Undergraduate Admissions

Kris Bartell

Kris Bartell believes in traveling. "The world is a diverse and amazing place," he says. Experiencing it firsthand will change the way you see it and the way you live."

Kris knows what he's talking about. During his time at Michigan Tech, the fourth-year electrical engineering major has traveled to Bolivia with the University's Engineers Without Borders group and worked with a Tech professor to develop and implement a water filtration system for an impoverished Bolivian community.

He also participated in a study-abroad program in Australia, an experience he can't stop talking about. In addition to studying math with "one of the most brilliant professors I have ever had," Kris scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef, fed a kangaroo by hand, and hiked the oldest rainforest on the planet.

Kris loves engineering because it teaches him to use problem-solving skills to tackle any challenge. After finishing his bachelor's degree, he plans to enter Tech's Peace Corps Master's International program in environmental engineering so he can keep traveling the world... and working to solve some of its most challenging problems.

Marcella Campione

Marcella "Marcie" Campione may have grown up in a suburb of Chicago, but she's always heard the call of the wild.

"My family used to take long vacations in national parks," says Marcie, a fourth-year forestry major at Michigan Tech. "I love the outdoors, and I've always wanted to do something to help the environment."

So she came to Michigan Tech to study forestry, and she's planning to stay on to earn a Master's degree in silviculture, a branch of forestry focusing on the development and care of forests.

For Marcie, Tech turned out to be the ideal place to attend college, particularly to study forestry.

"We're surrounded by forest," she points out. "Field trips are right in our backyard."

She also loves the small-town atmosphere of Houghton and the Michigan Tech campus. "I call my professors by their first names, and I have actual conversations with them," Marcie says. "And the professors care so much; they really try to make sure we succeed."

Amy Palmgren

"Michigan Tech is not your average campus," says Amy Palmgren, a fifth-year double major in computer and electrical engineering. "But that's a good thing."

Tech's superior academics, professional involvement opportunities, great athletic program, and beautiful location add up to a unique academic environment, according to Amy. "So much stuff to do, not enough time to do it—that's my biggest problem!"

It would be tough to find something Amy hasn't been involved with, including the Society of Women Engineers, Michigan Tech's Evening with Industry, the Wireless Communication Enterprise, and more.

She's also a member of the varsity tennis team and spends her spare time cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, biking, camping, and playing volleyball and water polo—just to name a few.

"I actually stretched my studies an extra year so I could fit more in," Amy says. "But the opportunities for personal and professional development are so incredible, I wanted to take advantage of as much as possible."