Michigan Tech: Tech Topics Online

Michigan Tech must keep its eyes on the horizon even as it navigates uncertain waters, was the message Interim President Glenn Mroz brought to the University Senate April 7.

"You have to confront your brutal realities while continuing to focus on your vision for success," he said. "That's what we're going to do."

Michigan Tech is already achieving its goal of becoming a national university of choice as outlined in the Strategic Plan, he noted. For the first time, the university earned recognition in U.S. News and World Report's grad school rankings, with four of the university's graduate programs being listed, a concrete measure of progress toward MTU's vision.

"We're there," Mroz said. "But now, our most brutal reality is our financial picture."

The university has sustained deep cuts from the state, and enrollment has fallen short of expectations. This has led to uncertainty, which hurts productivity "and has a corrosive effect on morale," Mroz said.

"We must deal with this in an open, honest manner," he said. "That will require a certain degree of trust, because without trust, there is no flexibility.

"I'm hoping that through open, constructive debate we can address this over the coming months."

He noted that many senators had begun the process already, by serving on a number of budget committees that have looked into all aspects of university operations. Those committees are finalizing their reports, and a team has been created to distill their recommendations. The members are Interim Budget Director Amy Hughes, Provost Kent Wray, CFO Dan Greenlee, Associate Director of Faculty Personnel Debbie Lassila, Budget Analyst Kathy Goulette, Assistant Budget Director Nancy Seely and Mroz.

"Our goal is a balanced budget, but we also want to bring clarity to the process," Mroz said.

He stressed the importance of listening and ongoing communication. "The most dangerous people in the world are those who don't know what they don't know," he said. To make sure he's not among them, Mroz said he had met with Staff Council, AAUP, the Board of Control, the Michigan Tech Fund Board of Trustees, USG and the Graduate Student Council. "I'll continue to do that," he said.

He also backs an informal meeting between senators and Board of Control members, so they can all better understand their roles and priorities.

"We have problems to solve, we have decisions to make," he concluded. "I'm confident we can overcome obstacles to success if we all work together in an atmosphere that is honest and tolerant of debate and constructive criticism."

Then, for the first time in recent memory, the senate gave up a round of applause.

Senate Alternate Larry Davis (SBE), who served on the ad hoc committee that looked at this year's budget, presented the committee's findings to the senate. Davis noted that this is virtually the same report he presented to the Board of Control March 5 (see http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/ttopics/online/archives/2004/031204.htm#board ) The only change he noted was that the board's decision to return $1.1 million in carryforward funds will affect the projected year-end general fund deficit, increasing it from $1.9 million to about $3 million.

"In a lot of ways, we had bad news and good news," he said, noting that reduced expenses had mitigated the impact of a $7 million miscalculation of tuition revenue.

As for next year, "If we do nothing, my guess is that we would have a $5.5 million structural deficit," Davis said. He noted that 85 percent of the university's budget goes for salaries, wages and fringe benefits, and that much of the remainder, such as utility costs, is almost guaranteed to rise somewhat.

The senate approved several concentrations and degree programs, including a concentration in construction management technology in the BS in Engineering Technology, a concentration in photonics in the BS in Electrical Engineering, a concentration in education preparation in the BS in Mathematical Sciences, and a BS in Wildlife Ecology and Management. It also approved new grades of E* and U* to indicate academic dishonesty in pass/fail and audited courses.

The senate also approved an amendment to Proposal 24-04 The Title and Administrative Position of Dean. The change creates the title of administrative dean for positions that do not supervise academic areas. The change would allow the executive director of international education to have a title on par with peers at other universities, which will give him an advantage in negotiating with potential clients overseas. The senate is expected to vote on the measure at its next meeting.

Senate President Robert Keen, who has led the senate for four years, announced the he will not be seeking reelection next year.

2. FOUR GRADUATE PROGRAMS EARN US NEWS RANKING: CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, MATERIALS, MECHANICAL ALL IN TOP 50

US News & World Report has ranked four Michigan Tech graduate engineering programs among the best in the country.

