Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering News

Alumnus Ryan Rasmussen Creates a Cool Place to Work

Published August 27, 2019

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Ryan Rasmussen, MS, PE, is founder and CEO of Fieldstone Architecture & Engineering, headquartered in Auburn Hills, MI. His business has recently been named on Crain’s Top 100 Cool Places to Work in Detroit. Fieldstone A&E is a full-service architecture, engineering, and interior design solution for big builders.

Rasmussen has BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Michigan Tech. He established Fieldstone A&E with the following office culture:

Having passion, Opening your mind, Mastering your craft, and Embracing family spirit – known to us as H.O.M.E.

According to Crain’s, this is why Fieldstone A&E is cool:

Semi-monthly game night
Monthly beer cart Fridays
Employees are awarded annually for fulfilling the company’s core values

Zhanping You on Rubber Technology for Kalamazoo County Road Repair

Published August 27, 2019

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SPOTLIGHT – Road Commission of Kalamazoo County

2018 Scrap Tire Market Development Grantee

Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy sent this bulletin at 08/20/2019 10:00 AM EDT

The Road Commission of Kalamazoo County (RCKC) was awarded a Department of Environmental, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Scrap Tire Market Development Grant in partnership with Michigan Technological University (MTU) for scrap tire innovation. An estimated 13,672 scrap tires were recycled on the project, which took a significant amount of coordination with the partners due to its experimental nature.

The project includes the use of new rubber technology never before used in the United States. The project utilized hot rubber chip seal (HRCS) and hot rubber thin overlay (HRTO) on two different segments of W Avenue from the Schoolcraft Village Limits to Portage Road. There were also two conventional chip seal application segments installed as control sections. Each of the four project sections spanned 4,000 feet of West W Avenue.

“The purpose of the project is to evaluate the new reacted and activated rubber and to investigate the applicability of such rubber mainly composed of finely grinded scrap tires. The aim is to create a more cost-effective, long-lasting, safe and environmentally friendly, mixes and surface treatments,” Dr. [Zhanping] You said.

NOAA Grant for Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative

Published July 30, 2019

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LSSI logo HOUGHTON — The Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative has received a grant totaling $74,967, according to Lloyd Wescoat, education program assistant with the LSSI at Michigan Technological University’s Center for Science and Environmental Outreach at the Great Lakes Research Center.

Michigan Tech, in partnership with the LSSI and Western Upper Peninsula MiSTEM Network, announced the grant earlier this month. The grant is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bat Watershed Education and Training (B-WET).

The funds will support the LSSI – Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences for Rural Schools project.

The project will engage 30 K-12 teachers and 1,000 students in Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, Ontonagon and Gogebic counties in a variety of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE), and fund school-community partnerships, to plan and implement stewardship projects that address a local need.

Pasi Lautala Presents at Summerail 2019

Published July 30, 2019

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Pasi Lautala (CEE), director of Rail Transportation Program, participated in the Summerail 2019 in St. Louis, MO on July 24-26. Dr. Lautala gave the presentation “Moving Forest Products in Upper Midwest—are there benefits from increased rail movements?” He also chaired the “TRB AR040—Freight Rail Transportation” committee meeting.

The conference is designed to bring together railroad professionals, government officials, and academics to discuss the past, present and future of the U.S. railroad industry.

Seawater Intrusion-Impacted Aquifer Project Funding for Alex Mayer

Published July 23, 2019

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Alex Mayer (Civil-Environ Eng / GLRC) is Principal Investigator on a project that has received a $319,950 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled “CBET-EPSRC Efficient Surrogate Modeling for Sustainable Management of Complex Seawater Intrusion-Impacted Aquifers.” This is a potential three-year project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Extract

Water management in densely populated coastal regions is one of the most pressing sustainability challenges worldwide. Coastal groundwater is especially vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise due to the potential for seawater intrusion into groundwater aquifers. Seawater intrusion has reduced water supply in all coastal regions of the US. This has resulted in high costs to society.

We propose to address this challenge by developing models that are orders of magnitude faster than current models.

These modeling advances will be made in collaboration with water supply agencies, with the goal of increasing the utility of groundwater modeling for coastal communities. Successful development and adoption of these approaches will help agencies tasked with the protection of coastal aquifers devise sustainable management strategies to protect scarce water resources.

