Jonathan Robins (SS) has published “Coercion and Resistance in the Colonial Market: Cotton in Britain’s African Empire,” in Jonathan Curry-Machado (ed.), Global Histories, Imperial Commodities, Local Interactions (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013).
From Tech Today.
Bioenergy Must Be Sustainable
The National Science Foundation is funding a Research Coordination Network (RCN) to help researchers, policymakers, industry leaders and others investigate the effects of mass biofuel production on human communities and natural systems. The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) manages the RCN program at Michigan Tech.
Partnerships for Research and Education (PIRE) is another NSF-funded project that grew out of RCN. PIRE,’s lead researcher is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech. The PIRE team is studying impacts from bioenergy production in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the U.S. and Argentina.
“We’re working to fill the research gaps in bioenergy production so we can maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts,” Halvorsen explains. “Another thing we want to do is improve policy in these countries to support the research and development of bioenergy.”
Read more at Laboratory Equipment.
Carol MacLennan (SS) has received $6,200 from the Keweenaw National Historical Park for a 20 month research project “Oral History of Torch Lake Copper Reclamation, 1940-1970.”
From Tech Today.
Digging for copper predates European settlers in the Keweenaw by 7,000 years
Susan Martin, retired professor from the Michigan Technological University Department of Social Science, has written a book about the use of copper by ancient people in the Lake Superior region.
She said the title of the book, “Wonderful Power,” was a term used by a 19th century Ojibwa man to describe copper.
Jo Urion, Keweenaw National Historical Park historian, said park officials work with tribal members whenever work is planned on properties that are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including archeological sites.
Jessica Koski, mining technical assistant for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, said copper has traditionally been an important part of Ojibway/Anishinaabe people of the Keweenaw, and it still is.
Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Kurt Hauglie.
Patrick Martin (SS) delivered one of the keynote addresses at a recent conference in Ironbridge, Shropshire, United Kingdom. Called “Rust, Regeneration and Romance“, this interdisciplinary conference was held in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, home of the world’s first cast iron bridge and site of the first successful smelting of iron using coke. Martin’s presentation was entitled “American Iron and Steel: Evolving Cultural Landscapes.”
From Tech Today.
PhD student Riccardo Tortini (GMES) has won free satellite imagery to aid in research. The firm DMCii provided the prize and conducted the contest, which drew entries from all over the world.
Over the summer, Tortini has been working with Associate Professor Audrey Mayer (SS) to monitor land cover change from timber to non-timber use in Michigan and calculate the rate and intensity of forest harvesting in the area.
Tortini’s advisor is Associate Professor Simon Carn (GMES).
From Tech Today.
Dr. Tim Scarlett was one of the speakers for TEDx Houghton on March 23, 2013. He spoke on “A Vision for Industrial Heritage Professionals in the 21st Century.”
Watch the video and read some of Dr. Scarlett’s comments at the TEDxTalks YouTube channel.
The article, “Policy Dialogue and Engagement between Non-Governmental Organizations and Government: A Survey of Processes and Instruments of Canadian Policy Workers,” written by Bryan Evans (Ryerson University) and Adam Wellstead was recently published in the Central European Journal of Public Policy. 7:1. 60-86.
From Tech Today.
Patrick Martin (SS) has received $25,000 of a two-year research project, “A Proposal to Create the First-Ever Comprehensive Inventory of Industrial Heritage Resources,” which will total $50,000 from the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
From Tech Today.
We toured the latest dig of the social sciences department’s industrial archeology program at the Cliff Mine recently.
They continued to work on the town of Clifton, across the road from the main industrial site.
We started out at what they think was an old slaughterhouse, complete with animal bones, as MS student Rob Anthony filled in the details for us.
Read more at TechAlum Newsletter, by Dennis Walikainen.