The ranked programs include: environmental engineering (18th), materials engineering (32nd), mechanical engineering (42nd), and civil engineering (50th)

"This is a very elite group of institutions," said Bruce Rafert, dean of the graduate school. "You don't just accidentally increase your stature among this group. These results demonstrate our solid commitment to research and doctoral education, and the success of our strategic plan."

Michigan Tech's graduate programs enrolled a record 801 students during 2003-04 and attracted more than $30 million in research funding.

To arrive at its rankings, US News surveys engineering school deans, graduate school deans and corporate recruiters. Forty percent of a school's ranking is based on these surveys. Other factors include student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity.

3. NOT SLIPPERY WHEN WET: ANTI-ICE COATING HITS THE ROAD

There's a bridge along Wisconsin's Highway 8 that's notorious for ice and bad wrecks. But this winter, no one has spun out and slammed into the guardrails above the Wolf River, and officials say that's no accident.

Last summer, workers installed a new surface on the 120-foot span, located about six miles west of the small town of Crandon, Wis. Developed by a researcher at Michigan Tech, this anti-icing pavement overlay is a sheet of epoxy covered with an aggregate. From the top, it looks like kitty litter. A cross section looks more like toffee covered with lots of chopped nuts.

"It acts sort of like a hard sponge," says inventor Russ Alger, a project manager/research leader at the Keweenaw Research Center. "You put a light amount of de-icing chemical on there, and it keeps coming up to the surface."

Thus, when salt trucks apply magnesium chloride to the bridge, it doesn't just sit on top of the concrete, to be pushed off by snow plows or washed into the river. It soaks into the overlay and stays put.

This can save money. "You don't have to use very much chemical, and you don't have to apply it very often," Alger says.

When the time came to test the overlay, Alger approached the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which has no shortage of treacherous roadways, especially in the north. "They told me, 'We're going to give you the worst bridge in the state,'" Alger recalls. "It had the highest accident rate and the worst frost and ice."

The bridge crosses a river that gives off a lot of steam, which condenses and freezes on the pavement. Plus, it's midway up a steep hill.

Motorists come barreling up Wolf River Hill with their cruise control set on 60 mph. "If you are accelerating and your tires hit that ice, you are off to the races," observes Ron Cole, patrol superintendent of the Forest County Highway Department.

As a result, Cole has received more than one 3 a.m. call from state police asking him to send a salt truck out to the bridge, which has seen five accidents in the past two years.

However, with the anti-icing overlay coating the pavement, his phone has been quiet. There have been no accidents so far this winter, and crews have applied magnesium chloride to the bridge only five times, fewer than half the typical number.

"One time I was out there, and the bridge was white on both sides and wet in the middle," Cole said. "It's been a success in my mind."

Alger hopes that the Wolf River Bridge success will be repeated elsewhere. Michigan Tech is negotiating a licensing agreement with a large corporation to use the anti-icing pavement overlay, and plans are under way to install it this summer on a number of accident-prone sites across the Midwest.

If the Wolf River Bridge trial is any indication, highway departments will see the cost of treating their trouble spots plummet, and drivers will make fewer trips to the body shop--and to the hospital.

4. CILIT TOPPED OFF TUESDAY

The last bone in the skeleton of the Center for Integrated Learning and Information Technology was put into place Tuesday, as members of Ironworkers Union Local 8 observed the topping off ceremony for Michigan Tech's newest building project.

A crane hoisted the highest piece of structural steel into place on the new Kanwal and Anne Rehki Computer Science Hall. This top piece was itself topped by U.S. and Michigan flags, along with the traditional Christmas tree and a Michigan Tech banner.

"This is an exciting day," said Terry Frisch, director of construction administration for SmithGroup of Detroit, the architectural firm that designed the CILIT. "These are going to be outstanding new buildings; we're eager to get them done."

No one is more eager than computer science chair Linda Ott. "It's so fun looking in on the first floor, where the undergraduate labs are going to be," she said. Students will be using those labs this time next year.

