Michigan Technological University

Second-year social sciences major Elijah Haines is many things—aspiring lawyer, outdoors enthusiast, art aficionado, wannabe world traveler.

Luckily for the Michigan Tech community, he's also a writer. Haines' essays—weekly staples in the University's student newspaper, the Lode—focus on issues big and small, from gay rights to great meals.

"I used to think writing had to be novels and fiction," Haines said. "But writing about real life can be just as creative."

If Donieka Walker, who is a senior majoring in psychology, could fix the world, she'd start by ensuring "mental stability for everyone."

"If your mental state is at an all-time high," she says, "nothing else can get you down."

Walker knows what she's talking about. "My family, we were at the bottom of the bottom," she recalls about tough times in her native Dayton, Ohio. "It was a time to be depressed or sad or angry. But we kept each other encouraged. We kept our mental state healthy. We were motivated. Thinking logically. Staying mentally satisfied."

Conservation could be Amber Roth's middle name. She loves anything to do with nature. Birds, trees, grasses, ecosystems: she's fascinated by it all.

So after tucking a Bachelor of Science in Conservation Biology and International Relations and a Master of Science in Wildlife Ecology under her belt, the Green Bay native came to Michigan Tech to earn a PhD in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES).

Roth studies how to manage aspen forests to produce the maximum . . .

Associate Professor Audrey Mayer has an abiding dream and duty: rearrange the way we live to be more efficient; use the bounty of the Earth's ecosystems without destroying them; live in a way that what we do doesn't harm others. In a word, she seeks sustainability—socially, environmentally, and economically.

Mayer has worked in academia and for the Environmental Protection Agency. She started out small: studying California's gnat catcher and Florida's cape sable seaside sparrow. She ended up expansive: devoting herself to what she calls "my silo"—global sustainability.

Graduate student Chris Johnson had never been out of the US. In fact, he'd never been on a plane until last winter. But he made up for it big time—by flying to Antarctica to conduct research. He spent eight days on King George's Island off the coast of Antarctica, studying carbon dynamics of recently exposed permafrost.

Traveling to King George Island is not exactly a trip to the beach. The offshore island doesn't have scheduled airline service. Military cargo planes drop off supplies and the occasional passenger—when the unpredictable weather permits them to land.

Just because Brian Brewster didn't get a gold medal doesn't mean attending the 2010 Paralympic games was not the "experience of a lifetime." Brewster, who serves as an athletic trainer at Michigan Tech, didn't attend the games as a fan, he was there to work.

Brewster has served as the athletic trainer for the USA sled hockey team since 2007 and has travelled all over the world for international competitions. He was in Boston when Team USA won a bronze medal at the 2008 World Championships and was at the World Championships in the Czech Republic the next year when the team won the gold medal.