI-based image analysis tools promise to identify tumors where oncologists cannot. AI can also reliably predict the three-dimensional structure of a protein from its one-dimensional sequence of amino acid building blocks — essentially solving a decades-old problem that many biophysicists thought could never be solved.

Nevertheless, our concern and caution should match our enthusiasm. Developing methods for identifying and addressing these issues from the earliest stages of development must be a cornerstone of our academic programs. These complex issues require diverse backgrounds and expertise, meaning design will no longer just be the purview of technical professionals. Humanists, social scientists and others must be involved from concept to completion. The need to prepare our engineers and computer scientists to collaborate effectively within diverse teams will make experiential opportunities like Michigan Tech's Enterprise Program even more important going forward.

Michigan Tech has always done a good job of addressing the societal impacts of technology, and we will build upon that expertise to address the challenges posed by AI. We will continue to offer and expand experiential learning opportunities where computing and AI are central. Using the nimbleness Michigan Tech has come to be known for, we will continue to evolve and adapt to the unknown unknowns.

The Jack Donnelly Award recognizes companies and institutions that best demonstrate the ability to stop foreign theft of U.S. defense and national security technology. Out of more than 10,000 eligible organizations in the nation, Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) was one of five chosen for the award, which was formally presented at the University's Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, Oct. 11.

"We appreciate receiving the Donnelly Award for excellence in counterintelligence," said Michigan Tech President Rick Koubek. "This recognition reiterates our full commitment to national security and research integrity at the highest levels."

Andrew Barnard, Michigan Tech's vice president for research, said Michigan Tech places a high priority on protecting the University's research from malign foreign interests. "This security function is vital to maintaining our national advantage in all areas of science and technology," said Barnard. "The Donnelly Award recognizes the efforts of our research security professionals for their tireless work in counterintelligence. It also provides our federal and state partners assurance that at Michigan Tech, we will protect both our researchers and their data from foreign intelligence efforts."

Originally established 71 years ago by the U.S. Army for deep snow mobility testing, the Keweenaw Research Center is now a world-class multidisciplinary research center involved in military, industrial and commercial vehicle applications research activities. The KRC maintains more than 900 acres of proving grounds specifically developed for the evaluation of ground vehicle systems.

Scott Bradley, director of the center, says the KRC has always prided itself on its efforts to protect the activities of its research partners. "Protection of the research being conducted, the data generated, and the researchers themselves requires a collaborative effort and is a fundamental priority," said Bradley. "The Jack Donnelly Award is further affirmation of our long-standing efforts to protect the security of research conducted at KRC."

Andrew Lochli, DCSA's assistant director of counterintelligence and insider threat, presented the award to Michigan Tech. "This award embodies the importance of academic contributions to security advancements," said Lochli. "MTU is recognized as a leader in risk mitigation and has built counterintelligence-focused culture in implementing processes within their program to detect, deter, mitigate and expeditiously report suspicious contact activities through DCSA and other government agencies. They are so deserving of this award."

Jack Bergman, retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general now serving as the U.S. Representative from Michigan's 1st Congressional District, attended the award ceremony, as did Michigan Sen. Ed McBroom and Michigan Rep. Greg Markkanen. All praised the efforts Michigan Tech has made at the forefront of counterintelligence and research security.

"Without integrity, nothing good occurs, and Michigan Tech is the epitome of integrity," Bergman said. "This recognition reinforces what we already know: Michigan Tech and their Keweenaw Research Center are at the forefront of confronting the multitude of challenges facing our nation. Securing America's sensitive and classified information is critical to counter our enemies today, and this challenge will only become more acute as technology and the threats evolve."

"Michigan Tech is remarkable in so many areas," said McBroom. "This award only further confirms the ascendancy of this excellent institution."

"People have come to expect an elevated attention to detail and diligence reflected in all of Michigan Tech's hard work," said Markkanen. "As a recipient of this prestigious award, Michigan Tech has again delivered."

Career fairs are nothing new. Every semester, most universities offer students the opportunity to attend a recruiting event to introduce themselves to potential employers and maybe share a resume or two.

While job fairs and career expos have proved their value, Michigan Tech's Career Services office has been going above and beyond for more than a decade. Career Fest, which saw its beginnings in 2013, provides workshops, resume reviews and a series of casual networking and recruiting events during the weeks leading up to Career Fair. This year's fall Career Fest took place Sept. 9-23 and was capped off with Career Fair on Sept. 24 and Interview Day on Sept 25.

Career Fest: Forged in Steel

In the early 2010s, Michigan Tech's Career Services office saw a decline in attendance at employer "info sessions" leading up to Career Fair and began experimenting with new and different formats.

In fall 2013, Steel Day was introduced — an informal expo attended by four companies: ArcelorMittal, Cleveland-Cliffs, Gerdau and Nucor. These employers highlighted career options in the steel industry in an effort to attract students to their industry generally, and their booths at Career Fair more specifically. In fall 2014, Steel Day was repeated, and a student-organized Petroleum Day was held in a similar fashion. The success of both these events led to more like them in fall 2015, and Career Fest, as the Tech community knows it today, was born.

"Michigan Tech's Career Fest has always been a fantastic opportunity for students and companies to connect with each other in a more informal, casual environment," said Cody Kangas, executive director of Career Services at Michigan Tech. "It's where students can meet prospective employers, not just to apply for jobs, but to engage in real conversations about their futures. The atmosphere of Fest offers a chance to ask questions, learn, and showcase both interest and drive. It enables space for students to be proactive, forge connections, and fine-tune their approach as they warm up for fall Career Fair."

