Contact: Jeff Lewin, (906) 487-3435
The twenty-third annual Department of Biological Sciences Bioathlon for high school biology students was held on Wednesday, May 2, at Michigan Technological University. Simultaneously, a workshop was held for the accompanying biology teachers.
The Bioathlon serves as a means to stimulate interest and problem-solving in biology among our area youth. Teams from 16 Upper Peninsula Michigan high schools participated. The three top scores go to these schools.
Please join me in congratulating our Biological Sciences majors (13) and one Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major who were recently honored on the Dean’s list. It is gratifying to have almost one-half of the Dean’s List represented from Biological Sciences. Everyone in the Department, including Staff, Faculty, Grad and Undergraduate Students, should be proud of this accomplishment.
K.M. Gibson, PhD, FACMG
Professor and Chair
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Robert Richard, a student in biological sciences, was teaching the class as part of a project for his botany class at Michigan Tech and the timing couldn’t have been more appropriate with students celebrating Earth Day/Week activities. The chosen topic was permaculture – ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor.
Biological Sciences was well presented in recent research forums, presentation sessions and poster sessions.
Ecosystem Science Center and Biotechnology Research Center
At the eighth annual Ecosystem Science Center and Biotechnology Research Center ESC/BRC Student Research Forum, held March 30, for the graduate students, four Grand Prize Awards and six Merit Awards were presented. They were selected from among 59 posters and abstracts submitted by graduate students conducting research related to ecology, the environment and biotechnology. Each center also awarded a Grand Prize to an undergraduate researcher in a separate division of 17 undergraduate submissions. Posters will be on display in the atrium of the Forestry building through Friday, April 13 See the complete article
Genetics work by Associate Professor Casey Huckins has been featured by the International Association of Great Lakes Research. It suggests that some individuals in the stream-dwelling trout population of the Salmon Trout River may be hybrids of brook trout and the migratory coaster brook trout. See Trout.
About 250,000 children in the United States have high levels of lead in their systems, say the Centers for Disease Control. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.
Michigan Tech celebrated World Water Day on Thursday, March 22, with a poster session, a guest lecture and a reception.
Lana Pollack, U.S. delegate of the International Joint Commission delivered the World Water Day Lecture: “Critical Issues for the Great Lakes.” The program is Co-sponsored by CWS and the Visiting Women & Minority Lecture Series. Lana Pollack, chair of the US Section of the International Joint Commission, discussed threats to the health of the Great Lakes and how research data-based policy-making can protect these unique natural resources. The International Joint Commission is an independent, binational organization that works to prevent and resolve boundary waters disputes for the common good of the US and Canada. Lana Pollack – bio
by James D. Spain (Written Spring 2012)
In 1969, while we were picking out the equipment for our new Chemistry-Biological Science building, one of the items that we chose was an Olivetti Programma-101. This was a programmable calculator that could be used for carrying out repetitive calculations, statistical analysis, and data analysis in general. We had little difficulty agreeing that it was something the department needed, as all recognized that this was the direction of the future. When it arrived, perhaps a year before we went into the new building, it was moved into Spain’s office to enable him to learn how to use it. It turned out to be a large, heavy piece of equipment, at least twice as big as an IBM typewriter. It could be programmed by typing in a series of two-character commands, such as A^, B+ and C<. These commands caused numbers to be moved from storage “registers” (B, C, D or E) to the accumulator (A), where one would carry out some numerical operation based on the contents of some other register, then exchange the result with what was in one of the other registers. The memory would hold 32 such commands. These commands and the contents of the registers could be stored on an 8×2-inch card with magnetic backing. The output consisted of a paper tape printout, which could list the program, print input, or data output. Since it behaved somewhat like a computer, it was called a “microcomputer”. It also might have been called a desktop computer, however that term was not prevalent at the time.
by James D. Spain (Written Spring 2012)
In 1968, the department began a study of Lake Superior and the Keweenaw Waterway, as it was felt that Michigan Tech had great potential in this area, being located very near to the geographical center of the big lake. Despite this fact, little significant research in either biology or chemistry of this great resource had been done at Michigan Tech. Otherwise, Lake Superior research was being carried on at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD), and to a small extent by the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin. So, it was obvious that great potential existed in a very interesting area for research.
by Jack C. Holland
Written in Winter 2011-12
Clinical Laboratory science began to develop in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the work was done by pathologists or physicians in private office practice. Eventually the office nurse would find this to be part of her duties. In the 1930s the degree of Medical Technology was instituted to separate the analytical needs of the profession from the hands on nursing. World War II had a profound effect the whole medical field; money was made available for better medical instrumentation and all medical training was expanded. At the end of the war in 1946 hospitals were developing large, well equipped pathology laboratories and the new wartime doctors were trained to use them. The new degree in Medical Technology was appealing to both men and women who found it satisfying to help people with scientific analysis rather than the hands on work done by other medical professionals.