Michigan Tech Facilities Management leveraged resources in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department to fortify their team of snowfighters. Four members of the Facilities Management team participated in a day-long motor grader operator training, offered by the Center for Technology and Training (CTT) Monday, Nov. 7.
Jeff Shook, retired operator from Genesee County and instructor for the CTT, familiarized the Facilities Management team with basic and advanced grader controls.
Tech combats snow with its motor grader “almost every day in the winter,” says Facilities Management Site Engineer Dan Liebau. Operating a grader in a snowstorm when “it’s dark and there’s low visibility requires a different technique, a different finesse,” stated Shook.
Facilities Management’s investment in its personnel, using on-campus resources like the CTT, benefits the entire campus community by ensuring that its team is prepared for the winter ahead.
By Center for Technology & Training.
The Center for Technology & Training (CTT), a part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, hosted its first annual Roadsoft User Conference of the United States (RUCUS). RUCUS was held Nov. 1, 2016, in Lansing and was attended by 96 individuals representing 64 Michigan road agencies, as well as participants from Indiana and Pennsylvania. Roadsoft is a roadway asset management system for collecting, storing and analyzing data associated with transportation infrastructure. Roadsoft is developed and supported by the CTT with principal funding from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Conference attendees engaged on a variety of topics including data integrity, using the Roadsoft mobile application, safety, pavement management strategies and Inventory Based Rating (IBR) for unpaved roads. The event also provided attendees with networking opportunities with other agencies and with the CTT staff.
CTT staff participating at the conference were research engineers John Kiefer, PE and Dale Lighthizer, PE; CRM administrator and software support analyst Carole Reynolds; data support and account specialist Joseph Snow; principal programmers Nick Koszykowski and Luke Peterson; and software engineers Mary Crane, Byrel Mitchell, Mike Pionke and Sean Thorpe.
Following the conference, on Nov. 2, the CTT staff visited the Allegan County Road Commission and the cities of Grand Rapids and St. Ignace to provide on-site Roadsoft training and technical assistance.
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.
Timothy Colling (CEE/MTTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $88,257 contract from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Gary Schlaff (CEE) is Co-PI on the project, “MIRE Upgrades in Roadsoft.”
This is a one-year project.
By Sponsored Programs.
Staff from the Center for Technology and Training (CTT), a part of the department of civil and environmental engineering, provided training and technical assistance for the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council’s (TAMC) 2016 fall conference, held in Marquette on Thursday (Oct. 13, 2016). The bi-annual conference brings together representatives from Michigan’s transportation agencies as well as agencies’ superintendents, managers and staff.
The TAMC awarded CTT Director Timothy Colling with the Carmine Palumbo Individual Award for his asset management-related service in Michigan. Additionally, Colling delivered a presentation entitled “Inventory-based Rating and Roadsoft Enhancements” during the conference. Colling, in conjunction with Technical Writer Victoria Sage, represented the CTT and helped plan and facilitate the conference.
There will be six after-school science and engineering classes held for grades 1-8 at Michigan Tech. The classes will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 24 through Dec. 7. There will be no sessions during Thanksgiving week.
These classes offer hands-on explorations taught by Michigan Tech science and engineering students in the GLRC.
Grades 1-2: “Forest Fun!” Wednesdays
Students will engineer seed get-aways, investigate animal tracks, play bird migration games, examine leaf characteristics and create leaf art, and discover the many ways that animals survive the winter.
Grades 3-5: “Wild About Michigan Wildlife!” Mondays
Explore bats and spiders, follow a salmon upstream, investigate the characteristics of wolves and discover what an owl eats by dissecting a little regurgitation.
Grades 6-8: “Investigating Chemistry” Tuesdays
Find out how chemistry affects our daily lives as you delve into food reactions, tie-dye fabrics, crime scene investigation and designing the best bubble solution to create the longest lasting bubble.
Cost is $75 per student. Register by Friday (Oct. 21). Payments can be made by credit card by calling 7-2247. Your space is not reserved until payment has been received.
A Houghton school bus will drop off students at the GLRC by 3:45 p.m.
Contact Joan Chadde at 7-3341 with questions.
By Joan Chadde.
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!