Kiran Udayakumar is the Braun Intertec 2017 Co-op of the Year

Kiran Udayakumar holding the Braun Intertec award.
Kiran Udayakumar holding the Braun Intertec award.

Environmental engineering graduate student Kiran Udayakumar has been selected as the Braun Intertec 2017 Co-op of the Year. In 2017, Udayakumar completed a six-month field testing co-op internship in the Braun Intertec Williston, North Dakota office. Operations Supervisor Jeremiah Gibson says, “Kiran’s performance exceeded all expectations and he exemplifies a well-educated engineer on his way to a successful career.”

Udayakumar quickly the learned the procedures and methods for testing constructions materials with an awareness to safety and best engineering practices. He was selected for OSHA 10 training so that he could work on Oilfield projects, like The Dakota Access Pipeline, and highway projects, such as the Lewis and Clark Bridge, Bureau of Indian Affairs Hwy 12.

I couldn’t have done this without the constant support of my advisor and mentor Martin Auer and my mentors Sarah Bird and Darnishia Slade who gave me constant support and motivation throughout the co op.Kiran Udayakumar

Environmental Engineering Freshman Accepted Into the Santa Fe Institute’s 2018 REU Summer Program

MaddieGrad

Maddie Barrie, a freshman in the Environmental Engineering Program at Michigan Tech, has recently been selected to participate in the Santa Fe Institute’s 2018 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) summer program.

The program provides students with a ten-week residential research opportunity where students, in collaboration with a mentor, develop a research project dealing with real-world complex systems.

In addition to the experience, Maddie’s housing, meals and a stipend will be provided to her during her time at the Santa Fe Institute.

 

Alex Mayer to Speak on Citizen Science and Climate Data

Several Michigan Tech faculty will deliver presentations during the 2017-18 Carnegie Museum Natural History Seminar Series: Citizen Science.

Citizen Science

Can citizens impact governance by collecting climate data?: A case from the tropical mountains in Veracruz state, Mexico

Alex Mayer
Alex Mayer

Dr. Alex S. Mayer
Charles and Patricia Nelson Presidential Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Carnegie Museum Community Room
6:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Social and introductions
7 p.m.-8 p.m. Lecture and discussion

Open to the public. Free admission.

Facebook Event

Rail Transportation Program Announces CN Scholarship Winners

Students on a train

The Michigan Tech Rail Transportation Program (RTP) is delighted to announce three 2018 winners of the CN Railway Scholarship. CN Railway has been an industry partner of the RTP since 2010, and in 2013 established an endowed fellowship that provides support for the RTP and scholarships to students attending Michigan Tech and involved in the rail industry. Aaron Dean (4th year, MEEM), Clarice Hill (2nd year, MEEM) and Alex Christmas (2nd year, CEE) will all receive a $1000 scholarship from the CN Endowment fund. Scholarship winners are selected each year by RTP’s Rail Transportation Advisory Board.

Bulleit Speaks on the Mind of Engineer

William M. Bulleit
William M. Bulleit

Professor Bill Bulleit spoke on the thought processes of engineers for the Environmental Engineering Seminar last Monday, January 29, 2018. The talk was entitled
The Engineering Way of Thinking – An Introduction.

Tech prof offers inside look into engineer’s mind

Bulleit sees a distinction between engineering and science and other disciplines commonly grouped with it.

In engineering, you use rules of thumb, safety rules and approximations. Failure will occur and advances will come from those failures.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Kali Katerberg.

Ecker and Mustafa Help You Make the Most of the Latest AISC Manual

Steel Construction Manual book cover and interior

Civil engineering Master’s student Nathan Ecker has co-authored an article “Making the Most of the Manual” in the January 2018 issue of Modern Steel Construction. The second author, Muaaz Mustafa, recently graduated from from Bradley University with an MS in civil engineering. Both were American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) interns this past summer.

The article refers to the 15th Edition of the AISC Steel Construction Manual.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE MANUAL

A bevy of resources will help optimize your use of the latest AISC Manual, thus helping you optimize your steel-framed projects.

IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD, the 15th Edition of the AISC Steel Construction Manual is here! Accompanying its release are some useful, free resources that are at available at www.aisc.org/manualresources. These include the new Version 15.0 Design Examples, Shapes Database and Historical Shapes Database, Basic Design Values Cards and Interactive Reference list. These resources will help you make the most of the new 15th Edition Manual as well as the new 2016 AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings (ANSI/ AISC 360, available at www.aisc.org/specifications).

Read more at Modern Steel Construction, by Nathan Ecker and Muaaz Mustafa.

