Michigan Tech 'Latest News'

Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiatives Seek Energy, Health Faculty

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 10:26:59 -0500

A worldwide search is on for outstanding energy and health researchers to fill up to 20 new tenure-track faculty positions at Michigan Technological University. The competitions are Michigan Tech’s latest in a multi-year series of Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiatives, designed to enhance and expand the University’s existing, cross-disciplinary research strengths.

One new initiative focuses on Energy: Next Generation Energy Systems. The other is in Health: Basic Sciences, Technologies and Medical Informatics.

Over the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years, up to 10 faculty will be hired who specialize in multidisciplinary research in any aspect of 21^st century energy, including smart transmission and . . .

Michigan Tech, Portage Health Offer Medical Discount to Peace Corps Students

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 09:56:05 -0500

Graduate students in Michigan Technological University’s Peace Corps Master’s International programs will be able to get their required medical exams and lab tests at a major discount, thanks to a new partnership between the University and Portage Health.

The health care provider will offer PCMI students at Michigan Tech a 20 percent discount on any balance they owe after insurance payments for exams and tests required by the Peace Corps, plus an additional 10 percent prompt-pay discount, for a total discount of 30 percent.

That can add up to quite a sum. “The personalized medical exams and tests that the Peace Corps . . .

Wolves, Moose and Biodiversity: An Unexpected Connection

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0500

Moose eat plants; wolves kill moose. What difference does this classic predator-prey interaction make to biodiversity?

A large and unexpected one, say wildlife biologists from Michigan Technological University. Joseph Bump, Rolf Peterson and John Vucetich report in the November 2009 issue of the journal Ecology that the carcasses of moose killed by wolves at Isle Royale National Park enrich the soil in “hot spots” of forest fertility around the kills, causing rapid microbial and fungal growth that provide increased nutrients for plants in the area.

“This study demonstrates an unforeseen link between the hunting behavior of a top predator—the wolf—and biochemical hot . . .

2009 was Fine, but Golf Course Seeks Constant Improvement

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:56:18 -0400

As the grounds crew, in chooks and gloves, trimmed evergreens, ran sprinklers, dug with a bobcat and did end-of-year cleanups, it was good time to reflect on the golf year just past and talk about next year.

Beginning with the Par and Grill restaurant, Mark Maroste, manager of the Portage Lake Golf Course (PLGC), says it was a very good season.

“We’ve created a nice dining atmosphere,” he says. “We are getting more non-golfers coming out for lunch, and we’re getting rave reviews on our burgers.”

The action on the course was busy, too, Maroste says, thanks in great part to the Experience . . .

Memorial Grove at Michigan Tech: Planting a Green, Living Memorial

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:00:01 -0400

Dan Lorenzetti is not a man who likes to wait for results. When he heard that Michigan Technological University was planning to add approximately 150 trees to the well-traveled eastern approach to its campus along Highway 41 over the next 15 years, his response was: “I want to see that approach to campus beautified immediately.”

So he came up with a win-win plan to achieve that goal: Invite the public to sponsor a tree in a Memorial Grove, in honor or memory of someone they admire. That way, a public entrance to Michigan Tech gets its trees, and the community . . .

School of Technology Plans New Robotics Program

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:24:10 -0400

Michigan Technological University's School of Technology is partnering with industry to develop a new course in robotics and industrial automation designed to give students both industrial and University certification.

The School of Technology has purchased two robots from FANUC Robotics America, a Japanese firm with a strong presence in the US. The company, a leader in supporting robotics education, donated software and training. The market value of the package donated was $292,163. FANUC collaborates with higher education with an eye to streamlining its operations by reducing costs, improving quality and maximizing productivity.

The initiative, says interim dean Jim Frendewey, “will meet the . . .

Grad Student Takes Aim at Sugar Maple Dieback

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:00:36 -0400

When Tara Bal brings a 12-gauge into the woods, she doesn’t worry about exceeding her limit.

Bal, a Michigan Technological University PhD student in forest science, isn’t a hunter. She is more of a gatherer, using the shotgun to bring down sugar maple leaves from the forest canopy.

With Andrew Storer, a professor of forest resources and environmental science, she aims to find out why so many Upper Peninsula sugar maples are in trouble. If you go for a walk in the woods and look up, you’ll see quite a few trees with dieback: branches, even whole sections of the tree, . . .

Powwow: Alumna Guides Youth, Celebrates Native Traditions

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:49:37 -0400

For the fourteenth year, the Spirit of the Harvest Powwow graced the Michigan Tech campus. A radiant, out-of-this-world affair, it featured regalia as colorful as the fall forest, with chanting that sounded both heartfelt and heartbreaking.

