College of Engineering Blog

Category: Outreach

World Water Day 2019 Addresses Human Rights

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Monica Lewis-Patrick
Monica Lewis-Patrick

HOUGHTON — Water should be considered a basic human right, said Monica Lewis-Patrick. But in many cases, its commodification has made reliable access out of reach of struggling households.

Lewis-Patrick, the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of We the People of Detroit, delivered the keynote address Monday, March 25, 2019, as part of Michigan Technological University’s celebration of World Water Day.

Addressing the prospective engineers in the room, Lewis-Patrick urged them to move beyond mere equations and schematics.

“What we know, is that if you will serve humanity, and you begin your conversations for solving those problems with talking to the most impacted community first, I think we can get to these solutions much quicker and with fewer casualties,” she said.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

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A Day in the Life Video Competition Spring 2019

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A Day in the Life of a Michigan Tech Student

A Day in the Life of a Michigan Tech Student

Student Video Competition Spring 2019

  • Submit your Day in the Life video by April 2!
  • Win cash prizes—up to $5,000 awarded!
  • 2-5 minutes in length.
  • Students in all majors are welcome to compete.
  • Competition is now open to Michigan Tech graduate students!

SUBMIT VIDEO

A Day in the Life Announcement Video
A Day in the Life Announcement Video

Enrolled Michigan Tech undergraduate students are invited to participate in a new campus-wide video competition. Give us a glimpse into your day as a Michigan Tech student. Create a short video with highlights and interesting moments that capture some of the essence of your activities in this unique environment.

  • Competition opens March 18, 2019.
  • Submission closes midnight April 2, 2019.

There will be multiple $300 and $100 prizes, up to $5,000 in total.

The aim is to generate a Day in the Life for all majors, reflecting a diversity of perspectives. Clean humor, tenacity, fun—the Tech experience!

Participants are asked to read the guidelines and follow the rules.

Rules

  1. The competition is open to full-time undergraduate students in all majors and to all full-time graduate students in all programs.
  2. Record your video March 18 – 29, 2019.
  3. Use only original footage which you own.
  4. Observe licensing requirements for audio effects.
  5. Videos should be 2-5 minutes in length.
  6. Videos must be in a standard format: MP4 or MOV.
  7. Use a horizontal or landscape orientation.
  8. Videos should be high definition: 720p or 1080p.
  9. Do not video people who request not to be in your video.
  10. Participants are responsible for arranging interviews or obtaining permission for in-class recording.
  11. Upload your video to your Michigan Tech Google Drive for proper sharing and authentication.
  12. Only one submission per student is allowed.
  13. The due date is April 2, 2019, by midnight.
  14. The University or College of Engineering may edit your winning video and use it in marketing platforms.
  15. Winning participants are asked to cooperate with follow-up clarifications on captioning or transcripts.

Guidelines

  1. Use your own video camera. A camera phone is fine.
  2. Introduce yourself in the video. First name only is OK.
  3. Use your own voice and style. If you are looking for guidance on tone and message, the Michigan Tech Brand Guide is available.
  4. The mood of the video should be light. Include humor and surprises!
  5. Participants can utilize a team or group for this video project, but only the focus student will be contacted or awarded.
  6. You can get help with video editing.
  7. Show student activities, dorm life, the local area, and campus.
  8. Be realistic and optimistic. Have clean fun.

Video Sharing

  1. To find Google Drive, login to your Michigan Tech gmail and go to https://drive.google.com/.
  2. Choose + New in the upper left corner and select File upload.
  3. Upload the video and select it.
  4. Choose the person + icon in the upper right corner (Share).
  5. Choose Get shareable link.
  6. Choose Copy link.
  7. Submit that as the Link to Video on Google Drive in the submission form.

Hosted by the College of Engineering with sponsorship from schools and departments across campus. Contact engineering@mtu.edu with questions.

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Western UP Science Fair this Tuesday at Tech: Free, fun, hands-on activities for K-8 students

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Prepare to be amazed! Here, a member of Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers hand out samples of “shattered” graham crackers frozen with liquid nitrogen. Not pictured: the exciting result. Eat a small bite, exhale, and poof! You’ve got ‘dragon breath’!

The Western UP Science Fair and Science & Engineering Festival will be on campus at Michigan Tech, on Tuesday, March 19, from 4:30-7:30 pm.

