Category: News

Simon Carn on the Tonga Eruption

Simon Carn (GMES) was a guest on a BBC Science In Action podcast episode on January 5, 2023, titled “One year on from the Tonga eruption.”

The episode discussed what made the January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano so powerful and unpacked its long-lasting impacts.

“Amongst all the material ejected by Hunga Tonga was a huge amount of water. The massive water vapour cloud is still present in our atmosphere, as Professor Simon Carn from the Michigan Technological University tells us.”

BBC Science in Action

Addison Goecker Wins Poster Award at AIPG Meeting

Addison Goecker, an applied geophysics senior at GMES, presented her research at the AIPG Michigan Section end-of-year meeting in Ann Arbor on December 8, 2022. Addison’s poster “Tectonically Versus Magmatically Accommodated Extension at Different Mid-Ocean Ridges and Ridge Segment Offsets” won her $500.00 in the student poster contest. Addison worked on this research during her summer internship at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Honolulu) with Prof. Garrett Apuzen-Ito and Dr. Jana Schierjott. Congratulations, Addison!

Addison Goecker at her award-winning poster. 
Addison Goecker discusses her poster with Chuck Graff (MS Geology ‘91), a Senior Geologist with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Addison Goecker (right) with David Adler (Geology ‘82), the industry sponsor of the GMES AIPG Student Chapter, and Sienna Meekhof (Mining Engineering ‘21).

A Note from the Chair

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Alumni,

Greetings from the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences at Michigan Tech! I hope that this newsletter finds you well and in good spirits.

The second half of the year 2022 has brought our Department new challenges, but also achievements and successes. 

Professor Aleksey Smirnov, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

First and foremost, I am proud to report that, after some hiatus, we inducted eight (!) new members to our Academy of Geological and Mining Engineers and Scientists. I hope you will join me in congratulating David Adler ‘82, Daniel Farrell ’60, Mary Herrmann-Foley ’83, Terre Lane ’82, Julie (Varichak) Marinucci ’02, Richard Saccany ’71, Brian Schwanitz ’77, and Todd Stone ’85! The Induction Ceremony, held on October 14, was a success and well-attended. In particular, we were happy to see the current academy members Catherine Aimone-Martin, Suzanne Beske-Diehl and Jimmy Diehl, William Brice, Karl Burgher, Gerald Carlson, Richard Gray, Catherine Dummer McRae, and Bill Rose. The festivities continued the next day with a Director’s Tour of the Mineral Museum and apple pressing at Professor John Gierke’s farm. Everyone had a good time. I would like to praise Brittany Buschell, our Department Coordinator, whose diligent work was instrumental in the success of this event. I intend to preserve the biennial cycle of the Academy from now on.

The success of our department is ultimately measured by the success of our students, and it is no secret that we’ve been blessed with more than our fair share of capable, dedicated, enthusiastic individuals who’ve been very successful in their classes and professional development. Just to give you a small sampling of these successes—our student chapter of the American Institute of Professional Geologists won the nationwide Student Chapter of the Year Award, not just one time, but three times in a row! Our mining engineering senior, Jake Maxon won the highly prestigious national Lord Bagri Scholarship Award from the Copper Club. It’s the second time in a row the award goes to our students.

In addition, our geology majors, Elliz McClelland and Samuel Johnson received the DeCleene Memorial Scholarship awarded by the Copper Country Rock and Mineral Club (CCRMC). Our graduate students get awards, too. For example, Beth Bartel was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) and the prestigious Smithsonian Institute Fellowship. Beth was also featured in the book, Quake Chasers: 15 Women Rocking Earthquake Science—check it out!

Increasing undergraduate and graduate enrollment to full capacity is one challenge that remains. We have been active in our recruitment efforts. We recently developed an articulation agreement with the Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) for our Geology and Applied Geophysics programs. We plan to complete similar agreements for our Geological Engineering and Mining Engineering degree programs soon. I am especially grateful to Luke Bowman, research professor and recruitment director, for his meticulous and efficient work in developing these initiatives. So far we have been able to withstand national enrollment trends, even slightly increasing our numbers this year. But much more remains to be done. 

