Category: Research

Ten New Faculty Members Hired in SFHI: Water Systems and Future Transportation Systems

Michigan Tech has hired ten new faculty members as part of the University’s most recent Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiatives (SFHI), which were conducted in parallel over the last two years. The research done by six of the new hires focuses on the cross-disciplinary theme of water systems. The other four new faculty members conduct research in future transportation systems.

Emma Norman filled an open line in the Department of Social Sciences. She earned her PhD in Geography at the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining Michigan Tech, she was a faculty member at Northwest Indian College (Washington). She works closely with the Great Lakes Research Center and the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia. Her research specialties are transboundary water governance, water security, political and cultural geography, and environmental governance. An already well-published young scholar, she will bring a perspective on water politics and indigenous issues to collaborations with fishery biologists, ecologists and social scientists.

Read more at Tech Today, by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Students and faculty at Michigan Tech collaborated with the North Woods Conservancy on a project to help maintain a small piece of nature for future generations.

Senior Lecturer A. J. Hamlin joined this project because her Engineering Modeling and Design course bridges the needs of the NWC and the goals of Social Sciences Assistant Professor Emma Norman’s World Resources and Development course perfectly. “When Emma asked if my first-year students might be interested in building a compostable toilet, I thought it would make a great design project,” Hamlin said.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Kevin Hodur.

Study: Art Strengthens Community Ties in Calumet

Art has long fostered human connection. Now a Michigan Technological University social sciences professor and her class are examining how art is working as a social glue in Calumet.

Students in Richelle Winkler’s Topics in Rural Community Sustainability class focused on the art scene in Calumet to better understand how the village’s First Fridays art tours benefit the community. On the first Friday of each month, Calumet’s participating art galleries and cafes extend their business hours late into the evening, offering refreshments, artist receptions, demonstrations, menu specials and more, depending on the season.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Karina Jousma.

Students in Richelle Winkler’s Topics in Rural Community Sustainability course (SS 4390) spent the spring semester collaborating with community organizations in Calumet to analyze how First Fridays art tours affect community sustainability.  The project inventoried community assets and assessed how First Fridays contribute to these assets using participation observation, interviews, and surveys of First Fridays participants. The research team surveyed 368 visitors to eight art spaces on First Fridays in February, March, and April of 2013. Study results indicate that First Fridays and the art scene are making broad contributions to community well-being. The program has potential to spur a process of holistic community development; yet there are several opportunities of which First Fridays are not yet fully taking advantage. For instance, social relationships are one of the most important things that First Fridays participants value, and the development of social capital is perhaps the most key contribution of First Fridays.  However, we find that social capital associated with First Fridays remains somewhat narrow as similar people visit the same one or two art spaces each month and interact with one another. These relationships are important, but First Fridays may be missing opportunities to establish new relationships among multiple groups and to integrate younger people and families.  Based on the findings, the team suggests that First Fridays and the art community in Calumet could build on current successes by engaging in a visioning process whereby community members work together to define a vision and goals for the First Fridays program. The process could help to coordinate advertising efforts, build and solidify social relationships, coordinate with external agencies (such as Main Street Calumet, Michigan Tech, or Finlandia), develop leadership, establish a political voice in the community and beyond, and attract more and more diverse visitors.  The community may find that Calumet community members, artists and art space proprietors would benefit from forming a formal Calumet Arts organization that would serve to organize these efforts and coordinate with external groups.

Read the Executive Summary or the First Fridays Calumet Community Report

Team members included:

• Lorri Oikarinen, Calumet community
• Heather Hendrickson, senior anthropology major
• Travis Wakeham, junior anthropology major
• Ariel Terpstra, MS student in Industrial Archaeology
• Rhianna Williams, MS student in Environmental and Energy Policy
• Luke Alvin, MS student in Humanities
• Heather Simpson, MS student in Cognitive and Learning Sciences
• Leopoldo Cuspinera, PhD student in Industrial Archaeology
• Talva Jacobson, PhD student in Industrial Archaeology
• Richelle Winkler, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography, Social Sciences