A feature article about Research Professor Rolf Peterson and Associate Professor John Vucetich’s research on the wolves and moose of Isle Royale was published in the December 2011 issue of the journal BioScience.
Congratulations to Michael Falkowski, Shekhar Joshi, Linda Nagel, and Tom Pypker for ranking in the top 10% of the student evaluations for the question: “Taking everything into account, I consider this instructor to be an excellent teacher.”
They received scores from 4.89-5.00 on these evaluations for spring semester, 2011. Great job!!
The Biotechnology Research Center has announced the recipients of its fall travel grants:
- Graduate student Tayloria Adams (ChE): $500 toward a poster presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting held in Minneapolis, in October.
- Graduate student Aytug Gencoglu (ChE): $500 toward a podium presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting held in Minneapolis, in October.
- Graduate student Seyyed Hessam Mir Shah Ghassemi (ME-EM): $500 toward a podium presentation at the Electrochemistry 2011 meeting held Boston, in October.
- Undergraduate student Hallie Holmes (Biomedical Engineering): $500 toward a podium presentation at the Biomedical Engineering Society annual meeting held Hartford, Conn., in October.
- Graduate student Beini Jiang (MATH): $500 toward a poster presentation at the WORLDCOMP ’11 Meeting held in Las Vegas, in July.
- Graduate student Robert Larson (KIP): $500 toward a poster presentation at the Experimental Biology 2011 Conference held in Washington, DC, in April.
- Graduate student Kaela Leonard (ChE): $500 toward a podium presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting held in Minneapolis, in October
- Graduate student Saikat Mukhopadhay (Physics): $500 toward a poster presentation at the International Conference on Theoretical and Applied Physics to be held in Kolkata, India, in December.
- Graduate student Haley Rupp (SFRES): $500 toward a poster presentation at the WoW 2011 Symposium held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June.
- Graduate student Alicia Sawdon (ChE): $500 toward a podium presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting held in Minneapolis, in October.
- Graduate student Christopher Schwartz (KIP): $500 toward a poster presentation at the Experimental Biology 2011 Conference held in Washington, DC, in April.
- Graduate student Katherine Snyder (Biomedical Engineering): $500 toward a poster presentation at the ORS 2011 annual meeting held in Long Beach, Calif., in January.
- Graduate student Chungja Yang (ChE): $250 toward a poster presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting held in Minneapolis, in October.
- Graduate student Huan Yang (KIP): $500 toward a poster presentation at the Experimental Biology 2011 conference held in Washington, DC, in April.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Sigrid Resh and co-PI Research Assistant Professor Evan Kane have received $149,397 from the US Department of Energy for a two-year project, Interactive Effects of Climate Change and Decomposer Communities on the Stabilization of Wood-Derived Carbon Pools: Catalyst for a New Study.
| Assistant Professor Audrey Mayer, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and the Department of Social Sciences, was quoted in a news story in the biweekly magazine Science News, commenting on two papers in the journal Science that examined the factors that influence the shift from forests to grasslands. Science published a Perspectives column by Mayer about the research in the same issue of Science. See Trees. |
by John Gagnon, promotional writer
 Professor Kathy Halvorsen has just completed what she calls “the greatest honor” of her career–membership on a select national committee on bioenergy that examined the economic and environmental impacts of increasing biofuels production. Halvorsen, who has a dual appointment in the Department of Social Sciences and the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, served more than a year on the committee, which comprised 16 experts from academia and industry. The committee, part of the National Research Council (NRC), began its deliberations in January of 2010. The NRC is part of the National Academies, which advise the nation on science, engineering and medicine. Halvorsen studies the relationships between people and the environment. She earned a position on the committee because her research has addressed forest policy dimensions of bioenergy development, as well as the attitudes of landowners who would have to supply the feedstock for biofuels. The dialogue among the group was intensive. “We discussed, discussed, and discussed. We wrote, and wrote, and wrote,” Halvorsen said. (The result is a book: see below to download a free copy.) Halvorsen says that biofuels are a decidedly complicated matter. “There are many dimensions intermingled,” she says. They involve