We are dedicated to providing students with the greatest possible opportunity to succeed—something we can only do with the best faculty, staff, equipment, facilities, and scholarship opportunities. Your generosity makes our goal of providing truly excellent undergraduate and graduate experiences a reality, as we educate the scientists and engineers of the future, while still meeting the needs of today’s employers.

We especially need your help to support incoming and current students. This can be done in a variety of ways:  funding undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships; helping us to incorporate modern instrumentation and software in the classroom and field; developing new opportunities for the professional development of our students; and extending our efforts to offer a cutting-edge, quantitative, digital-age curriculum. You can find more information here, or contact me via email, at asmirnov@mtu.edu.

On behalf of all of our students, faculty, and staff, I want to express our deepest gratitude to those of you who have provided support to our department, by sharing your experience and expertise, providing professional opportunities to our students, or offering monetary and logistical support. As always, we welcome all new ideas and inquiries, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Alumni and friends are always welcome in person, too! Feel free to stop by the department office (room 630) on the 6th floor of the Dow Building whenever you are in Houghton. We would be very pleased to meet with you and arrange a tour of the teaching and research laboratories during your visit. Meanwhile, I invite you to stay connected to the department via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Aleksey Smirnov
Professor and Chair
Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences


Pictured here: Canyon Falls, L’Anse, Michigan

Congratulations Graduates!

Commencement at Michigan Tech–it’s coming up on December 17, 2023

The Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences would like to congratulate our Class of 2022 Summer and Fall graduates. We are proud of you and wish you the very best of luck in your next chapter. 

Summer 2022

  • Brock Howell – MS Geological Engineering, advised by Dr. John Gierke
Brock Howell
Brock Howell
  • Nelmary Rodriguez Sepulveda – MS Geology, advised by Dr. Simon Carn
Nel Rodriguez Sepulveda

Fall 2022

  • Poorva Kadrolli – MS Mining Engineering, advised by Dr. Snehamoy Chatterjee
Poorva Kadrolli
Poorva Kadrolli
  • Emily (Street) Voght – BS Mining Engineering
Emily (Street) Voght
Emily (Street) Voght
  • Fletcher McGuire – BS Applied Geophysics
Fletcher McGuire
  • Austin Riggs – BS Applied Geophysics
Austin Riggs

Simon Carn on the Mauna Loa Volcano Eruption

Great @planet imagery from December 1 showing #MaunaLoa #lava flows crossing the road to the @NOAA_ESRL Mauna Loa Observatory (home of the @Keeling_curve), and the active Fissure 3 with its gas plume and shadow. At this time the active flow front was ~5 km from the Saddle Road. For more posts like this, follow Prof. Simon Carn on Twitter, @simoncarn.

The world’s largest active volcano—Hawaii’s Mauna Loa—has been quiet for the past four decades. But in November 2022, the volcano began to stir.

Some cloud cover on November 28 scattered light from the eruption and urban areas and made it more diffuse. “It also looks like the lava emitted by the eruption was so bright that the sensor was saturated, producing a ‘post-saturation recovery streak’ along the VIIRS scan to the southeast,” noted Simon Carn, a volcanologist at Michigan Tech. “These streaks are only seen over very intense sources of visible radiation.”

“The eruption is effusive rather than explosive, although its initial phase overnight on November 28 was quite energetic and injected some sulfur dioxide to high altitudes, possibly all the way to the tropopause,” said Carn. “That is unusual for this type of eruption.”

Read more at NASA Earth Observatory, or follow Simon Carn on Twitter, @simoncarn.

Related

Beth Bartel Receives the NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

Beth Bartel, a geology doctoral student at the Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Department, receives the NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. NAGT recognizes outstanding teaching assistants in geoscience education.

“Teaching at Tech has been a fantastic learning experience. GMES assigned me to courses I could contribute to from my particular academic and professional experience—and yet, I have learned how much more I still have to learn in these subjects, through the planning of courses, the lead instructors, grading, and the students,” Bartel says.

“Coming into my PhD, I was curious whether I would enjoy teaching a semester-long course after having only recently taught short courses and workshops,” she adds.

“I love it!

“I appreciate being able to support students, come up with creative ways to engage students, and take time to explore material together.”

Beth Bartel pictured at Fuego Volcano, Guatemala.

