Student Experiences
Northern Strike Cyber Training With U.S. Military and NATO
Eight NMU information assurance/cyber defense students had a rare opportunity to work alongside military cybersecurity teams from the U.S. and NATO ally Latvia. Northern became the first higher education collaborator with Northern Strike, one of the Department of Defense’s largest joint military readiness exercises held at the largest National Guard training facility in the country. Their mission was to regain control of a network used for communications and war command that had been compromised by a foreign adversary, determine how the network was infiltrated and remediate the vulnerability.
“Northern Strike was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said student Becca Tatun. “On the second day, I got to work hands-on with a group attempting to defend its network."
It was brilliant to see how the unit operated and managed a network in a simulated environment I was also able to make an abundance of connections while on the base, both with our U.S. troops and with the Latvians. I truly appreciate all that Northern and the U.P. Cybersecurity Institute on campus did to make this opportunity a reality.
Prepared for Disaster
When large-scale natural or man-made disasters occur in the United States, such as Hurricane Helene or the recent Washington, D.C. plane and helicopter crash, a Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) may be deployed at the request of the local medical examiner’s o ice to help identify deceased individuals and store the bodies until they are claimed. To ensure its processes would function well in a cold environment, DMORT held its first full cold-weather training exercise at NMU this winter, shortly after a blizzard.
Organizers gave NMU high marks for the professionalism of students from various disciplines who participated, from freshmen to graduate students, and for help facilitating the setup a disaster portable morgue unit in a Jacobetti Complex parking lot. The exercise involved DMORT Region 5, which covers Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
NMU’s Center for Forensic Science also provided donor remains used for the exercise. Center Director Jane Harris said dummies are often used for training, or if they use real human remains, they are typically those of embalmed medical school donors. In this case, DMORT requested permission to train using real, unembalmed human remains from the NMU Body Donation Program. Her condition up front was that if DMORT wanted to come to Northern and utilize these resources, they must also allow student involvement in the exercise.
“There were 30 NMU students and nine UW-Platteville students,” Harris said. “I assigned them the role of trackers. They worked in pairs and their responsibility was to be the stewards of the donor remains that would be moving through the temporary morgue.” Each donor “remain” passed through eight stations: Admission, Pathology, Photography/Personal Effects, Fingerprinting, Anthropology, DNA, Dental, and X-Ray before exiting the disaster portable morgue unit. Students actively took photographs, collected DNA samples, conducted skeletal and dental analyses, described their observations to the pathologist, and took X-rays under the guidance of theDMORT station chiefs.
Biological anthropology graduate student Megan Carol said, “Attending stations outside of my interest in anthropology allowed me to make connections of how photography, pathology, radiography, fingerprinting, anthropology, DNA and dentition work together when one or more fields are unable to do their job based on what condition the remains are in."
I am passionate about ensuring that we do everything we can to make sure everyone is laid to rest with their identification...and to ensure those who have lost their life in a disaster are identified and returned to their families.
New Fire Site Pavilion
A student crew from NMU’s construction management program recently built a new pavilion over the Center for Native American Studies fire site. The site for educational, cultural and social outdoor gatherings was built in the summer of 2003 in a peaceful, wooded area on the grounds of Whitman Hall. Two years later, benches were placed at the site in the four directions of north, south, east and west. Upon each is a wood burning of a particular clan of the Anishinaabe. The drawings were created by then-student Pamela Abel.
U.P. History Moment
A new radio program on Public Radio 90 is researchedand written by the students and staff of the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives, and the hosts are two NMU history majors and archives student assistants Erin O’Toole and Elijah Croschere. You can listen to the U.P. History Moment live on Public Radio 90 (WNMU-FM) on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. and Sundays at 5:35 p.m., on the air or their app.
Debut Novel
Ari Koontz, a third-year graduate student in Northern Michigan University’s MFA program, has finalized a book deal with Macmillan Publishing for their debut young adult novel, Just Ask Elsie
Congratulations Graduates!
More than 1,200 students packed the Superior Dome for the commencement ceremony on May 3. Former NMU theater student and Broadway veteran Leah Hocking was the keynote speaker. She has appeared in 10 Broadway musicals. Rosalva Brito, a criminal justice major and Spanish minor from Chicago, was the student speaker. The first-generation student said she chose to attend NMU primarily because of scholarships she qualified for as the dependent of a veteran that made the cost more affordable, and because of its safe, friendly and beautiful environment.
Biology, Culinary and Theatre Study in St. John
Over spring break, 43 NMU students and faculty members traveled to and camped on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, for immersive field courses in marine and terrestrial ecology, research and destination catering. Field Marine Biology students snorkeled through coral reefs, conducted biodiversity surveys and studied marine ecosystems, including fish, coral, turtles and mangroves. Students in Island Terrestrial Ecology explored the island's landscapes, assessed biodiversity and studied birds, bats, insects and plant ecology. The Advanced Field Marine Biology course allowed experienced students to conduct independent research projects. Students in the Destination Catering course played a vital role during the trip by preparing meals for their peers and learning about island cuisine. They met with local chefs and hosted an island-style dinner, adding a cultural and culinary dimension to the experience. Dominic Mrakovcich, sound and media supervisor and engineer in NMU Theatre and Dance, also joined the trip to capture natural sounds from the island environment. His recordings will be used in computer-generated music compositions and a developing sound library.