energy, agriculture and the environment; they have social and technological implications; they impact an “almost infinite” number of ecological systems around the globe; they affect both the consumers who would use the product and the landowners who would supply the feedstock; simply put, they comprise the “most complex energy source.” How this industry might evolve is murky, for there is no measure; the US doesn’t have the plants to produce advanced cellulosic biofuels on a commercial scale. As well, the initiative is controversial. Halvorsen says, “There are very strong advocates for biofuels. There are equally strong sentiments against biofuels. Some argue that it will reduce greenhouse gases. Others argue the we can’t produce biofuels without negative impacts.” Corn, then, to fuel instead of food? One concern: “Will food costs go up and increase hunger globally?” Yet, the need is paramount: the US imports 55 percent of the nation’s consumption of crude oil and is not on a congressionally-mandated course to achieve a substantial increase in advanced biofuels by 2022. There are a host of uncertainties between now and then, Halvorsen says: * We don’t know much about growing, harvesting and storing cellulosic ethanol feedstock on a commercial scale. * We don’t know how well conversion technologies will work nor what they will cost. * We don’t know how landowners will alter their production strategies. In sum, she says, “It’s impossible at this point to come up with quantitative answers to these questions.” One certainty: the drivers for expanding this technology include crude oil prices; feedstock costs and availability; appropriate and efficient technology; changes in land use; and government policy. Halvorsen sums up the committee’s work as having framed the dialogue: “Our hope is that this scientific evaluation sheds some light on the heat of the debate, as we have delineated the issues and the consequences as we see them, together with all the inherent uncertainty.” The NRC committee’s report is titled, “Renewable Fuel Standard: Potential Economic and Environmental Effects of US Biofuel Policy.” To download a free copy, see Biofuels. |
Assistant Professor Andrew Burton and co-PI Jennifer Eikenberry have received $491 from the US Geological Survey for a three-month project, 13C Analysis of Marine Sediments.
Assistant Professor Robert Froese and co-PI Associate Professor Linda Nagel have received $30,000 from the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement Inc. for a project, Evaluating the Long Term Effect of Logging Residue Harvest in Great Lakes Aspen Stands.
Graduate student Brenda Bergman and second year student Ashley Dennis have received a $100 scholarship from the Michigan Alliance for Environmental & Outdoor Education (MAEOE) to attend the annual MAEOE conference in Bay City that will be Oct. 7-9, 2011. Learn more about the Michigan Alliance for Environmental & outdoor Education.
The Michigan Chapter of the Association of Consulting Forestry has been honored by the national association as the best in the country for 2011, and Michigan Tech alumni helped make it happen in a big way.
According to Michigan chapter chair Justin Miller ’00, 60 to 70 percent of the members are Tech alumni (including four of Miller’s employees in his Upper Peninsula consulting business). The ACF honored Michigan “as the state chapter that displays the highest level of commitment to the promotion and practice of professional consulting forestry.”
“We have a very active group of twenty-five to thirty,” Miller says. “The Michigan chapter is also hosting the 2012 national conference in Grand Rapids, and we are doing this all in our free time as volunteers.” That’s tough duty for a group who makes its living in the woods.
STIHL Inc. sponsored the national award for the first time this year and netted the Michigan chapter $750. “We plan on using the money to promote forestland management and forest consultancy,” Miller says.
“We need to increase the awareness of the consultancy profession, especially among private landowners,” Miller adds. “People need to know that ACF members are legitimate consultants with experience and education. We want to be better known in Lansing, too.”
For example, Miller says, state or county consultants may be hired by private landowners for consulting and land management work, but, “if their funds run out, the landowners can be left high and dry.”
Consulting foresters can help landowners with a management plan that maximizes their return on investment, Miller says, not only by helping them decide what to do with their land, but by helping with the bidding process and marketing of their resources.
The award to the Michigan Chapter is a reflection of this dedication, Miller says. “It helps give the state of Michigan and consultants in general a plug. We have qualified, experienced consultants all over the state.”
And most have a Tech seal of approval on their 4WDs.