The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held on Oct. 12, featured 10 speakers from departments across the University. The 3MT celebrates the research of graduate students across the world. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
Six of the students who participated advanced from the preliminary heats to compete in the finals. The winner of the competition, who will advance to the Midwestern Association of Graduate School’s 3MT Competition in April, was Divya Kamath’s (Environmental engineering PhD candidate) presentation on improving water quality with aquesous phase advanced oxidation processes. Muraleekrishnan Menon’s presentation on improving wind turbine rotors using active flow-control devices took second. The audience selected Leigh Miller’s (Civil Engineering PCMI student) presentation on the protection of clean water in Panama as their favorite for the People’s Choice Award.
The event was sponsored by the Graduate Student Government and the Graduate School. Thank you to all of the judges, volunteers and competitors who helped make the event a success.
The students of SIS and SAAM alumni participated in several STEM activities just like their parents did at Tech! Joan Chadde facilitated several Family Engineering activities for the students who ranged in age from 3-17 years. A favorite activity is the “Hot Chocolate Machine where students stack 10-15 cups to let gravity do its thing and mix the milk power and cocoa powder—and Voila! Hot chocolate!
Thirty middle-school students, plus two science teachers, and two chaperones from Brimley Area Schools visited Michigan Tech and the Keweenaw Peninsula from Sept. 28-30, hosted by Ted Bornhorst, executive director, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum and Joan Chadde, Director of the Center for Science & Environmental Outreach. The Brimley Area Schools student population is 54% Native American and 51% low income. Students participated in a half-day of STEM activities on campus with Brian Barkdoll and “Kiko” de Melo e Silva, faculty and research scientist, respectively, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Dr. Sarah Sun in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.
“We were pleased to provide this unique opportunity for the Brimley students that may spark their interest to pursue a STEM degree at Michigan Tech,” explained Bornhorst.
“This was a great group of students,” observed Chadde. “We plan to work with them to make this an annual visit.”
Michael T. Drewyor, PE & PS was recently elected Chairman of the Board of Professional Surveyors in Michigan for the 2016 -2017 year.
For two weeks in August, eleven students (8 CEE, 2 GMES, 1 ME) traveled to Panama as part of the CEE International Senior Design (“iDesign”) program. After a day at the City of Knowledge in Panama City, they divided into three teams and traveled to rural, indigenous communities in the Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle in western Panama. Hosted by Peace Corps Volunteers at these sites, they collected data for their fall semester senior design projects – two water supply systems and a river crossing, respectively. Other trip highlights included visits to the Panama Canal and the Biomuseo (Biodiversity Museum), a rest day at the beach, and a close encounter with a sloth family.
The trip was led by Professor David Watkins and Research Associate Henrique “Kiko” de Melo e Silva. Professor of Practice Mike Drewyor is assisting with mentoring the design teams in the fall term.
Stanley Vitton, an associate professor of civil engineering, was recently selected as a 2016-2017 Henry Krumb Lecturer by the National Society of Mining Engineers (SME).
The Henry Krumb Lecture Series aims to provide local SME sections with prominent mineral professionals to speak on subjects of their expertise and is partially funded by a grant from the Seely W. Mudd Memorial Fund. Lecturers are selected from those who present papers at the Annual Conference & Expo (ACE).
Dr. Vitton’s lecture will be on “High Strain Mechanics and Its Importance in Crushing and Grinding Technology“
Environmental Engineering PhD candidate, Xinyu Ye, was awarded the Best Student Poster Presentation at the 20th Conference on Air-Sea Interaction in Madison held August 15-19, 2016. The conference was hosted by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
’92 Civil Engineering alumnus Lance Malburg was the recipient of the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association’s 2016 Award for Excellence in Hot In-Place Recycling (HIR) category. Malburg is an engineer for the Dickinson County Road Commission. For the full article, visit: http://www.ironmountaindailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/576343/Malburg-receives-award.html