Topping off ceremonies date back centuries and celebrate the completion of the framing of a new structure without any deaths or serious injuries. "This is a great milestone for me," said Construction Engineer Mike Wilmers (Facilities), who is overseeing CILIT construction. "The framework is up, the floors are going in."

And soon, students will be walking on them. Rehki Hall will be ready in time for spring semester 2005, and the other part of the project, the John and Ruanne Opie Library, is expected to open in March.

5. WATERSMEET SCHOOLS, MICHIGAN TECH PARTNER TO MARKET NIMROD GEAR

America is in love with Nimrod Nation, made famous by those quirky commercials on ESPN that celebrate the mighty hunters of the Watersmeet Township School District.

There's such a thing as too much love, however, and the tiny district has been bombarded with orders for Nimrod stuff from all over the world.

School officials asked for help in handling the deluge from Michigan Tech's School of Business and Economics, which referred them to MTU merchandising manager Mark Johnson.

"I made a proposal to the Watersmeet school board to take on their inventory, sales and mailing," Johnson said. "They bought it, and we've processed about 1,000 Nimrod orders this week."

"Some may never have heard of us," Johnson says. "They come to our website; they see Michigan Tech. It's good for the university."

The move is expected to earn Michigan Tech a mention in an upcoming article on the Nimrods in the Sunday, April 18, edition of the New York Times Magazine.

6. MTU PROFESSOR AND GRADUATE STUDENT RECEIVE FULBRIGHT AWARDS

Two members of Michigan Tech's community have been selected to receive Fulbright Awards, faculty member Heidi Bostic and graduate student Jaime Krull.

Bostic, assistant professor of Romance languages and gender studies in the Department of Humanities, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award for Research and Teaching. She will spend the fall 2004 semester at the University of Talca in Chile, where she will teach women's studies and literary analysis. She will also present her research on feminist theory and collaborate with Chilean researchers with similar interests.

Like Michigan Tech, the University of Talca offers degrees primarily in technical fields such as engineering, and most of her students will be in non-humanities majors. However, she feels that humanities classes deal with issues that that are basic to everyone, such as "Who are we?" or "What is the meaning of life?"

Bostic also teaches narrative theory. "The stories we create help to make us who we are," she explains. And the stories aren't always written. She recalled a group of Chilean women unable to read or write who wove tapestries documenting human rights abuses under the Pinochet regime. Narratives can also be songs or even advertisements.

"An award like this isn't the work of one person," she noted. "It came about completely through the help of colleagues who have created an environment where people are interested in Latin American culture."

Krull, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, will receive a Fulbright Grant for 2004-05. Krull will defend her MS thesis this spring and will begin doctoral studies this fall as a Fulbright scholar at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.

Krull received her undergraduate degrees from MTU in materials science and engineering and business administration, and when she returned as a graduate student, she knew she wanted to study abroad. "When I found the Fulbright U.S. Student program, I knew that I had to apply because it presented all the opportunities I have dreamed of."

She will consider what new technologies and applications are likely to drive the predicted growth of the Norwegian light metals industry, and how they can be applied in the U.S. to support global sustainable development.

The award "is a great honor, not just for me but for the university as a whole," Krull said. Bruce Rafert, dean of the Graduate School, agrees. "We are very proud of Jaime. She is a prototypical MTU student, and she reflects the high caliber and capability of all our students."

The Fulbright Scholar program is administered by the U.S. Department of State and promotes mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world. For more information on the program, or to apply for an award, visit http://www.cies.org/ .

Graduate students can contact Valorie Troesch, director of development for the Graduate School and Research Office, at 487-2906 for more information or for help in completing the application materials. Rafert encourages faculty to help identify potential candidates. He notes that "Jaime's award demonstrates that our students are highly competitive and capable of achieving this distinction."

7. TECH TEAM WINS CONCRETE CANOE REGIONALS

The Michigan Tech Concrete Canoe Team took first place overall in the American Society of Civil Engineers' regional competition held last weekend at the University of Akron, in Ohio.

By winning, the Tech team earned the right to represent the North Central Conference at the National Competition, to be held in Washington, DC, June 17-20.

