Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering News

Brimley Area School Students Visit MTU

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Thirty middle-school students, plus two science teachers, and two chaperones from Brimley Area Schools visited Michigan Tech and the Keweenaw Peninsula from Sept. 28-30, hosted by Ted Bornhorst, executive director, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum and Joan Chadde, Director of the Center for Science & Environmental Outreach.  The Brimley Area Schools student population is 54% Native American and 51% low income. Students participated in a half-day of STEM activities on campus with Brian Barkdoll and “Kiko” de Melo e Silva, faculty and research scientist, respectively, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Dr. Sarah Sun in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.

“We were pleased to provide this unique opportunity for the Brimley students that may spark their interest to pursue a STEM degree at Michigan Tech,” explained Bornhorst.

“This was a great group of students,” observed Chadde. “We plan to work with them to make this an annual visit.”

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Railroad Night is Thursday, September 22, 2016

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Railroad NightThe 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.

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International Senior Design Program Travels to Panama

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IDesign
2016 International Senior Design students at the City of Knowledge in Panama City, Panama. From left to right: Ruth Oppliger, Claire Bradford, Hailey Goupille, Kristina Rushlau, Terrianna Bradley, Samantha Fentress, Courtney Fournier, Charlie Butler, Nathan Ecker, Xi Zhu, and Aaron Jessmore. Ruth, Claire, and Hailey are wearing naguas gifted to them by their host community.

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.

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Stan Vitton Selected as a 2016-2017 Henry Krumb Lecturer

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Vitton

Stanley Vitton, an associate professor of civil engineering, was recently selected  as a 2016-2017 Henry Krumb Lecturer by the National Society of Mining Engineers (SME).

The Henry Krumb Lecture Series aims to provide local SME sections with prominent mineral professionals to speak on subjects of their expertise and is partially funded by a grant from the Seely W. Mudd Memorial Fund.  Lecturers are selected from those who present papers at the Annual Conference & Expo (ACE).

Dr. Vitton’s lecture will be on “High Strain Mechanics and Its Importance in Crushing and Grinding Technology“

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International Activity for the Rail Transportation Group

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WCRR 2016Faculty, students and staff involved in the Rail Transportation Program (RTP) had a busy summer in both presenting at and organizing conferences and events.

In late May, Pasi Lautala, director of the program, had a poster presentation on paper by Hamed Pouryousef and Lautala at the 11th World Congress in Railway Research, in Milan, Italy. Lautala also participated in the 2nd Railway Talent workshop as part of the conference.

In early June, Lautala made two presentations at the Global Level Crossing Safety & Trespass Prevention Symposium 2016, in Helsinki, Finland. Both presentations were authored by Myounghoon Jeon, Steven Landry, David Nelson and Lautala. The titles of the presentations were “Design and Evaluation of In-Vehicle Auditory Alerts for Railroad Crossings” and “Driver Behavior at Level Crossings Using Naturalistic Driving Study Data.”

Read more at Tech Today.

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NSF Funding for David Watkins on Reducing Household Consumption

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David Watkins
David Watkins

Dave Watkins is the principal investigator on a research and development project that has received a $1,477,068 grant from the National Science Foundation. Buyung Agusdinata, Chelsea Schelly, Rachael Shwom and Jenni-Louise Evans are co-PIs on the project, “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation.”

This project starts on Oct. 1 and is scheduled to finish in 2021.
From Tech Today.

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