Outreach RSS Feed

Outreach Addresses Tribal Transportation on Reservations

Mon, 7 May 2012 16:13:06 -0400

John Velat, director of Michigan Tech’s Tribal Technical Assistance Program, has just returned from Washington, DC, Dallas, Seattle, and New York, where he traveled the high road to help Native American communities attain safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation.

A national leader in these state and federal efforts, Velat’s work ranges from the ordinary to the inspired—from training people to fix potholes and run graders to promoting tribal culture and self-determination.

The Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) is funded by the Federal Highway Administration. The seven TTAP programs in the country work with 566 federally recognized tribes. Tech has served the midwestern and . . .

Enterprising High School Students Showcase Accomplishments in Detroit

Wed, 2 May 2012 09:15:43 -0400

Michigan Technological University and General Motors are sponsoring a High School Enterprise Showcase on Thursday, May 3 in the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. Teams of high school students from Detroit, elsewhere in Michigan, and as far away as Puerto Rico, Atlanta and Chicago will present their work to find scientific and technological solutions to real-world problems in business and industry.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are gateways to the future. So why, thought Michigan Tech, should students have to wait until they are in college to find out how STEM studies can be turned into exciting, rewarding careers?

So Michigan . . .

Air Power Can Blow Holes in Soda Cans; You Can Walk on Water Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers Brings the Mysteries of Science to Washington, DC

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:49:47 -0400

A karate master can break a brick with his bare hands, and children visiting the Michigan Tech Mind Trekkers exhibit at the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival at the Washington Convention Center this weekend can hurl a ping pong ball right through a soda can—learning for themselves the physics of air pressure.

The ping pong cannon is just one of more than a dozen mind-blowing science and engineering demonstrations that Mind Trekkers are bringing to the nation's largest celebration of science and engineering. Visitors will also get to walk on water—or at least on ooblek, a non-Newtonian fluid . . .

Mobile Lab Takes Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technology on the Road

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:03:00 -0400

Take some galvanized nails, vinegar, soda pop and copper wire, piece them together just right, and what do you get? A battery.

Visitors to Michigan Technological University’s hybrid electric vehicles mobile lab—on display in Washington, DC, this week— will get to fabricate and test batteries made from common household items, ride a specially designed stationary bike that turns your legs into a hybrid electric engine, and literally see a car engine run. Its cylinders are made of transparent quartz, so you can see the pistons moving up and down and the flames produced by combustion.

The mobile lab also gives visitors a look . . .

Mind Trekkers Bring the Magic and Mystery of Science to Wisconsin, DC Is Next

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:00:42 -0400

What body parts do a cat and a fish have in common? How can you use liquid nitrogen to make edible ice cream in 60 seconds? What if your eyeglasses adjusted their prescription automatically to your eyes when you put them on, like Dow Corning’s Adspecs do? Have you ever walked on water—or at least on ooblek, a water and cornstarch mixture that supports weight if you move across it fast and drags you down if you don’t.

Michigan Technological University’s Mind Trekkers brought these intriguing demos and nearly 100 other hands-on science and engineering activities to Sheboygan, Wis., this month. Student . . .

Boom Time in Small-town Wisconsin

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:05:15 -0400

What’s causing the booms in Clintonville? Residents of the small Wisconsin town have been hearing deep, rumbling sounds from time to time since March 18. To find out why, a Michigan Technological University professor and his grad students are lending their expertise.

Greg Waite, assistant professor of geology, along with graduate students Josh Richardson and Kathleen McKee, installed four seismometers and eight sound sensors around Clintonville, with help from City of Clintonville workers. They are trying to record anything that could relate to the booms that began last month.

“These types of noises have been reported for small shallow earthquakes in many places . . .

Researchers, Teachers, Join Ranks to Make Earth Science More Engaging

Mon, 2 Apr 2012 11:10:34 -0400

Some of the most pressing problems facing the world today—climate change, earthquakes and volcanoes, energy and water resources—fall in a field most Americans haven’t studied since their middle school earth science class. So Michigan Technological University is partnering with the Grand Rapids, Mich., Public Schools and other groups in Michigan, Washington, D.C. and Colorado to help students learn more about the earth.

The program, called MiTEP (Michigan Teacher Excellence Program), is funded by a $4 million 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Math-Science Partnership grant. It brings university geoscience researchers and middle-school teachers together to find ways to make earth science more exciting . . .

Peace Corps Volunteer Tackles a Sensitive Women's Health Problem in Uganda

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:23:02 -0400

When Stacey Frankenstein-Markon discovered that girls in Uganda often used rags, old socks or wads of newspapers to do the job of sanitary napkins, she was shocked. She was even more horrified to realize that purchasing commercial pads was an impossible dream for most of them, since they come from families of subsistence farmers making about $1 a day in disposable income.

“Disposable pads cost $1 for an 8-pack,” says the 25-year-old Peace Corps volunteer, who with her husband, Tony Markon, is serving in Uganda as part of Michigan Technological University’s Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) program in applied science education. . . .

Clarkson, Alaska Fairbanks Win Clean Snowmobile Challenge

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:37:15 -0400

Clarkson University of Potsdam, N.Y., captured first place in the 2012 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, which drew to a close March 10 at Michigan Technological University.

“This is our second year in a row, and it’s a crazy feeling,” said team captain Ben Edwards. “We knew it was close. But the team was awesome. We came prepared, and I can’t say enough about our sponsors who made it all possible.” Their winning four-stroke sled revolved around a 2011 Ski-Doo MX Z chassis.

Kettering University, of Flint, placed second, with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville earning third place in the internal-combustion category.

The University of . . .

Four sleds finish Clean Snowmobile Challenge Endurance Run at Michigan Tech

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 16:58:47 -0500

A dozen snowmobiles lined up to start the Endurance Run at the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, but only four completed the trek: Clarkson University, Michigan Technological University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

The 100-mile course begins at Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center. After traveling 40 miles on a snow-covered track, the sleds complete the journey with a ride on area snowmobile trails to Copper Harbor, Michigan’s northernmost community.

The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is a collegiate design competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Engineering students from participating schools take a stock snowmobile and reengineer it. Their aim: to . . .