The team took first place in the design paper, oral presentation and final product categories, and finished second in the races to win the competition by a comfortable margin.

The students adopted a lumberjack theme, in keeping with Michigan Tech's northwoods location, and displayed their canoe on top of logs cut from the woods. As for the concrete, they replaced the crushed rock with mini-bubbles of glass, experimenting with 45 trial batches to develop the strongest, lighter-than-water mix.

It's not enough just to float your boat, explains Brian Wardman, co-captain of the team and a third-year civil engineering major. "Part of the competition is to submerge the canoe and have it come back up."

The team built upon last year's model. "It is shaped like a professional racing canoe," Wardman said. "This year, we made a few modifications, but we kept the same hull design."

Their strong showing in the races is all the more noteworthy considering Michigan Tech's iced-in winters. "We had to paddle in the pool all winter trying to stay in shape," he said. This involves strapping the canoe to the edge of the pool and paddling like crazy to get absolutely nowhere. "It's pretty frustrating," Wardman admitted.

But being from the frozen shores of Lake Superior does have its advantages. "When it was 45 degrees on race day, we were walking around in shorts and sandals, and all the other teams were bundled up."

Now, with the Portage Waterway opening up, the team will begin serious paddling practice to shave a few seconds off of their race times before the national competition in June. The team isn't fazed by a few patches of ice in the water, Wardman said.

Student teams from nearly 200 colleges and universities compete annually in 20 regional concrete canoe conferences to earn the right to go to the nationals. Last year, the Michigan Tech Team won the North Central Championship and finished seventh in the national competition, held in Philadelphia.

To win the North Central Conference, Michigan Tech defeated teams from the University of Akron, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Ohio Northern University, St. Clair College in Windsor, Ont., and the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Canoe team members are co-captains Wardman and Ray Trudgeon and team members T. J. Bates, A. J. Booker, Jen Byle, Kriselda Cuellar, Chris Huyser, Rich King, Danielle Ladwig, Jesse Laux, Tim Martin, Craig Morehouse, Sarah Nunn, Erron Peuse, Jonathon Rumble, Adam Rychwalski, Chad Scherwinski, Eric Seguin, Melissa Shindorf, Erin Sturgell, Raine Wanner and Kim Zehler.

8. MICHIGAN TECH STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COMPETITION

Students from Michigan Tech are competing with 31 teams from the U.S., Canada and Mexico at the 14th Annual Environmental Design Contest being held April 4-8 at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M.

The competition, sponsored by WERC: A Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development, challenges student teams to develop solutions for real-world environmental problems that have been submitted by various companies and government institutions.

Teams will compete in two tasks: they will develop a method to remove perchlorate from domestic water systems, and they will develop a method to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. MTU perchlorate team members are Susan Dahlheimer, Adrian Lenshek, Luke Dehtiar and Ethan Shapiro. Carbon dioxide team members are Scott Mulinix, Lindsay Bussell, Brent Johannsen and Joe Powers. Their academic advisor is Assistant Professor Kurt Paterson (CEE).

All teams will prepare four different presentations: written, oral, a bench-scale model and poster. They will be judged by environmental professionals representing government, industry and academia. Cash prizes totaling $25,000 will be awarded.

"The design contest brings together industry, government and academia in the search for novel and innovative environmental solutions," WERC Executive Director Abbas Ghassemi said. "The contest provides students with tremendous experience that will help them in pursuit of their careers."

The WERC consortium is comprised of New Mexico State University, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the University of New Mexico, Diné College, and Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. For more information, visit the WERC web site at http://www.werc.net or call (800) 523-5996.

9. MTU BAND WINS HONORS AT JAZZ FESTIVAL

The Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band, under the direction of Mike Irish, placed second among 11 college groups competing in the 37th Annual University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Jazz Fest on Friday, April 2. The University of North Dakota Jazz Ensemble, a perennial powerhouse, received the top honors. Michigan Tech was the only school in the collegiate division whose band members aren't music majors.

In addition to its second place honors overall, the Jazz Lab Band ranked first in the festival's sightreading competition.

