Cassy Tefft de Muñoz (CEO) and undergraduate student Elsa Meyer (civil engineering) were virtual guests last Thursday (March 23, 2023) on “America’s Morning Headquarters.” Tefft de Muñoz and Meyer talked about the Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers traveling STEM festivals and demonstrations, and explained the popular banana piano demo while host Jim Cantore tried it out.
Ricardo Eiris (CEGE) and PhD student Josiane Isingizwe (civil engineering) have been awarded the Best Paper Award for the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Conference Proceedings for papers published in 2023.
They received the award for a paper titled “Where Do Minority Serving Institutions Stand Today in U.S. Construction Education?”
The paper will be presented at the 59th Annual ASC International Conference in Liverpool, U.K., on April 3–5, 2023. Eiris and Isingizwe’s achievement will be celebrated during the award presentation.
The STEM Fair and Festival was held on Thursday, March 16, 2023, at the Memorial Union Ballroom on Michigan Technological University campus in Houghton, Michigan. More than 50 students presented their projects highlighting the results of weeks of work on a science or engineering investigations.
Students from Houghton, Baraga, Keweenaw, Ontonagon, and Gogebic Counties in grades 4–8 were invited to participate in the STEM Project Fair. Students prepared and presented on a science investigation or an engineering design project.
The 2023 participants and winners are posted on the MiSTEM Network.
Tom Oliver, director of Michigan Tech’s Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, coordinated the fair. For the first year after the pandemic, he’s thrilled with the number of kids and parents who came in and checked things out.
“You can see kids everywhere are having fun, which is entirely what we want to do,” he said. “We want them to have fun doing science, technology, engineering and mathematics, because those are things that lead them to what they want to do with their careers.”
Read more at the Daily Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.
Kinley Lyons is a 4th-year chemical engineering student at MTU now, but she participated in the STEM Fair years ago as a grade schooler. Lyons and her partner constructed a hovercraft as their project, using an old street sign, a tarp, and a leaf blower.
“It didn’t work that well, but it did work,” she said with a laugh. “It is one of the things that got me into engineering, and here I am now.”
Organic molecules dissolved in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans are essential to plant and animal life. Some of these molecules are also degraded and enter a complex cycle of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur containing compounds. Surprisingly, scientists currently have a limited understanding of the fate of these molecules. Dr. Daisuke Minakata and his colleagues from Michigan Technological University are involved in an ambitious programme to overcome this critical knowledge gap.
Minakata was prompted to develop a theory to explain the loss of critical amino acids from water. He assumed that other organic molecules absorb the energy carried by the rays of sunshine and those reactive intermediates transform amino acids into small pieces. According to his theory, such light-activated compounds could act as catalysts, inducing the indirect breakdown of critical amino acids.
https://doi.org/10.33548/SCIENTIA882
Read more and listen to the podcast at SciPod.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Department of Biological Sciences recently acquired a new liquid scintillation counter through a collaboration with the Vice President for Research Office; College of Sciences and Arts; Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering; Ecosystem Science Center; and Great Lakes Research Center.
This counter replaces an older, obsolete unit and is an essential piece of equipment for researchers working with or planning to work with radioisotopes. Researchers interested in using the new counter, or simply learning more about the about it, should contact David Dixon, director of biological laboratory operations, at dcdixon@mtu.edu.
By the Associate Vice President for Research Development.
The Steel Bridge Task Force has selected Ryan J. Sherman, PhD, PE, Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as the recipient of the 2023 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture
The Steel Bridge Task Force consists of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T-14 Technical Committee for Structural Steel Design. The program was instituted in 2005 in memory of Robert J. Dexter, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, who was an internationally recognized expert on steel fracture and fatigue problems in bridges.
Sherman joined the faculty in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in 2019. He earned his BS degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University and his MS degree and PhD in Civil Engineering from Purdue University.
Benjamin M. Feldhausen has been elected to chair the Professional Advisory Board for the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Technological University.
A graduate of Iron Mountain High School and dual baccalaureate honors graduate in surveying and civil engineering of Michigan Tech, Feldhausen is licensed as both a professional engineer and professional surveyor. While attending MTU, he spent several years as an undergraduate teaching assistant, a peer mentoring advisor, a tutor and was also a member of the National Civil Engineering Honor Society, Chi Epsilon.
By Joan Chadde, co-PI/co-author/coordinator Family Engineering Program, retired
Squeals of delight could be heard from students and adults alike, as they tackled one engineering challenge after another. Students worked in family “engineering teams” to design and construct the tallest tower using only spaghetti and marshmallows that could withstand hurricane-force winds (fans at top speeds!). Students worked as civil engineers to design a bridge using a single sheet of copy paper that could span two books six inches apart. One team’s bridge held more than 100+ pennies between the books! In yet another engineering challenge, parents and their kids became marine engineers and designed a boat from clay that could hold the most cargo (pennies) before sinking. Another activity was a biomedical engineering challenge of designing a prosthetic hand in 20 minutes that could be used to write with a pencil and pick up a cup of water.
These events were made possible by a partnership between the Michigan Tech Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering and OHM Advisors (Livonia office). Family engineering events were held after school at Neinas Dual Language Learning Academy (Detroit), Blackwell Institute (Detroit), and Livonia Elementary Schools. OHM’s support provided the program at no cost to the schools, including two event facilitators from Michigan Tech, all of the activity supplies, a free pizza dinner for participants, and a copy of the Family Engineering Activity & Event Planning Guide for each school. In addition, a half dozen OHM staff volunteered to assist with each event—setting up activities, interacting with families, encouraging students, and serving as role models.
| Host Schools for Family Engineering Events | Attendance |
| Neinas Dual Language Learning Academy 6021 McMillan St., Detroit | 90 Total39 Adults51 K-6 Students |
| Blackwell Institute1981 McKinstry St, Detroit | 35 Total15 Adults 20 K-8 Students |
| Livonia Elementary Schools8900 Newburgh Rd., Livonia | 90 Total39 Adults51 K-6 Students |
Parents had lots of positive comments after attending one of the three Family Engineering events held in early December in SE Michigan:
When asked what their family learned about engineering, responses included:
OHM Advisors, with offices in five states and eleven locations in Michigan, works across multiple service areas, including architecture, engineering, planning, urban design and landscape architecture, surveying, and construction engineering, to create better places for people. An important initiative is increasing the diversity of the STEM pipeline and that means reaching down into elementary schools to introduce engineering to students and their parents. Parents play an important role in guiding and supporting their child’s learning and future career path.
The Family Engineering Program was created by Michigan Tech with partners The Foundation for Family Science & Engineering and the American Society of Engineering Education. A Family Engineering Activity & Event Planning Guide was published in 2011. The activity guide, with thirteen 30-40 minute engineering challenges and 21 short 3-5 minute engineering opener activities, is designed for K-6 educators and for engineers who work with elementary-aged students. It’s ideal for engineering professionals, informal STEM education programs, and STEM college students who want to do outreach in their communities and increase the diversity of the STEM pipeline. To learn more about the Family Engineering program, attend a training workshop, or purchase an activity guide, visit: https://www.mtu.edu/family-engineering/ or email Tom Oliver teoliver@mtu.edu
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.
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.
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.