Month: May 2015

STEM Night Attended by 300 Teachers

NSTA 2015Joan Chadde, director of the Michigan Tech Center for Science & Environmental Outreach, and Neil Hutzler, retired past chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, collaborated with the Foundation for Family Science & Engineering to conduct a STEM Night for a sold-out crowd of 300 teachers from across the country who were attending the 2015 National Science Teachers’ Association STEM Forum & Expo last week in Minneapolis.

Chadde and Hutzler are among the co-authors of the Family Engineering Activity & Event Planning Guide published in 2011. Michigan Tech received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the guide.

Anza Mitchell, president of the Michigan Tech student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, assisted with the event.

From Tech Today.

Chadde at the Marsin Monitoring Project

 

Marsin Center
Marsin Center

Joan Chadde, director of the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, was a participating scientist for a bio-inventory for the Keweenaw Land Trust Marsin Monitoring Project, conducted by the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School tenth-grade biology class. The event was held yesterday at the Marsin Center. The students monitored amphibians and insects and brainstormed native landscaping ideas for the KLT.

From Tech Today.

STEM Field Trips offered for HS Students

STEMHigh School students can visit a variety of science, engineering, and computer labs at Michigan Tech now through May 15.

The students in grades 9 – 12 can participate in presentations and hands-on activities led by Tech students, engineers and scientists to kick start students’ planning for careers in science, technology, engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Nearly 200 students from Bessemer, Baraga-L’Anse Alternative School, Copper Country Christian, L’Anse, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Watersmeet, Dollar Bay, Nah Tah Wahsh, and Jeffers High Schools are planning visits.

Select Topics / Labs to Visit

  • Green Building & Low Impact Design
  • Stream Mechanics Lab
  • Remotely Operated Vehicles
  • Computer Science
  • Materials Science & Engineering
  • Civil Engineering Concrete TestingLab
  • Fishy Great Lakes
  • Transportation Engineering
  • Geology & Mining Engineering
  • Human Monitoring Devices / Driving Simulator
  • Forest Insects

For more information, contact:

jchadde@mtu.edu or office: 7-3341

Made possible with funding from the Michigan STEM Partnership and coordinated by the MTU Center for Science & Environmental Outreach and Western U.P. Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education with assistance from the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering

From Tech Today, by Center for Science and Environmental Outreach.

High School Students Learn About STEM Careers

This week, nearly 200 high school students from nine schools in the western UP are spending a day at Michigan Tech, exploring science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. They will visit labs and learn about green building and low-impact design, human monitoring devices, forest insects, steam mechanics, remotely-operated vehicles, computer science, materials science and engineering, civil engineering/concrete testing, Great Lakes fish, transportation engineering and geology and mining engineering.

Yesterday, students from Jeffers High School in Adams Township spent the day at Tech learning about STEM careers. Students from Nah Tah Wahsh Public Academy in Wilson will be on campus today, and on Friday the University will host students from Watersmeet High School.

From Tech Today.

Chadde to Participate in Field-Based Ecology CAREER Project

Amy Marcarelli Receives NSF CAREER Award

In the world of aquatic biology, it’s a long-held belief that what goes up, must come down. As human activity causes nitrogen loads to go up along the banks of rivers and streams, nitrogen levels go down through another process. Amy Marcarelli, a Michigan Technological University associate professor in biological sciences, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study this nitrogen conversion balance.

The CAREER awards are prestigious grants from the NSF to young faculty who effectively integrate research and teaching. Marcarelli was awarded a 5-year, $794,661 grant to continue her research into nitrogen fixation and denitrification.

Not only will her research look to affirm, or disprove, long-held beliefs, but also to create a more ecologically-savvy citizenry by integrating ecosystem ecology techniques into K-12 and undergraduate education.

The construction and operation of a mobile lab is a key part of both the research and educational components of the CAREER project. Marcarelli says accurate rates of nitrogen fixation and denitrification using common assays are dependent on accurate estimates of gas concentrations.

“To reach local (K-12) students, I will identify several classes where teachers are interested in introducing their students to field-based ecology. Before our departure, we will visit these students in their classrooms to introduce ourselves and our project,” Marcarelli says.

She plans to work with Joan Chadde, educational program coordinator at Michigan Tech’s Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Mark Wilcox.

Lake Superior Youth Symposium May 14-17, 2015

11th Biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium
Thunder Bay, Ontario
5 pm, Thursday to 11 am, ET, Sunday ~ May 14-17, 2015

for Grades 8-12 Students and Teachers in MI, MN, WI, and Ontario

REGISTRATION

2015-Symposium-poster

2015-LSYS

On the Road

Joan Chadde (CLS) attended her ninth Biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium in Thunder Bay, Ontario over the weekend. 70 students from Houghton, Jeffers and Lake Linden-Hubbell attended the event hosted by Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate & Vocational School on the Lakehead University & Confederation College campuses.

From Tech Today.