MTU Students Receive DeCleene Scholarships from the Copper Country Rock and Mineral Club

Pictured left to right: Elliz McClelland, Sam Johnson, and George Schriver, president, Copper Country Rock and Mineral Club.

Geology majors Elliz McClelland, a senior, and Sam Johnson, a junior, were awarded the DeCleene Memorial Scholarship by the Copper Country Rock and Mineral Club (CCRMC). This scholarship is for students in the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences at Michigan Tech who have demonstrated academic achievement, and best exemplify the blending of mineralogy and mineral collecting as both a hobby and an educational pursuit.

This fund was established in memory of Nathan DeCleeene, a geological engineering student and an active member of the CCRMC.

Eight new members inducted to GMES Academy

The Michigan Tech Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences (GMES) inducted eight alumni into the GMES Academy on October 14, 2022. Held in the Great Lakes Research Center overlooking the fall foliage, sixty-two people were in attendance at the invite-only induction ceremony, including faculty, staff, current Academy members, and select students. The Academy honors alums who have made a significant impact in their professions and others who have made extraordinary contributions to the department’s advancement.

Celebrations continued on October 15 with a tour of the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum led by curator Dr. John Jaszczak, followed by a pasty luncheon and apple pressing hosted by the Gierke Blueberry Farm.

The 2022 GMES Academy members include:

David Adler ‘82 B.S. Geology
Daniel Farrell ‘60 B.S. Mining Engineering
Mary Herrmann-Foley ‘83 B.S. Geological Engineering
Terre Lane ‘82 B.S. Mining Engineering
Julie (Varichak) Marinucci ‘02 B.S. Mining Engineering
Richard Saccany ‘71 B.S. Mining Engineering
Brian Schwanitz ‘77 B.S. Applied Geophysics
Todd Stone ‘85 B.S. Geological Engineering

Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition to Dave, Dan, Mary, Terre, Julie, Rich, Brian, and Todd. You are all an inspiration to all of us!

GMES gives special thanks to those who made the event possible: MUB Catering, Great Lakes Research Center, Copper Island Engraving, Jim’s Foodmart, Audra Morse, Shelle Sandell, John Jaszczak, A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Protea Floral, Roy’s Bakery, Tony’s Kitchen, John & Lynn Gierke, and Dean Callahan’s support and high-level snapshot into the future of Michigan Tech.

Erika Vye Presents on Geoheritage Education in the Keweenaw

Erika Vye (GLRC/GMES) delivered an invited presentation (virtually) titled “Place, Partnerships, and Practice – Geoheritage Education Initiatives in Michigan’s Keweenaw Region” during the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GS), held October 9–12, 2022.

Vye and co-author Bill Rose (GMES) were invited to present as part of a Pardee Keynote Symposia titled “Geoheritage: Connecting Our Stories to Earth’s History.”

Pardee Keynote Symposia are special events of broad interest to the geoscience community. Examples of topics include those on the leading edge in a scientific discipline or area of public policy and those that address broad fundamental problems, provide new interdisciplinary insights, or focus on global problems.

Abstract

The Keweenaw Peninsula in Upper Michigan sits at the heart of the Midcontinent Rift and is renowned for the world’s largest accessible native copper deposit and Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake on Earth. The geologic underpinnings of the Keweenaw have fostered relationships with land and water for millennia and has imbued our place with significant sites that provide opportunity to broaden both Earth science and cultural literacy. Geoheritage offers opportunities to learn from the many stories, the issues impacting our community, and opportunities for sustainable economic development – all rooted in Earth systems processes.

Read more at GSA Connects 2022, by Erika Vye and Bill Rose.

Emily Street on Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Scholarships

Emily Street
Emily Street

Undergraduate Emily Street (mining engineering) was quoted by Mining Engineering Online, the official publication of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME), in a story about the impact of SME scholarships on the recipients and their futures in the mining industry.

In April, Street was awarded two academic scholarships by SME: the SMEF/MMSA Presidential Scholarship and the Gerald V. Henderson Memorial Scholarship.

She heard about SME scholarships through SME e-mails and through her advisor, Dr. Nathan Manser. “Dr. Manser always offers to write recommendations and encourages students to join SME,” said Street.

Related