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1. Michigan Tech Takes a Silver in Clean Snowmobile Challenge |
by Marcia Goodrich, senior writer
Michigan Tech achieved its best finish in five years at the 2009 Society of Automotive Engineers Clean Snowmobile Challenge, finishing second and winning the Yellowstone National Park Award for Second Place.
"I'm happy," team captain Rob Haack said Saturday after the award banquet. "We came to win, but overall, I'm satisfied." He attributed their success to getting their machine outside early and often. "Our goal was to get the sled on the snow early," he said. "We focused on testing."
The Tech team took to heart the Challenge's directive to build a cleaner, quieter snowmobile. Its redesigned 2008 Polaris FST Switchback earned the PCB Group Award for the Quietest Snowmobile and the Sensors Inc. Award for Lowest In-Service Emissions. As a result, they received the BlueRibbon Coalition Award for Most Practical Solution, given to the team with the best balance of cost and reduction of noise and emissions.
Tech also received the Founder's Award for Most Sportsmanlike Conduct, which honors the late Bill Paddleford, the Teton County (Wyo.) commissioner who co-founded the Challenge in 2000.
The team received eight nominations for the sportsmanship award, in part for providing other teams with tools they needed to compete and even helping Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.) rebuild its engine.
"It's been an invaluable experience," Haack said. "We gave it all we had, and I wouldn't trade it for anything." |
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2. UW-Wisconsin Madison Sweeps Clean Snowmobile Challenge |
The University of Wisconsin at Madison triumphed two for two Saturday, March 21, at the 2009 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, winning in both divisions of a competition tailor-made for the Snow Belt.
The veteran team's dual entries took both the National Science Foundation Award for the best sled in the zero-emissions division and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association Award for first place in the internal-combustion division.
To read more, including a summary of the results, visit www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/news/media_relations/835/ .
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3. Handling Heartbreak at Clean Snowmobile Challenge 2009 |
by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
Fifteen feet from the end of the handling course, the Michigan Tech snowmobile just died. No noise, no hint of what was wrong, nothing but silence, then a collective groan from the large crowd.
"Some year we are going to finish every event," said a dejected Rob Haack, who was driving the sled through the course so well the Huskies could have finished the event in first place.
Instead, they had to take a zero for a score, since popping the hood to have a look would have meant a 100-point penalty. "I think it was electrical," was Haack's guess at the problem. He just sighed and walked away.
The day started a foggy and damp 32 degrees, making for slushy conditions for the last two events--Polaris Acceleration and Handling--at the 10th annual SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, organized by the Keweenaw Research Center and the ME-EM department.
At first, the morning hubbub in the garage was permeated by energy drinks, coffee, and snacks, as the teams huddled around their machines and awaited the signal to move toward the acceleration event.
There, vice-president Dan Rahman, an ME major in his second year of competition, said the Tech team had done well in all the events thus far. They had completed the endurance run, one of only five teams to do so, and they had finished fourth in fuel economy.
"Three teams are out already," Rahman said. "Waterloo, Northern Illinois and South Dakota Mines." Some teams had both internal combustion and zero emission sleds. Tech's was IC flex-fuel.
The Waterloo team was stationed next to Tech's, and KRC Director Jay Meldrum stopped to express his feelings to a crestfallen advisor sitting alone on the sled. "You can still come out and cheer on the rest," Meldrum offered, and their advisor Peter Teertstra said he "certainly would."
"For the acceleration, you just go 500 feet as fast as you can," Rahman said. "Jake Johnson will drive for us. For the handling, it's on an obstacle course, and the quickest time wins, and you have to stop in a box at the end."
Johnson drove the sled 57 and 56 miles per hour in the two acceleration runs. The University of Idaho team was fastest at 72 and 70 mph, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville team was second at 69 and 71 mph.
Platteville was hard to miss, in their bright orange suits. They said they had no snow to practice on down south, so they used dynamometers for most of their testing. They chose their acceleration driver for two reasons: "experience and light weight." One of the team members sported a black eye. "Just goofing around in the motel room," he said. "No problems."
The University of Maine team was also nearby. "We got smoked by an electric," someone laughed in anguish. That was Wisconsin-Madison's electric sled that ran at an impressive 59 and 61 mph.
The throng then moved over to the handling course and bore witness to the Tech tragedy. The Huskies weren't alone: SUNY-Buffalo's "sweet diesel," as a Maine co-ed had called it earlier," died just after beginning its first run and had to be towed out.
The warm conditions hampered handling for all the teams. One sharp corner forced the sleds to nearly stop to avoid hitting an orange cone and being penalized. By the end of the two runs, dirt was mixed with the snow on a few stretches.
The Platteville gang was anxious to get back to "labs, homework, other stuff," and some were planning on driving back after that Saturday night's banquet. They were finishing up their spring break week. "Four years of school and I've never been to a warm spot," said one team member. They did fit in some R&R up here, though; a few brought their own machines and made it to Copper Harbor.
