Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering News

International Senior Design Program Travels to Panama

Published September 8, 2016

News

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.

Stan Vitton Selected as a 2016-2017 Henry Krumb Lecturer

Published September 7, 2016

By Angela Keranen

News

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“

International Activity for the Rail Transportation Group

Published September 7, 2016

Faculty, 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.”

Qingli Dai Receives Funding For Rubber Concrete Research

Published September 6, 2016

News

Qingli Dai (CEE/MTTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $287,518 research and development grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Zhanping You (CEE) is Co-Pi on the project “Fiber-reinforced High Performance Rubber Concrete for Concrete Structure Construction and Repair.”

From Tech Today.

NSF Funding for David Watkins on Reducing Household Consumption

Published September 1, 2016

News

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.

Environmental Engineering Student Awarded for Poster Presentation

Published August 24, 2016

By Angela Keranen

News

Environmental Engineering PhD candidate, Xinyu Ye, was awarded the Best Student Poster Presentation at the 20th Conference on Air-Sea Interaction in Madison held August 15-19, 2016. The conference was hosted by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/meetings-events/ams-meetings/joint-21st-satellite-meteorology-oceanography-and-climatology-conference-and-20th-conference-on-air-sea-interaction/

Pasi Lautala Interviewed on Rail Trainsportation

Published August 10, 2016

News

Pasi Lautala (CEE), director of Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program, was interviewed on Michigan Radio. He talked about the upcoming Michigan Rail Transportation Conference in Marquette Aug. 17-18. Listen to the interview.

From Tech Today.

WLUC TV6 (NBC), WBUP Channel 10 (ABC) and WJMN Channel 3 (CBS) all reported on the Michigan Rail Conference held this week in Marquette and organized by Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation program. A radio station in Marinette, Wisconsin, also reported on the conference.

From Tech Today.

Michigan rail leaders get on track at annual conference

“We are a little bit remote from the rest of the market,” explained Pasi Lautala, assistant professor at Michigan Technological University in the department of environmental engineering and director of the rail transportation program. “We need to have very efficient and cost effective transportation modes, especially when you consider that a lot of the Upper Peninsula depends on natural resources and other commodities that are heavy weight and sometimes fairly low values.”

Teachers From Flint Studying Water at Michigan Tech

Published July 27, 2016

Water and the City of Flint have garnered plenty of headlines this year. This week, 13 teachers from the Flint area are on the campus of Michigan Tech for a four-day teacher institute focused on water and water issues.

The special interdisciplinary teacher institute will focus on three specific areas: Flint River Watershed; Drinking Water Treatment; Wastewater Treatment. The event is coordinated by the Ride the Waves program, Martin Auer (CEE) principal investigator and the Center for Science and Environmental Outreach.

Flint Teachers visit U.P. to learn about good water quality

Flint’s population continues to try and recover from their water crisis and these lessons will help deal with those lingering issues. Hamaday Middle School Science Teacher Arleatha Bryant said, “I’ve had at least seven children tell me they were tested positive for lead, and so we’ve been doing a lot of research on different foods you can eat and things you can do to try and alleviate some of the issues that may occur with this situation.”

And most importantly to educate people so such a situation doesn’t happen again. MTU Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor Martin Auer said, “These are the people that are going to change the lives that need to get this work done over the next several decades. If we can reach these teachers, then we can stimulate a process that’s going to engage the young people and that’s where the future is.”

CTT and TTAP Staff Attend National Conference

Published July 26, 2016

News

Staff from the Center for Technology and Training (CTT) and the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) both, part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, attended the 2016 National Local and Tribal Technical Assistance Programs (LTAP/TTAP) Conference held in Madison, Wisconsin, July 18-21 hosted by the Great Lakes Region LTAP and TTAP centers.

Students Visit Rail Yards in Superior, Wisconsin

Published July 25, 2016

KBJR-TV Channel 6 (NBC) in Duluth broadcast a story about students from Michigan Tech’s Summer Youth Program Rail and Intermodal Transportation Institute visiting rail yards in Superior, Wisconsin.

From Tech Today.

Michigan Tech students get an up close look at trains in Superior

Today, students from throughout the country enrolled in Michigan Tech’s Summer Youth Program’s Rail and Intermodel Transportation program were in Superior to get an up close look at Railroad Transportation.