Day: November 17, 2022

Bill Rose: Forged in Fire, Sculpted by Ice—Keweenaw Geostories

Erika Vye and Bill Rose on the shore of Agate Harbor, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Prof. Bill Rose has been studying Central American volcanoes for almost six decades.

Research Professor Bill Rose, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences at Michigan Tech, shared his knowledge on Husky Bites, a free, interactive Zoom webinar on Monday, 11/21. Check out the Zoom recording and register for future sessions at mtu.edu/huskybites.

Everyone loves a great geoheritage stories (geostories for short)—and Prof. Bill Rose has many of them. Joining in, colleague, friend and former student, Erika Vye, Geosciences Research Scientist at Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center.

Together they co-created Keweenaw Geoheritage, an organization that focuses on education and opportunities for sustainable tourism based on significant geologic features and our relationship with them.

Erika Vye works at the Great Lakes Research Center (“and she is GREAT,” says Prof. Bill Rose.)

During Husky Bites, Rose and Vye will share the geostory about Le Roche Vert (the green rock). It’s the legend of a turquoise vein of rock that projected from the shoreline at Copper Harbor into Lake Superior, making for a spectacular site. It was located near the current site of the Copper Harbor Lighthouse, where travelers rounded the Keweenaw on their way westward. Known by Native Americans for centuries, the green rock was widely exaggerated and extolled by certain Voyageurs, who were French Canadian trappers and violent wild explorers. This led to the fame of copper and the public awareness of the possible riches of the Keweenaw, Isle Royale and Lake Superior.

They will also share a geostory about one theory concerning the Keweenaw Fault—the result of an important discussion and argument by geologists, done when geology was a very young science, full of uncertainty (it still is!). And they’ll tell the geostory of Billy Royal, Ed Hulbert and the wild boar—and how they found the C & H Conglomerate in 1868.

An underground concert at Delaware Mine that Bill Rose and Erika Vye organized as a geoheritage event.
“The best geoscientists have seen the most rocks,” he says. He started the Bill Rose Geoscience Student Travel Fund with $100K of his own hard-earned cash.

Vye is dedicated to developing sustainable economic opportunities and enriched relationships with the natural environment through formal and informal place-based education. “The emphasis is on broadening Earth science and Great Lakes literacy through interdisciplinary research and learning, community partnerships, and traditional knowledge,” notes Vye.

“Erika is my friend and she heads up geoheritage awareness efforts. She works with teachers, and is linked with Native Americans, environmentally-relevant groups. She works at the Great Lakes Research Center—she is GREAT,” says Rose.

“Bill is a great friend, mentor, and like family to me,” says Vye.

The two met many years ago at a conference when Vye was working in Munich, Germany. “I’d heard great things about the work he was doing here at Michigan Tech related to natural hazards, Earth science education, and social geology,” she says. “After meeting and learning more, I moved to Houghton a few years later to pursue my PhD with Bill (as his last PhD student!). We have since worked together on advancing geoheritage at the local, regional, and national scale.

“We are all connected by our relationships with geology.”

Erika Vye

“I have buckets of gratitude to work so closely with Bill on this beautiful work that we hope helps our community to thrive.”


“Life on the Keweenaw shore—come and visit paradise.”

Bill Rose

Prof. Rose, how did you first get into engineering?

I am not an engineer. I never got into it. When I arrived in Houghton as a young professor. I had a dual major in geography and geology, but the chance to work as a faculty member in an engineering department sounded good to me. It gave me a chance to go outside, working hands-on in the field, rather than being stuck in the lab. I chaired that engineering department for over eight years.

Prof. Bill Rose and his kin at a recent family feast!

Hometown, family?

Corrales, New Mexico. I have  two sons, five grandchildren. One son is a math teacher, the other a geoenvironmental engineer.

The incredible view from Bill and Nanno Rose’s deck overlooking Lake Superior and the north half of Silver Island.

Any hobbies? Pets? What do you like to do in your spare time?

I have dozens of hobbies, but no pets. As a retired faculty my favorite pastime is no meetings, no deadlines, just creative communications and being outdoors.

“I love being outside,” says Dr. Erika Vye.

Dr. Vye, how did you first get into geology? What sparked your interest?

I started my undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University in the theater department. I needed a science elective and fell into geology; I was hooked and switched majors. I am fascinated by the ways rocks and landscapes share stories about Earth’s history, providing us a window to learn about deep time and how our geologic underpinnings are the foundation for our sense of place, our identity. We are all connected by our relationships with geology.

Learning about Lake Superior and geology on the Inland Seas schooner tour.

Hometown, family?

I grew up on the east coast of Canada, just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia—I’ve moved from one beautiful peninsula to another! My parents still live there, and I have a brother, niece and nephew that live in New York City. I now live in Copper Harbor with my partner Steve; a small town of 100 folks in the winter is very much another beautiful family I am grateful to be a part of.