All students in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan— kindergarten through the 8th grade, and their families—are invited to attend the Science & Engineering Festival from 4:30-7:30 pm, Tuesday, March 19 in the Memorial Union Building Commons (ground floor) at Michigan Tech. 

More than 60 Michigan Tech students from 15 Michigan Tech student organizations will engage participants in fun, hands-on engineering, physics, and chemistry activities, including Remotely Operated Vehicles, Fish Tank Fiber Optics, a K’NEX Wind-powered Water Lift, and Tracks & Trains. Design an egg package with toothpicks and marshmallows. Design and shoot a straw rocket! Make some Gel-o that mimics human tissue! Make art with glow in the dark paints! How about glitter slime and popsicle stick flashlights? More than 30 different fun things to try!

Schedule & Event Flyer

4:30-7:30 pm   Activity Stations open to the public (K-8 students and families)

5:00-6:00 pm    Public viewing of science fair projects in the Ballroom (2nd floor)

2019 STEM Festival-FLYER 031919

Don’t miss this super-fun event! The stellar list of Michigan Tech student organizations include:

  • FIRST Robotics Houghton Middle School
  • Society of Physics Student Chapter
  • Engineering Ambassadors                                         
  • Railroad Engineering Activities Club
  • Materials United – Materials Science Engineering
  • Women in Natural Resources
  • Society of Women Engineers
  • MTU Sustainability House
  • Dollar Bay SOAR
  • Mind Trekkers
  • Society of Environmental Engineering
  • Optics & Phototonics Society
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Keweenaw Rocket Range
  • Tau Beta Pi

For more information: Joan Chadde, 906-487-3341 or jchadde@mtu.edu

Michigan Tech Hosts STEM Festival & Science Fair

Hundreds of Keweenaw area students visited the campus of Michigan Tech Tuesday as they took part in all sorts of fun and games, and all in the name of “Science.”

“We have some new organizations: the Keweenaw Rocketry Club, Biomedical Engineering is here, the Society of Physics students always come out and they have a lot of fun,” said Chadde.

Read more at the Keweenaw Report.

Michigan Technological University hosts 21st Annual Western Upper Peninsula Science Fair and STEM Festival

“What we want the students to see is how much fun science, technology, engineering, and math are,” said MTU Center for Science and Environmental Outreach director Joan Chadde. “They’re also interacting with some great role models.”

Projects from the fair that earn enough points will receive gold, silver, or bronze ribbons. All ribbon winners will be able to present their project at the Carnegie Museum in Houghton this April.

Read more and watch the video at Upper Michigan’s Source, by Tyler J. Markle.

Science Fair: Michigan Tech hosts 21st annual festival

“At this event we want to get kids interested in rocketry. That’s actually one of our mission statements for the organization,” said Dan Faber, vice president of the Keweenaw Rocket Range.

Younger students who want to join an organization before college were welcome to talk to the FIRST Robotics team, a robotics group for K-12 students.

Read more at the Mining Gazette.

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Acoustics—Michigan Tech is Listening!

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I’ve been thinking about acoustics lately, after learning about some of the sound-focused interdisciplinary research and learning that engage Michigan Tech faculty.

Cool Sound, Hot Speakers
For example, mechanical engineering Prof. Andrew Barnard (Sound Man) has students working on developing flexible and stretchable nanotube speakers—no moving parts, weighing next to nothing. His popular technical elective: Acoustics and Noise Control is a hands-on course where mechanical engineering seniors solve technical problems, such as designing noise suppression devices and systems.

“I was a musician, so I was into acoustics without even knowing it,” says Andrew Barnard.

Wireless Underwater Acoustic Communication
In electrical and computer engineering, Prof. Zhaohui Wang has her students investigating underwater (and under-ice) acoustic communication. They use machine learning principles to model, understand, and predict underwater dynamics in real time, node by node.

Zhaohui Wang lowers a node into Lake Superior to test acoustic signals under ice, working with Jamey Anderson of the Great Lakes Research Center.

Volcano Sounds
Seismic and acoustic signals are ways to monitor volcanic activity, and Prof. Greg Waite has his students taking the ‘pulse’ of shallow volcanic eruptions using a combination of sensing instruments and field observation. We have four BS majors focused on the Earth beneath us: Geological Engineering, Geology, Applied Geophysics, and Mining Engineering; all of these fields rely on remote sensing for real-time information.