Highlights of this year's Career Fest included Michigan Day (Sept. 10), GM Energy Day (Sept. 20) and Career Services Partner Day (Sept. 23).

On Michigan Day, Michigan-based employers set up booths on Husky Plaza in an effort to recruit and retain talent in the state of Michigan. In partnership with InvestUP, the University invited companies from across the Upper Peninsula and Michigan to talk with students about career opportunities available in the state of Michigan.

"In light of the need that the region has to grow our population with the next generation of talent and the need our employers have for that talent, this partnership with Michigan Tech provides a critically important opportunity," said Amy Berglund, director of business initiatives at InvestUP. "The day gives talented students at Michigan Tech a practical understanding of the impressive and diverse employers that would provide students the chance to make their career in the same special place they received their education."

Huskies Come Home

An added benefit to MTU's Career Fest? The presence of alumni. Throughout the weeks of Career Fest, as well as at Career Fair, Michigan Tech alumni were out in full force to chat with their fellow Huskies.

Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy and a 1996 mechanical engineering grad, was on hand for the first-ever GM Energy Day, which provided students with the opportunity to learn more about GM Energy's future technology and check out two electric vehicles (EVs): an EV Hummer and an EV Silverado.

"It was a genuine honor to return to Michigan Tech as a representative of General Motors and to share the innovative projects we are pursuing at GM Energy with the next generation of problem-solvers and leaders," said Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy. "The world currently needs fearless individuals who are ready to put in the work to forge new paths ahead, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to engage with the students at MTU's Career Fest."

Students engaged with alumni representatives from a wide range of industries, from multinational tech companies like Amazon, to North America's largest steel manufacturer (and Career Fair sponsor) Nucor, to local and state employers like Erhardt Construction.

"My colleagues from Amazon and I were thrilled to be a part of MTU's Career Fest," said Todd Geib, a senior cloud infrastructure architect with Amazon and 1998 Michigan Tech electrical engineering graduate. "Engaging with such talented, innovative students reaffirms our commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders at Amazon. We look forward to growing connections and creating opportunities for these bright minds to shape the future."

"I found the Michigan Tech Career Fair to be extremely well planned and executed," said Ben Wickstrom, president and CEO of Erhardt Construction and a 1998 civil engineering graduate. "As an employer, I appreciated the clear communication and logistics to make such a large event go smoothly. Additionally, I was impressed with the caliber of students I engaged with during the event."

Career Fair: Not Just for Engineers

While Michigan Tech is widely regarded as a STEM school with a strong foundation in engineering, Career Fest and Career Fair offer opportunities for students of all backgrounds. For marketing major Nathaniel Vogler, a senior who plans to graduate in spring 2025, Michigan Tech's Career Fest and Career Fair have opened several doors.

"My sophomore year, I went to Career Fair, made the rounds and passed out my resume," said Vogler. "A lot of companies told me they weren't recruiting for marketing, but would be happy to pass my resume along to their marketing departments."

Those companies were true to their word, and Vogler landed a summer internship with Boldt Construction in Appleton, Wisconsin.

"Last year, when I was a junior, a lot more companies were seeking marketing majors," Vogler continued. "I went to a lot of the Career Fest events in the weeks leading up to Career Fair, and I ended up spending some time at the Stellantis booth. I then followed up with them at Career Fair, gave them my resume and answered some of their questions to see if I would be a good culture match for the company."

Vogler went through the interview process and landed an internship with Stellantis during summer 2024. At this fall's Career Fair, Vogler was happy to see that even more companies were recruiting marketing majors.

"It's been very reciprocative," he said, noting that he's thrown his hat in the ring with a few well-known companies. "I've been very successful at Michigan Tech's Career Fair, even as a non-engineering major."

Recruited to Recruit

For Zekelman Industries, a Chicago-based steel company, fall 2024 marked their first experience with a Michigan Tech Career Fair. As anyone with a map knows, no one arrives in Houghton by accident. What brought Zekelman to the shores of Lake Superior? A fantastic intern.

"Following a very successful summer internship with a Michigan Tech student, we engaged directly with the University to partner more closely," said Andrea Seymour, Zekelman's vice president of talent acquisition. "Our organization is doing a lot with automation, robotics and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and our Michigan Tech intern worked on a project to automate a process in a local plant with great success. The work he did was simple but impressive, utilizing materials we had on-site. It caught the attention of our CEO and my team."

"These are exactly the type of people we're looking for to be the future of our company. These are the students we want to get in front of. We want them to have long careers with us and take us to the next level."Andrea Seymour, vice president of talent acquisition, Zekelman Industries

Before arriving on campus, Zekelman made the call to become a gold sponsor of the fall 2024 Career Fair. And after spending time with more Michigan Tech students, the company is confident in its decision.

"I was very impressed with the fall career fair. The quality of companies in attendance and the volume of students that participated was impressive," said Seymour. "The students were well prepared with resumes in hand and engaging and thoughtful questions about our company. It's typical for individuals to be unfamiliar with our organization and subsequent brands, but once they understand who we are, what we make and why it matters, the interest increases quickly. Career fairs like this allow us the opportunity to showcase our products and share the value employees of Zekelman bring to our communities by producing them every day."

Going forward, look for more of those employees to be Michigan Tech grads.