Author: College of Engineering

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

Rail Transportation Program Announces Scholarship Winners

The Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program is pleased to announce the winners of our annual scholarship program! This year our scholarship committee chose four winners from a pool of eight applications.

  • Nigel Soler and Matthew Switzer received $1,500 scholarships from our Michigan Tech Alumni and Friends program.
  • Stanton Schmitz and Alexander Lehnert will receive $1,500 scholarships from our CN Endowment Fund.

Congratulations to all of our winners! You can find more information about these students and our previous winners at our website.

By David Nelson, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering.

Judith Perlinger is an ISR Faculty Research Fellow

Judith Perlinger
Judith Perlinger

The Tech Forward Initiative on Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) is happy to announce the selection of two Sustainable and Resilient Communities Faculty Research Fellows!

Judith Perlinger is a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) and an established scholar working in the realm of sustainability and resilience.

Ana Dyreson is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM) who works in the realm of energy systems transitions and the energy-water-climate nexus.

Perlinger and Dyreson will both be relieved of one course for the fall 2022 semester in order to focus on developing and submitting research funding proposals that will enhance Michigan Tech’s leadership in impactful sustainability and resilience research.

Perlinger will be working on new proposals for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Coastlines and People (CoPe) program, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Dyreson will be working on proposal submissions for NSF programs, including the NSF CAREER award program, and for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

With this fellowship program, ISR aims to support researchers in developing new collaborations and opportunities to grow research activities that address contemporary research challenges in sustainability and resilience. This program will propel research leaders at Michigan Tech to pursue new opportunities and increase impactful research activities. ISR is delighted to support these dedicated scholars through the Faculty Research Fellows program.

For more information or with any questions, please contact Chelsea Schelly at cschelly@mtu.edu

By Tech Forward Initiative for Sustainability and Resilience.

C2E2 Awards for Dai and Seagren

The Vice President for Research Office (VPR) has awarded Century II Campaign Endowed Equipment Fund (C2E2) awards at the recommendation of the C2E2 Committee. In Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, the recipients were:

Qingli “Barbara” Dai (CEGE) — Purchase of Freeze-Thaw and Internal Frost Damage Test System

Eric Seagren (CEGE) — The VisiSens TD System for 2-D In Situ Measurement of O2, CO2, and pH Using Optical Chemical Sensors: Opportunities for Research and Education

Qingli Barbara Dai
Qingli Barbara Dai
Eric Seagren
Eric Seagren

Freeze Thaw Project Wins AASHTO Sweet Sixteen Award

Zhen Liu
Zhen Liu

Congratulations to Zhen Liu (CEGE) for his MDOT Freeze Thaw project winning an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Sweet Sixteen Award.

According to the press release, the Sweet Sixteen Award highlights high-value research from four regions across the country, with four awards possible per region. 

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) received the award for Liu’s research project, “Develop and Implement a Freeze Thaw Model Based Seasonal Load Restriction Decision Support Tool.”

fact sheet and video summary of Liu’s project are available on the AASHTO award page.

By Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering.

Play Research: Develop/Implement Freeze-Thaw Model Decision Support Tool – AASHTO RAC 2021 Sweet 16 MDOT video
Preview image for Research: Develop/Implement Freeze-Thaw Model Decision Support Tool - AASHTO RAC 2021 Sweet 16 MDOT video

Research: Develop/Implement Freeze-Thaw Model Decision Support Tool – AASHTO RAC 2021 Sweet 16 MDOT

First Place for Michigan Tech Team on Runway Safety or Incursions Challenge

Map of the Keweenaw Peninsula with KCMX and KSAW marked.

A team of undergraduate students from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering (CEGE) were recognized in a press release from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) announcing the winners of the 15th annual University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs competition. The Huskies earned first place in the runway safety or incursions challenge.

Read more at AOPA News, by David Tulis.

The team’s proposal was entitled Graphical NOTAM Interface for Improving Efficiency of Reporting NOTAM Information. The team developed an Electronic Flight Bag user interface that provides a graphical representation of a notice to airmen (NOTAM) and weather information to improve how pilots receive condition changes at airports.

Undergraduate Team Members: Matthew Bacon, Gregory Porcaro, and Andrew Vega

Faculty Advisor: Audra Morse.

Enterprise Team: Built World Enterprise

AGC of Michigan to Recognize Three MTU Undergrads

Contractors at work.

Three Michigan Tech undergraduate students from the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering will be recognized with scholarships at the 2021 Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Michigan Brightest & Best Luncheon on July 21.

