The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:
As they study their fields, graduate science students also need to learn to be good communicators about science. So says the National Science Foundation (NSF).
So Professor Alex Mayer, who has dual appointments in the civil and environmental engineering department and the geological and mining engineering and sciences department, developed a graduate fellowship program–funded by NSF–to help PhD students learn to communicate science to school children and the general public.
This year, PhD students Brenda Bergman, in forest science, and Valoree Gagnon, in environmental and energy policy, chose to develop a news release about the controversy over mining in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and around the nation. Here is their news release:
As mining is resurging in North America, debates across the continent over mines are simplified: “Do we prioritize jobs or the environment? Companies or communities?” These are worthy debates. Yet should the issue of mining really be reduced to “pro-con” statements?
Michigan Tech experts from a wide range of disciplines say no. “The worst type of communication has to do with the simplification of the mining issues. I think the biggest problem is creation of polar opposites so that one has to choose between employment or environmental and health protection” says Carol MacLennan, an environmental anthropologist who has studied mining communities for almost a decade. “Characterizing it that way is very destructive because you’re never forced to confront the complexity of the issue.”
How are members of the general public expected to understand such a complex issue? Answers from Michigan Tech scientists focus on two solutions: education and improved communication between scientists and the public.
According to Craig Waddell, an associate professor of humanities who has studied public participation in environmental disputes, “If you want to prepare a broader range of people to participate, they need to know how to address scientific arguments, how to assess disputes within the scientific community, what counts as evidence and how we evaluate whether or not that evidence is valid.”
MacLennan believes that scientists have an obligation to communicate with the public: “Too often, scientists think about things in terms of ‘furthering knowledge,’ and that, by implication, is a public good. It’s just that it’s often not clear–how is it a public good? How is it publically useful? And you have to always be thinking about different publics–and there are different publics–how are they interested or concerned in the particular work you’re doing?”
For the full story, see Mining.
CBS Detroit and the Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report also featured the story about Brenda Bergman and Valoree Gagnon. See Mining Dispute to view the article.
Published in Tech Today.
The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:
The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library from the following programs:
World Water Day was recently observed at Michigan Tech with a variety of events including a poster session. Several graduate students were honored with awards including:
Read more about the events and see photographs of the award recipients online.
Michigan Tech has instituted a new fellowship program for graduate students who have served in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or the military.
In its first semester of operation, the National Service Graduate Fellowship covers as much as 30 percent of tuition, but its benefits extend beyond financial assistance.
“Through this program, we are getting more nontraditional students to campus who bring a different perspective to the classroom,” said Professor Blair Orr (SFRES). “They have a lot to contribute from their experiences.”
Orr is in charge of Tech’s Peace Corps Master’s International program, one of the three programs involved in the initiative.
Lt. Col. Kerry Beaghan, of the Air Force ROTC program, agrees that the type of student the program attracts is “very atypical.”
“They’re older military personnel, who maybe tried college earlier in their lives,” she says. “Or they might have enlisted right out of high school, and now they are interested in an education and must juggle family and school and financing. This program helps them.”
For the military personnel, the new post-911 GI Bill includes a housing allowance at some schools and, depending on the level of the service, their spouses or children might also benefit from the tuition reduction, Beaghan says.
In the planning for the military component of the fellowship, Beaghan credits Dallas Eubanks, former head of Michigan Tech’s Army ROTC, for his help in crafting this new program.
“We had to decide whom do we include and what to include,” she says.
Natiffany Mathews, a master’s student in industrial archaeology, did her AmeriCorps service on the New Mexico/Texas border, in poor school districts, and she chose Michigan Tech because of the fellowship and the opportunity to teach and do research.
“It’s been a different type of experience–awesome–especially the teaching,” she says. “With college courses, we are constantly changing things up. It’s very dynamic.”
Overall, the fellowship was paramount for her. “I don’t think I could have come here without it,” she says. “We needed the extra funding, and my husband was having trouble finding work here. We had expenses moving here, too.”
She had visited the area previously and fell in love with the people, especially Associate Professor Tim Scarlett (Social Sciences), and the industrial archaeology program. Another draw: Tech treated her in a fair and timely manner. “Another school never returned my phone calls and was always slow responding to emails.”
Jacque Smith, director of marketing for the Graduate School, says the fellowship fills a gap. “Graduate students in programs that focus primarily on career preparation, instead of research, often have to fund more of their education themselves. As the costs keep increasing, it can become harder for these students to attend grad school.”
Mariah Maggio, who was in Peace Corps Masters International Program and is a recipient of a fellowship, didn’t have any viable options to return to graduate school two years after her volunteer service in the Philippines ended.
“With the limited financial resources resulting from life as a Peace Corps volunteer, followed by work with a grassroots international organization, the fellowship was a decisive factor in my being able to enroll in Tech’s environmental policy master’s program,” she explains.
Maggio is thankful that the fellowship recognizes her service. As well, she adds, being a returned Peace Corps volunteer on the campus is a very rich experience because of the community and camaraderie that exist among those who have volunteered.
“You can not only reflect on your experience with fellow returned volunteers, but you also engage with prospective volunteers and really build on the work the Peace Corps is doing,” she says.