Greg Waite and his team monitor Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala. It’s very active, with small explosions each day. It can also erupt violently, threatening thousands. With better monitoring, they hope to determine more accurate, and timely, evacuation plans.

Make Sound Amazing
Yet another major focused on sound at Michigan Tech is the BS in Audio Production and Technology degree, which has students producing a radio drama and mixing a new multi-track recording weekly, all in their first year. Prof. Christopher Plummer’s loudspeaker design class is another tech favorite—and students keep the speakers they designed and built.

Student built loudspeakers at Michigan Tech!

There’s no doubt about it—acoustics is a field where a person’s genuine interest in sound can lead to breakthrough ideas and accomplishments that inform the world around us.

Now, if acoustics sounds interesting, and you want to hear more, please let me know—Callahan@mtu.edu.

Janet Callahan, Dean
College of Engineering
Michigan Tech

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Choosing Her Major Takes Two Years for this Dean of Engineering

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Dean Callahan with student
Dean Janet Callahan (left) congratulates an engineering graduate during Fall Commencement at Michigan Tech.

Vague Notions

Like many students, when I started university, I had only a vague notion about what my major would be. So, I selected courses that would count in any major. That first semester I took a university required course, Calculus 1, an elective (choir), and Chemistry 1. In my second semester, I just kept going, with Calc 2, Chemistry 2, another university requirement, and an elective (keyboarding). Soon, that first year led to a second, and by then I had a vague notion of being “pre-med,” knowing that doctors made a good living.

Doing the Work

In my second year I kept taking math (Calc 3 and “Diffy-Qs”) and also took two semesters of Physics with Calculus. It turns out there are two levels of physics, and physics with calculus is the higher level. That year, I also took organic chemistry, which was required for the examination that pre-med students take, the MCAT. I thought Physics would be really hard; I hadn’t had it in high school, but I just kept doing all the homework. This was how I made it through all those math courses, and I did fine. I struggled a bit in Differential Equations but squeaked through that, earning my lowest grade ever (C).

A Revelation

In my fourth semester, I took biology, required for pre-meds, and Holy Cow—I suddenly knew I DIDN’T want to be a doctor. It was just mushy dead frog, and I had no interest in which organ was the kidney. Or actually any interest in frog organs. That precipitated a spate of research, as I needed a major that would yield a job in two more years. Back then—and I assure you this is true—there was no internet, so I headed off to the library. I had three constraints: First, I had to love the major, second, it had to pay well, and third—I needed to be able to finish it in my two remaining years.

Finding the Fit

At the highest range of salaries, I found a major I had never heard of before, “chemical engineering.” Flipping through the university catalog, I found I was actually on track for my junior year, if I could convince someone to override a first-year engineering course prerequisite. I headed over to the chemical engineering department office, and it turned out the person in charge of such things was the department chair. And so I found myself in a meeting with the chemical engineering chair, earnestly explaining why he should let me into two key courses, Unit Operations and Thermodynamics. I had taken all the chemistry and physics, I explained. I had to wear him down a bit, but he finally did let me in the junior year courses, and I was a chemical engineering major! And that is how I came to earn my Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, class of ’83.

If you are a student who is not quite sure what to major in—don’t sweat it. You’ll figure it out over time. And if I can be of help to you along your journey, please let me know—Callahan@mtu.edu

Janet Callahan, Dean
College of Engineering
Michigan Tech

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Judges Needed for Design Expo 2019

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Design Expo students by their posterWe invite you to register to be a judge at the 2019 Design Expo on Thursday, April 18. The Expo highlights hands-on projects from more than 1000 students on Enterprise and Senior Design teams.

Although special expertise is appreciated, judges are not required to be technological specialists or engineers. If you like engaging with students and learning more about the exciting projects they are working on, please consider judging.

Who should judge?

  • Community members
  • Michigan Tech faculty and staff
  • Alumni interested in seeing what today’s students are accomplishing as undergrads
  • Those looking to network with Michigan Tech faculty and students
  • Industry representatives interested in sponsoring a future project

Design Expo is co-hosted by the College of Engineering and the Pavlis Honors College.

