Category: News

Community Foundation Grant Activity

KCFCommunity Foundation looking for grant ideas

The Keweenaw Community Foundation is beginning its latest funding cycle for grants to help children in sixth through 12th grades. For this period, there is $13,170 available, with as much as $3,000 per applicant.

The KCF received a $500,000 endowment from the Kellogg Foundation in the mid-1990s specifically for youth needs, said Joan Chadde, co-coordinator of the KCF’s Youth Advisory Council. The interest on the endowment has been used for grants.

The KCF is always looking for more middle- and high-school students to join, Chadde said.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

Mueller Interviewed by NPR

crosswordOn the 100th birthday of the crossword puzzle, NPR interviewed Assistant Professor Shane Mueller (CLS) about the skills required to be a puzzle master. Mueller also weighed in on the issue of whether doing crosswords staves off dementia. (Hint: Don’t neglect those holiday parties and long walks.)

From Tech Today.

Do Crossword Puzzles Really Stave Off Dementia?

COLE: And the winners were quietly invited to join Britain’s code-breaking department. The mental prowess of crossword solvers has also attracted the attention of scientists. A few years ago, cognitive psychologist Shane Mueller watched a movie about crossword puzzles.

SHANE MUELLER: And I thought: I could learn to play the crossword.

COLE: Mueller is a professor of psychology at Michigan Tech, so naturally, he approached his new hobby in a very scientific way.

Read more or listen to the story at NPR, by Adam Cole.

Jeon and Auditory Emoticons

Associate Professor Christopher Plummer (VPA) has had two works accepted for publication. One of them is co-authored by Assistant Professor Myounghoon Jeon (CLS). Plummer’s book review of Phillip Giddings’ text titled “Audio Systems Design and Installation” will be published in the January issue of the journal Theatre Design & Technology. A collaborative paper with Jeon and Jason Sterkenburg titled “Auditory Emoticons: Iterative Design and Acoustic Characteristics of Emotional Auditory Icons and Earcons” has been accepted for presentation at HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) International 2014 and for publication in the conference proceedings.

From Tech Today.

Coordination and Control of Muscle Force

Cognitive and Learning Science Seminar

Coordination and Control of Muscle Force
Xiaogang Hu
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
2:00 pm, Meese 110

Abstract: The interactions between the environment and our perception and action are dynamic. Thus, flexible coordination and control of our skeletal muscles are essential when we interact with our environments. In this talk, I will discuss the adaptability of muscle force coordination under the influence of task settings, uncertainty of visual information, and aging constraints. Based on the constraint-to-action framework, we have examined the force adaptability features using both experimental and modeling approaches. I will also share with you the innovative techniques that can provide valuable information regarding the neuromuscular mechanisms of muscle force control in healthy and pathological conditions. Taken together, these approaches allow us to investigate the behavioral and neuromechanical interactions between human and their environments.

Family Science and Engineering

Image courtesy of COE.

The Center for Science and Environmental Outreach staff (Joan Chadde, Lloyd Wescoat, Chad Norman) and two Michigan Tech students, Danielle Ahrens (Bio Med) and Megan Baker (SFRES), traveled to Wakefield to conduct a Family Science and Engineering Night event attended by 90 parents and K-6 students at Wakefield-Marinesco Elementary School on Nov. 19. The school said, “It was the best family science night ever!”

From Tech Today.

Michigan Tech Students to Lead Family Engineering Night at Grand Rapids

Michigan Tech students will lead a Family Engineering Night on Monday, Nov. 25, at Harrison Park School in Grand Rapids. Nearly 300 K-8 students and their parents are expected to attend.

The Michigan Tech students are part of the University’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers student chapter.

Read more at Tech Today.

The Western U.P. Center for Science, Math & Environmental Education and Michigan Tech University partners to
offer family science & engineering nights for elementary schools in Houghton, Baraga, Gogebic & Ontonagon Counties in Fall 2013-Spring 2014.