Author: College of Engineering

Sue Hill is the Digital Content Manager for the College of Engineering.

Rail Transportation Program Offers Tracks to the Future During Summer Youth Program

Students working at a bench under supervision in a classroom.
Photo – Peter LaMantia, Michigan Technological University

Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program was mentioned by Progressive Railroading in a story about the Federal Railroad Administration-sponsored Tracks to the Future rail transportation and engineering summer youth program. The weeklong summer sessions, which began at Michigan Tech, have expanded to five other universities across the U.S.

As part of the Summer Youth Program at Michigan Tech, the Pathways Programs offer deep dives into particular fields of interest.

Tracks to the Future: Railroad Transportation & Engineering

For: All students grades 8-11

Dates: June 18-23, 2023 (Hybrid Program)

Railroads, the high tech and environmentally sensitive transportation mode! Don’t believe us? Come and learn why railroads remain the most energy-efficient transportation mode and what forms modern railroad track, equipment, and communications/control systems might take.

There will be six host sites this year: Michigan Tech University; Penn State University; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of South Carolina; University of New Mexico; and Fresno State University.

Read more and apply at Pathways Progams.

Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Research Showcased in Washington, DC

Several of Michigan Tech’s ongoing rail transportation research projects were highlighted in Washington, DC, in early January, either as part of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, or as separate workshops and demonstrations.

Thomas Oommen (GMES) presented in a TRB workshop titled “International Perspectives on Strategies to Reduce Track-Caused Derailments,” and in a Track Support and Substructure Research Review organized by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences PhD student Tauseef Ibne Mamun (applied cognitive science and human factors) presented our early work, titled “Multi-Site Simulation to Examine Driver Behavior Impact of Integrated Rail Crossing Violation Warning and In-Vehicle Auditory/Visual Alert System,” to the TRB AR080 Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Committee.

Richard Dobson (MTRI) gave an update on the Crossing-i drone technology development for improving grade crossing safety.

Pasi Lautala and John Velat (CEGE/MTTI), in collaboration with Battelle, hosted a booth in the TRB Exhibition and organized a daylong event outside the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters to demonstrate the rail crossing violation warning (RCVW) technology.

For an RCVW technology introduction, visit our Rail Transportation Program website.

By Pasi Lautala, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering.

Sustainability Film Series Spring 2023

Films shown on the third Thursday of each month.

Location

G002 Hesterberg Hall, U. J. Noblet Forestry Building

Schedule

Hometown Habitat (2016) January 19

Come watch Catherine Zimmerman’s journey traveling around the U.S. visiting hometown habitat heroes and filming their stories of community commitment to conservation landscaping. (90 min.) Facilitated discussion led by Catherine Zimmerman and Marcia Goodrich.


Sacred Cow (2020) February 16

“The case for (better) meat.” Sacred Cow probes the fundamental moral, environmental and nutritional quandaries we face in raising and eating animals, with a lens focused on the cow. (80 min.) Facilitated by Alan Turnquist, Director of Sustainability and Resilience at MTU.


Dark Waters (2019) March 16

This drama/thriller film follows the story of a corporate defense attorney who takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company, exposing a lengthy history of pollution. (120 min.) Facilitated by MTU PhD student, Rose Turner.


The Plastic Problem (2019) April 20

“By 2050 the oceans will hold more plastic than fish.” PBS NewsHour takes a closer look at this now ubiquitous material, how it’s impacting the world and ways we can break our plastic addiction. (54 min.) Facilitated discussion by Dave Shonnard and Brianna Tucker, owner of sustainable refillery Refill the UP.


Gather (2020) May 18

Native Americans on the front lines of a growing movement reconnect with spiritual and cultural identities that were devastated by genocide. (75 min.) Facilitated by Sierra Ayres, Walking the Path Together Program Coordinator, NMU, and Rachael Pressley, Regional Planner for the Western U.P. Planning & Development Region. (This will take place in 144 Noblet.)


Cost

FREE. $5 suggested donation per film to support the Sustainability Film Series is appreciated. Make donation online or in-person at the film showing

Cosponsored By

Michigan Tech Office of Sustainability and Resilience, Keweenaw Land Trust, Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Friends of the Land of Keweenaw, MTU College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, MTU Department of Social Sciences Sustainability Science Program, MTU Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, Sustainability Demonstration House, MI Tech Great Lakes Research Center, Students for Sustainability, and Refill UP.