They were reminded that they'll have plenty of time for warmer winters, once they get those degrees. |
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4. Enroll Now for the Voluntary Sick Leave Pool |
April is open enrollment month for the Voluntary Sick Leave Pool for eligible employees. If you are not a member of the pool, you will receive a letter reminding you to join. You must have three days or 24 hours of sick leave available by April 1, 2009, to join the pool. Employees working three-quarter time need to have 18 hours of sick leave.
If you donate three days, or 24 hours (18 hours for three-quarter time) of your own sick leave, you can apply for more sick days from the pool in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury to you or a family member. If you have donated three days in a previous year, you need not donate again. The registration form and policy can be viewed at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/forms/sickleavepool031009.pdf . If you are not sure if you are a member of the pool, email Nancy Bykkonen at nabykkon@mtu.edu or call the Benefits Office at 487-2517. |
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5. Women's Week Talk Today on Social Support |
Crystal Primeau, a clinical counselor in Counseling and Wellness Services, will give a talk, "The Importance of Social Support for Women," at noon today, Tuesday, March 24, in Memorial Union Ballroom A.
She will discuss research on the association between strong social support and positive mental and physical health. She will also address how women can manage stress and find balance in their lives and provide tips for building social support.
Primeau is a clinical psychologist and has been at Counseling and Wellness Services since August. Previously, she was co-owner of a mental health agency in North Carolina specializing in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents.
Primeau's talk is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served; feel free to bring your lunch. Women's Week activities are sponsored by Educational Opportunity.
Donations of hoodies, jeans, T-shirts and other supplies for teens at homes for troubled youth are being collected from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Memorial Union Ballroom B until Wednesday. |
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6. Reminder: Lunch and Learn Wednesday on US-41 Construction |
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The Benefits Office is hosting a Lunch and Learn tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union Red Metal Room 105A. Andy Niemi, grounds manager, will present "Detours Around US-41 Construction." Bring your lunch; beverages will be provided. All attendees will have the chance to win prizes. |
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7. Webinar Thursday on Helping Students with Disabilities |
submitted by Stephen Patchin
The Professional Development Committee of Student Affairs presents the webinar, "Making the Grade: What Advisors and Administrators Need to Know to Better Assist Students with Disabilities." It will be held on Thursday, March 26, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the ATDC.
"We are all teachers in the lives of our students, whether we are in front of a class or in helping each individual navigate their college experience," organizer Stephen Patchin said. "This webinar will add another source of inspiration to your educator's tool chest."
For more information, see www.nacada.ksu.edu/Webinars/W24.htm .
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8. Chem Eng Seminar March 30 |
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Fernando Romero Lage, global sales manager at Telsmith Inc., will present a seminar, "Screening," on Monday, March 30, 8-9 a.m. in Chem Sci 211. Lage will focus on sizing screens for the mechanical sieving, or screening, of ore. |
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9. Graduate Seminar Thursday on Attitude Detection |
John L. Crassidis, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the State University of New York in Buffalo, will give a seminar, "Deterministic Relative Attitude Determination of Formation Flying Vehicles," on Thursday, March 26 at 3 p.m. in MEEM 112.
For more information on this MEEM Graduate Seminar, contact JoAnne Stimac at jstimac@mtu.edu . |
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10. Dale Carneigie Course Starts Monday at ATDC |
A six-session Dale Carnegie immersion course will begin Monday, March 30, at the Advanced Technology Development Complex.
The sessions are held Mondays from 8:01 a.m. to noon. The course teaches participants how to strengthen interpersonal relations, manage stress and handle fast-changing workplace conditions.
For more information, contact Jon Walrath at 281-1841 or jon.walrath@dalecarnegie.com or visit www.sewis.dalecarnegie.com . |
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11. Physics Colloquium Thursday |
Heather Lewandowski, assistant professor and JILA Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will present a physics colloquium, “Billiards at the Nanoscale: Colliding Molecules at Millikelvin Temperatures,” on Thursday, March 26, at 4 p.m. in Fisher Hall 139.
Lewandowski received her BS in Physics from Michigan Tech and a PhD in Physics from University of Colorado. She then received a National Research Council fellowship to work at NIST where she worked on cooling molecules for high-resolution spectroscopic studies related to the change in fundamental constants.
For more information, contact Ranjit Pati ( patir@mtu.edu , 487-3193) or Claudio Mazzoleni ( cmazzoleni@mtu.edu , 487-1226). |
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12. In Print |
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Professor Emeritus Harley Sachs (Humanities) published a short story, "Two Old Men," in "Reflections," an annual collection of of writing by Oregon senior citizens. It won first place in a fiction contest conducted by the Oregon Alliance of Senior and Health Services. |
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