Research Archives

Schelly’s article on Early Solar Adopters published

Published July 2, 2014

solar panels Chelsea Schelly is just back from Munich where she participated in a workshop on “Greening of Everyday Life” at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Univeristät-München. There she spoke on “Everyday Household Practice in Alternative Residential Dwellings: The Non- Environmental Motivations for Environmental Behavior.”

She has also recently had an article on her research on people who install solar energy panels published in Energy Research & Social Science. The article is based on interviews with 48 Wisconsin residents who installed solar and Schelly looked at how the environmental and economic motivations related to the demographic characteristics of the adopters. As she states in her abstract, the research “offer[s] general insight for understanding investment in renewable energy technologies at the residential scale, suggesting means of improving environmental and energy policy and highlighting avenues for future research.” Read the abstract and article at “Residential Solar Electricity Adoption: What Motivates, and What Matters? A Case Study of Early Adopters,” Energy Research and Social Science 2 (2014:) 183-191.

Gorman: Before There Was C, There Was N

Published July 2, 2014

Gorman, Story of N book cover — The book also made #1 on Carl A. Zimring's Best Books of 2013!

A recent article in the Michigan Tech News highlighted Hugh Gorman’s book, The Story of N and how our current need to fix the nitrogen cycle bears a striking resemblance to problem in the carbon cycle that needs fixing. Read the full story in the article entitled: “Before There Was C, There Was N: How Humans Derailed the Nitrogen Cycle and Are Trying to Put It Back on Track”

It also mentions that his article that came out of his work on the book, “Learning from 100 Years of Ammonia Synthesis: Establishing Human-Defined Limits through Adaptive Systems of Governance,” Gaia 22.4 (2013): 263-270, that won second place in Gaia’s Best Paper competition for 2013. Congratulations, Hugh!

A Village in Bangladesh

Published April 22, 2014

Global City Presents “A Village In Bangladesh” Today

“A Village in Bangladesh” will be presented by S. M. Mizanur Rahman, today at 5 p.m., in EERC 103.

Mizanur will present the development disaster caused by shrimp farming in his village and how small producers are left out of the economic development of this product. He will also talk about his work in the community and The Motorcycle Project, an idea he developed to provide capital support and planning skills to the local people, which he plans on implementing this summer. He is now pursuing his PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Tech.

From Tech Today.

Global City of Michigan Technological University has posted a video of Mizanur’s presentation on their Facebook page.

Robins Presents at Chemistry and Global History Conference

Published April 15, 2014

Jonathan Robins (SS), assistant professor, recently presented a paper on the history of chemical engineering in the edible oils and fats industry at the 2014 Gordon Cain Conference. The conference, hosted by the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, focused on “Chemistry and Global History.”

From Tech Today.

Emma Norman Presenting at Social Sciences Colloquium Thursday, April 17

Published April 15, 2014

Please join us to hear Emma Norman present her newest project “The Power of Water: Renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty,” in the Department of Social Sciences Colloquia Series on Thursday, April 17, at 4 p.m., in AOB 201.

From Tech Today.

Anthropology Fellowship for MacLennan

Published April 10, 2014

Carol MacLennan (SS) has recently been awarded an Ethel-Jane Westfeldt Bunting Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe (SAR). She is one of five awarded fellowships for writing projects of significance in the the field of anthropology.

From Tech Today.

Read the abstract Laid to Waste: Community Lessons from 100 Years of Mining.

Walton Publishes on Early Gunnery Manuals

Published April 8, 2014

Steven Walton’s article “Proto-Scientific Revolution or Cookbook Science? Early gunnery manuals in the craft treatise tradition,” has been published in Craft Treatises and Handbooks: The dissemination of technical knowledge in the Middle Ages, ed. by Ricardo Cordoba, De Diversis Artibus 91 (Brepols, 2013), pp. 221-36.

ISBN: 978-2-503-54439-7

From Tech Today.

Norman on Place-Based Education

Published April 8, 2014

Emma Norman (SS) has published “Taking the ‘Frogs Eye View’: How Place Based Learning and Talking Circles Foster Life-Long Learning,” in the American Indian College Fund: Mellon Tribal College Research Journal. 1(1) 162-190.

From Tech Today.

MacLennan on Torch Lake Panel Discussion

Published April 8, 2014

Portage Library Hosts Environmental Assessment Presentation about Torch Lake

The Portage Lake District Library will host a panel discussion about the “Impacts of Legacy Mining on Torch Lake” on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 p.m.

Michigan Tech faculty members Noel Urban (CEE), Carol MacLennan (SS) and Judith Perlinger (CEE) will give a three-part presentation on Torch Lake and will answer questions from the audience afterwards.