In the Treetops: Does More Nitrogen = More Photosynthesis?
For nineteen years, Kurt Pregitzer and a team of fellow researchers have been studying forests that get an extra dose of nitrogen. By adding a small amount of the fertilizer NO3 to the soil, they aim to predict what will happen in forests exposed to nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere, some of the primary by-products of industrial combustion.
"We've found out that the trees are growing faster," says Pregitzer, a professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. "And they are storing more carbon in the soil."
Oddly enough, he came to Houghton because of Tech's math department—but not for himself. Enz and his wife, Lisa Thimm, agreed to take turns earning their graduate degrees. Thimm chose Michigan Tech for her master's in discrete mathematics, bringing the couple from Kansas to the Keweenaw.
On the surface, this could be good news for the forest products industry—it might mean a better harvest in forests exposed to some common pollutants. It could also be good news for everyone on the planet, since these same forests could help mitigate climate change by sucking more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
If the trees exposed to high levels of nitrogen really are inhaling more carbon, then their rate of photosynthesis may have increased, the researchers reasoned. And the only way to verify that is up where photosynthesis happens, in the tree canopy.
So this year, with the help of an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, they built a tower nearly one hundred feet up in the treetops. There, using an infrared gas analyzer, they are measuring how much photosynthesis is actually taking place.
If the trees are not photosynthesizing more, there's another possible explanation. They could be hoarding carbon that they previously passed on to the fungi living underground, in harmony with their roots. That would still result in larger trees, but the forests wouldn't be mopping up all that extra carbon.
PhD student Alan Talhelm (pictured) is undertaking the treetop photosynthesis measurements, while graduate student Linda Van Deepen is studying the carbon uptake of the subterranean fungi. Other researchers involved in the study are Research Associate Professor Andrew Burton, Erik Lilleskov of the US Forest Service, and Donald Zak of the University of Michigan.
Treadmill Helps Hockey Huskies
The Russ '88 and Trish Becker Hockey Treadmill Room opened in summer 2006, making Michigan Tech just one of a handful of NCAA Division I hockey programs to house a Frappier Acceleration Skating Treadmill. The treadmill gives skaters the ability to train in a performance-controlled environment with their own skating equipment. The machine is valued at more than $100,000 fully installed.
According to the Frappier website, the treadmill tilts up to 32 percent elevation and operates at speeds of more than sixteen miles per hour.
"The hockey treadmill is a tremendous addition to our program," said head coach Jamie Russell. "Our strength and conditioning coach Kyle Bangen has already been able to see substantial improvements in the skating stride of our players.
"Besides the obvious benefits, adding a piece of equipment like this illustrates the outstanding support we have received from alumni, specifically those involved in the Hockey Enrichment Campaign. This helps keep our program improving."
Writing Center Honored by CCCC
Michigan Tech's Writing Center has received the Conference on College Composition and Communication's Writing Program Certificate of Excellence. In choosing Tech, the awards committee said that the Writing Center "proved excellent in its outreach across campus (especially in its innovative approach to diversity issues), its grounding in current pedagogical and theoretical understandings of composing processes, and its thorough coach-training/professional development and assessment processes."
Nancy Grimm, director of the Writing Center, credited her outstanding staff, including undergraduate students, who are "dedicated beyond the nine-to-five," she said. "We have students from all disciplines and a very diverse staff." That's important, Grimm stressed, when working with world English. "The staff possess a globally diverse ear and are able to adjust to a variety of accents in English," she said.
Sylvia Matthews, assistant director, credited Grimm for "inspiring us. She created this environment that, for the undergraduates especially, celebrates discovery and is filled with enthusiasm, and there is a great mix of theory and practice."
"I'm proud of the fact that this is our third such award," said Humanities Chair Bob Johnson. "We've previously won for the STC program and the writing program, and it demonstrates our excellence in composition, technical communication, and in the Writing Center."
