Month: May 2013

Tech Students, Local Conservancy Group Team Up on Seven Mile Point Project

The Keweenaw Peninsula features geology that can be measured in billions of years. A project spanning four months isn’t even a blink of an eye. This project, a collaboration between students and faculty at Michigan Tech and the North Woods Conservancy (NWC), a local land preservation group, set out to help maintain a small piece of nature for future generations.The service-learning project gave students experience solving real-world problems while meeting a local environmental organization’s needs. Along the way, over those four months, they also learned that nature has a very big say in what we do and when we do it.
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Students, Teachers Gather at Tech to Learn about Lake Superior


More than 200 teachers and students from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario came to Michigan Technological University for the 10th Biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium. Students and teachers from 24 schools in three Great Lakes states and Canada spent four days at the symposium, Thursday to Sunday, May 16-19, 2013.
Read more in Michigan tech News Article

Click here for photos and all of the information, booklet list of Field Trip and Presentation Descriptions, etc.

Pennington Named Interim Dean of Engineering

Wayne Pennington, chair of the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, has been named interim dean of the College of Engineering, effective May 13. His appointment is expected to end June 30, 2014, or until the search for the next dean is concluded and the dean appointed.

Pennington has been a professor of geophysical engineering at Michigan Tech since 1994 and became GMES department chair in 2003. Prior to coming to the University, he worked with Marathon Oil and was an assistant professor at University of Texas at Austin.

He has held numerous other positions during his career, most recently as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the US Department of State and USAID (Agency for International Development) and as president of the American Geosciences Institute. He was president of the American Geophysical Union Board of Heads and Chairs of earth and space science departments and was first vice president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

During his appointment as a Jefferson Science Fellow, he worked in the Office of Infrastructure and Engineering within the Bureau of Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. After USAID’s Office of Science and Technology was created in 2010, he shared his appointment in that office.

Pennington received degrees in geophysics and geology from Princeton University (BA), Cornell University (MS) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD).

“I am pleased to have Wayne serving in this position,” said Provost Max Seel. “He has the strong support of the engineering department chairs to lead the College and move forward with the strategic plan.”

Skin Patch Warns When It’s Time to Get Out of the Sun

The news story “Student Engineers’ Skin Patch Warns When It’s Time to Get Out of the Sun” has received more than 104,000 views and numerous comments since it was posted April 30. Many people are asking when it will come on the market and be availablke in stores. The surge in views began after the story appeared on Reddit, an internet site where registered users share content.

Here is Expo on-the-spot interview video clip about Skin Patch Warns When It’s Time to Get Out of the Sun

What’s A Michigan Tech Education Worth?

What’s a university education worth? That’s a question often asked by students, parents and legislators.

According to 2013 rankings recently released by PayScale, Michigan Technological University’s graduates rank 18th in the nation among 437 public universities in the return on investment (ROI) from their degrees. PayScale compares the cost of a college education to the salaries earned by graduates.

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Alumni Gifts Fund Two Major Learning Initiatives at Michigan Tech

Michigan Technological University is launching two major initiatives aimed at improving student success and providing faculty with new tools for enhancing student learning.

Both efforts are made possible through generous gifts from alumni. An $876,000 bequest from the estate of Waino Wahtera, who earned a BS in Chemistry from Michigan Tech in 1942, will fund the Wahtera Center for Student Success. The William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning is supported by an outright gift of $1 million. The president of CableAmerica, William G. Jackson graduated from Michigan Tech in 1958 with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
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