Sawyer Newman, a 2013 alumna in anthropology, has published a brief summary of her senior thesis in The Chronicle, the quarterly magazine of the Historical Society of Michigan. Her thesis was a study of the Copper Country’s Chinese community.
From Tech Today.
Film premiere of Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913
Friday, December 6, 2013
7:00 pm, Calumet Theatre
The Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections presents the premiere of Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913, a documentary film by Emmy award-winning producer Jonathan Silvers & Saybrook Productions.
Admission is free. Donations will support the Calumet Theatre and the Michigan Tech Archives.
Social sciences emeritus faculty Larry Lankton and Kim Hoagland appear in this film.
Read more at Michigan Tech Archives Blog.
Assistant Professor Chelsea Schelly (SS) was interviewed by Dutch newspaper Weekendavisen about the social implications of 3D printing.
From Tech Today.
Associate Professor Mary Durfee tells us about her experience in Rovaniemi, Finland:
It was even better than I expected. We met at the business place and they gave us insulated boots and snow-mobile suits. Drove us about 20-25 minutes into the country side until there were pretty much no lights. We stood around the farm with the reindeer and then they had us walk to a different area. There were two young couples and me. The couples each got a sled with a reindeer and I got the last one. The reindeer are tied together in a little reindeer train. It was quite cold -20c/ -4 F maybe even colder. Stars were out and ever so bright. A diffuse white glow was towards the North, though at first I thought it might be lights from Rovaniemi. We went through woods and fields, stopping now and then. Got back to the farm and we went into a log cabin that had a nice fire going. They served us piping hot cloudberry tea (I think) and gave us a sausage to heat over the fire (probably reindeer, but I didn’t hear). The herders let in two dogs–a 7 month old puppy learning to be a bird dog and a 7 year old that helps herd reindeer. The owner of the older dog had him do tricks–beg, roll over (both ways), speak, drop dead. After a bit one of the herders came in and said come quick. Lovely wavy curtain of Northern Lights. People who were taking photos got a lot of green color and it seemed tinged with that to my eyes. Then the lights became arcs–three of them in concentric arcs. Then they got more unstable and started twisting and reforming. We followed the herders as they fed their working reindeer and some that were near a fence. We were cold and went back in the cabin for more warmth. Back out to return, but we watched the lights for another 5-10 minutes and then home. Memorable.
Adam Wellstead (SS) has published “Beyond the black box: Forest sector vulnerability assessments and adaptation to climate change in North America” in the journal Environmental Science and Policy Vol. 35, No. 3.
From Tech Today.
C2E2 Endowed Equipment Awards Announced
Vice President for Research David Reed has announced the following Century II Campaign Endowed Equipment Fund (C2E2) awards at the recommendation of the C2E2 Committee.
In the Department of Social Sciences, Chelsea Schelly was awarded $5,000 for Bringing Small-scale Distributed Solar Technology to Campus.
Read more at Tech Today.
Emma Norman (SS/GLRC) presented the keynote address at the University of Nevada–Reno’s World Water Forum titled “Governing Water across Borders: How Problems can Solve Innovative Solutions.”
From Tech Today.
The 10th Annual Student World Water Forum took place on Friday, November 22, 2013.
Kathleen Halvorsen (SS/SFRES) has received a $200,000 grant to study interdisciplinary science teamwork associated with investigating the socioecological impacts of bioenergy development.
The InterAmerican Institute for Global Change Research issued the call for Interdisciplinary Science Integration Grant proposals that study the integration of social and natural sciences.
Read more at Tech Today, by Danny Messinger.
Professor Barry Solomon (SS) has published a new book, “Sustainable Development of Biofuels in Latin America and the Caribbean,” New York: Springer, 2013.
From Tech Today.
$1.45 Million Study to Address the Northbound Flow of Airborne Toxins
Half of the people in Greenland have toxic levels of PCBs in their blood. A harmful cocktail of contaminants, including mercury and dioxin, has led to fish consumption advisories in all of the Great Lakes, including Superior.
The team members are undertaking a three-pronged research effort. First, they will estimate where the pollutants originate, describe the natural systems that transport them north, and identify where the pollutants finally land. Their models will offer predictions through the year 2050 and will account for the affects of climate change and changes in land use and cover and government policy relating to ASEPs.
In addition to Judith Perlinger, scientists collaborating on the project are Noel Urban of Michigan Tech’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Shiliang Wu, who has dual appointments in Michigan Tech’s Departments of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences/Civil and Environmental Engineering; Emma Norman of Michigan Tech’s Department of Social Sciences and Great Lakes Research Center; Hugh Gorman, Michigan Tech’s Department of Social Sciences; Joan Chadde-Schumaker, Michigan Tech’s Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences and the Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education; Noelle Eckley Selin of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Engineering Systems Division and Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Daniel Obrist of the Desert Research Institute’s Division of Atmospheric Sciences; Henrik Selin of International Relations at Boston University; and Juanita Urban-Rich, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Department of Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences.
Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Marcia Goodrich.