|
Marcia Goodrich, Tech Topics editor, 906-487-2343 Anna Schultz, Tech Topics editorial assistant, 906-487-2343 Subscribe
to e-TechTopics: majordomo@mtu.edu
|
1. ENERGY DEPARTMENT RENEWS SUPPORT FOR ASPEN FACE "WINDOW ON THE FUTURE"The premiere window on the future of northern forests will continue to provide new views on the effects of global climate change, thanks to renewed support from the U.S. Department of Energy. Aspen FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) is the world's largest, open-air climate change research facility, and the only FACE site where scientists can study the impact of carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone on forest ecosystems. Since its formation in 1997, more than 75 scientists from nine countries have conducted research at the U.S. Forest Service site near Rhinelander, Wis., to predict how the seemingly inexorable rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases will affect northern forests. "There's no debate about the fact that the composition of the earth's atmosphere is changing," said Professor Kurt Pregitzer (SFRES), who has led a number of studies at the FACE site. "Carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone are increasing globally, and they affect plant growth in diametrically opposite ways," he said. "Carbon dioxide enhances growth, while tropospheric ozone--the major component of smog--reduces plant production." "One of the only places you can study this is the FACE site in Rhinelander," said Pregitzer. "The experiment has become a real magnet for understanding how forests of the future will grow and function." "Our Aspen FACE studies on young aspen and birch forests have given us insights into how future northern forests will be impacted by atmospheric change. However, it is critically important to see if these early trends continue as these stands begin to mature," said David Karnosky, the Aspen FACE director and a professor at Michigan Tech. "A truly unique component of our Aspen FACE study is that we are able to look at the long-term effects of these greenhouse gases from cradle to grave." The three-year, $5.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to fund Aspen FACE research through 2008. FACE research completed over the last seven years at this site suggests the following: • Moderate levels of ozone will offset the positive elevated carbon dioxide responses projected for 2050. • Carbon sequestration under elevated carbon dioxide is being overestimated by modellers who do not consider increases in ozone. • Rising carbon dioxide protects trees from more severe ozone damage. • Birch may become more competitive than aspen in future atmospheric conditions. • Effects seen on the three major tree species in the experiment (sugar maple, trembling aspen and paper birch) have cascaded through the ecosystem, even to soil microorganisms. Reliable, scientific studies on climate change are more critical than ever, said Neil Nelson, the USDA Forest Service's project leader of the physiology research unit collaborating on Aspen FACE. "Carbon dioxide and ozone are increasing by roughly 2 percent a year, and the more we theorize about possible effects, the more controversy ensues," Nelson said. "It's important to know what those effects will be on agricultural and forestry communities, because that will drive decision-making on regulatory and energy policy, as well as forest management. Controlling greenhouse gases has huge financial impacts for the automobile and energy production industries." "Global change is one of the key environmental issues of this century," said Kevin Percy, a Canadian Forest Service investigator at Aspen FACE. "For the first time, we are able to examine long-term, community-level responses which give us a better idea how our northern forests may change. This experiment has tremendous relevance to this region." "Aspen FACE and its sister DOE-sponsored FACE facilities across the U.S. are providing invaluable information about future ecosystem structure and function," said George Hendrey, Queens College professor, who led the Brookhaven National Laboratory team that designed the Aspen FACE facility. Aspen FACE is funded jointly by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research; the National Science Foundation; Global Change Program, USDA Forest Service; North Central Research Station, USDA Forest Service; Michigan Technological University; the USDA National Research Initiative Program; Brookhaven National Laboratory; and Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service-Atlantic Forestry Centre. _______________ 2. YAP’S NANOTUBES: TEENY, TINY TOTALLY TUBULAR TOOLS OF TOMORROW... TODAYYoke Khin Yap dreams of sensors that could detect any known toxin and fit in a soldier's shirt pocket. Of a supercomputer the size of your TechExpress card. Of a cable that's long, strong and light enough to lasso the moon. To build them, he says, you have to start small. And in his lab, Yap, an assistant professor of physics, is doing just that. Atom by atom, Yap and his research team are constructing nanotubes as small as a billionth of a meter across and a few hundred micrometers long. It's not as easy as it sounds. Inside a small, airtight chamber, a special laser blasts the raw material (carbon and, more recently, a mix of boron and nitrogen) and blows it through a plasma cloud. It crystallizes on a silicon substrate, atom by atom, ring upon ring, forming impossibly tiny, infinitely perfect tubes. What these tubes may be capable of is anybody's guess. As the carbon in a No. 2 pencil is not the same as the carbon in the Hope diamond, so the properties of carbon nanotubes are vastly different from those of naturally occurring forms of the element. "The bonding in the tubes is as strong as the bond inside a diamond," Yap said. "With this, you could make a cable five times lighter and five times stronger than steel. "You could make super-light, super-strong plastic for use in your car, in aircraft, in rockets. You could form a cable and build an elevator to the moon." Yap has received a $506,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant, known commonly as a CAREER Award, to begin making designer nanotubes that might someday change the fabric of our lives. (In some respects, that's already happening: Yap himself