Civil Engineering Experiences for Students

Published July 18, 2019

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HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – Michigan Tech is hosting a group of over 20 high school students from all around the country this week as a part of their summer educational programs. The students are there on a competitive scholarship, and each student had to apply for a position in the program.

“I don’t know how many people applied, but the kids that are here we’re selected because of the qualities they possess. Every single kid seems to be interested in STEM things and the questions they ask have been pretty impressive to me,” said Tim Barron, the Instructor for the program.

The program focuses primarily on civil engineering with a focus in transportation. The group is scheduled to take field trips all over the U.P to many different spots, including the Soo Locks and the Mackinaw Bridge. Wednesday they got an inside look at Houghton County’s own Portage Canal Lift Bridge.

The Michigan Tech story begins at 01:34 in the video.

MIRE Upgrades in Roadsoft

Published July 17, 2019

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Tim Colling (Civil and Environment Eng/CTT) is Principal Investigator on a project that has received a $30,504 other sponsored activities contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation. The project is titled, “MIRE Upgrades in Roadsoft.” Gary Schlaff (Civil and Environmental Eng) and Nick Kozykowski (Civil and Environmental Eng) are Co-PI’s on this approximate three-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

MIRE refers to Model Inventory Roadway Elements fields.

William Sproule on Houghton’s Historic Hockey Reputation

Published July 9, 2019

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HOUGHTON — When Dr. William Sproule, a recently retired professor of civil and environmental engineering from Michigan Tech University, set out to discover what it meant for Houghton to claim it was the birthplace of professional hockey, he knew that he had his work cut out.

“Anyone who is going to claim that they are the first in something better be ready to back it up,” he said, “because there is going to be someone out there who is going to dispute it.”

His research into the topic of local hockey history began more than 15 years ago and has been compiled into a new self-published book entitled “Houghton, the Birthplace of Professional Hockey.”

Ko and Lautala Publish on Multimodal Biomass Transportation

Published July 8, 2019

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Sangpil Ko and Pasi Lautala (CEE) have published four journal articles related to multimodal biomass transportation logistics. The articles also provided the foundation for Sangpil Ko’s dissertation Woody Biomass Transportation and Logistics: Modeling Studies for the Great Lakes Region.

Cleaner Production cover Sangpil Ko, Pasi Lautala (CEE), and Robert Handler (ChemEng/SFI), published the article, “Securing the feedstock procurement for bioenergy products: a literature review on the biomass transportation and logistics” in the Journal of Cleaner Production. The journal is a peer-reviewed academic publication that is currently ranked first in Google Scholar in the Sustainable Development category.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.241

BBB cover Sangpil Ko, Pasi Lautala (CEE), Jiqing Fan (California EPA), and David Shonnard (ChemEng/SFI), published the article “Economic, Social, and Environmental Cost Optimization of Biomass Transportation: A Regional Model for Transportation Analysis in Plant Location Process” in the Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining. The journal is a peer-reviewed academic publication of the Energy and Fuel category.
https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1967

TRR cover Sangpil Ko and Pasi Lautala (CEE), published the article, “Advanced Woody Biomass Logistics for Co-Firing in Existing Coal Power Plant: Case Study of the Great Lakes States” in the Transportation Research Record. The journal is a peer-reviewed academic publication of Transportation Science and Technology category.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0361198118797806

Agriculture cover Sangpil Ko and Pasi Lautala (CEE), published the article “Optimal Level of Woody Biomass Co-Firing with Coal Power Plant Considering Advanced Feedstock Logistics System” in Agriculture. The journal is a peer-reviewed academic publication of Agricultural Technology and Crop Production category.
DOI: 10.3390/agriculture8060074

Joan Chadde Presents at 2019 IAGLR

Published July 3, 2019

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Joan Chadde, Director of the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, gave three presentations at the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) annual conference, June 10-14, at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Her presentations included the following titles:

Creating Great Lakes Stewards and Promoting Healthy Urban Watersheds in Detroit
Lake Superior Youth Symposium 1995-2019: Inspiring Stewardship
Teacher-Created Innovative Invasive Species Lessons to Achieve State Standards.