Industrial archaeology studies the past and seeks to enshrine it as heritage. In that undertaking, archaeologist Tim Scarlett, of the Department of Social Sciences, has his eyes focused far into the future: he wants an ironclad way to preserve artifacts in order “to curate into perpetuity.” Scarlett and chemical engineering professor Gerard Caneba have received $25,000 from the National Park Service to research methods to combat rust, which is iron’s ill fortune… [read more]
Jason Carter, chair of the kinesiology and integrative physiology department, started us out with an overview of research at the SDC. Biology PhD student Huan Yang described her work on sleep deprivation. In Assistant Professor Karen Roemer’s biomechanics lab, biomed PhD student Stephanie Hamilton ran through routines to record movement… [read more]
From leading-edge research to extraordinary showmanship, few scientists have made as big an impact on their field as astrophysicist Robert Nemiroff, the corecipient of the 2012 Research Award. In nominating Nemiroff, physics professor Don Beck and Ravindra Pandey, chair of the physics department, cited his research based on gravitational lensing, noting that his groundbreaking predictions regarding binary stars, quasars and microlensing events have been proved correct…. [read more]
The vice president for research is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Research Excellence Fund Awards, which total $515,000. Recipients in the College of Sciences and Arts include Michael Gretz, Charles Kerfoot, Kari Henquinet, Kedmon Hungwe, Ranjana Mehta, Thomas Werner, Qing-Hui Chen, Stefaan De Winter, Amy Marcarelli, Rebecca Schmitz, Xiaoqing Tang, Thomas Werner, Lanrong Bi, Bahne Cornilsen, and Haiying Liu… [read more]
A team of Michigan Technological University scientists has used nanotechnology to keep the chemicals inside the wood where they belong. “It’s a new method that uses nanoparticles to deliver preservatives into the lumber,” said chemistry professor Patricia Heiden. “In our experiments, it reduced the leaching of biocides by 90 percent…” [read more]
The Ecosystem Science Center (ESC) and the Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) announce award recipients of the Seventh Annual ESC/BRC Student Research Forum, held March 25. Awards to graduate students in the College of Sciences and Arts include a $100 Merit Award from ESC to Meagan L. Harless in Biological Sciences and $100 Merit Awards from BRC to Surendar Reddy Dhadi in Biological Sciences and Xiaochu Ding in Chemistry… [read more]
Michigan Tech faculty, staff members, and students received awards in 2012 tallying $101,875 in funding through the MSGC, sponsored by NASA. Awards in the College of Sciences and Arts went to undergraduate Greg Furlich (Physics), graduate student Colin Gurganus (Atmospheric Sciences), and faculty member Ranjana Mehta (Cognitive and Learning Sciences)… [read more]
A biologist at Michigan Tech is working on a way to remove lead from soil that is simple, inexpensive, and, quite literally, green. Rupali Datta began her tests with vetiver grass back in 2004, when she was on the faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio. “The city was removing lead paint in an old neighborhood, but there was still lots of lead in the soil,” she remembers. “The soil was tracked in the house as lead-laced dust…” [read more]
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) have been awarded to seven students in the College of Sciences and Arts, in biological sciences, exercise science, physics, biochemistry/molecular biology, and computer science programs. SURF at Michigan Tech is funded by the Vice President for Research and the Honors Institute… [read more]
Stacey Frankenstein-Markon is serving in Uganda as part of Michigan Tech’s Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) program in applied science education. Brad Baltensperger, chair of the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences and program director of the PCMI Applied Science Education Program, and Casey Huckins, an associate professor of biological sciences who heads the University’s new PCMI in biological sciences, spent a week in Uganda to discuss the graduate students’ research… [read more]