The Michigan Technological University campus is seen in this Gazette file photo. The University's Board of Trustees met Friday. Among the action items, the board approved the creation of a new student wellness center thanks to a $55M gift from alumni Chang Park.

HOUGHTON – The Michigan Technological University Board of Trustees met informal session Friday, the day before Fall Commencement. As previously reported in the Daily Mining Gazette, the highlight of the meeting was the announcement of a $55 million Alumnus Chang Park to build a student wellness center that will bear his name.

Bill Roberts, vice president for advancement and alumni engagement presented details of the new center to the board. The board then formally accepted Park’s gift and approved plans to construct the center at a cost not to exceed the $55 million dollar gift.

In reports to the board, Andrew Barnard, Vice President for research, continued the positive news for the university with his presentation on research funding. After sharing examples of research projects underway at MTU which, he said, have an impact at the local, state and national level, Barnard said, “Last year was an excellent year in research for MTU.”

Barnard spoke of research funding in two categories — expenditures and awards.

He explained that expenditures, in this case, are a positive as they represent the money being spent on research from previously awarded funds.

Barnard said sponsored awards represent funding that Tech is bringing in for future research projects. Money for this research is, in large part he said, from the federal government, but also from state and local governments, corporations and many other sources.

Barnard said that with $124.2 million in research expenditures for FY 2025, the University saw a 16.2% increase from the previous fiscal year which Barnard labeled as “the largest percentage jump we’ve seen this millennium.” To put the increase in perspective, he added, “most universities are thrilled with a three to four percent increase.”

As for research money coming in, Barnard FY25 was similarly a record setting year with $109.3 million, “the first time the institution has cleared the $100 million mark,” he said. This was an increase of 11.4% from the previous year, and was spearheaded by a large increase in U.S. Department of Defense awards.

Looking into the future, Barnard said he was hopeful the second half of Fiscal Year 2026 would make up for shortcomings so far in the first half. While first-quarter expenditures were still up, the sponsored research awards were down 13.7% overall. The US DOD continued to increase the amount provided, but other government agencies awarded less than a third compared to the FY25.

When questioned by the board, Barnard answered “this isn’t because MTU is missing out. It is that these research funds are just no longer available.” He said it correlates to the changes in spending at the federal level under the current administration. The National Endowment for the Humanities was one example given where research funds could no longer be obtained. Despite the slowdown in government funding currently, Barnard said he is hopeful the numbers will recover and FY26 will continue to build on FY25.

In other action, Jon Jipping was re-elected board chair and Monique Wells vice chair. The board approved the recommendation of Provost Andrew Storer to grant Miguel Levy Professor Emeritus status in the department of physics.

Robert Hutchinson, President of the University Senate, informed the board that the body approved graduate certificates in Foundations of Artificial Intelligence, Internal Combustion Engine Systems, and Robust Embedded Software.