Kuilin Zhang, Yintong Tan Receive Gartner Prize

Sequence of vehicle illustrations showing connected communication. Follow the article for more context.
The communication topology for the distributed cooperative adaptive cruise control model. See Transportation Research Record article.

Associate Professor Kuilin Zhang (CEGE/CS) and PhD student Yintong Tan (civil engineering) were presented with the 2022 Gartner Prize by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) ACP50 Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics Committee.

The award recognizes theoretical papers with significant methodological contributions.

Zhang and Tan received the Gartner Prize for a paper titled “A Real-Time Distributed Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Model Considering Time Delays and Actuator Log.”

The paper was supported by Zhang’s NSF Career Award on connected and automated vehicles.

Related

Pengfei Xue on Great Lakes’ Hydroclimate Projections

Satellite view of the Great Lakes by NOAA.
SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE

Urban Milwaukee and Wisconsin Public Radio mentioned a Michigan Tech study in stories about advice from a panel of scientists that Great Lakes communities prepare for swings in high and low water levels in the face of climate change.

The study, led by Pengfei Xue (CEGE/GLRC), projected Lake Superior to rise 7.5 inches and the Lake Michigan-Huron system to rise 17 inches by 2050 due to climate change. From the study:

Climate modeler Pengfei Xue, of Michigan Technological University, and his team for the first time combined a high-resolution regional climate model and a 3D hydrodynamic model, along with hydrologic models to hone projections for lake-level rise.

“What we have built is a system that gives a better representation of the complexity of hydrodynamics and lake-atmosphere interaction and contributes to a more advanced modeling framework necessary for improving the Great Lakes’ hydroclimate projections. This is particularly evident through the markedly improved simulation of lake evaporation.”

Pengfei Xue, associate director of the Great Lakes Research Center and associate professor in Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Read “Great Lakes levels are likely to see continued rise in next three decades” at Phys.org, by the American Geophysical Union.

Related

GLRC Appoints Pengfei Xue as Associate Director

Effective today (Oct. 10, 2022), Pengfei Xue (CEGE/GLRC) will become the Great Lakes Research Center’s first associate director.

Established in 2013, the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) has grown to include more than 100 affiliated faculty and research staff, achieving $9.2 million in new research awards and $7.1 million in research expenditures in fiscal year 2022. The GLRC’s portfolio includes core research in the areas of Great Lakes science and system processes, sustainability and marine technology adaptation.

Xue, an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE), will lead the GLRC’s Hydrodynamics, Climate, and Environment Research Team, and contribute to the center’s long-term strategy development.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to support Dr. Xue’s appointment as associate director,” stated Tim Havens, director of the GLRC. “His leading hydrodynamic modeling research has been a shining example of the high-quality research going on at the GLRC, and his commitment to the strategic growth of the GLRC is evident in his mentoring of new scientists and engineers in his group. I’m thrilled to welcome him to the GLRC executive team.”

“I am proud of Pengfei’s success and the impact his research has had. He is an expert in the development of numerical models and computer simulations for the Great Lakes, as well as environmental risk analysis, seasonal forecasting and regional climate change, ” said Audra Morse, CEGE department chair. “More importantly, the appointment acknowledges the impact Pengfei has had on his colleagues and the work he will continue in an effort to support his colleagues’ growth as scholars.”

By the Great Lakes Research Center.

Amlan Mukherjee Appointed to GSA Committee

Amlan Mukherjee
Amlan Mukherjee

Congratulations to Amlan Mukherjee (CEGE) on his appointment to the prestigious U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Acquisition Policy Federal Advisory Committee.

Mukherjee is currently the Green Building Initiative (GBI) chair-elect. According to GBI’s press release, in his role on the committee, Mukherjee will assist in providing expertise and counsel to the GSA as they seek innovative solutions to acquisition policy and ways to address the highest-priority federal acquisition challenges.