“We are fortunate that Tech recognizes returned Peace Corps volunteers as eligible candidates for the fellowship,” she adds. “To be valued after volunteering in such a way that supports returning to graduate school is an amazing initiative of this University and reinforces the ideal that Michigan Tech is playing an important role in fostering leaders for a global future.”
Jacqueline Huntoon, dean of the Graduate School, says the fellowship helps the University achieve its strategic plan, which includes an effort to attract students who bring diverse perspectives to the campus and the program.
“They demonstrate to others the opportunities for providing service to their communities, the nation and the world,” she concludes.
by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
Published in Tech Today
The Graduate School is pleased to announce new theses and dissertations from the following programs:
are now available in the J.R. van Pelt and Opie Library.
At its regular meeting July 15, the Board gave final approval for Tech to offer two new PhD degrees, one in environmental and energy policy and another in geophysics.
The Board also:
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a 3-year, $3 million grant to the Hydro Research Foundation. Approximately 25 fellowships will be awarded as early as June 2010 and will continue for two academic years.
Fellowship includes: Up to $26,000 living stipend, $2,000 annual honorarium for professor supervising fellow’s work, up to $16,900 allowance for tuition & university-sponsored health insurance, and attendance at 3 Hydro Fellows Roundtables.
Eligibility: Students who are American citizens and who will complete their Master’s by June 2012 or their Doctorate degree by June 2013 are eligible to apply. Applications will be accepted from students who will be conducting research directly related to hydropower in the fields of engineering, environmental and biologic science, or regulatory/economics.
Details available at www.hydrofoundation.org
If interested in applying please contact Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu).
Published in Tech Today
The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) held its fifth annual poster session and banquet in the Rozsa Lobby last Friday.
“The event offered SFI students, staff and faculty an opportunity to review some of the many successes throughout the year,” reports Denise Heikinen.
Professor Alex Mayer (GMES) and Professor Michael Mullins (Chemical Engineering) were recognized as 2009 distinguished fellows for their long-term leadership, scholarship and support in areas central to sustainability and to SFI.
Mayer, director of SFI’s Center for Water and Society, was honored for his passion and commitment to sustainability and water issues. Mullins, director of SFI’s Center for Fundamental and Applied Research into Nanostructured and Lightweight Materials, was recognized for his contributions to energy and human health.
The keynote speaker was Charles Kerfoot, professor in Biological Sciences and director of Lake Superior Ecosystem Research Center, who spoke about the new Great Lakes Research facility and how it will facilitate research and education about pressing issues in the Upper Great Lakes.
Seventeen graduate students and postdocs were inducted into the SFI’s Scholar Program. They are: Zeyad Ahmed, Felix Adom, Brandon Ellefson, Akhilesh Reddy Endurthy, Rabi Gyawali, Jiqing Fan, Robert Handler, Christopher Hohnholt, Meral Jackson, Azad Henareh Khalyani, Jennifer Lind, Jifei Liu, Xuhong Liu, Jarod Maggio, Jacob Midkiff, Ali Mirchi, and Fengli Zhang.
The Graduate Student Council announced the People’s Choice First Place Poster Award of $150. Actually there was a tie and two awards were made. One went to four physics graduate students for a poster, “Miniature Energy Sources: Biofuel Cells Based on Carbon Nanotube Arrays,” designed by Archana Pandey, Abhishek Prasad, Jason Moscatello and Abhay P. Singh. Their advisor is Associate Professor Yoke Khin Yap. The other award went to Craig Gossen and Stefan Marek (mechanical engineering), Ashley Thode (civil engineering), and Kim Landick, Krissy Guzak, and Cara Hanson (environmental engineering), for “Improving Airflow in Ventilated Improved Pit Toilets.” Their advisors are Assistant Professor Kurt Paterson and Associate Professor David Watkins (both CEE) and Associate Professor and Assistant Provost Donna Michalek (ME-EM).
SFI’s operations manager, Richard Donovan, awarded the Inaugural Operations Manager Award of $200 to the Efficiency Through Engineering and Construction Enterprise. Members are: Ashley Brown, Dianna Cacko, Stephen Chartier, Patrick Green, Jordan Huffman, Eric Kinonen, Markus Manderfield, Andrew Manty, Michael D. Powers, and Tyler Sutkowi. The ETEC team submitted three posters: “Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad”; “Habitat for Humanity”; and “Generations of Energy.” For some of their work, these students collaborated with Melissa Davis, an SFI staff member and director of a local nonprofit called New Power Tour. Davis also was recognized as a scholar of SFI. The advisor for ETEC is Lynn Artman of the School of Technology.
In keeping with the spirit of the event, sustainability, Chef Eric Karvonen prepared a dinner of fresh roasted trout from Lake Superior, vegetables from Chip Ransom’s organic farm on the Houghton Canal, grass-fed bison from northern Wisconsin and wild blueberries from Gay. Pictures of the event are available at the following URLs: http://www.doe.mtu.edu/news/2009/sfi_october2009/index.html .
http://www.doe.mtu.edu/news/2009/sfi_october2009/posters.html .
