Funding for the 3-year research project comes from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). 

Chemical Engineering Professor David Shonnard will lead the research at Michigan Tech, with Robert Handler providing technical and program management support. Shonnard is director of the University's Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) and holds the Richard and Bonnie Robbins Chair in . . .]]>Tue, 24 Sep 2013 10:48:42 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/september/story97329.htmlWith 264 companies registered for the Fall Career Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 24, their 900 recruiters run the gamut from new to returning to never-miss-a-fair.

Among the new companies, according to Jim Turnquist, director of Career Services, is Chevron. Although they have recruited and hired on their own on campus, this year they’ve joined the Career Fair and expanded their search.

“In the past, they focused on geology, but this year they are looking for many different engineering fields: chemical, civil, electrical, environmental, mechanical,” Turnquist says. “That’s a big plus.”

Back after a hiatus from recruiting is Procter and Gamble. They are scouting for . . .]]>Mon, 23 Sep 2013 07:00:23 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/august/story94260.htmlThe Dow Chemical Company has taken the lead as naming sponsor of the Dow Chemical Company Great Lakes Bay Science & Engineering Festival at Delta College Oct. 4-5.  The festival, hosted by Michigan Technological University and Delta College on the Delta College campus, will feature the Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers and the American Chemical Society Midland Section’s SciFest, performing their hands-on science shows.

The free two-day festival is designed to get children, adolescents and their families excited about science and engineering by engaging them in hands-on activities.  Its ultimate goal is to attract more bright students into STEM (science, technology, engineering and . . .]]>Fri, 09 Aug 2013 07:20:16 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/july/story93523.html3D printer. The very words sound contradictory. Printing is 2-dimensional by nature—words on paper, pictures on posters, letters on signs.

Yet 3D printers are fast becoming one of the hottest new technologies. People are using them to “print” everything from lab equipment to jewelry to toys to surgical implants.  

It might be more accurate to call them replicators. Here’s how they work. Computer Aided Design (CAD) files feed digital instructions for a three dimensional object into the 3D printer.  Then software slices the design into hundreds or even thousands of tiny, horizontal layers. Using materials—often plastic, but sometimes metal, ceramic or other . . .]]>Mon, 29 Jul 2013 08:44:01 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/july/story93069.htmlNineteen female high school students who are fascinated by computer science are spending this week at Michigan Technological University, exploring this fast-moving field.  Girls from as far away as Delaware won scholarships to participate in Michigan Tech’s Women in Computer Science summer program, sponsored by Jackson National Life Insurance Company, which has an information technology satellite office in the MTEC SmartZone.

They are learning about programming, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, visualization, networks and security. They’re doing it hands-on as well as in the classroom, developing their own mobile apps. 

During the week they have had an opportunity to interact with current . . .]]>Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:06:32 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/june/story91086.htmlThis time last year, the finishing touches were just being put on Michigan Technological University’s Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC). Researchers were starting to move in, and plans were being made for a mid-summer building dedication.

What a difference a year makes.  Now celebrating its first anniversary, the GLRC is fast becoming the go-to source for data about the Great Lakes and the home of pioneering investigations into solutions to the challenges facing them. 

“This is a unique, amazing place,” says Guy Meadows, director of the GLRC.  Meadows came to Michigan Tech from the University of Michigan to lead the Great Lakes . . .]]>Tue, 04 Jun 2013 07:53:37 -0700 http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/april/story88254.htmlA new process for growing forests of manganese dioxide nanorods may lead to the next generation of high-performance capacitors.

As an energy-storage material for batteries and capacitors, manganese dioxide has a lot going for it: it’s cheap, environmentally friendly and abundant. However, chemical capacitors made with manganese dioxide have lacked the power of the typical carbon-based physical capacitor. Michigan Technological University scientist Dennis Desheng Meng theorized that the situation could be improved if the manganese dioxide were made into nanorods, which are like nanotubes, only solid instead of hollow. However, a stumbling block has been making manganese dioxide nanorods with the right . . .]]>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:58:08 -0700