Richell Winkler (SS/GLRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received $17,128 contract with the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regions (WUPPDR). The project is, “L’Anse Community Solar Study.”
This is a one year project.
The Department of Social Sciences’ 2017 summer industrial archaeological field school in Keweenaw County was featured in a story in The Daily Mining Gazette.
“Part of the goal of it is to train our students in archaeological field work,” said Professor LouAnn Wurst, who is leading the school.
At the same time, the school is being conducted in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources and the state to look at Copper Harbor’s range lighthouse keeper’s residence, and locate the Astor House, which is believed to have stood behind the house.
Click here to read the full story.
ABC-10 News aired a story, about the potential for using solar energy in the UP, quoting Michigan Tech graduate student Emily Prehoda.
She is working on a survey that will be conducted in L’Anse next fall, a collaborative effort of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, the Village of L’Anse, WPPI Energy, and Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center and Department of Social Sciences.
Residents of the village buy their power from WPPI Energy, a non-profit company.
Prehoda was also featured in USA Today (“The US could prevent a lot of deaths by switching from coal to solar“), and on NBC and CBS with researcher Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE).
Also in print, Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and social sciences PhD Student Emily Prehoda coauthored, potential lives saved by replacing coal with solar photovoltaic electricity production in the U.S., in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews that can be read here.
ABC-10 News aired a story about the potential for using solar energy in the UP, quoting Michigan Tech graduate student Emily Prehoda. She is working on a survey that will be conducted in L’Anse next fall, a collaborative effort of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, the Village of L’Anse, WPPI Energy, and Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center and Department of Social Sciences. Residents of the village buy their power from WPPI Energy, a non-profit company. See here.
Chelsea Schelly (SS), Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and Emily Prehoda, a PhD student in Social Sciences, have recently published “U.S. Strategic Solar Photovoltaic-powered Microgrid Deployment for Enhanced National Security.”
Richelle Winkler co-authored a research brief, Moving to Diversity, with Kenneth Johnson from the University of New Hamphire. Using new data and techniques, they find that net migration between counties increased racial diversity in each of the last two decades. The full report can be found here: https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/moving-diversity.
Joe Iwanicki – Anthropology – Social Sciences
Iwanicki’s research, The Archaeology of Trade: A Study of a Twentieth Century Logging Camp, was presented at Michigan Tech’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium this past week. With the assistance of LouAnn Wurst, Iwanicki looked at archaeological data from a 1900’s lumber camp in the Munising Michigan area called Coalwood. The data consists of artifacts that allow for investigation of trade and commodity flows. The archaeological record is combined with GIS to map and recreate the trade networks of the past, something rarely explored by archaeologists.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium highlights the amazing cutting-edge research being conducted on Michigan Tech’s campus by some of our best and brightest undergraduate students.
The students showcasing their work today have spent a significant portion of the past year working alongside Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students to explore, discover and create new knowledge. They’ve spent long hours in the lab or out in the field designing experiments, gathering data, creating new models and testing hypotheses. They’ve applied their classroom knowledge in new and sometimes unexpected ways, and developed new skills that will propel them forward in their careers.
Chelsea Schelly was quoted in the Sierra Magazine article Think Your Household Is Susatinable? Think Again. Schelly is a co- principal investigator on the project, “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation.”, that has received a $1,477,068 grant from the National Science Foundation.
From The Keweenaw Report
The Villages of Calumet and Laurium and Calumet Township all have highlights and their own challenges.
Dwindling populations and median household incomes well below the state average–especially in Calumet Village–have reduced the availability of services to residents over the years.
A team from Michigan Tech’s Department of Social Sciences has spent the last four months looking at the advantages and disadvantages of several options for the area.
Doctoral Student Kelley Christensen said, “We looked at five different possibilities. We looked at keeping the status quo, we looked at intergovernmental agreements, revenue sharing, the possibility of the Village of Calumet dissolving into the township, and we also looked at the possibility of Laurium and Calumet Village becoming a city.”
Changes could take years to implement and a monumental effort would be needed by all community members involved, but Christensen says it all starts with people willing to talk about the possibilities.
Christensen said, “We just really hope that this starts a conversation. Our purpose here was to provide information to them and give them a list of options, and then we’re hoping that it will facilitate discussion and participation in government.”
Their report is online for the public to review.
http://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences/research/reports/
The team will also post the power point presentation from Monday’s meeting online. Questions can be directed to Dr. Richelle Winkler of Michigan Tech’s Department of Social Sciences.