College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog

Category: News

Are You a Protein Scientist?

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proteinMini Symposium 2014

March 5th (12 – 1 pm)
March 7th (11 – 1 pm)
MUB Ballroom A
Michigan Technological University

Special 2-day event highlighting many facets of protein scientists at Michigan Tech.

Savory talks discussing the field of protein science and cutting edge research in protein science.

VIEW THE GUEST SPEAKERS FROM THE DEPARTMENTS OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

You might be a protein scientist and not event know it! Come see, listen and enjoy.

Light, buffet lunch provided!

RSVP using this Registration Form

Contact: mtuproteinscientists@gmail.com

The mini symposium is sponsored by The Protein Society.

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Bruce Seely Joins Superior Health Foundation Board of Directors

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Bruce SeelyThe Superior Health Foundation has added a new director to its Board of Directors.

SHF welcomes Bruce E. Seely, Ph.D., the Dean of the College of Sciences and Arts at Michigan Tech University, to its board.

A resident of Houghton, Dr. Seely receives his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from St. Lawrence University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. in History of Technology from the University of Delaware.

Dr. Seely is the founding co-editor in Chief of the journal Comparative Technology Transfer and Society. He served as the Program Director for Science and Technology Studies at the National Science Foundation for two years; was a member and co-chair of the History Committee of the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council for nine years; and was the secretary of the Society for the History of Technology for six years.

Dr. Seely looks forward to serving on the SHF Board of Directors.

“Professional activities at Michigan Tech and personal and ethical viewpoints have in recent years impressed upon me the need to address the challenges of improving access to quality medical care,” he said. “I’m impressed by the Foundation’s commitment to tackling those challenges and excited about advancing the Foundation’s plans to address such vital issues for many living in the U.P.”

Read more at Superior Health Foundation, Meet Our Board.

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Former Physics Faculty Keith Baldwin

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Keith BaldwinKeith M. Baldwin, 85, passed away on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at Marquette General Hospital.

Baldwin came to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology in 1963 as an associate professor of physics. He taught many physics classes and senior labs and served as a faculty advisor for graduate students. In the early 1970s, Baldwin also became involved with the Keweenaw Research Center. He worked on vehicle research projects and helped secure contracts for vehicle testing. After early retirement from Michigan Tech in 1984, he partnered with the University to form KMB/Tech, developing lab equipment for physics teachers.

Professor Emeritus Don Daavittila (Physics) knew him well. “He was very interested in his subject and a very good teacher,” he said. “I enjoyed knowing him very much. He was also a Tech hockey fan, he was even at some games this year. Keith was a good guy.”

Read more at Tech Today.

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Ken Kraft Passes Away

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Ken Kraft
Ken Kraft's first year of teaching in the department, from The Michigan Tech Forester, 1962, Michigan College of Mining and Technology.

Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences Ken Kraft passed away on Jan. 12 at his Chassell Township home.

Kraft’s research was in invertebrate ecology, particularly in aquatic environments, and some of his work was used by the Army Corps of Engineers and Cleveland-Cliffs (now Cliffs Resources) in their environmental studies.

“He was well respected in his fields of study—entomology and aquatic environmental studies,” said Professor Emeritus Bob Keen. “He was also a mentor to a number of graduate students, including some who went on to attain PhDs and did very well.”

Kraft’s career at Michigan Tech actually began in forestry, where he was taught zoology, and he joined the biological sciences department when it was formed in 1962. He eventually rejoined the forestry faculty before retiring.

Read more at Tech Today.

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Computer Science Students Make World Finals

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ACM ICPCTo Russia with Code: Tech Students Make World Finals in Computer Programming

Only 120 teams of 10,000 worldwide are going, and Michigan Tech is one of them. They earned the right to go to Russia to compete in the world finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest next June by finishing fifth in the North Central regional qualifying contest.

Computer science students Tom Holmes and Eric Rinkus and math major Ryan McNamara will be making the trip to Ural Federal University in Ekaterinburg with coach and computer science PhD student Jason Hiebel.

“This was my fourth year of trying,” Holmes added. “We’ll be practicing a lot with Jason, and Dave has been really helpful, too. We want to go there [Russia] and solve a decent number of problems. We want to get Tech’s name up there.”

Read more at Tech Today, by Dennis Walikainen.

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Jackson Blended Learning Winners

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CTLIn early November, the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning invited faculty to submit proposals to support blended learning course innovations. Proposals were accepted at three levels ($1,000, $5,000 and $10,000), and a total of $50,000 was originally planned to be awarded during this cycle.

The PIs in the College of Sciences and Arts that will receive support are:

$1,000
* Jason Carter (KIP) “Benchmarking Trip to University of Florida”
* Wil Slough (Physics) “Development of Blended Learning Materials for Uncertainty Analysis”

$5,000
* Karla Kitalong (HU) “MTMC and IGTAAP Tech Upgrade” (partial funding)
* Jason Gregersen (Math) “Blended and Online Linear Algebra”
* Leo Ureel (CS) “Canvas Teaching Assistant”

$10,000
* Jared Anderson (VPA) “Video Arts in Blended Learning (VIABLE)”

Read more at Tech Today.

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Migration Mapping in Social Sciences

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Net Migration Website
Net Migration Website

Assistant Professor Richelle L. Winkler in the Department of Social Sciences leads a project on mapping migrations in the United States. The project was the subject of a recent article in The Atlantic Cities, an online exploration of the most innovative ideas and pressing issues facing today’s global cities and neighborhoods. The article, entitled “Mapping 60 Years of White Flight, Brain Drain and American Migration,” relates the population seepage to deeper problems driving demographic change.

The mapping project involves researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Michigan Technological University and the University of New Hampshire. The group has published a website Net Migration Patterns for US Counties, which allows interactive exploration of map data going back to the 1950’s.

Image courtesy of the net migration mapping tool created by the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin.

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New Faculty in the College of Sciences and Arts

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Michigan Tech Campus Fall
Image courtesy of COE.

CSA welcomes new faculty and existing faculty who have now accepted tenure-track and lecturer positions: Brigitte Morin, Andrew Galerneau, Marina Tanasova, Adam Feltz, Kelly Steelman, Leo Ureel, Stephanie Carpenter, Abraham Romney, Zhiying (Jenny) Shan, Tejin Yoon, Jason Gregersen, William Keith, Min Wang, Yang Yang, Ramy El-Ganainy, Melissa Baird, Carl Blair, Ryan Cook, Rebecca Graff, Nancy Langston, Chelsea Schelly, and Josh Loar.

Read more at Tech Today.

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Seely on Infamous Tech Predictions

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Golden Spike5 Infamous Tech Predictions

Looking back over tech history gives valuable insights into how past innovation was brought to commercial fruition.

Thus, to provide a bit of context for the following five pronouncements — which over time have proven to be woefully off the mark — Forbes.com spoke to Bruce Seely, historian of technology at Michigan Tech University and the president of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).

Read more at Forbes, by Bruce Dorminey.

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