Psychology and Human Factors News

High Schools Can Solarize Houghton

Published April 30, 2015

Solarize Houghton
May 2 & May 16, 2015
1:00-5:00 pm
104 Great Lakes Research Center
Presenter: Abhilash “Abhi” Kantamneni, author of Michigan Solar Guidebook and Calculator

Open to ALL 9th – 12 Grade Students

Hands-on training, tour of local solar installations, assistance of local community members.

Eat Pizza! Earn a certificate of participation.

Register for 2015 Solarize Houghton

Coordinated by the Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education and the Keweenaw Community Foundation.

Outdoor Community Nature Program at Maasto Hiihto

Published April 27, 2015

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Families take a hike in Hancock

Families got to learn about animals on a nature hike on Saturday.

An environmental educator from the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Math Outreach lead the hike. The group walked along the Maasto Hiihto Ski Trail.

The Outdoor Community Nature Program, coordinated by the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education, runs through May 16, 2015.

Jeon Presents on Creative Arts

Published April 23, 2015

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News

Assistant Professor Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon (CLS/CS) presented a research paper, “Embarrassment as a divergent thinking process for creative arts in the immersive virtual environment,” at the Workshop on Embarrassing Interactions of ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’15) in Seoul, Korea.

From Tech Today.

Students Attend 2015 Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Published April 22, 2015

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About 25 students from Michigan Tech attended the 2nd annual Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference (UPISR) on April 21, 2015. This year’s event, which took place at Northern Michigan University (NMU) at Marquette, was sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at NMU and the Department of Psychology at NMU.

The 2015 conference was a continuation to collaborative efforts between Michigan Tech and NMU, focused on student research in human and behavioral sciences. It also witnessed the diversity of areas that include psychology, human factors, education, human effectiveness, human-centered design, social science, kinesiology, neuroscience, and other related fields.

Undergraduate and graduate students from both universities gave oral and poster presentations.

VIEW THE GALLERY

2015 UPISRC Proceedings

2014 UPISRC Proceedings

Lake Superior Celebration April 23, 2015

Published April 17, 2015

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Lake Superior Celebration
6:00-8:00pm, Thursday, April 23, 2015
Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center

Hands-on Activities
· Great Lakes Research Center tours: green roof & other sustainable features
· Energy efficient homes, wind turbines, draft dodger activities for youth
· MTU Sustainable Vehicle Lab (invited)

Local Resources
· Renewable energy experts
· Energy efficient builders
· Home energy audits
· Green burial initiative
· Local food & greenhouses
· Houghton Co. recycling plan

Celebrate !
· Solarize Houghton County! Abhilash “Abhi” Kantamneni
· Mine Water Geothermal? MTU Alternative Energy Enterprise students
· LSSI Student Presentations & School Team Displays
· Cake & lemonade

Sponsored by Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Michigan Technological University, Western U.P. Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education, and Houghton Energy Efficiency Team (HEET).
Funded in part with a grant from the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.

Celebrate Lake Superior

Displays, local resources and experts will address a variety of topical issues include renewable energy, home energy audits, green burial initiative, local food and greenhouse, Houghton County recycling, HEET (Houghton Energy Efficient Team) Dollar Bay-TC Student Organization of Aquatic Robotics (SOAR), Mine Water Geothermal, “Solarizing” Houghton County and more.

Designing a Sustainable Future – Teacher Summer Institute

Published April 16, 2015

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News

Designing a Sustainable Future
July 20 – 24, 2015
Deadline: June 2, 2015
Application

Grade 4 – 12 teacher participants will:

Investigate product manufacturing, building design, site design, transportation systems, renewable energy sources and food systems;
Engage in lessons and gather resources to facilitate teaching your students about sustainability while meeting the Next Generation Science Standards;

and more.

Learn more at Teacher Professional Development – Current Institutes or the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research – Teacher Summer Institute

Published April 16, 2015

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News

Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research
July 6 – 10, 2015
Deadline: June 2, 2015

Grade 4 – 12 teacher participants will explore:

Research design methods & procedures
Forest Hydrology
Climate Science

and more.

Learn more at Teacher Professional Development – Current Institutes or the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

STEM Career Tours at Michigan Tech

Published April 13, 2015

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Sign up for a STEM CAREER TOUR at MTU
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, MATH

FREE 6-hour Field Trips offered for Gr. 9-12 classes April 20-May 15!!

