Month: July 2016

Michigan Tech Quoted on Earthquake in Chile

The Guardian Liberty Voice, an online newspaper, published an article about an earthquake that hit the coast of Chile on Monday, quoting Michigan Tech earthquake experts.

From Tech Today.

Earthquake Rocks Coastal Chile

In heavily populated areas, these magnitude earthquakes can cause extensive damage. According to Michigan Tech University, tremblors of a magnitude 6 or higher, occur about 100 times each year, throughout the world.

Read more at the Guardian Liberty Voice, by Bob Reinhard.

Junior Women in Engineering Scholarship Program

Junior Women in Engineering
Junior Women in Engineering

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) Ford Motor Company donated $10,000 to Michigan Tech.

The money is enabling middle school students to take part in the Junior Women in Engineering Scholarship program.

Eighth grade student Emma White from Indiana says she’s been interested in STEM fields for quite sometime.

“I really wanted to try it and see what the different engineering fields were because I didn’t know much about them,” White said.

Read more and watch the video at WLUC-TV6.

Volunteers Needed for KSEF

KSEF

The second annual Keweenaw Science and Engineering Festival (KSEF) is Aug. 3-6, and we need your help to make it another success.

Volunteers are needed for various tasks over several days and all help is appreciated whether it is two hours or three days. Help us in our mission to spark a local interest in STEM by presenting the most compelling, exciting and educational festival in the Upper Peninsula.

Details for each event’s needs are listed below and lunch will be provided for volunteers. Visit us online for a complete schedule of events.

Thursday, August 4

A total of 20 volunteers are needed for Family Engineering Day, 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. The event runs from noon to 3 p.m., at Houghton’s Kestner Waterfront Park and lunch is provided.

Volunteers are asked to contact Joan Chadde at jchadde@mtu.edu if they want to assist (provide: Name, Major, Email, Cell number, and whether you’ve presented before).

Read more at Tech Today, by the Center for Pre-College Outreach.

Science360: To Purify a Virus

Science360

NSF CAREER award winner Caryn Heldt studies technologies used to remove viruses as well as cleaning up vaccines. A Michigan Tech Unscripted story animation on the role of osmolytes in cells is featured in Science360. The Unscripted article, To Purify a Virus, features an interview with Heldt by story author Allison Mills and a captured live Twitter chat via Storify.

Learn more about Heldt’s research in Caryn Heldt Receives CAREER Award for Her Virus Removal Work, Michigan Tech News, by Allison Mills.

Lake Superior Day 2016

Lake Superior Day
Lake Superior Day in Copper Harbor

Celebrate the beauty and bounty of Lake Superior from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 24, 2016. Copper Harbor community volunteers, along with the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, are organizing the fourth annual Lake Superior Day Festival with lots of special activities at the 6th Street Dock along the Copper Harbor Boardwalk (near Isle Royale Queen boat dock).

The Agassiz will depart every 45 minutes from the Isle Royale Queen dock beginning at noon. Space is limited to 17 persons per excursion. Participants must be at least seven years old and children must be accompanied by an adult. All participants should wear closed-toe shoes. Interested participants may pre-register by calling 7-3341 or email Lloyd Wescoat at lwescoat@mtu.edu. Space will be available for on-site participants. For more information about the event contact lead organizer, Don Kilpela, Captain of the Isle Royale Queen, at 289-4735.

Read more at Tech Today, by Lloyd Wescoat.

Michigan Tech Wins Awards for Diversity Efforts in Engineering Education

wepan-logoMichigan Tech’s efforts to increase the numbers and diversity of women in engineering have been recognized by Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), a national network of women engineers, engineering educators, universities, corporations and non-profits who are working together to develop a diverse and innovative engineering workforce.

Michigan Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics received the WEPAN President’s Award for what the organization described as “outstanding accomplishments” in the National Science Foundation-funded engineering diversity initiative, TECAID (Transforming Engineering Culture to Advance Inclusion and Diversity).

In addition, WEPAN recognized the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), which won the WEPAN Strategic Partner Award. ASEE was honored for its “Year of Action on Diversity,” a project conceived and designed by the ASEE Diversity Committee, led by Adrienne Minerick and Teri Reed. Minerick is associate dean for research and innovation in the College of Engineering and a professor of chemical engineering at Michigan Tech. Reed is assistant vice president for research at the University of Cincinnati.

“These awards are a testament to the dedication, heart and trailblazing work our faculty and staff are doing to increase knowledge and awareness of the value of diversity and to cultivate environments that are inclusive of all individuals,” said Minerick. “These activities expand and strengthen the perspectives and education of all of our students such that they can engineer to present and future world demands and lead in a complex and changing society.”

President Glenn Mroz called the awards “a real honor for Mechanical Engineering and the entire university. We’ve been clear that it’s the responsibility of everyone at Michigan Tech to serve all students, regardless of gender or race, to have an impact on our world. This national recognition serves as evidence that people are taking that seriously, and it’s being noticed at the highest levels of our professions. The leadership that this team of people has shown is truly inspiring.”

Design a Sustainable Future Teacher Institute

Desiging a Sustainable FutureA total of eight elementary, middle and high school teachers from the UP, across Michigan and even one from Puerto Rico, are in Houghton this week to attend a five-day teacher institute on designing a sustainable future.

Topics range from building design, energy sources, transportation, vehicle design, food systems, product lifecycle and forest biomaterials.

Presenters include Michigan Tech faculty, community experts and educators. Teachers are participating in many hands-on activities including field trips to the Keweenaw Research Center, Low-impact development lab, sustainable buildings, examination of renewable energy systems including solar, wind and low-head Hydro and a community-supported agriculture farm near Greenland.

The Program is funded with a grant from Michigan Tech Sustainable Futures Institute and coordinated by the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach at the Great Lakes Research Center.

For more information, contact Joan Chadde at 369-1121 or by email. 

From Tech Today, by Joan Chadde.

Carnegie Museum to Host Guided Tours

Hockey ArenaFour Michigan Tech Professors will act as guides during three upcoming guided tours highlighting the history of the Keweenaw.

The tours are sponsored by Houghton’s Carnegie Museum, and begin with a wine and cheese social at the museum at 5 p.m. Following the social, participants will board the Red Jacket Trolley Company’s bus for a two-hour trip through time.

The first guided tour “Torch Lake Mining Waste,” is tomorrow (July 13). Geologists Bill Rose (GMES) and Erika Vye are the guides through a tour along the industrial corridor associated with milling of Quincy and Calumet mines along Torch Lake’s western shore. The tour takes a look at areas from Mason to Tamarack City, Hubbell and Lake Linden, viewing mill sites and stampsand areas while discussing the modern implications and environmental mitigation efforts.

Upcoming tours will explore “Trials and Trails of Huron Creek,” with Alex Mayer (CEE) and Carol MacLennan (SS), Wednesday Aug. 3 and “Hockey Arenas of the Copper Country,” with Bill Sproule (CEE), Thursday Sept. 8.

All tours begin with the social at 5 p.m. with the tours to follow at 5:30 p.m. and are expected to last two hours. The cost is $25 ($20 for museum members). Reservations are recommended and your seat is not guaranteed until payment is made.

Check out the museum’s Facebook page.

From Tech Today.