Scientists and engineers—including several at Michigan Technological University—have been talking for years about biofuel, particularly cellulosic ethanol, which is fuel made from trees and other woody plants. The stumbling blocks have been huge and progress, slow. But the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuels Standard mandates that cellulosic ethanol be blended into gasoline for use in vehicles, so the need is immediate.
The Michigan Tech Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APS LABS) hosted an open house and tours of their new facilities along with the Michigan Tech First Friday Social for October 2014.
Laboratory tours and presentations were given by faculty, staff and graduate student researchers.
The guests saw research, outreach and educational initiatives in mobility, sustainable transportation, and energy.
It’s one of the world’s biggest killers, leading to lung cancer, heart disease, and COPD, not to mention child pneumonia and low birth-weight babies. It affects billions of people. And if you think it’s tobacco, you are wrong, but understandably so. The smoke from wood-fired cook stoves in the developing world is a best-kept secret in the pantheon of unhealthy things we humans inflict upon ourselves. The solution is not simply a matter of telling women (for it is mostly women who cook) to find some other way to prepare the family meal. Alternatives to gathering your own wood are typically too expensive or simply nonexistent for subsistence farmers. However, that may soon change in the West African nation of Benin, thanks to a partnership between students at Michigan Technological University and the French firm AFI.
MORE
ASISC members pool resources to address a diverse spectrum of interdisciplinary research questions. During the meeting they share their work and experiences to further the development of a new generation of sustainable, economical mineral processing technologies.
MORE
August and Elizabeth Skultety won’t be the only ones in their family wearing caps and gowns at Michigan Technological University’s 2014 Spring Commencement Saturday. Their 3-year-old daughter, Charlotte, will be right there with them in a miniature cap and gown in honor of her parents’ graduation from Michigan Tech.
“All of college has been a family experience for us,” said Elizabeth, who is receiving her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, “so it feels like she is graduating too. She has put up with all of our studying and other commitments.”
MORE
The Annual Chemical Engineering Department Awards Convocation was held in the Memorial Union Ballroom on April 11, 2014. This is an opportunity to thank the faculty, staff and students for their hard work and dedication.
The department recognized the support of Mrs. Karen Hubbard, Kimberly-Clark, Dow Chemical, Dow Corning and UOP for their donations and services, which made this year’s Awards Convocation possible.
The guest speaker was Mr. James Graham, 1970 Graduate of Michigan Tech. He is the founder of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consulting, LLC.
The Department of Chemical Engineering conducted its first Order of the Engineer Ring Ceremony on Thursday, April 17. Fifty-four students and faculty were inducted and took a solemn obligation to themselves to “uphold devotion to the standards and dignity of the engineering profession.” The inductees were presented with a stainless steel ring worn on the fifth finger of the working hand to remind themselves of this obligation. KRC Director Jay Meldrum was the keynote speaker and talked about examples of unethical decisions or acts he observed during different stages of his career and the decisions he made.
Professor Faith Morrison serves on the board of American Institute of Physics as representative of the The Society of Rheology. The Institute was created to promote the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare. For example, the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) jointly-sponsor a STEM Education Policy Fellowship that will fund scientists and educators for up to two years, sending them to the U.S. Department of Education where they will work intensively on education policy and programs related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The AIP Executive Board is meeting this week.
standing are Charles Carter, Kate Kirby, Rudolf Ludeke, Eva Adams, Michael D. Duncan, Louis J. Lanzerotti, Kevin B. Marvel, Beth Cunningham, Judith Flippen-Anderson, H. Frederick Dylla and sitting on the arm of the chair J. Daniel Bourland
Students from the Michigan Tech National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) visited seven middle and high schools in Detroit over their Spring Break, March 11-14, 2014, to promote college and engineering to K-12 students. In the evenings, they conducted Family Engineering Night events at three K-8 schools. NSBE’s Alternative Spring Break is conducted in collaboration with the Detroit Public Schools Office of Science and the Detroit Math & Science Center, and funded in part, with a grant from John Deere.
WXYZ Channel 7 news in Detroit aired a feature story about an interview with Michigan Tech NSBE student chapter members in Detroit, working to motivate middle and high school students in Detroit schools to see college in their futures and to study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Read More about Michigan Tech Students Head to Detroit for Alternative Spring Break
William (Bill) M. Colton, Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning at Exxon Mobil, gave two presentations at Michigan Tech. Mr. Colton was born in Massachusetts and received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1975.