Month: March 2014

Halvorsen on Downstream Community Study

DownstreamPayments to Upstream Landowners to Protect Water Downstream: How Well is that Working

Two researchers from Michigan Technological University have joined with natural and social scientists from three other universities and the US Forest Service to study the impact of Mexico’s water payment program.

“Our findings will help governments, non-governmental organizations, the World Bank and others who might promote programs like these to design their programs to be as effective as possible,” said Alex Mayer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech and co-principal investigator (PI) on Tech’s part of the research.

The project is highly interdisciplinary, Mayer added. That’s why his co-PI is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech.

“We want to know what the landowners and the communities downstream from them know about watersheds and pollution,” Halvorsen explained.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

Stathi Pappas and Steam Locomotive Heritage

Steam Locomotive For the Love of Steam

In March 2009, Michigan Technological University industrial archaeology alumnus Stathi Pappas purchased the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company No. 2 Engine and began restoring it in his Mineral, Wash.,, shop.

As true living history, he says, they run them like they ran them, break them like they broke them, fix them like they fixed them, and repeat.

“From an anthropological standpoint, we want to understand that subculture and act accordingly,” Pappas says. “It’s a social movement as well as a professional rebuild.”

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Dennis Walikainen.