Geological and Mining Engineering and Science News

Category: Students

Department and Museum Represented at Institute on Lake Superior Geology

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Terrace BayTed Bornhorst, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum executive director and interim curator, and Patty Cobin, associate museum manager, attended the 65th annual Institute on Lake Superior Geology held in Terrace Bay, Ontario, May 7-10, 2019.

Cobin was registrar for the 112 attendees of the technical sessions and those who attended one or more of the 8 pre- and post-meeting field trips. Thomas Bodden, a graduate student in geological and mining engineering and sciences department, also attended the meeting. Bodden presented a poster paper, along with co-authors Bornhorst, Florence Begue of University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Chad Deering, assistant professor, geological and mining engineering and sciences.

Bodden’s paper was titled: “Stable isotope composition of calcite precipitated with native copper and other minerals of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan.” Last year Bodden was awarded a small research grant from the Institute on Lake Superior Geology. He received an Eisenbrey student travel award at the conclusion of the meeting to help defray the cost of attending the meeting.

By A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

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Ted Bornhorst Guides Marshall Academy Geologic Field Trip

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The Marshall Academy students pose with Ted Bornhorst.
The Marshall Academy students pose with Ted Bornhorst (left of center).

The Michigan Earth Scientist, journal of the Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association (volume 52, number 4, fall 2018) cites the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum and Ted Bornhorst, executive director, in an article by Richard Green of Marshall Academy which describes a student geologic field trip to northern Michigan.

Field Trip to Northern Michigan: Understanding Geological History by Witnessing It

When we saw a real basalt flow at Houghton the next afternoon, we were lucky enough to be guided by Dr. Theodore Bornhorst, executive director of the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum of Michigan Technological University, and a recognized expert on the continental rift. He introduced the class to words like “vesicles” and “amygdules.”

When we first met Dr. Bornhorst at the Seaman Museum, he guided us through its many galleries, explaining the theme of each one and how that theme was reflected in the different exhibit cases. He also took us to the museum’s rock garden, where the students saw large examples of the rocks they’d previously known only as textbook pictures or small fragments used in their laboratory work. By showing how their physical appearance revealed the way they were created, he made the abstract academic knowledge many had already forgotten perceptible and memorable. We even saw a true specimen of our own Marshall Sandstone for the first time, buried by till where we live and concealed by it.

Read more at The Michigan Earth Scientist, by Richard Green.

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Emily Gochis, Ph.D. Candidate, Appointed As New MiSTEM Director

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Emily Gochis, Ph.D. candidate in GMES has been appointed as the director of the MiSTEM network in Region 16 of Michigan, which covers Keweenaw, Houghton, Ontonagon, Baraga, and Gogebic counties.emilypc

The new regional network, which replaces the Western U.P. Math and Science Center, has been established to form partnerships and strategies that promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and career pathways. These careers are often difficult to experience before a student reaches college when it becomes expensive to explore different career options. Presenting K-12 students with opportunities to experience hands-on STEM applications lets them consider these careers for themselves before making a college choice.

“I’m going out and communicating with anybody and everybody that does anything with science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the region, just trying to connect with all of them in order to create these new opportunities,” Gochis said.

Emily’s PhD advisor, John Gierke, had this to say about the new role that Emily will have in our region’s schools: “While we are certainly proud of Emily’s accomplishments that led to this appointment, we are very happy for the schools of the Western Upper Peninsula and the new opportunities that Emily will facilitate.” Gierke has worked with Emily since she completed her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer and notes that, “Her skills, creativity, and enthusiasm are vast. I am always amazed at her experience in teaching, research and service and how she puts those experiences together in building new educational programs and activities. We are certainly lucky that she is in this new role.”

Read more at the Daily Mining Gazette

 

Pictured: Emily Gochis as a PCV in El Salvador, contributing to our hazards research as car-battery sherpa. The batteries are used to power monitoring equipment on the volcanoes.

 

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Jackie Huntoon on Teaching Earth Science

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Earth Science illustration of pollution.

Michigan Tech Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jacqueline Huntoon was interviewed for the article “The Importance of Teaching Earth Science,” reprinted in teachmag.com. The article originally appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2018 edition of TEACH Magazine.

The Importance Of Teaching Earth Science

Earth science has long been the poor cousin of STEM programs. It takes a back seat to technology and even among the straight sciences, rocks and rivers get short shrift alongside the physical sciences—properties of matter, motion, gravity.

