Category: News

Winkler Facilitates Gasland Discussion March 20

Green Film Series to present “Gasland” — part of World Water Day observance at Michigan Tech

The Green Film Series at Michigan Tech will present the film Gasland as part of several events scheduled on campus to observe World Water Day.

This 100-minute documentary will be shown from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in the Atrium and G002, Hesterberg Hall, in the Michigan Tech Forestry building. It will be followed by a discussion facilitated by Richelle Winkler, Michigan Tech assistant professor of sociology and demography. Coffee and dessert will be served. (Please bring your own mug.)

The event is free and open to the public; a $3 donation is suggested.

World Water Day events are sponsored by Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, Sustainable Futures Institute, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Keweenaw Land Trust, Great Lakes Research Center, Michigan Tech Dept. of Visual and Performing Arts, and Finlandia University. A grant/partial funding has been provided by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI)

Read more at Keweenaw Now.

Peace Corps Information Session Thursday, March 20

A Peace Corps information session will be held Thursday, March 20, at 6 p.m., in MUB Alumni Lounge B. Peace Corps Volunteers are making a difference all over the world in the areas of education, health and the environment. Stop by this information session to learn more about the benefits of service and how you can live, work and learn overseas after graduation.

View the Flyer

From Tech Today.

SS Grads Receive Travel Grants

Graduate Student Government Travel Grant Award Winners for Spring 2014

Travel grants for spring 2014 have been awarded. Among the Presenting Travel Grants ($ 250) recipients are social sciences graduate students Mayra O. Sanchez Gonzalez and Ronesha Strozier.

The full list of graduate recipients can be accessed online.

Travel grants are awards that help subsidize cost of attending and presenting at conferences. These awards are sponsored by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) and the Graduate School. For more information on travel grants, please visit the webpage.

Should you have any questions, contact the GSG treasurer Jennifer Winikus (jawiniku@mtu.edu).

From Tech Today.

Halvorsen on Downstream Community Study

DownstreamPayments to Upstream Landowners to Protect Water Downstream: How Well is that Working

Two researchers from Michigan Technological University have joined with natural and social scientists from three other universities and the US Forest Service to study the impact of Mexico’s water payment program.

“Our findings will help governments, non-governmental organizations, the World Bank and others who might promote programs like these to design their programs to be as effective as possible,” said Alex Mayer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech and co-principal investigator (PI) on Tech’s part of the research.

The project is highly interdisciplinary, Mayer added. That’s why his co-PI is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech.

“We want to know what the landowners and the communities downstream from them know about watersheds and pollution,” Halvorsen explained.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

Stathi Pappas and Steam Locomotive Heritage

Steam Locomotive For the Love of Steam

In March 2009, Michigan Technological University industrial archaeology alumnus Stathi Pappas purchased the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company No. 2 Engine and began restoring it in his Mineral, Wash.,, shop.

As true living history, he says, they run them like they ran them, break them like they broke them, fix them like they fixed them, and repeat.

“From an anthropological standpoint, we want to understand that subculture and act accordingly,” Pappas says. “It’s a social movement as well as a professional rebuild.”

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Dennis Walikainen.