Michigan Tech Engineering

09/28/2026

Michigan Tech’s Senior Design program connects students and industry through real-world projects, and sometimes, it results in winning awards from NASA’s Johnson Space Center!

The Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) capstone team received the 2026 APEX Award from NASA’s Johnson Space Center Engineering Division for their project titled “Conceptual Evaluation of CryoMag Sustainable Operational Usage with NASA.”

Presented by NASA’s Project Management and Systems Engineering Division, the APEX Awards recognize outstanding work in support of the division. This year’s award-winning team includes Brian Marku, Connor Jones, Nicholas Wyatt, Ella Santi, Tim Peters and Kathryn Bugbee, led by project lead Katie Walters.

“This recognition is a tremendous achievement for our students with a focus in systems engineering,” said James Bittner, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Engineering Fundamentals (EF) and the team’s faculty advisor. “Throughout the project, the team demonstrated exceptional accountability, resilience, and creativity while working through the complexity and uncertainty of a real NASA systems engineering challenge.”

The team was also advised by Robin Mikola ’04, former president and current academic advisor of the Michigan Chapter of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and Associate Professor Jon Sticklen (EF). All students and advisors received recognition from NASA.

Learn more about the team's work in the comments below!

09/25/2026

Computer engineering student William Ingels is taking advantage of every opportunity that comes his way, both on campus and off.

Will started at as part of the Summer Bridge Program, which provided early coursework and connections with fellow Huskies. Being set up for success early on gave him the opportunity to take advantage of even more opportunities that came his way in Michigan Tech Engineering. In his first year, he excelled in his coursework and participated in undergraduate research in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Now starting his second year, Will is back from a summer in Pittsburgh, participating in the STEMNetX fellowship program, where he connected with future leaders in science and engineering from around the country.

Meet Will in a new story from MTU News, available in the comments below

Are you an S-STEM alumni? Tell us about your experience!

09/21/2026

Congratulations to Professor Emerita Judith Perlinger for receiving one of these MDARD research grants to better understand and address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in agriculture.

Perlinger's work will evaluate how applied composted fish waste affects PFAS levels in garden-grown vegetables. Her team, which includes researchers from the University at Buffalo and that coordinates with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, will also study which vegetables and plant tissues accumulate PFAS and how different soil treatments and watering amounts can help reduce these chemicals.

Congrats, Professor Perlinger!

Proactive research to protect Michigan agriculture!​

MDARD just announced nearly $2 million to fund innovative research on how to prevent PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) from harming our agricultural resources. ​

These projects will:​

- Help understand how PFAS moves through crops, soil and water systems​
- Develop practical tools and strategies to address PFAS contamination where it occurs ​
- Strengthen the long-term health of our food supply and communities​

Awardees are already busy working toward finding solutions to increase the resiliency of Michigan’s ag sector. Stay tuned for more updates on this new effort!

09/17/2026

The new academic year is underway and we’re celebrating our new and promoted faculty!

This August, Dean Michelle Scherer and the College of Engineering welcomed seven new faculty members and celebrated nine faculty promotions. These new and promoted faculty members lead research, education, and mentorship in fields such as health, robotics, and alternative energy and support expanding programs in aerospace engineering, ecological engineering, and more.

Learn more about these faculty members in the comments below.

09/16/2026

Where hands-on learning is already the name of the game, the College of Engineering’s Research Experience for Undergraduate Students (REU) is expanding to give students more research opportunities earlier in their careers.

The College's traditional REU program received 199 student applications this fall, a 53% increase over last year. From that pool, 46 students were matched with faculty mentors across eight departments. Every professor who applied for an REU award received one from the College of Engineering, with matches funded through a mix of National Science Foundation grants as well as other research and departmental funds.

Interest from first-year students nearly doubled this year, with 80 first-year applicants competing for a limited number of funded slots. In response, the College of Engineering launched REU FIRST (First-year Immersion in Research through Structured Trials), a new lab-rotation program giving first-year undergraduates a structured, hands-on introduction to research. This fall, 36 first-year students are rotating through COE research labs, working alongside faculty and graduate student mentors to build foundational research skills and lab safety knowledge. The goal is to prepare them to compete for full REU placements in future semesters and to give them the skills and confidence to build a genuine, lasting love of research.

Together, the REU program and REU FIRST provide 82 students with foundational research experiences that build off their world-class education. Learn more about undergraduate research opportunities in the comments below.

09/15/2026

Two years ago, Jennifer Celeste knew very little about the field of acoustics engineering.

Now, thanks to the Michigan Tech Engineering REU program and her keen eye for opportunities coming her way, the mechanical engineering junior has attended and presented at national acoustics conferences, held an internship at the NASA Langley Research Center as an artificial intelligence research associate, and has received funding from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and Barry Goldwater Scholarship to continue her research and education in this niche, interdisciplinary field.

The opportunity to work in Associate Professor Bhisham Sharma’s MADLab led Jennifer on a path she may have otherwise missed.

“I plan to graduate a semester early and then to start a Ph.D., at Michigan Tech if possible,” said Celeste. “My overall career plan is to become a professor. I want to teach, conduct research, make my own lab and foster the same opportunities for other students that were made available to me.”

Meet Jennifer and learn more about her career at the link in the comments below!

09/10/2026

The Dave House Fellowship is all about working together. 💛🤖🖤

This new collaboration between Michigan Tech’s College of Computing and Michigan Tech Engineering unites researchers, disciplines, and labs to explore what’s possible in robotics and automation.

PhD student Yaman Aljnadi is the fellowship’s first recipient and will work with mentors combining their expertise in robotics, human-robot interaction, computer engineering, networking, and data science.

And, of course, robot Ecer is part of the team, too!

We can’t wait to see what they discover together.

08/31/2026

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new semester! ☀️

Wishing all our Husky engineers good luck on their first day classes!

08/26/2026

Operation New Student Move-In: Complete! ✅

Orientation Week is now in full swing as new Huskies explore campus, learn about Tech traditions, and meet members of their new pack, all before the classes start next week!

Got a piece of advice for new students? Sound off in the comments below!

08/17/2026

The calm before the semester begins! 🐾

Just two weeks before the fall semester begins! Huskies, are you ready?