Green Film Series: Issues & Dialogue

(mostly) 3rd Thursdays each month, January – May 2018
Location: G002 Hesterberg Hall, Michigan Tech Forestry Bldg.
Time: 7:00-8:30 pm; enjoy coffee, dessert, and facilitated discussion
Cost: FREE, $3 suggested donation

changes
Jan. 18 – This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate Presents powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories is author Nina Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Klein builds to her most exciting idea: that we can seize the crisis of climate change to transform our economic system into something radically better.

 

Feb. 15 - FREIGHTENED: The Real Price of Shipping Goods 90% of goods consumed in the West are manufactured in far-off lands and brought to us by ship. The industry is a key player in world economy forming the basis of our modern civiliza-tion—without shipping, it would be impossible to fulfil the ever-increasing demands of our societies. The film reveals an invisible industry that supplies 7 billion humans and holds the key to our economy, our environment and our civilization.
Feb. 15 – FREIGHTENED: The Real Price of Shipping Goods
90% of goods consumed in the West are manufactured in far-off lands and brought to us by ship. The industry is a key player in world economy forming the basis of our modern civiliza-tion—without shipping, it would be impossible to fulfil the ever-increasing demands of our societies. The film reveals an invisible industry that supplies 7 billion humans and holds the key to our economy, our environment and our civilization.
Friday, March 23 - An American Ascent (202 Great Lakes Research Center) First ascent of Denali attempted by an all African American team. In only a few decades in the U.S., people of color will outnumber today's white majority for the first time. Yet, a staggering number of people in this soon-to-be majority do not consider the outdoors as a place for them. By taking on the grueling 20,310’ peak of the continent's biggest mountain, nine African-American climbers set out to shrink this Adventure Gap, promoting inclusion in the outdoor/adventure community. The film chronicles the challenges of climbing one of the world’s most iconic peaks.
Friday, March 23 – An American Ascent (202 Great Lakes Research Center)
First ascent of Denali attempted by an all African American team. In only a few decades in the U.S., people of color will outnumber today’s white majority for the first time. Yet, a staggering number of people in this soon-to-be majority do not consider the outdoors as a place for them. By taking on the grueling 20,310’ peak of the continent’s biggest mountain, nine African-American climbers set out to shrink this Adventure Gap, promoting inclusion in the outdoor/adventure community. The film chronicles the challenges of climbing one of the world’s most iconic peaks.
April 19 - The Creeping Garden Real life science fiction exploring a world creeping right beneath our feet, where time and space are magnified and intelligence redefined. Exploring the work of scientists, mycologists and artists, and their relationship with the extraordinary plasmodial slime mold which is being used to explore biological-inspired design, emergence theory, unconventional computing and robot controllers.
April 19 – The Creeping Garden
Real life science fiction exploring a world creeping right beneath our feet, where time and space are magnified and intelligence redefined. Exploring the work of scientists, mycologists and artists, and their relationship with the extraordinary plasmodial slime mold which is being used to explore biological-inspired design, emergence theory, unconventional computing and robot controllers.
May 17 - Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? A look at the controversy of creating energy using biomass. Film makers, Lisa Merton & Alan Dater of Marlboro Productions, visited the Warden Electric Plant in L’Anse, as they traveled across the U.S. documenting the problems created by burning this type of “green” material. Many local residents are interviewed and MDEQ public hearings are featured.
May 17 – Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?
A look at the controversy of creating energy using biomass. Film makers, Lisa Merton & Alan Dater of Marlboro Productions, visited the Warden Electric Plant in L’Anse, as they traveled across the U.S. documenting the problems created by burning this type of “green” material. Many local residents are interviewed and MDEQ public hearings are featured.

Bulleit Comments on Roof Snow

William M. Bulleit
William M. Bulleit

Channel 3-UPMatters aired a story about what you need to know about snow on your roof, quoting Professor Bill Bulleit (CEE).

What to know about snow on your roof

William Bulleit is a structural engineering professor at Michigan Tech. He says, “The more complicated the roof the more difficult it is to decide what you should do with it.”

There are things you can look out for that may be a sign there’s too much snow on your roof.

Read more at Channel 3-UPMatters.

Sproule Named Airport Cooperative Research Program Ambassador

Bill Sproule
Bill Sproule

Bill Sproule (CEE) has been appointed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to be an Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Ambassador for a two-year term.

ACRP is an industry-driven, applied research program that develops practical solutions to problems faced by airport operators. It is managed by TRB and sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

ACRP Ambassadors are volunteers who serve as liaisons between the TRB and ACRP, the research community, and airports operators at conferences and industry events and will make presentations on the ACRP research process and products, and other airport topics, and promote opportunities for others to be involved in ACRP research panels and projects.