Michigan Tech Endorses 25x'25 Initiative
Michigan Tech has become the first university in the state to endorse "25x'25—America's Energy Future," a grassroots initiative calling for increased reliance on clean, renewable energy sources.
"We believe that America should get at least 25 percent of its energy from renewable resources by the year 2025," said Margaret Gale, Michigan Tech's dean of forest resources and environmental science and the University's 25x'25 representative. "Both from an environmental and a geopolitical standpoint, this is a goal our nation should be pursuing. And, as the educators of the scientists, engineers, and technologists who will be developing and researching renewable energy sources, we have a special obligation to take a stand."
A group of volunteer farm leaders first envisioned the goal of 25x'25, and it quickly gained the support of a broad cross-section of the agricultural, forestry, environmental, and energy communities. Now leaders from business, labor, conservation, and religious groups are joining this alliance. The Energy Future Coalition, a nonpartisan public policy group funded by fifteen nonprofit foundations, supports the initiative.
Michigan Tech has several research centers and programs that dovetail with 25x'25. "The Biotechnology Research Center, the Ecosystems Science Center, and the Sustainable Futures Institute are all committed to technologies that will help us reach the 25x'25 goal," Gale said. "In particular, the University's Wood-to-Wheels project is investigating the sustainable use of forest products to produce clean-burning ethanol." Researchers are studying all aspects of the process, from timber harvesting to manufacturing to vehicle engine efficiency, while weighing environmental and social ramifications of a new biofuel technology.
By endorsing 25x'25, Michigan Tech puts itself on record as an advocate for renewable energy, a political position that is a good fit for the University. "Sustainability is embedded in our Strategic Plan. It's part of who we are," Gale said.
"As scientists, we need to be politically involved in this issue, answering questions without bias, while pursuing our mission to educate our students on sustainability. This is part of our future."
For more information on 25x'25, go to www.25x25.org.
All you need is music
Photo by Bill Fink, GalleryOnDaLine.com
Sixty-nine wandering troubadours, all members of the Michigan Tech Concert Choir, traveled from Upper Michigan to China, and it was two weeks of frenetic activity that was at times exhausting, at times magical.
Milton Olsson, music director of the choir, organized the tour. The choir, which included faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduate students, alumni, and community people, performed in five cities: Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Nanjing, and Shanghai. The overwhelming impression, Olsson recalls, was masses of people—"building, changing, catching up, moving forward. The mood of the place was dynamic. I didn't see oppression or suppression. I did sense regimentation. But the people were fabulous. Very, very appreciative."
Part of the tour included sightseeing, and there were moments of awe. Standing in Tiananmen Square was "profoundly moving"; standing on The Great Wall was "mind-boggling."
In Guilin the group shared a concert with a local choir. There were two scores, one in English, one in Chinese, of Randall Thompson's "Alleluia." "People who couldn't even talk to each other made music together and experienced great joy," Olsson says. "It was wonderful."
The choir's program included western classical choral music, spirituals and gospel music ("always expected"), and smaller groups of both women's and men's barbershop quartets.
"In vocal music," Olsson says, "the instrument is the person, and the music is intensely personal. It's emotional and it's intellectual, and that's who we are as a people."
Since 1990, he has led six international tours. "The experiences have confirmed that there are good people all over the world. It gives some hope in the face of all the struggles and battles going on, and maybe the music, the arts, are a key to that hope."
All this from the perspective of a music man at a university that doesn't have a music major.
"We're not training professional musicians here," Olsson says of Tech's student singers. "We're providing a cultural outlet for people who are studying other things. That's really, really important."
Beth Poole affirms that assessment. A junior with a double major in electrical engineering and computer engineering, Poole sings alto in the Concert Choir, and she loves it.
"It's a wonderful, wonderful break from every engineering class in the world."
The tour, Olsson concludes, was an experience of note. "What a curious blend we were—and we all got along so very, very well."
Like the world could.