NMC Secures New Six-Figure Maritime Grant, Hires Osterlin Architect

A new lease on life for Northwestern Michigan College’s marine technology program: that’s the significance of a new six-figure grant the college received from the state earlier this week, according to Great Lakes Water Studies Institute Director John Lutchko. The grant, which totals $630,876 and ties into the state’s first-of-its-kind Michigan Maritime Strategy, will allow NMC to replace aging engines on one of its core research vessels and purchase a type of equipment it has previously had to borrow from industry partners. The grant was just one part of a big week for NMC, which also included the hiring of an architect for the college's new student services hub and approval of a plan to expand the WNMC radio station.

Developed earlier this year, the Michigan Maritime Strategy calls for the state to “lead the nation in sustainable, innovative, equitable, and collaborative maritime solutions.” This week, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced $3 million in grants to Michigan community colleges to help push that agenda forward. NMC was one of five colleges to get a grant.

NMC will spend the money on its marine technology program, which prepares students for a range of blue economy jobs, from lake mapping to environmental protection.

“Our people, when they get out and are working on the Great Lakes, they're supporting the maritime industry, but not in the traditional ways; they're not working on freighters,” Lutchko says of the program. “We're the people that come in and map navigation channels. We monitor infrastructure and ports and harbors and marinas. If a vessel needs to know whether there's enough water underneath for it to move past that point, that's where we come in with our technology.”

Part of the college’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, the bachelor’s of science in marine technology is one of NMC’s most in-demand programs, boasting a 100-percent employment rate in the marine industry. Despite its revered status, Lutchko says the program has been hamstrung in recent years by some technical shortcomings.

Chiefly, NMC’s marine technology research vessel – the Northwestern – is 57 years old and still running on its original engines. The grant will pay for new engines and “a complete repower” of the vessel, including a new generator and on-board electrical system.

“I've been very cognizant in the past few years that we probably needed to start being proactive and not wait for total failure of that boat,” Lutchko says “The structure is great: it's an aluminum hull, so in fresh water, it will literally last forever. But when you have 57-year-old engines, you maybe stay a little closer to home. You don't go quite as far, and you don't go quite as fast. These new engines are going to make me feel a little less nervous about what we do. Let’s go map an area we've never been able to get to before, because we haven't been able to go that far from shore.”

The old diesel engines on the Northwestern are also “very smoky, especially when it’s cold,” Lutchko adds. The replacements will allow for a “much cleaner, more efficient system, with way better fuel economy.”

The rest of the grant will be used to purchase a multibeam sonar system. That type of mapping equipment, despite its importance to the marine technology curriculum, is not something NMC has ever owned in-house. Instead, the college has had to borrow systems from industry partners, leading to piecemeal training schedules and inconsistent learning experiences.

“Having our own system in-house, now we don't have to say, ‘OK, this is the only week that we can do this training because this is the only week that we have this system,’” Lutchko explains. “It also means students have a system they can use, build projects around, and really learn from the ground up and take some ownership of it.”

With the field season wrapping up for the Water Studies Institute, the Northwestern will soon head to a shipyard in Grand Haven for its makeover. Around the same time, Lutchko will also kick off the bidding process to find and purchase a multibeam sonar system.

“The goal is that the boat will be completed and we’ll have the new sonar system in-house and ready to go by next field season, which starts in early May 2027,” Lutchko says.

In other NMC news

Also this week, NMC trustees voted to move forward with two other major projects: a long-discussed reimagining of the Osterlin Building and a signal expansion for the WNMC radio station.

>Osterlin: After trying for years to get capital outlay dollars from the state to transform the Mark & Helen Osterlin Building into an integrated student services hub, NMC trustees voted in August to establish a $13.5 million to pay for the project in-house. Most of that money comes from the $27 million divestment of the Boardman Lake Campus, which NMC sold to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians earlier this year.

This week, trustees took another step forward on the Osterlin project, entering into a contract with Cornerstone Architects to design the remodel. Cornerstone, which has offices in both Traverse City and Grand Rapids, has designed a slew of other local projects, including NMC’s Great Lakes Campus and West Hall Innovation Center. Cornerstone was one of 17 companies to submit bids for the project, and one of five that NMC interviewed.

The contract with Cornerstone is “not to exceed $662,110, which includes base fees of $575,000, a 10% budget contingency of $57,500, FFE coordination of $14,500, and estimated reimbursables of $15,110.”

>WNMC: Also this week, NMC trustees authorized the college’s radio station, WNMC, to apply for a signal expansion with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The station currently has a 600-watt broadcast license, and is seeking a new license “for a translator attached to that 600-watt license.”

“The FCC is opening up a rare window licensing opportunity for signal expansion in November 2026,” Station Manager Eric Hines wrote in a memo to the board. “We have done preliminary research for a site west of Omena as a possible second signal.” That second signal “would gain WNMC listeners from Leland, Northport and surrounding areas, as well as a lot of areas with lesser coverage near Suttons Bay,” plus “some spillover in the Western Torch lake area to the north of that area along the southwest lakeshore of Charlevoix.”

If approved, Hines wrote, the expansion would cost “less than $15,000,” with WNMC planning to “aggressively raise capital funds” with the help of the NMC Foundation.