The students receiving scholarships are:

  • Isaac Fong, civil engineering — Louis C. Verrette Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship awarded by the AGC of Michigan
  • Everhett Biland, civil engineering — Tom & Jan Dailey Scholarship awarded by the AGC of America
  • Kira Olson, construction management — Stanley F. Pepper Memorial Scholarship awarded by the AGC of America

This annual event on behalf of Michigan’s construction industry, is held to recognize AGC of Michigan and AGC of America scholarship winners, AGC of Michigan Summer Work Program students, summer interns employed by AGC of Michigan members, and AGC of Michigan members supporting these programs.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Funding Opportunity for Rail Transportation/Railroad Engineering Research

Rail

The Federal Railroad Administration recently released a Broad Agency 2021 Announcement (BAA) research program opportunity. Michigan Tech researchers from several departments have had great success in these projects in the past. To date, we’ve received over $2 million in funding for five projects. In addition, the three proposals from BAA 2020 listed below are expected to be awarded in near future.

  • Railroad Crossing Vehicle Warning (RCVW) Application Demonstrations with Connected Vehicles ($380,705)
  • An Integrated and Automated Decision Support System for Ground Hazard Risk Mitigation for Railway ($694,922)
  • Expanding Summer Youth Programs through Virtual Learning and a National Campus Network ($474,695)

Anyone interested in expanding their research portfolio to railway research topics is encouraged to:

  • Review the topics of interest by the FRA (Appendix C)
  • Watch a short video on the program by Pasi Lautala, Director of Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program here (passcode: FRA-BAA2021)
  • Contact Pasi Lautala to discuss potential topic ideas and/or
  • Develop a brief, max. one page idea summary and send it to Lautala ASAP, but no later than April 30

We will send all project ideas to FRA for an early feedback and submit full concept papers (max. five pages) on those recommended by the FRA. After review, FRA will request full proposals on those concept papers they are interested in funding.

Feel free to contact Lautala if you have any questions or need additional clarifications … and feel free to distribute this information to your colleagues who might be interested.

By Pasi Lautala.

Update on Experimental Asphalt Road in Dickinson County

Feet walking near asphalt.

A stretch of County Road 607 in Dickinson County paved with an asphalt mix that uses pieces of old tires is now being tested, almost two years after it was installed.

Lab experiments conducted at Michigan Tech by Zhanping You (CEE) and his research team have found the performance has improved over the last two years. Monitoring will continue for ten or more years. The project was a collaboration with You’s research team, the Michigan EGLE, and the Dickinson County Road Commission.

The story was covered by several media outlets including MI EnvironmentPublic Radio 90WLUC TV6 and ABC10.

Over the past two years, Michigan Tech Students have been gathering results and samples, of this road, from different testing sites.

WLUC TV6

Rail Transportation Program Offers First-year Scholarships

Rail Transportation Program

The Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program announces it will offer four scholarships to first-year students interested in learning more about the rail transportation industry.

The scholarships are open to all disciplines. The application process is simple. Complete the application form you can find on our web page and submit it to David Nelson by March 5.

The application includes a short essay where you can tell our judges how you think you might fit into the industry.

The rail industry has cutting-edge jobs in all areas, from communications and controls to power systems, to business applications and construction.

Contact David Nelson if you want to talk about where the industry could take you!

Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program Awards Scholarships

BoFa Saldana
BoFa Saldana, ECE
Stanton Schmitz
Stanton Schmitz, CEE
Justin Micillo
Justin Micillo, CEE

The Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program (RTP) and the Rail Transportation Advisory Board (RTAB) are proud to announce the winners of the 2020-2021 scholarships to support students with their studies at Michigan Tech.

We had several great applications that complicated the work of our selection committee. In addition to the two scholarships funded through a generous endowment by CN Railway, RTP awarded one scholarship funded by the RTP Alum/Friends for the first time in the program’s history.

CN Railway Scholarship winners ($1,500 each) are:

  • Justin Micillo, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Stanton Schmitz, Civil and Environmental Engineering RTP

Alumni/Friends winner ($1,500) is:

  • BoFa Saldana, Electrical and Computer Engineering

“I would like to thank you all for selecting me as a recipient of the 2021 Rail Transportation Program Scholarship. I was thrilled to find out that I had been picked to receive this award. I am grateful and extremely appreciative of this support. This is something that will help me complete many goals as a student here at Michigan Tech as well as in my future career in the rail industry. This scholarship gives me that much more motivation to complete these goals! Again, thank you for this generous contribution” Saldana said.

Congratulations to the winners. Browse the current and past RTP scholarship winners and RTP Scholarships. Learn how to donate to the program/scholarships.

Rail Industry Scholarships

By Pasi Lautala.