“A lot of the topics that are part of an earth science curriculum are relevant to a person’s daily life,” said Jacqueline Huntoon, provost at Michigan Technological University. She has been helping to develop the new middle school science curriculum Mi-STAR, for Michigan Science Teaching and Assessment Reform.

Her approach relies heavily on hands-on experience.

“In the past students would be asked to memorize 50 different minerals or some set of chemical formulas. That’s not really intriguing or interesting to every kid on the block,” she said. “We like to start with something tangible and concrete, so that all the students can have a shared experience. We’ll look at those ‘helicopter’ seed pods, for example. When you drop them, they spin. Why do they spin? You can make a model of that. You get the kids to figure out as of much of this on their own, with the teacher as a guide, before you start lecturing about the concepts.”

Read more at TEACH Magazine, by Adam Stone.

Jackie Huntoon
Jackie Huntoon
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GMES Faculty and Staff at Governor’s Summit on Extractive Industries

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overnor's Summit on Extractive Industries logoGMES faculty and graduate students participated in the Governor’s Summit on Extractive Industries, which was held in East Lansing on Feb. 13, 2018.

Mining engineering PhD student Amol Painthankar presented a poster titled, “Stochastic Open-pit Optimization Under Volume and Grade Uncertainty,” co-authored by his advisor, Snehamoy Chatterjee (GMES).

The title of the poster presented by MS candidate in mining engineering Fanteri Suparno was, “Risk Quantification in Reserve Estimation: An Application from Indonesian Coal Mine,” which was co-authored by Painthankar and Chatterjee.

Professor and chair John Gierke gave an invited presentation titled, “Michigan’s Universities Prepare Students for Careers in Extractive Industries.”

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Jackie Huntoon on STEM Field Mentoring

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Jackie Huntoon
Jackie Huntoon

HER Magazine quoted Provost Jackie Huntoon in an article on the importance of same-gender mentors for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

The Power Of Gender Peer Mentors

A new study in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that 100% of first-year women engineering students who had women peer mentors remained in the engineering program for the second year.

“I think that all students, not just women, and not just those in STEM, need mentors,” Huntoon says. “If you look like and think like the majority of your professors and classmates, it will be easy for you to find a mentor that you feel comfortable with.”

But, she believes that students in a minority group as a result of their gender, race, country of origin, etc., might need to put forth the extra effort to find the right mentor. “A good mentor is someone who can understand what you want and need and is willing to help you figure out how to achieve your goals,” Huntoon explains. “Mentors for women in STEM do not have to be women in STEM themselves – in fact, some of the best mentors I’ve ever had have been men, and not all of them have been scientists or engineers.”

Read more at HER Magazine, by Terri Williams.

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AIPG Awards Scholarship to Katie Kring

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Katelyn Kring
Katelyn Kring receives the Andrew Mozola Scholarship.

Katie Kring, a third-year student in geological engineering, has received the Andrew Mozola Scholarship from the Michigan section of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). She won for her essay, “Why I Want to be a Geologist.”

Kring first discovered geology when her sophomore high school class visited a Superfund site. Most of the students were bored; Kring says she was fascinated. A summer geology program cemented her interest.

“This past spring semester was the most challenging semester of college I have undertaken to date,” Kring wrote in her prize-winning essay. “My courses included geophysics, structural geology, statics & mechanics of materials and petrology. While the classes were demanding, I did not waver from my desire to become a geologist. In fact, these classes only reinforced my passion.”

She plans to use the AIPG scholarship to fund summer field work. When she finishes her BS in geological engineering, she hopes to work in the mining field.

Students can apply for AIPG membership online.

By Jenn Donovan.

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Huntoon on Diversity in Geosciences

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Jackie Huntoon
Jackie Huntoon

A new report reveals that increasing numbers of women are studying and working in the geosciences, but the field continues to lag in attracting underrepresented groups.

Jackie Huntoon, the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, has previously researched diversity in the geosciences and addresses it head-on in her current role. Increases in race and ethnicity are just not happening, she said.

The number of Ph.D.’s awarded in a field tells an important story because the number indicates what is happening at the leadership levels, according to Huntoon.

Read more at Eos, Earth & Space Science News, by Aaron Sidder.

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Geology Club T’s On Sale Now

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Untitled-1
‘San Andreas isn’t my FAULT’

The Michigan Tech Geology Club is designed to allow students to discover the properties of minerals and geological environments through mineral collection excursions, mine tours, and geologically related field trips.

To order your long sleeve OR short sleeve GeoClub tee today, email Andrew at agdubay@mtu.edu.

For more information on the GeoClub visit: https://https://www.involvement.mtu.edu/organization/geology-club

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