Two senior civil engineering students, Rachel Kloc and Drew Roberts, were recently awarded Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Michigan Section Scholarships.
Valued at $3000 each, the scholarships are in recognition of those who are amongst the best transportation engineering students in the state.
The students are to be congratulated, as only four scholarships are awarded within the Michigan section.
Daisy Isaksson is a fifth-grade student at Dollar Bay Elementary. A couple weeks ago, she surprised one of Michigan Tech’s engineers from the Center for Technology & Training by beating the results of several PhDs, professional engineers and engineering students in a classroom activity called “Stop That Truck!”
The activity was designed by Drew Roberts, a civil engineering senior, under a Transportation and Civil Engineering (TRAC) Program module updated by civil engineer Chris Gilbertson from the Center for Technology & Training under a Michigan Department of Transportation grant. TRAC is a national outreach program that encourages the teaching of STEM (with a civil engineering flavor) to students at a young age by providing well-designed learning modules to high school and middle school teachers.
Railway Track & Structures, a magazine for the railroad industry, published a feature article in its November 2016 issue on railroad education, focusing on Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program.
Existing programs evolve to include the right mix of academics and research and new outreach efforts are exposing a younger audience to the possibilities of rail.
Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program (RTP) is designed to align with the needs of the industry from Class 1 railroads to manufacturers and other industry stakeholders. Dr. Pasi Lautala, assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering and director of the RTP says the program concentrates on developing well-balanced candidates with core skills for railway careers.
Read more at Railway Track & Structures, by Mischa Wanek-Libman.
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!
The Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program (RTP) and the Railroad Engineering and Activities Club (REAC) will once again host their annual Railroad Night on Thursday (Sept. 22), at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. The event is open to Michigan Tech faculty, staff and anyone interested in railroads.
Following a social hour from 6 to 7 p.m., a program will feature keynote speaker Brian Lindamood from Alaska Railroad, the outgoing president of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA).
Read more at Tech Today, by the Rail Transportation Program.
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.
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).