Visit a variety of science, engineering, and computer labs at Michigan Tech and participate in presentations and hands-on activities led by MTU students, engineers, and scientists to kick start students’ planning for careers in STEM. Tours are approximately from 9 am to 2:30 pm.

Register Early! Bus travel stipends, sub teacher reimbursements, free student lunches (up to 25/group) available to first 10 to register!

Download the PDF Flyer: STEM Career Tours at Michigan Tech

Register online: 2015 STEM Tour Registration

For more information about STEM Career Tours at Michigan Tech, contact:

Joan Chadde, Director
MTU Center for Science & Environmental Outreach
jchadde@mtu.edu or 906-487-3341

Made possible with funding from the Michigan STEM Partnership and coordinated by the MTU Center for Science & Environmental Outreach and Western U.P. Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education with assistance from the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Workshop: Developing Partnership and Advancing Driving Research

Published April 1, 2015

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News

The Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) will host the first workshop on “Developing Partnership and Advancing Driving Research.” We would like to invite researchers and practitioners interested in in-vehicle user interfaces and applications. This workshop aims to identify plausible research projects and collaborators for each identified project, introduce possible funding agencies and proposal submission logistics, and plan and schedule activities that will culminate in competitive proposal submission.

Guest Speakers

Andrew Kun (University of New Hampshire)
Bruce Walker (Georgia Tech)
Andreas Riener (Johannes Kepler University Linz)
Collin Castle (Michigan Department of Transportation)

Registration
There is no registration fee, but an RSVP is preferred. Please RSVP to Steven Landry, assistant organizer, sglandry@mtu.edu, by Thursday, April 30.

Catered lunch and wine and cheese reception will be provided. The day before and after, the Mind Music Machine Lab will also have a demo session on research facilities, including multiple driving simulators, robots and virtual environment.

Submission
Participants, who want to present their research interests and skill sets can send a single power point slide to Steven Landry, assistant organizer, sglandry@mtu.edu, by Thursday, May 14.

Research presentation is not mandatory. You can attend without any presentation.

This workshop is hosted by Michigan Tech Transportation Institute, Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences and Department of Computer Science.

From Tech Today.

Workshop on “Developing Partnership and Advancing Driving Research”
Date and Location
When: May 28th 2015 Thursday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Where: Great Lake Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Tech

Spring Break Science and Engineering Camps

Published March 30, 2015

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Spring Break Science & Engineering Camps for Grade 1-3, Grade 4-6 offered Mar. 31, April 1-2

Classes meet 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Great Lake’s Research Center.

Cost: $120 per student. Up to 20 students per class. Register soon!

Register Online: Spring Break Science Camp Registration or http://www.wupcenter.mtu.edu

Pay by credit card: call the cashier 7-2247 (Your space is not reserved until payment has been received.)

Questions? Call: 7-3341

Grade 1-3 Engineering in Our World!

Learning about the engineering design process, each day of camp will present a different challenge to solve: designing bridges, improving play dough and designing walls. Following the Engineering is Elementary curricula for grades 1-3, campers will explore chemical engineering, materials engineering and civil engineering with visits from real engineers to the class.

Instructors: Marcy Erickson, Michelle Miller and Lloyd Wescoat

Grade 4-6 A Taste of Tech!

Kids will explore a variety of labs and do some cool engineering activities along the way!

Watch worms at home in the soil with a visit to the Rhizotron
Take a hike on Tech Trails
Bend water and make silly putty at the chemistry lab
Try out a real driving simulator with mechanical engineers
Smash concrete and test a Maglev track with civil engineers
Have fun with trains with transportation engineers.
And enjoy a free lunch at Michigan Tech (MUB) on Thursday, compliments of the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute

Instructors: Joan Chadde, Chris Hohnholt, along with Michigan Tech faculty and students.

Learn more at the Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

Spring break science
Camp offers hands-on learning

“We like to have these camps because it’s an opportunity for these kids to learn about science and engineering in a hands-on way,” said Joan Chadde, director of the Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, which co-sponsored the event along with the Western Upper Peninsula Math and Science Center and the Great Lakes Research Center. “They’ve got available time, being out of the classroom, and it’s challenging for teachers to do a lot of hands-on projects.”