"It is always very rewarding to do so well at a major jazz festival, and especially because we are competing against top-rated music schools," Irish commented. "We have developed a following at many of these events because the public enjoys our performances and they love to hear the'underdog perform well against the music schools."

Receiving Outstanding Musicianship Certificates from the International Association of Jazz Educators were Alan Cross, trumpet (two); Paul Johnson, tenor sax; Jack Matheson, bass; Sam Miller, tenor sax; Jeff Sandoval, tenor sax; and Mark Olson, bass.

10. TECH STUDENT RECEIVES GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP

Chemical engineering junior Nicholas Ballor has been a named a 2004 Goldwater Scholar.

"He is Michigan Tech's first Goldwater Scholar, the first (we hope) of many," said special assistant to the provost and associate professor Mary Durfee (Social Sciences), who nominated him for the award. The Goldwater Scholarship is a national competition for sophomores and juniors in science, math and engineering. Ballor will receive a one-year scholarship to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500.

Ballor plans to do research in biotechnology. He is working with Associate Professor Donald Lueking (Biological Sciences) on his research topic, "Utilization of an Extremophile as a Means of Ferric Iron Production." He hopes to reduce the price of ferric irons by using bacteria in catalysis. Ferric irons are used in many settings such as water treatment and bioremediation.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 and is supported by the federally endowed Goldwater Foundation to honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate. The foundation's goal is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

Nationwide, 1,113 students applied for Goldwater scholarships, and 310 were awarded.

11. CONNER NAMED TO ALL-AMERICA THIRD TEAM

Sophomore forward Chris Conner of the Michigan Tech ice hockey team has been named to the All-America Third Team, as chosen by InsideCollegeHockey.com.

"Chris had an outstanding year and is unquestionably one of the elite players in the country," said first-year Tech Head Coach Jamie Russell. "We're happy for him and the great thing is, his best days are in front of him."

Conner finished tops on the team in points (39), goals (25) and shorthanded goals (8). His eight shorthanded goals lead the nation and are the third most on record in a single season in NCAA history (record is 10). In addition, his 25 goals are among the national leaders.

Conner won the fan balloting in Phase II of the Hobey Baker Memorial voting. However, he was left off the list of Hobey Top 10 Finalists.

Not since 1994 has Michigan Tech had an All-American. That season, Jamie Ram earned All-America First Team honors from the American Hockey Coaches Association.

12. RSI GRANTS FOR REMOTE SENSING-RELATED RESEARCH AVAILABLE TO MTU RESEARCHERS

The Remote Sensing Institute (RSI) has developed a new internal grants program designed to help jump-start, expand and enhance research activities at Michigan Tech. These grants will support much more than traditional remote sensing research.

In addition to research using or developing remote sensing techniques, RSI is interested in supporting earth and planetary sciences and the development and application of remotely deployed sensors--fields that are integral to or complementary to traditional remote sensing. RSI is especially interested in facilitating new cross-departmental and interdisciplinary research programs and in fostering interaction of graduate students and faculty from multiple departments.

The new grants program includes the following categories: research development grants, proposal cost-share, graduate student travel grants, graduate assistantship support and research faculty/postdoc support.

Total support for these grants will be about $35,000 in the first year. This total will increase in the future, as RSI's budget (which is determined by research activity on RSI-affiliated projects) increases.

Details on the grants program and information on what topics are eligible for support are available from the RSI Grants web page. Go to http://www.rsi.mtu.edu/ and click on "RSI Internal Grants."

13. QUEERZINE AVAILABLE ON CAMPUS AND ONLINE

The 2004 Keweenaw Pride Queerzine, "Diff&Q--Different and Queer," is now available on campus and will be redistributed regularly during April leading up to Pride Week. There are 10 articles written by the Michigan Tech faculty, staff, alumni and community members as well as art, poetry and some great quotes. The Queerzine is also available from http://www.sos.mtu.edu/pride/docs/

If you can't find the paper copy on campus, you can ask Keweenaw Pride for a copy.