Water Walkers walking to Copper Harbor from Sand Point lighthouse

Any hobbies? Pets? What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love gardening, trail running, and am working toward my 200-hour yoga certification to deepen the practice for myself. I am honored to participate in local Water Walks held annually in our community. This Anishinaabe water ceremony is generously shared with our community by KBIC Water Protectors to raise awareness about the importance of water and the need for protection and healing of our water relationships.

Geostory Videos

Read More

Sniffing Volcanoes from Space

EARTH Magazine book review: “How the Rock Connects Us” shares copper country geoheritage

Forged in Stone and Fire

GLRC Summer and Fall 2022 Student Awards

Please join the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) in congratulating the Summer and Fall 2022 GLRC Student Research and Travel Grant recipients.

The GLRC student grants are intended to provide undergraduate and graduate students advised by GLRC members an opportunity to gain experience in writing competitive grants, to perform research they would not be able to attempt due to funding limitations, or to travel to a professional conference to present a poster or paper about their research.

Student grants also provide research seed data for advisors to use in pursuing externally funded research support and travel grants help amplify areas of research expertise at Michigan Tech. Funded students are expected to participate/volunteer for at least one GLRC activity during the grant period.

Student Research Grant recipient:

Student Travel Grant recipients:

  • Timothy Stone, M.S. student — Social Sciences
    • GLRC member advisor: Donald Lafreniere
    • Attending: 2022 Social Sciences History Association Annual Conference
    • Presentation: “Exploring the Built and Social Determinants of Health in a 20th Century Industrial City”
  • Mai Anh Tran, Ph.D. student — College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science 
    • GLRC member advisor: Valoree Gagnon
    • Attending: History of Science Society 2022 Annual Meeting – Sustainability, Regeneration, and Resiliency
    • Presentation: “Tracing the Resilience Concept Through the History of Science and the Lens of Indigenous Knowledge”
  • Tessa Tormoen, B.S. student — Biological Sciences
    • GLRC member advisor: Jill Olin
    • Attending: The Wildlife Society National Conference 2022
    • Presentation: “Using DNA Metabarcoding to Evaluate Dietary Resource Partitioning Among Two Sympatric Tilefish”
  • Emily Shaw, Ph.D. student — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
    • GLRC member advisor: Noel Urban
    • Attended: 2022 American Chemical Society Fall Meeting – Sustainability in a Changing World
    • Presentation: “Toxicity in Fish Tissue: Redefining Our Understandings by Quantifying Mixture and Combined Toxicity”
  • Enid Partika, Ph.D. student — Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
    • GLRC member advisors: Judith Perlinger, Noel Urban 
    • Attending: Dioxin 22 – 42nd International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants 
    • Presentation: “Filling the Data Gap on Responses of Fish PCB Content to Remedial Actions in Torch Lake, Michigan”
  • James Juip, Ph.D. student — Social Sciences
    • GLRC member advisor: Donald Lafreniere 
    • Attending: Social Science History Association Annual Meeting – Reverberations of Empire: Histories, Legacies & Lineages 
    • Presentation: “Utilizing HSDIs to Support Community Engaged Interdisciplinary Education and Heritage Interpretation”
  • John McCall, M.S. student — Biological Sciences
    • GLRC member advisor: Gordon Paterson
    • Attending: The Wildlife Society Annual Conference
    • Presentation: “Evaluating Genotoxicity of Mine Tailings on Two Game Fish in a Spawning Reef in Lake Superior (Michigan)”

The GLRC awarded travel grants to the following students attending COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with Sarah Green (Chem):

  • Rose Daily, Ph.D. student — Civil, Environmental and Geospatial Engineering, speaking on the U.S. Center Panel on the topic of “Climate Education in the US”
  • Ayush Chutani, Ph.D. student — Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, participating in U.N. side event “Climate Leadership Across Generations”
  • Katherine Huerta-Sanchez, M.S. student — Social Sciences, presenting “Voices and Visions: The Art and Science of Climate Action. Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH ) and PEACE BOAT US”
  • Anna Kavanaugh, B.S. student — Social Sciences, presenting “From the Roots Up: Community Solutions for Reducing Food Waste”
  • Zachary Hough Solomon, M.S. student — Social Sciences, presenting “The Knowledge and Policy Disconnect: Using Local Knowledge to Inform Climate Science”

GLRC Student Travel Grant applications are accepted anytime and will be reviewed on the last Friday of each month. Applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance of travel. GLRC Student Research Grant applications are accepted three times each year — Nov. 1, March 1 and July 1.

By the Great Lakes Research Center.

Educating the Next Generation of Climate Leaders with participating institution logos.
Panel of four people and host at the podium.
Climate action panel with Rose Daily speaking.
Rose Daily, Graduate Student, Michigan Technological University, speaking on stage.
Panel audience asking questions.
Climate Change Education panel of four people on stage.

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