The special tribute, offered at the Board of Trustees assembly, is dedicated to the
University’s contribution to security and high-quality of existence in the Higher Peninsula.

Michigan Technological University’s COVID-19 screening laboratory was regarded in a special tribute April thirty by each residences of the Michigan Legislature
and by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II for its contributions
to local community wellness and security.

The special tribute commends the lab for “its immediate implementation at the start off of
the pandemic with the potential to complete superior-quantity COVID-19 screening with immediate turnaround
success. The lab has experienced a dramatic and important impact on the wellness and wellness
treatment of people in the Higher Peninsula of Michigan.”

Two people hold a framed document between them.
Brenda Ryan, left, and Rep. Greg Markkanen hold the framed special tribute at the
Board of Trustees assembly April thirty. Image Credit history: Adam Johnson/Brockit Photography

The diagnostic lab was quickly mobilized in just months past April just after the pandemic
began to sweep the U.S. It celebrated its anniversary April 22. Michigan Tech’s facility is the only college campus-based mostly COVID-19 screening lab
in the condition.

“It is a privilege to honor Michigan Tech’s COVID-19 lab,” stated Rep. Greg Markkanen
(R-Hancock), who was in attendance at the Board of Trustees assembly and offered
the tribute to the board. “The laboratory was vital to mitigating the distribute of COVID-19
across the Western U.P. I want to thank all who played a element in acquiring this lab
off the floor. It was amazing to see all of the nearby means arrive jointly
to provide our local community and ensure the laboratory’s results.”

Brenda Ryan, chair of the Board of Trustees, thanked Markkanen for his part in initiating the COVID-19 screening lab.

“Michigan Tech is happy to have been ready to offer this source to the Higher
Peninsula in the course of such a complicated time,” Ryan stated. “The school, employees and learners
who have worked so challenging to create and run the COVID-19 screening lab are the
genuine heroes in this story and we thank them for all of their challenging do the job over the earlier
12 months.”

The tribute regarded the considerable involvement of a amount of school and employees,
like Caryn Heldt, David Dixon, Cary Gottlieb, Carsten Külheim, Stephen Techtmann,
Jennifer Sanders, Cathy Jenich, Karl Meingast, Brooke Goulette, Mike Abbott, Natasha
Chopp, Emmett Golde and Karyn Fay.

“We are unbelievably very pleased of the do the job of the MTU COVID-19 screening lab,” stated Sen. Ed
McBroom (R-Vulcan). “When the pandemic was just setting up to consider hold past 12 months, college
school and administration experienced the foresight to see that the epidemic experienced the potential
to destroy a way of existence for the learners and the college local community, as perfectly as
the complete western Higher Peninsula of Michigan. Their outstanding contribution to a
more protected and protected high-quality of existence for people is to be recommended.”

Special Tribute to the COVID-19 Tests Lab

Beneath is the complete textual content of the tribute.

Let IT BE Regarded, That is a authentic privilege to understand the Michigan Technological
College COVID-19 Tests Lab in Houghton, Michigan. We commend this lab for its
immediate implementation at the start off of the pandemic with the potential to complete superior-quantity
COVID-19 screening with immediate turnaround success.  The lab has experienced a dramatic and important
impact on the wellness and wellness treatment of people in the Higher Peninsula of Michigan.

In early 2020, when the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic was just setting up to consider hold
in this state, Michigan Technological College (MTU) school and administration
experienced the foresight to see and realize that an epidemic experienced the potential to destroy
a way of existence for the learners and the college local community, as perfectly as the complete
western Higher Peninsula of Michigan. MTU is a hub of superior-energy academia in the center
of a sparsely populated area and is stuffed with fiercely unbiased people —
lovingly identified as Yoopers. 

A person wearing a lab coat, face mask, and protective eyewear uses a pipette under a vent hood.
Momoko Tajiri performs RNA extraction for a batch of client samples in the MTU COVID-19
Tests Lab.

It was swiftly understood that by means of early identification of an infection by SARS-CoV-2
and with subsequent isolation of the contaminated person (and other folks recognized by means of
get in touch with tracing), MTU could retain its educational mission on monitor, retain learners in course,
and carry on ongoing exploration. On top of that, it was understood that if a screening lab
could be designed with adequate potential, screening could be made available to the encompassing
local community. Within just months, a conceptual strategy remodeled into a performing SARS-CoV-2
polymerase chain response (PCR) screening lab. This transpired with an amazing team of
MTU school customers and learners from a assorted team of fields (like forestry),
non-educational help employees (such as material management and the shipping and delivery and obtaining
business office), and complete fiscal and time help of the MTU administration. Without having the
considerable involvement of Caryn Heldt, David Dixon, Cary Gottlieb, Carsten Külheim,
Stephen Techtmann, Jennifer Sanders, Cathy Jenich, Karl Meingast, Brooke Goulette,
Mike Abbott, Natasha Chopp, Emmett Golde and Karyn Fay, this procedure would have taken
a long time to full.

The MTU COVID-19 screening lab became the major-quantity SARS-CoV-2 lab in the Higher
Peninsula. The lab was ready to begin screening learners and MTU employees. The U.P.
local community benefited from this lab as perfectly. Nursing houses from over 100 miles away
were being bringing samples to MTU — utilizing them as a backup when the nearby wellness department
and nearby physician places of work were being confused with COVID-19 screening. For a time, the MTU
COVID-19 Tests Lab was ready to supply the most exams for each day in the complete condition
of Michigan.

IN Special TRIBUTE, Consequently, this document is signed and dedicated to honor the
Michigan Technological College COVID-19 Tests Lab for this outstanding contribution
to a more protected and protected high-quality of existence for people in the Higher Peninsula of
Michigan. 

Gregory Markkanen, State Representative

Ed McBroom, State Senator

Gretchen Whitmer, Governor

Garlin Gilchrist II, Lieutenant Governor

Michigan Technological College is a community exploration college, residence to more than
7,000 learners from 54 nations around the world. Launched in 1885, the College delivers more than
one hundred twenty undergraduate and graduate diploma systems in science and technological innovation, engineering,
forestry, business and economics, wellness professions, humanities, arithmetic, and
social sciences. Our campus in Michigan’s Higher Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw Waterway
and is just a couple of miles from Lake Superior.