14. TEACHING AT TECH: CREATING ROBOTS?

by William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development

I am old enough to be entirely dumbfounded that a team of human beings could create and deliver robots able to survive a modified crash landing on Mars and then traverse around that hostile setting sampling the environment and sending a rich stream of data back to Earth. Recruiting the members of the interdisciplinary team of talented and imaginative scientists, engineers and managers that devised this mission must have been a daunting task in and of itself. How do you find these sorts of people that can think outside the box and still play nicely together? How did these folks develop these skills and interpersonal attributes?

Modern interdisciplinary research initiatives present a new level of challenge and demand for those who would participate in crafting the future of scientific and technological advancement that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. Emerging technologies like biomechanics, genetic engineering and nanotechnologies are, by their very nature, likely to be advanced by interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers working in carefully coordinated teams rather than by individuals laboring away in isolated research laboratories. How, then, can we prepare our students to excel in interdisciplinary settings that require creativity and the ability to function collaboratively and collegially? One obvious answer is to engage our students in similar open-ended opportunities and challenges through innovative educational programs like Enterprise. We can hope that the subset of students that chooses to get involved in Enterprise will be the group of young professionals that will rise to the occasion, but what about the rest?

Almost 50 years ago, Harvard educational psychologist William Perry observed that individual students vary remarkably in their attitudes towards learning and their role in the educational process. Based on extensive interviews, Perry concluded that college students tend to progress through a remarkably similar series of developmental stages in a process that he termed "cognitive maturation." Most importantly, perhaps, Perry concluded that the nature of the instructional process itself can accelerate or retard this developmental process. Perry's work, in retrospect, set the stage for active learning.

Ultimately, Perry identified stages in the cognitive maturation process. Early stages are characterized by a dualistic worldview; a black-or-white, true-or-false view of the world. Instructors are initially seen as fonts of truth and wisdom. Students believe that all truth can be quantified and understood logically. Soon, students are confronted by the fact that content experts often disagree with one another. Solution? Some experts are right, while others just must be wrong!

Eventually, students learn to tolerate some peripheral uncertainty and disagreement, especially in areas outside of their immediate purview. Next, they learn to accept some level of continuing uncertainty within their own previously secure domain by adopting the idea that all views contribute something to the mix. Eventually, students come to embrace the idea that all human knowledge is, by its very nature, contextually derived, relativistic and open to continued scrutiny and revision.

Over time, students then distill an abstracted set of standards that they apply in order to value some views over others. These standards are tested and retested over time and evolve into more broadly abstracted, immutable principles. Then, students begin to acknowledge the biases and limitations associated with their operating principles. Finally, students observe that all commitments and principles represent compromises and opportunities and learn to seriously examine other abstraction systems in a lifelong pursuit of wisdom and lasting truth.

Preparing our students for lives that we can only imagine may be more like envisioning the unknown adventures those robots will face roving about Mars. We are the design team called to create environments that will enable their success and our continuing survival.

15. ELECTRICITY BLOWING IN THE WIND

Jennifer Silverston of Marquette Wind Group will speak Tuesday, April 20, on wind energy developments in Michigan from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Fisher 135. Members of the Marquette Wind Group will be available to answer questions during Earth Week Fair, Monday, April 19, in the Memorial Union commons from 5 to 8 p.m.

Electricity consumption: an activity we do daily, but rarely think about. However, within the United States, our electricity is supplied by several fuel sources: coal (52 percent), nuclear (20 percent), natural gas (16 percent), hydropower (7 percent), oil (2 percent), and renewables (2 percent). Although renewable sources make up only a small percentage of the total, The Marquette Citizens for Wind Energy state that wind energy is currently the fastest growing energy source in the world.

Wind turbines used at power utilities can generate between 50 kilowatts and 3.5 megawatts. To put this into perspective, a typical 750-kilowatt wind turbine can supply power for up to 328 homes. Some of the benefits of wind power generation include no air emissions; no fuel to mine, transport or store; and no water pollution.

However, wind turbines require land and occasionally are harmful to birds. The American Wind Energy Association has stated that on average, in one year, one bird is killed per one megawatt turbine.

