Looking toward the future
Tech\'s board meets
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HOUGHTON -- Michigan Technological University's Board of Trustees (BOT) met in a formal session Friday, appointed a new treasure, adopted a five-year capital outlay plan and viewed a presentation an upcoming award from the Department of Energy.
Michigan Tech President Rick Koubek called it a special day because of the groundbreaking for the Chang K. Park Center for Student Wellness. The $55 million project is the result of a record-breaking donation by Tech alumni Chang Park, ’73.
"Our greatest achievements are often remembered on specific days like these," Koubek said. "But we need to remember that it took days, weeks, years and even decades to get to what we're celebrating today. It took a lot of people, many of them before our time here at Michigan Tech."
The BOT unanimously approved the fiscal year 2028 five-year capital outlay plan for the Center of Convergence and Innovation. $56 million will be allocated for the project -- $30 million will come from the State of Michigan and $26 million will come from the university.
The new building will be located in the former location of Hamar House, in the space that is now a parking lot to the west of Fisher Hall. It is estimated to be 70,000 square feet. Computing, data science, AI and business academics will be addressed with this new building, the plan states.
Trustee Steven Tomaszewski announced the new treasurer for the BOT, Associate Vice President for Finance Timothy Scullion following the departure of CFO Carlos Rodriguez. Other departures at the end of the year will include Trustees Jeffery Littmann and John Bacon, who will be replaced by Christine Roberts and Jen Flood, respectively.
Physics Professor Raymond Shaw and Assoc Provost/Dean of the Graduate School Will Cantrell gave a presentation on Tech's Pi Cloud Chamber Group receiving three awards from the Dept. of Energy. The awards came through the federal government's Genesis Mission, which uses DOE National labs, industry and academia to harness breakthroughs in AI for energy needs, discovery science and national security.
The cloud chamber group at Tech included efforts to simulate and generate clouds inside of a chamber, as well as using AI to track and model their findings, Shaw said.