“We at GBI are thrilled that the GSA will get a chance to know the incredible level of expertise, experience, and commitment to sustainability and climate improvement that Amlan brings to every role,” said Vicki Worden, president and CEO of GBI. “His work and support for GBI has been invaluable, and we know GSA will significantly benefit from his input.”

By Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering.

Emily Shaw Named 2023 Knauss Marine Policy Fellow

Emily Shaw
Emily Shaw

Michigan Sea Grant has announced that PhD in Environmental Engineering candidate Emily Shaw has been named a finalist for the 2023 Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. She will officially become a fellow after receiving her host office placement this fall.

The Knauss program matches graduate students and recent graduates with host agencies in Washington, D.C., such as congressional offices, the National Marine Fisheries Service, or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For one year, fellows work on a range of policy and management projects related to ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. Fellows can be placed in the federal legislative or executive branches.

Shaw is currently finishing her doctoral program through the Great Lakes Research Center. Her dissertation focuses on toxins that affect fish populations and the humans that interact with them.

Read more in the Michigan Sea Grant press release.

Michigan Tech Team Recognized for Runway Safety Project

Interior view of a plane cockpit looking out onto the runway.
AlphaJet PAF Cockpit View

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine mentioned Michigan Tech in a press release announcing the winners of the 2021-2022 TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs.

A four-member team from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Technological University placed third in the Runway Safety/Runway Incursions/Runway Excursions Including Aprons, Ramps, and Taxiways category with its design titled, Thermal Detection System for Mitigating Runway Incursions at Non-Towered Airports.

The team included undergraduate students Clark Fadoir, Mary Ollis, Greg Porcaro, and Drew Vega.

Dr. Audra Morse served as faculty advisor to the Built World Enterprise at Michigan Tech.

The team describes the process for developing their hypothesis:

The team utilized Design Thinking to develop an effective solution. First, the team communicated and empathized with aviation professionals to learn challenges and concerns they are experiencing. Next, the team used the feedback from professionals to define the problem of runway incursions at non-towered airports. The team then created two prototypes to decrease runway incursions and used a decision matrix to evaluate and eventually choose the most effective solution. The design was then sent out to professionals to provide feedback and suggestions.

Clark Fadoir, Mary Ollis, Greg Porcaro, Drew Vega

Pengfei Xue Uses Simulation to Predict Lake Levels

Pengfei Xue
Pengfei Xue

Pengfei Xue (CEGE/GLRC) was quoted in a story published by Bridge Michigan on the expected rise of Great Lakes water levels heading toward 2050.

Xue’s research used advanced climate modeling with a 3D hydrodynamic model to simulate the lakes more accurately.

Great Lakes water levels could increase on average from 7.5 to 17 inches in next few decades, study says

New research into Great Lakes water levels looks farther into the future to predict how much climate change will increase lake levels in four of the five Great Lakes.

Presented at the Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting on Thursday and awaiting publication, the research – led by Michigan Technological University associate professor Pengfei Xue – used advanced climate modeling with a 3D hydrodynamic model to simulate the lakes more accurately. The modeling Xue used is more typically applied to oceans.

Michigan Technological University associate professor Pengfei Xue was the lead researcher on the modeling study looking into climate change impacts on the Great Lakes.

“We were able to develop a coupled modeling system that not only accounts for the interactions between the lakes, atmosphere and surrounding land, but also presented a more realistic and accurate representation of the Great Lakes hydrodynamic processes in climate modeling,” Xue said. “This is a necessary step to ultimately improve the long-term lake level projections.”

Read more at Bridge Michigan, by Natasha Blakely.

Future Rise of the Great Lakes Water Levels under Climate Change

The Great Lakes of North America are the largest unfrozen surface freshwater system in the world and many ecosystems, industries, and coastal processes are sensitive to the changes in their water levels. The water levels of the Great Lakes are primarily governed by the net basin supplies (NBS) of each lake which are the sum of over-lake precipitation and basin runoff minus lake evaporation.

First Author
Pengfei Xue, Michigan Technological University
Authors
Miraj Bhakta Kayastha, Michigan Technological University
Xinyu Ye, Michigan Technological University
Chenfu Huang, Michigan Technological University

Read more at Frontiers in Hydrology, by Penfei Xue, et al.