Tag: Geology

US Department of Energy Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowships

U.S. Department of Energy Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowships

The U.S. Department of Energy provides funding for students in their first or second year of graduate study in the fields of physical, engineering, computers, mathematics and life sciences. The fellowships are renewable up to four years. Students receive about $31,000 a year, as well as a $1,000 annual academic allowance for travel, research activities and attending conferences. Some students may also get matched funds for computer support up to $2,475.

Richard Honrath Memorial Lecture

Michael Hoffmann, professor at James Irvine of Environmental Science-Caltech, will present “Chemical Reactions at the Air-Water Interface of Aqueous Microdroplets,” at 4 p.m., Monday, Oct. 3, in M&M U115.

The Honrath lecture is in memory of Richard Honrath, professor in Environmental Engineering and Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, who passed away in 2009.

The lecture is supported by EPSSI and the Honrath Memorial Fund, which also funds undergraduate and graduate students whose major and/or research demonstrate a commitment to protecting the environment and/or the pursuit of knowledge about our earth’s natural forces.

Lecturers are internationally recognized scholars in atmospheric sciences who also interact substantially with students during their visit.

For more information about the Honrath fund, see Memorial.

Hoffmann will be on campus for the day on Oct. 3. If you would like to meet with him, contact Associate Professor Will Cantrell (Physics) at cantrell@mtu.edu .

Published in Tech Today.

Geology Graduate Student Honored

Graduate student Patrick Manzoni (GMES) received the platinum corporate sponsor award for his outstanding student abstract at the 54th annual meeting of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists, held in Anchorage, Alaska.

Manzoni was selected as one of the three awardees based on his abstract, “Slope Stability Analysis of the Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala, Using Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element Method.” A review committee of three AEG members selected Manzoni’s abstract from more than 30 student abstracts. The fieldwork forming the basis of the research was conducted as part of the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) project.

Published in Tech Today

New theses and dissertations available in the Library

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:

  • Chemical Engineering
  • Chemistry
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Forest Ecology and Management
  • Geological Engineering
  • Geology
  • Geophysics
  • Industrial Archaeology
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Researchers Connect Volcanic Activity to Mini-Earthquakes

The ash from the recent eruptions of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in Chile has disrupted airplane schedules, even circling the globe a second time to cause more delays recently. A Michigan Tech researcher and his graduate students are studying how these volcanoes erupt and what their relation is to earthquakes. They hope to resolve much bigger issues than airplane inconveniences.

Assistant Professor Greg Waite (GMES) is focusing on “mini-earthquakes” within or beneath the troublesome Villarrica volcano. These earthquakes reveal details about the shape of the conduit and dynamics of the magmatic system.

“The seismic data suggest the conduit becomes a planar dike at a relatively shallow depth,” he says. Graduate student Josh Richardson (GMES) has studied those “spaghetti splatters”: the mini-earthquakes at Villarrica.  “He recorded some 19,000 mini-quakes over the course of about a week on a recent field trip,” Waite says. These events are very subtle and cannot be simply identified without careful analysis. “We think they are from the small expansions and contractions in the conduit.”

Waite and his students’ conduit-model work has produced another interesting result at Fuego volcano in Guatemala. Recent PhD graduate John Lyons (GMES) discovered that, instead of the magma simply moving vertically up the conduit from a deeper magma chamber, there is a kink–an “elbow in the conduit, a corner in the geometry”–a couple hundred meters below the surface.

See Tech Today for the complete news story.

New theses and dissertations available in the Library

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:

  • Applied Natural Resource Economics
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Forestry
  • Geology
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
  • Rhetoric and Technical Communication

Chrysalis Scholarship Awarded

MS candidate Dulcinea Avouris (Geology), mother of five children, received a Chrysalis Scholarship from the Association of Women Geoscientists (AWG).

Selection is given to women who have had a significant break in their education. It can be used for anything from publishing costs to child care, and can only be applied for during the last semester before defense and graduation.

Winners will be recognized at the Geological Society of America meeting in October and in the association’s newsletter.

Published in Tech Today.

National Science Foundation Hands Out CAREER Awards

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named three assistant professors winners of NSF CAREER Awards. Veronica Griffis (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Shari Stockero (Cognitive and Learning Sciences) and Greg Waite (Geological/Mining Engineering and Sciences) received the 2011 awards.

CAREER Awards are among the most prestigious honors granted by the NSF. They recognize faculty members early in their careers who are effectively integrating research and teaching.

“The CAREER program recognizes and supports teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century,” said David Reed, vice president for research. “These young faculty members add tremendously to the reputation of Michigan Tech.”

See Tech Today for the complete story.

Geology student awarded Fulbright Scholarship

Doctoral student Luke Bowman (Geology ’14) has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the coming academic year. He will be doing research on hazards communications in El Salvador. The title of his project is “Developing Culturally Appropriate Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in El Salvador.” Bowman’s advisors are Professor John Gierke (GMES) and Professor Bill Rose (GMES).

Bowman is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and has extensive experience in Central and South America. His BA in Geology is from Hanover College. He has an MS degree in Geology from Michigan Tech. He also has worked on ethnography in the social sciences department.

By discovering culturally appropriate ways of involving local populations in project design and decision making–and by integrating local knowledge and coping strategies into risk plans at the administrative level–Bowman hopes risk communication can be greatly enhanced.

He says, “Melding the organizational aspects of aid institutions with a dynamic cultural understanding of how communities perceive geological hazards is key to developing trust and devising effective, sustainable methods to help people prepare for future disasters.”

Published in Tech Today.