One of the lead dancers who circled the Multipurpose Gym was Jessica Koski, a Tech alumna who is now a graduate student at Yale University pursuing a master’s degree in environmental management, with a focus in social ecology. Besides dancing, Koski, who spent part of her life on the L’Anse Indian Reservation and part in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, addressed local school kids on Friday as part . . .

Michigan Tech MBA Honored Again by Aspen Institute

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:20:54 -0400

Michigan Technological University’s School of Business and Economics MBA program has been honored by the Aspen Institute’s 2009-10 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and alternative ranking of business schools. The School is rated 58th on a list of the top-100 business schools, and has “demonstrated significant leadership in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues into its MBA program,” according to the Aspen Institute.

“Our faculty earned this recognition through their commitment to teaching and research in social, environmental, and ethical stewardship as it relates to business,” said Darrell Radson, dean of the School. “Our Tech MBA program focuses . . .

Chemical Engineering Grads Among the Best in National Design Competition

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:52:50 -0400

Two May 2009 Michigan Tech chemical engineering graduates were among the best in the US this year in AIChE’s National Student Design Competition in the individual category.

Terry Mazure and John Krystof placed second and third, respectively, for their solutions to a large-scale chemical engineering design problem.

Every year, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers challenges students to tackle a problem that typifies a real, working, chemical engineering design situation.

Chemical engineering faculty members Dan Crowl and Tony Rogers incorporate the problem in the senior design lab course, CM4861. “It’s very open ended, and it takes about a hundred hours to complete,” said . . .

Michigan Tech Researchers Lead Project to Develop Cleaner, More Efficient Diesel Engines

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:51:11 -0400

Diesel engines are famously high-performance, reliable and economical. In recent years, they have also improved their image through advanced emissions control systems.

An unfortunate side effect of cleaning up diesel exhaust, however, can be a drop in engine efficiency, which translates into increased fuel consumption. Now, a partnership led by researchers at Michigan Technological University is addressing the problem. The work is being funded by a three-year, $2.8 million grant from the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Additional support and in-kind goods, services and expertise for the three-year, $2.8 million project are being provided by Michigan Tech; diesel engine . . .

Michigan Tech Research Institute Receives NIH Grant to Study Wildfires, Health

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:03:04 -0400

Where there’s smoke, there may be health risks. And where there’s climate change, there may be more—and more intense—wildfires. What does that mean for the health of people downwind from the smoke?

A team of Michigan Technological University researchers has received a $452,086 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for the first year of a research study of the impact of climate change on wildfires and the resulting impact on human health of smoke from the wildfires.

The grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, popularly known as federal stimulus funds. This brings . . .

Student Transforms into National Geographic Star

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:34:33 -0400

Alex Guth, Michigan Tech PhD student, online lecturer, and Kenyan geology researcher, has been tapped as an on-camera expert for a National Geographic television show airing next spring.

The focus of the National Geographic TV special is the concept of Pangaea, the super continent that once existed before the current continents parted ways. The Kenya Rift shows how continents tear apart, and the nearby island of Madagascar is a consequence of past rifting. Madagascar's past connection to Pangaea is seen and rocks and animals of the island, for example, lemurs, unique to Madagascar, evolved there after the split, leaving their relatives . . .

Homecoming Fun and Games at Prince's Point

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:45:54 -0400

About 150 students gathered Thursday night at Prince’s Point, a cozy fringe of beach with a backdrop of moving water and turning leaves. Natalie Noha, a fourth-year student from Menominee, summed up the goings-on: “Things fun and different,” she said.

She was talking about homecoming, of course, which sported several new activities this year, four of which were at Prince’s Point: a tug of war, sand castles, a relay race, and a bonfire. The sand castles were autumn’s snow statues.

The festivities began at five o’clock in the soft glow of the evening sun, which proved fleeting. Soon . . .

Michigan Tech EcoCAR Team Hits the Road

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 02:40:05 -0400

For over a year, Michigan Technological University’s EcoCAR Enterprise team members have been brainstorming and building a next-generation hybrid vehicle on their computers. Now they are ready to roll.

The team has taken delivery on a 2009 Saturn Vue Hybrid, a cross-over vehicle that gets 25 mpg in the city, 34 mpg on the highway, according to EPA estimates. General Motors, a major sponsor of EcoCar, donated new Vues to Michigan Tech and the 16 other US and Canadian universities participating in the competition.

Teams participating in EcoCar, The NeXt Challenge, aim to reengineer their Vues to reduce fuel consumption and . . .