Within Michigan, wind turbines are successfully operating in Mackinaw City and Traverse City. The Marquette Citizens for Wind Energy state that the Marquette area would be able to successfully utilize wind turbines.

UPPCO is currently working to develop a green power program called NatureWise. When implemented, possibly during late summer to early fall 2004, the program will allow customers to purchase energy generated from renewable sources in monthly blocks of 100 kilowatt hours for an addition $4 per block.

Are you interested in learning more about wind energy and current developments in the community? Come to the Earth Week 2004 events and check out http://www.mqtwind.org. For more information about Earth Week 2004 or the Environmental Sustainability Committee, contact Shalini Suryanarayana at shalini@mtu.edu or Alexis Troschinetz at atroschi@mtu.edu, or join mtugreen-l@mtu.edu.

16. MEEM GRADUATE SEMINAR THURSDAY

Susan M. Ward of Ford Motor Company will present a MEEM graduate seminar, "Building Car Bodies in the 21st Century--Joining Dissimilar Materials," Thursday, April 8, 3-4 p.m. in MEEM 112.

MTU NOTABLES

PhD student Deborah Beach (GMES) has received a $10,000 award from the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management for her research project, "Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Industrial Waste Materials." She is working with her advisor, Associate Professor John Gierke, to develop a computer model of this new sequestration process which is being pioneered by professor Komar Kawatra and research engineer Tim Eisele (Chemical Engineering). She will also receive an additional $2,000 award from the Michigan Chapter of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers. The awards will be used for laboratory experiments in support of her model development.

NEW FUNDING

Professor David Karnosky (SFRES) has received a $285,783 grant from the United States Department of Energy for his project, "An Integrated Functional Genomics Consortium to Increase Carbon Sequestration in Poplars: Optimizing Aboveground Carbon Gain."

IN PRINT

Assistant Professor Chandrashekhar Joshi (SFRES) published a paper, "Molecular Cloning of Ten Distinct Hypervariable Regions from Cellulose Synthase Gene Superfamily in Aspen Trees," in the May 2004 advance issue of Tree Physiology, Vol. 24:543-550 with former postdoctoral research associate Xiaoe Liang (SFRES).

Assistant Professor Debra D. Wright (Biomedical Engineering) coauthored a paper, "Constrained Shrinkage of Highly Oriented PMMA Fibers," in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science 91:4047-4056. Her coauthors are Eugene P. Lautenschlager of Syracuse University and Jeremy L. Gilbert of Northwestern University. The research, performed at Northwestern University, was part of her dissertation work.

ON THE ROAD

Assistant Professor Chandrashekhar Joshi (SFRES) presented an invited talk, "Coordinate Expression of Cellulose Biosynthesis Related Genes in Aspen," at the American Society of Chemists' special symposium honoring Professor Debby Delmer for receiving the Ansylme Payen 2003 award for her long-standing research in cellulose biosynthesis. This meeting was held at Anaheim, Calif., March 28-30.

Calendar: April

10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.--Friends of the J. R. Van Pelt Library Book Sale--Memorial Union Ballroom

MICHIGAN TECH POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Job descriptions will be available at 1 p.m. on Friday, or by e-mail at <JOBS@MTU.EDU>.

The following positions will be posted Friday, April 9, 2004, at 1 p.m. through noon, Friday, April 16, 2004, in the Human Resources Office or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings/

Building Mechanic--Student Development Complex (Regular, full-time position, 1st and 2nd shift and weekends; AFSCME internal posting only)

Office Assistant 3--Rozsa Center (Regular, part-time position, 30 hours per week, shifts may vary and will often include evenings and weekends; UAW internal and external posting)

University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, April 16, 2004, to be considered as internal candidates for bargaining unit positions only. Applicants from the recall pool will be given first consideration for non-bargaining-unit positions only. Vacancy announcements are normally posted every Friday at 1 p.m. in the Human Resources Office. Complete job descriptions are available in the Human Resources Office or by calling 487-2280. More information regarding employment opportunities is available by calling the Job Line at 487-2895. Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.

MROZ ADDRESSES SENATE