Social Sciences Newsblog

Category: News

Department Employment Opportunities

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Positions currently available in the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Tech:

Assistant Professor of Environmental/Energy Justice – Tenure Track  –    The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for an Assistant Professor to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty. We seek a scholar specializing in environmental and/or energy justice. Candidates with strengths in policy analysis and/or spatial methodologies are especially encouraged to apply.   Assistant Professor Environment_Energy Justic

Post Doctoral Position in Bioenergy Development and Sustainability  –   The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for a one-and-a-half year Post–Doctoral Fellowship, beginning on or about January 1, 2017, focused on the socioecological impacts of sustainable bioenergy development across the Americas.  MTU PIRE SE Post-Doc

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Lafreniere Co-PI on Grant Tracing Early French Canadian Migration and Settlement Patterns

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ljdrc6Don Lafreniere (SS/GLRC) is Co-Pi on a partnership development grant that has received $197,500 from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project, “Nouveaux regards sur l’occupation du continent nord-am-ricain par la population canadienne-fran-aise 1760-1914,” is tracing the migration and settlement patterns of French-Canadians from Quebec across the North American continent, including the establishment of communities in the Upper Peninsula. This is a two-year project.

From Tech Today.

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On the Road

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Keweenaw Time TravelerDon Lafreniere and John Arnold, along with two Copper Country high school students, recently presented a paper at the 22nd Annual Michigan Communities GIS conference held in Boyne Falls, Michigan Sept. 6-8. The presentation highlighted the work of eleven local high school students who partnered with Michigan Tech’s Historical Environments Spatial Analytics Lab and the Keweenaw National Historical Park in their work building GIS datasets, webmap-based National Park visitor guides and learning mobile GIS data collection and analysis in conjunction with the Keweenaw Time Traveler project.

From Tech Today.

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Schelly Co-PI on the Project “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation”

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Chelsea Schelly
Chelsea Schelly

Dave Watkins is the principal investigator on a research and development project that has received a $1,477,068 grant from the National Science Foundation. Buyung Agusdinata, Chelsea Schelly, Rachael Shwom and Jenni-Louise Evans are co-PIs on the project, “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation.”

This project starts on Oct. 1 and is scheduled to finish in 2021.

From Tech Today.

 

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Vaidya Published on the Sustainability of Woody Biomass

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vaidya
Ashma Vaidya

Ashma Vaidya, who graduated in summer 2016 with a PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy, has published three papers on the sustainability of woody biomass in the UP for bioenergy:

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. 2014. Use of the participatory approach to develop sustainability assessments for natural resource management. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 21(4):369-379.

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. 2016. Use of multiple criteria analysis to develop a regional assessment tool for bioenergy production. Biomass and Bioenergy 94:1-11.

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. In press. Criteria and indicators for a bioenergy production industry via stakeholder participation. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. DOI:10.1080/13504509.2015.1135830

Contact Audrey Mayer for reprints.

From Tech Today.

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Rahman Publishes on the Shipbreaking Industry in Bangladesh

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Mizanur RahmanS.M. Mizan Rahman, who graduated in spring 2016 with a PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy, has published three papers on the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh:

Rahman SMM and AL Mayer. 2015. How social ties influence metal resource flows in the Bangladesh ship recycling industry. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 104(A):254-264.

Rahman SMM, R Handler, AL Mayer. 2016. Life Cycle Assessment of steel in the ship recycling industry in Bangladesh. Journal of Cleaner Production 135:963-971.

Rahman SMM and AL Mayer. 2016. Policy compliance recommendations for international shipbreaking treaties for Bangladesh. Marine Policy 73:122-129.

Contact Audrey Mayer for reprints.

From Tech Today.

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Local High School Students Learn Historical GIS with the Keweenaw Time Traveler Team

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TimetravelerCareers that incorporate geospatial technologies are among the fastest-growing nationwide. That’s why Michigan Tech and Eastern Michigan University have teamed up on the NSF-funded GRACE Project to introduce high school students to GIS techniques and tools that can be used to tackle community issues.

This summer, eleven students from CLK and Houghton high schools are working as paid interns with researchers in the Department of Social Sciences and the Great Lakes Research Center to help build the Keweenaw Time Traveler, an NEH-funded project directed by Assistant Professor Don Lafreniere (SS). This innovative online historical atlas will allow users to pinpoint data about changes in the built, social, and natural environments of the Copper Country. The students have joined our team of “Time Travelers,” which includes graduate students in the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology program as well as undergraduates from departments across Michigan Tech. Together, they are learning to use GIS to identify, digitize, and follow changes in thousands of buildings and features from 1888-1950.

Timetraveler2

During the six week program, students are exploring the many exciting opportunities provided by mobile geospatial technologies by participating in interactive hands-on field trips, including an afternoon in Lake Linden with Carol MacLennan (SS) exploring the vast milling and processing systems that once studded the western shore of Torch Lake, a related trip on the Agassiz Research Vessel learning about the changing shoreline and water quality, and a day conducting active data collection with mobile tablets and GPS in Calumet to capture the students’ perspectives on how to improve non-motorized transportation in conjunction with the Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Complete Streets initiative. The student interns, who are paid through the GRACE project, will present their work in a final celebration on August 11th in GLRC 2020.  Details forthcoming.  The Keweenaw Time Traveler is co-directed by Sarah Fayen Scarlett (SS) and John Arnold (SS)

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