Seminars and Lectures Archives | Page 2 of 10

Tonight: MacLennan Co-Hosting Trolley Tour Event

Published September 1, 2015

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Trials and Trails Tonight

The Carnegie Museum hosts tours of Huron Creek. Carol MacLennan (SS) and Alex Mayer (CEE) will host a pair of tours tonight. Begining at 5:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. the tour of Huron Creek travels from its rerouted home behind Walmart to its entry into the Portage Canal. You will learn about how area mines and other development changed the route and the ecology of Huron Creek. $25.00 per ticket ($20 members) includes guided tour and refreshments at Museum.

Seats are limited, reserve tickets by calling 482-7140 or email

Note — your seat is NOT GUARANTEED UNTIL PAID. The museum will be open at noon today. The Red Jacket Trolley is undergoing repairs this summer so they will use use a small tour bus instead.

Lankton to Present on the Human Costs of Copper Mining

Published August 11, 2015

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fortAERIAL — Fort Wilkins Natural History Society

Professor Emeritus Larry Lankton will present “1,900 Lives — The Human Cost of Mining Copper” at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park in Copper Harbor on Monday, August 17, 2015 at 7:00 p.m at the West Barracks.

Lankton to Present at the Keweenaw Heritage Center

Published August 10, 2015

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Professor Emeritus Larry Lankton will present “150 Years of Paternalism, 1840-1990” at the Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne’s in Calumet on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

The presentation will take place in the lower level of the Keweenaw Heritage Center. Donations accepted.

Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne’s

Invited Paper for Mary Durfee

Published June 3, 2015

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On Friday, May 29, 2015, Associate Professor Mary Durfee (SS) gave an invited paper, The EU in the Arctic: Where will it live? at a conference on the EU in the Arctic held in Dundee, Scotland.

From Tech Today.

The European Union and the Arctic (2015 EU-Arctic Conference)

This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organisations to discuss the EU’s potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU’s action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference.

Pan American Researchers Gather in Houghton

Published June 3, 2015

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VIEW THE BIOMASS PIRE FLICKR PHOTO GALLERY

About 40 biofuel and bioenergy researchers from many countries in the Pan American region (from Argentina to Canada) will attend a workshop hosted by the Sustainable Futures Institute at Michigan Tech Wednesday, June 3, 2015, through Friday, June 5, 2015.

The goals of the workshop are to develop a research roadmap report (RRR) with diverse international perspectives and to recommend priority areas for future research. The RRR will be disseminated to funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and other federal research sponsors in the United States and their equivalents in other Pan American countries, as well as to industry and the general public.

This is the final workshop in the NSF-funded project “RCN-SEES: A Research Coordination Network on Pan American Biofuel and Bioenergy Sustainability“. The project is directed by David Shonnard (ChE) and with co-investigators Barry Solomon (SS), Kathy Halvorsen (SS), Sam Sweitz (SS) and Robert Handler (SF I).

From Tech Today, by David Shonnard.

Bioenergy Across the Americas

The work is part of the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Kathy Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech, helps lead the PIRE research group, which is highly interdisciplinary.

“As we move forward with the project spanning six countries, I am always thinking about how are we going to be able to answer our research questions,” Halvorsen says, adding the project spans social, natural and engineering sciences. “We have to think about how we do our research so we can compare and integrate our data across the countries and disciplines.”

Biomass bridge
Vital aspect in achieving energy sustainability

Barry Solomon, a Tech professor on the PIRE team, noted that Brazil introduced the flex-fuel car engines now seen across the U.S. that can burn both high-ethanol and low-ethanol gas blends, and that bio-based ethanol has been a major boon to an economy that’s contributed to steady growth in recent years.

“The U.S. talks about energy independence, but it’s not (independent),” he said. “Brazil essentially is.”

Woody
U.P. bioelectric effort can follow Wisconsin’s lead

Regardless of the questions yet to be answered, Solomon said he sees biomass as an important part of the U.P.’s electric generation future.

“Biomass should be a part of things here,” he said. “There’s not a massive demand, but it’s far better to get rid of coal. … I think we need a combination of biomass and wind power.”

MICHIGAN TECH HOSTS FOREST BIOENERGY RESEARCHERS

A project this large can be unwieldy, so Halvorsen works with subgroup and country team leaders to effectively pursue their interdisciplinary research in bioenergy. Studying bioenergy naturally builds off multiple disciplines and goes beyond just the global biofuels discussion.

Bioenergy across the Americas

In some ways, the PIRE research is like bioenergy yoga, looking at the best ways to build both flexibility and strength to move gracefully through changing climates and economic markets. From small plantations to spanning continents, the PIRE research seeks sustainability and resiliency using the insight of many disciplines.

MICHIGAN TECH LEADS ON BIOENERGY

Sounds of Research

Michigan Tech has uploaded audio recordings of conversations with various researchers involved in the project — check out their Soundcloud account if you’re interested in hearing them.