If you would like to serve as a judge at this year’s Design Expo, register as soon as possible to let us know you’re coming. Thank you for your continued support.

By Pavlis Honors College and the College of Engineering.

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7th Graders Design a Backpack Reflector

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Michigan Tech’s Blue Marble Security (BMS) Enterprise students have been working with a 7th grade eCYBERMISSION team from Lake Linden-Hubbell High School. The team members are Jenna Beaudoin, Chloe Daniels, Rebecca Lyons, and Olivia Shank.

Their project is to design and test a backpack reflector. The reflector design is being done using NX and is 3D printed. The reflector will have 4 lights that flicker on and off. With with the help of BMS students Tyler and John, they have designed a circuit with 2 IC chips and LED lights. Olivia worked with Tyler on the 3D design, while the other girls worked on their documentation of the circuit. Some of the girls learned how to solder.

eCYBERMISSION is a national science competition for grades 6-9 and is sponsored by the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP).

BMS is advised by Glen Archer, Principal Lecturer and Associate Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering. The eCYBERMISSION team is advised by Gretchen Hein, Senior Lecturer, Engineering Fundamentals and Faculty Adviser, Society of Women Engineers.

BMS eCYBERMISSION girls visit MDOT garage
Visit to Calumet MDOT Garage
BMS and eCYBERMISSION team members at the computer
BMS and eCYBERMISSION Team Members
BMS eCYBERMISSION building a circuit
Building a Circuit
BMS eCYBERMISSION soldering
Soldering
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North Macomb Students Attend Women in Engineering Program

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Women in EngineeringA trio of local students recently had a chance to explore an array of engineering careers through Michigan Technological University’s Women in Engineering program.

The Women in Engineering program is a weeklong look at engineering careers in areas such as mechanical, computer, environmental, electrical, biomedical, civil, geological and materials engineering, school officials said in a news release.

Students accepted into the program received a scholarship that covered room and board, tuition and supplies.

Read more at The Voice, by Emily Pauling.

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Detroit Students Introduced to STEM and Environmental Science Careers

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Environmental CareersFifteen high school students from Detroit and southeast Michigan are exploring natural resources and engineering majors and possible careers at Michigan Tech this week. This is the fourth year that the program has been conducted in conjunction with Tech’s Summer Youth Program.

The students are investigating drinking water treatment, autonomous vehicles, drones, forest biomaterials, soils, wildlife and more with Michigan Tech scientists from mechanical engineering and electrical engineering along with experts from the Michigan DNR and U.S. Forest Service.

The program is coordinated by the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, with funding from Michigan Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, College of Engineering, Admissions, Housing and Residential Life, Great Lakes Research Center and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

By Joan Chadde.

City students learn environmental values during career tour at Tech

HOUGHTON — A group of 13 high school students from Detroit and southeast Michigan spent last week getting a firsthand look at the Copper Country and environmental and engineering programs at Michigan Tech.

Student often come to the program with ideas of careers they are interested in, and many of them aren’t focused on natural resources or ecology, said Lisa Perez from the US Forest Service Urban Connections. However, they typically walk away from the program with new ideas and shifted focus.

Perez and Mike Reed of the Detroit Zoological Society have worked with the students since the program began four years ago.

“It opened their eyes, maybe not to a totally different career path, but it opened their eyes to the fact that they are responsible for the future of the environment,” said Reed.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

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Judges Needed for Design Expo 2018

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Judges and students mingle in front of posters.We invite you to register to be a judge at the 2018 Design Expo on Thursday, April 19. The Expo highlights hands-on projects from more than 600 students on Enterprise and Senior Design teams.

Although special expertise is appreciated, judges are not required to be technological specialists or engineers. If you like engaging with students and learning more about the exciting projects they are working on, please consider judging.

Who should judge?

  • Community members
  • Michigan Tech faculty and staff
  • Alumni interested in seeing what today’s students are accomplishing as undergrads
  • Those looking to network with Michigan Tech faculty and students
  • Industry representatives interested in sponsoring a future project

Design Expo is co-hosted by the College of Engineering and the Pavlis Honors College.

If you would like to serve as a judge at this year’s Design Expo, registeras soon as possible to let us know you’re coming. Thank you for your continued support.

By Pavlis Honors College.

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