Category: Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

7th Annual D80 Conference

The D80 Conference is a celebration of our efforts to solve issues that confront the world’s poorest 80%. Together we are creating a better future: Learn. Engage. Contribute

The Michigan Tech campus hosts this annual conference in the fall every year to give a platform to the voices of university students serving communities-in-need both domestically and abroad. Our conferences highlight service and research work done by students from Michigan Tech and elsewhere, and are open to anybody interested in development, design, and delight for the poorest 80% of humanity. The public is always invited to join us. This year’s conference was held during Family Weekend at Michigan Tech so many of our D80 students can share their experiences, stories, and motivations with the people who support them the most. 2013 theme: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability

High Speed Rail Learning System Launched

Curious about the world of trains and High Speed Rail? Ready to work in collaboration with others? Ready to learn the basics of HSR to further your knowledge and career? Like the idea of participating from the comfort of your home or office?

If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, you can start your quest by visiting the new frontier of learning and high speed rail via interactive eLearning at the High Speed Rail Learning System (HSRLS). Simply go to

http://www.rail-learning.mtu.edu/

for more information and to register. Registration is FREE and simple and the site is open to anybody with interest whether a beginning student, rail enthusiast, teacher/instructor, government stakeholder, or industry member expanding your current knowledge base.

HSRLS currently includes a four-module interactive “HSR 101- An Introduction to High Speed Rail” course that can be studied individually at your own pace and we will be adding more HSR materials developed by external experts as the summer moves along. There are also video recordings of two HSR workforce development related workshops available at the site: “HSR Workforce Development at the State Departments of Transportation” and “High Speed Rail Workforce Symposium”.

The HSRLS has been made possible by a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. Please contact us with further questions or comments (ptlautal@mtu.edu) Or visit http://www.rail-learning.mtu.edu/

Students, Teachers Gather at Tech to Learn about Lake Superior


More than 200 teachers and students from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario came to Michigan Technological University for the 10th Biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium. Students and teachers from 24 schools in three Great Lakes states and Canada spent four days at the symposium, Thursday to Sunday, May 16-19, 2013.
Read more in Michigan tech News Article

Click here for photos and all of the information, booklet list of Field Trip and Presentation Descriptions, etc.

World Water Day Events at Michigan Tech

The Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society celebrated World Water Day on Thursday, March 21 with a student poster competition. The posters covered different topics in water research occurring at Michigan Technological University. Posters were displayed on the 1st floor of the Great Lakes Research Center; CWS Faculty presented a showcase of CWS research, followed by A dinner in the Atrium overlooking the lake.

2013 Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society Award Winners
Original Research Category:
1st – Miles Corcoran
2nd – Julie A. Padilla
3rd – Jade E. Ortiz and Martin Hobmeier (Tie)

Coursework/Informational:
1st – Nancy Auer’s BL4465 Biological Oceanography class:

Photos of the award winners and all other presenters

Graduate Research Colloquium Feb 21-22

The Graduate Research Colloquium (GRC) was held on Feb 21-22, 2013. GRC was organized by the Graduate Student Government (GSG). Graduate students from all departments at Michigan Tech presented their research and ideas to other students and faculty in the form of oral or poster presentations. A group of judges that consists of faculty (and/or some invited members of industry) evaluated student’s presentations to award prizes to the best 1st, 2nd and 3rd presentations from each session (oral and poster). There are also three honorable mention awards given in both oral and poster presentation sessions.

Poster Awards: 1st place Poster: Anna N. Hess; 2nd Place Poster: Huan Yang; 3rd Place Poster: Colina Dutta;
Oral Presentation Award Winners: 1st Place Award: Joel Suss, 3rd Place Award: Bonnie Zwissler

The objective of the colloquium is to give graduate students an in-house opportunity to share and gain experience presenting their research with peers, professionals, and professors among campus.

Detailed feedback from judges will help students enhance their skills in presenting at conferences, as well as providing insights on research methods and techniques.

The Awards Banquet was held on Friday evening February 23. The Graduate School presented several annual awards, including the Exceptional Graduate Student Scholar Award given to Antonio Velazquez, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Outstanding Graduate Student Leader award went to Howard Haselhuhn of Chemical Engineering. The Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award for 2013 was given to Gregory P. Waite of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences. Recipients of Service Award were Jennifer Winikus,Tolga Yapici, and Abhishek Bhavalkar.

Click to see some of the Colloquium and Awards Banquet Photos

Graduate Research Colloquium on February 21 and 22: Presentation Booklet

For more information please visit http://gsg.students.mtu.edu/colloquium.html

Feature article about Family Engineering

The Michigan Science Teachers Association’s Winter 2013 newsletter published a feature article about Family Engineering events hosted by the Michigan Mathematics and Science Centers Network at 58 centers across Michigan during 2012. The hands-on program, designed to make engineering accessible and fun, reached nearly 5,000 elementary school students and their parents last year. It is based on a book titled “Family Engineering Activity & Event Planning Guide,” developed at Michigan Tech and disseminated nationwide. Professor Neil Hutzler (CEE), who founded the program, is quoted. See page 15,
MSTA Winter News.

Guy Meadows, Director of Great Lakes Initiatives

The Great Lakes represent almost 90 percent of the US surface freshwater, with almost one-half of that in Lake Superior alone.

Never before has the Great Lakes basin faced the magnitude of issues and stresses currently in operation—challenges that cut across all branches of science and engineering, from biology to physics, and from social science to management and policy.

Women in STEM: Ada Lovelace Celebration

Michigan Tech held its inaugural celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, an annual event held to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of women to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Tech’s celebration involved a two-day series of events beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 16, in Fisher 139 as Professor Martha Sloan (ECE) and guest speakers Mary Long and Michelle Eggart discuss their experiences as women working in STEM fields.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 8 to 10 p.m., in Fisher 135 there was  a film screening of “The Gender Chip Project” followed by a panel discussion featuring female faculty and graduate students from departments across campus, including Sarah Green, Nina Mahmoudian, Laura Brown, Patty Sotirin and Kaitlyn Bunker, who  discussed their experiences as women in STEM disciplines of academia.

MORE Information

Lake Superior Water Festival

The 2012 Lake Superior Water Festival was held at the Great Lakes Research Center
Friday, October 5, 2012. The Water Festival program
enthralled over 1,000 students in grades 4-8 classes from regional schools, in addition to triggering excitement amongst their teachers and the parent chaperones who accompanied them.

There were a total of 67 presenters volunteering their time throughout the day, in addition to 34 Michigan Tech students who served as guides leading the classes to their various sessions in and around the Great Lakes Research Center. A total of 30 different sessions on a wide range of topics related to Lake Superior and water resources were presented.
Link for photos and videos of Lake Superior Water Festival – www.wupcenter.mtu.edu/education/water_festival