SS Talk: Kelly Boyer Ontl on “Chimpanzees in the Island of Gold”

Published April 15, 2015

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12:00 noon on Friday, April 17th in AOB 201.

Kelly Boyer Ontl will present: “CHIMPANZEES IN THE ISLAND OF GOLD: Impacts of artisanal small-scale gold mining on chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Fongoli, Senegal”.

ABSTRACT:

Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has a long history in West Africa, supplementing agricultural livelihoods and helping to fuel West African empires, ancient Egypt, and medieval Europe via extensive trade routes. ASGM continues today but has taken on different dimensions through the influence of globalization and mechanization. The widespread practice now threatens the habitat, health and future of West African wildlife including endangered West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). In this talk I will be discussing the socio-ecological impacts of ASGM activity on chimpanzee behavior and resource use at the Fongoli field site in southeastern Senegal. The surge in gold prices over the past 10 years has intensified gold mining in Senegal, increasing transnational migration, human population, and environmental degradation, and consequently altering how chimpanzees use the landscape. The impacts of ASGM are now considered among the species’ largest threat in Senegal, and conservation efforts are underway to protect the country’s remaining chimpanzee population last estimated at 500 individuals.

Visiting Lecturer Dr. Kristin Floress to Present on Community and Watershed Management

Published March 12, 2015

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Dr. Kristin Floress, a social scientist with the USDA Forest Service in Evanston, IL is giving a talk in 201 AOB from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Monday, March 16 titled “Community Capacity for Watershed Management.”

Her visit co-sponsored by the Visiting Women & Minority Lecturer/Scholar Series (VWMLS) which is funded by a grant to the Office of Institutional Equity from the State of Michigan’s King-Chavez-Parks Initiative, the Center for Water and Society, and the Social Sciences Department.

Abstract: An individual’s ability to engage in actions that are protective of water resources is driven by a variety of factors at the individual and community scale. This presentation explores several cases of watershed and lake management in Wisconsin using the community capacity for watershed management framework (Davenport and Seekamp, 2013). Individual indicators and governance principles are assessed and used to provide direction for designing effective water programs.

Susan Martin: Human History of the Keweenaw Lecture February 24

Published February 10, 2015

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FROM TECH TODAY:

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Tech Professor Emerita Susan Martin, expert on prehistoric archeology and ancient copper, will lead a discussion about ancient cultural elements of our region. She will be joined by Seth DePasqual, cultural resource manager at Isle Royale National Park. The event is part of a monthly series of sessions on the Geoheritage and Natural History of the Keweenaw, at the Carnegie Museum in Houghton. The discussions are aimed at the general public but also discuss current research and science.

The Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw is located at Huron and Montezuma in downtown Houghton. Seminars are held in the Community Room on the ground level. Lectures are free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. The museum will open at 6:30 p.m. for refreshments; lectures and discussion run from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please contact the Museum for further information at 482-7140.

SS Talk: Valoree S. Gagnon on “Ethnography and Oral History in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community: Collecting Oral Histories as a Social Experience with Tribal Narrators”

Published January 12, 2015

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12:00 noon on Friday, January 16th in AOB 201.

Valoree S. Gagnon, Environmental and Energy Policy PhD candidate, will present on “Ethnography and Oral History in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community: Collecting Oral Histories as a Social Experience with Tribal Narrators”

ABSTRACT:

Several scholars have documented additional considerations for doing research in and for tribal communities to ensure cultural needs and protocols are honored. These guidelines include expanding legal and ethical responsibilities, understandings of memory and storytelling, and knowledge of power dynamics between researchers and tribal communities. This paper shares lessons from the field while currently engaged in ethnography and oral history projects with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, offering an alternative framework for teaching and doing Oral History within and for tribal communities. In the practice of collecting oral histories with tribal narrators, challenges to traditional oral history methods are overcome by using novel approaches. Collecting oral histories as a social experience—sharing stories while cooking, crafting, ‘visiting’, and harvesting together—has been employed. These experiences have the potential to transform and contribute to narrators’ comfort, enriched stories, strong memories, relationship building, and knowledge sharing in more traditional ways for tribal members. Like many other tribal communities, the foundation for protecting Keweenaw Bay Indian Community lifeways and culture depends on revitalizing the nation’s history. Thus, oral history as a social experience can significantly enhance the power of story for tribal nations.

Baird Presents in Australia

Published January 7, 2015

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Professor Melissa Baird presented two papers at the Association of Critical Heritage Studies biennial conference held in Canberra, Australia at Australian National University.

Baird presented her paper titled “Mining is Our Heritage”: Corporate Heritage Discourse and the Politics of Extraction in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The second paper presented, co-authored with Rosemary Coombe, is titled The Limits of Heritage: Corporate Interests and Cultural Rights on Resource Frontiers.

Baird was elected to serve on the governing board of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies.

Category: Seminars and Lectures