Researchers from CAR, the Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, visited Michigan Tech on Thursday, September 3. Valerie Sathe Brugerman and Greg Schroeder from the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor discussed CAR’s research areas and potential collaborations in several sessions on campus.
The visit is co-sponsored by the School of Forestry and Environmental Science, and the College of Engineering.
The Pavlis Honors College and the Office of Innovation and Industry Engagement held a workshop for faculty, staff and students to consider participating in an Innovation Corps (I-Corps) workshop, offered through the NSF funded I-Corps Sites Program. This workshop offered a valuable opportunity to advance technology-focused business start-up ideas towards commercialization and follow up on funding through SBIR, STTR and private investment. The program is also open to community innovators.
The workshop was conducted in August over a four-week period. Participants also worked on customer discovery. The team-based program structure is similar to the national program that NSF has developed with the help of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs for early-stage technology start-ups. This was a great opportunity for teams to determine and document the commercial potential of their technology through customer discovery using the Business Model Canvas and Lean Start-up technique.
Graduates of this I-Corps Site Program workshop will be better positioned to successfully apply to the National I-Corps program, and graduates of the national program have gone on to achieve higher rates of SBIR/STTR awards than the general population. The program is transformative based on how they approach their research, teaching and other projects they engage in.
The teaching team included Jim Baker, John Diebel and Mary Raber, all of whom have been involved as leaders of technology startups, have participated in the NSF I-Corps training as mentors and who have been trained in the Lean Start-up methodology. Also a team of mentors experienced in the start-up process were available to help navigate the customer discovery process.
The National Science Foundation just released their RFP for Engineering Research Centers with a Letter of Intent deadline of Sept. 25. Teams are already discussing ideas, so an open networking/pitch social session was held campus community involved. The session was at the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge with snacks and drinks provided.
According to the NSF, the goal of the ERC Program is to integrate engineering research and education with technological innovation to transform national prosperity, health and security. ERCs create an innovative, inclusive culture in engineering to cultivate new ideas and pursue engineering discovery that achieves a significant science, technology and societal outcome within the 10-year timeframe of NSF support.
For more information, visit the National Science Foundation or the Engineering Research Centers. Contact Adrienne Minerick, associate dean of research and innovation, College of Engineering at minerick@mtu.edu with any questions.
Invitation Flyer: RFPERC PDF
GoodCall, a website of consumer-oriented education news, published an article about how women can land a job in STEM fields, featuring tips from Associate Professor Adrienne Minerick (ChE), associate dean of Michigan Tech’s College of Engineering.
Read the whole article at Good Call
In addition, GoodCall, a website offering consumer and student advice, quoted Professor Adrienne Minerick (CoE), associate dean for research and innovation in Michigan Tech’s College of Engineering, on why engineering is a STEM degree in high demand among employers. See the website for more information.
In October 2011, heavy rainfall poured down the sides of El Salvador’s San Vicente Volcano, nearly four feet of water in 12 days. Coffee plantation employees, working high up on the volcano’s slope began noticing surface cracks forming on steep slopes and in coffee plantations. Cracks herald landslides—places where the wet, heavy upper layers, saturated with water, slide over the less-permeable rocky layers underneath. The workers radioed downslope, keeping close tabs on the rainfall gauge network.
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Troy Bouman reaches over, presses play, and the loudspeaker sitting on the desk starts playing the university fight song. But this is no ordinary loudspeaker. This is a carbon nanotube transducer—and it makes sound with heat.
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by Joan Chadde
The beauty and bounty of Lake Superior was celebrated Sunday at the Third Annual Lake Superior Day in Copper Harbor. Community volunteers, along with the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, organized the festival with lots of special activities at the 6th Street Dock along the Copper Harbor Boardwalk. Activities included:
Community picnic
Canoe races and kayak demonstrations
Interactive art (paint the model freighter)
Remotely-Operated-Vehicle demonstrations by Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center
Presentation on the health of Lake Superior by Great Lakes scientist Martin Auer (CEE)
Live music, poetry and more
From 1-4 p.m. a special highlight was the opportunity for festival attendees to find out how scientists study the Great Lakes by taking a 40-minute scientific excursion aboard Michigan Tech’s research vessel, Agassiz. The excursions are part of the Ride the Waves Program funded by a grant from General Motors.
Lake Superior Day is celebrated throughout the Lake Superior basin on or close to the third Sunday in July in many communities around Lake Superior. Learn more about Lake Superior Day events around the lake.
Federal regulations are challenging automakers to wring as many miles as possible from every drop of fuel, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to make lighter vehicles. Last year, one of the world’s leading auto industry suppliers enlisted a Senior Design team at Michigan Technological University to help it do just that.
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A single drop of blood is teeming with microorganisms—imagine if we could see them, and even nanometer-sized viruses, with the naked eye. That’s a real possibility with what scientists call a “perfect lens.” The lens hasn’t been created yet, but it is a theoretical perfected optical lens made out of metamaterials, which are engineered to change the way the materials interact with light.
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Nearly 100 community members went home on Saturday afternoon with a greatly enhanced understanding of Great Lakes science and were inspired to care for the lake. Several youth are super engaged now and want to learn more.
This was the 10th year at the Strawberry Festival, and the outreach program continues to reach new people locally and visitors to the area! 7 excursions went out on the Agassiz.
Here are a few highlights from the evaluation responses:
“The Agassiz program is great as is; no improvement needed!”
“Fun & educational”
“New info they learned—many said plankton & bloodworms”
“Importance of good quality water”
“Share info with others, will teach my children & grandchildren, encourage them to take care of our water resources”
“This sounds like a type of job that I’d like to do when I’m older” (13 years old)
“Excellent!”
“How to save the Great Lakes ecosystem”
“Would like to learn more about interdependence & effects on other organisms”
The outreach program shows ‘How do scientists assess the health of Lake Superior’ as the focus of these free scientific excursions that were offered at the Strawberry Festival.
The public was invited to sign up for FREE 40-minute scientific excursions aboard Michigan Tech’s research vessel Agassiz.
On each scientific excursion, a Dr. Marty Auer, an MTU Great Lakes scientist, demonstrated the use of sampling equipment to collect plankton and sediment, evaluate water clarity, temperature, and turbidity that tell us about the health of the lake, i.e. Chassell Bay. Participants saw the connection between land uses and the health of the Great Lakes.
Remotely-Operated-Vehicle (ROV) demonstrations were also be conducted from the Chassell Marina dock throughout the afternoon.
“Copper Country residents and visitors are encouraged to learn how scientists study the Great Lakes and what factors contribute to a healthy lake,” explains Joan Chadde, education program director. “These scientific excursions for the public have been offered at the Strawberry Festival since 2006 and have been extremely popular. Youth and adults enjoy the opportunity to interact with Great Lakes scientists and get their questions answered.”
The event is coordinated by the Western U.P. Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education and Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center. This year, the program is funded by the GM Ride the Waves Program putting more than 500 Copper Country youth and adults on the water each year to learn about the Great Lakes and promote STEM careers, along with support from the Michigan Tech Center for Water & Society, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, and the Chassell Lions Club.
Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics & Environmental Education: http://wupcenter.mtu.edu/
Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center http://greatlakes.mtu.edu/
Michigan Tech Center for Water & Society http://www.mtcws.mtu.edu/
Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative http://lakesuperiorstewardship.org/