has a pair of dirt-resistant pants, made possible by another type of nanomaterial.) The goal of the NSF project is to build nanotubes with various physical properties depending on the elements used in their construction and how those elements fit together. Yap is just the person to do it. He is the only researcher in the world to successfully build nanotubes on silicon chips from the elements nitrogen and boron, which, compared to carbon, have been notoriously difficult to manage. "They are promising, but so difficult to make," he says. "Carbon nanotubes will grow at 600 degrees celsius, but boron nitride tubes typically need 1,200 degrees," about the temperature of molten lava. Yap has succeeded in growing them at the more-manageable 600 degrees, aligned in one direction and free of impurities. The problem with nanotubes made with carbon is that they oxidize at high temperatures, which can limit their applications. "But the boron nitride nanotubes resist oxidation, so they wouldn't burn up as easily," Yap says. With his CAREER Award, Yap wants to begin building nanotubes with all three elements, incorporating the benefits of each. "We want to mix them together precisely, atom by atom," he says. "That would be true nanotechnology." Because nanotubes can behave like semiconductors, they have huge potential for use in electrical and photonic devises. With funding from the military, Yap has already been investigating the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes, which have the potential to make computers much smaller and faster, and displays that are thinner, lighter and brighter, all at much lower power consumption. However, he is particularly intrigued by the promise of nanotubes custom-built with boron, nitrogen and carbon. "It is possible to tune the band gap of boron nitride nanotubes by substituting carbon to make boron carbon nitride nanotubes," he said. Thus, you could tailor nanotubes for high-powered electronic and photonic devices, such as lasers, that can't be made using nanotubes constructed of carbon alone. You could also use this technology to build nanoscale sensors, each designed to detect a specific chemical or biological molecule, he adds. "The substance would bind onto a receptor molecule, which would send out a warning signal," Yap says. "It could be used on the battlefield, in airports, as a diagnostic tool . . . There are so many possibilities." Yap is also working on a $1.6 million project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency to make molecular electronics that could make even nanotubes seem big. The aim is to design switches that will be the size of a single molecule, on the order of one-tenth of a nanometer across. "There's a whole, big family of materials just waiting to be explored," Yap says. "It's going to be a whole new world." _______________ 3. SUSTAINABLE FUTURES INSTITUTE CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY
|
|
ENTERTAINMENT
AND ENRICHMENT
News | Entertainment & Enrichment | Seminars and Workshops | Regular Features | Calendar |
Keweenaw Pride welcomes everyone to attend the following Pride Week events:
•Monday, March 28, from 7 to 8 p.m., Bowling with Keweenaw Pride in the Memorial Union Lanes. Free pizza and bowling.
•Tuesday, March 29, at 5 p.m., Roundtable Discussion, “Diversity on Campus,” in Dow 641. Come join Keweenaw Pride and university leaders to discuss how this issue affects Michigan Tech students and the community. Bill Roberts from the Admissions Office, Bonnie Gorman from Student Life and Chris Anderson from Educational Opportunity will be present. The moderator will be Sherry Kauppi from Affirmative Programs. All are welcome.
•Wednesday, March 30, at 9 p.m., comedian Sabrina Matthews in the Memorial Union Commons. Matthews has been a featured comedian on "Comedy Central Presents" and her routine promises to bring laughs to the Memorial Union. Please join Keweenaw Pride and MUB Board in welcoming this world-class comedian to the campus.
•Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m., “Guess the Straight Person” game in Fisher 138. Join Residence Life in a exercise in breaking down stereotypes and exercising your mind by learning about diversity. A panel of students, faculty and staff will sit for the audience, give details about themselves and allow the audience to ask simple questions before voting to determine who they believe is straight or gay on the panel. After the voting takes place there will be a discussion about stereotypes, along with a question-and-answer session with the audience. After the game there will be social time to get to know members of the group, followed by Glow Bowling at the Copper Bowl Lanes in Ripley.
•Friday, April 1, at 8 p.m., Fifth Annual Drag Show and Amateur Competition. The grand finale for Pride Week is one of MTU's most well-attended student-produced events of the year. Join Miss Joey Black, the mistress of ceremonies, and her four co-stars from Milwaukee as they put on a show you won't forget and won't be able to stop talking about.
Don't know what a drag show is? It definitely has nothing to do with fast cars. Drag shows are when fabulous entertainers, queens (men) and kings (women) dress up in stunning costumes and songs from famous artists. It's tongue-in-cheek entertainment where gender boundaries are annihilated with a lot of fun along the way.
The amateur competition allows students to compete in drag for fantastic prizes and the adoration of the crowd. Prize packages are donated by local businesses and awarded by a panel of student judges. Thinking of competing? Register ahead of time or show up at the door with your make-up done and music in hand.
_______________
The Michigan Tech chapter of the Society of American Foresters will be showing a new documentary entitled "The Greatest Good." The film will be shown April 6 and 7 at 6 p.m. in Noblet G002. Refreshments will be provided. RSVP to mtu_forestry_club@yahoo.com and include your date of attendance.
For more information about the film, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/greatestgood.
_______________
Niku Arbabi, director of Ms.Films, will lead a discussion about filmmaking on Thursday, March 24, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Later that day, at 7 p.m. in the same location, there will be a viewing of the Ms.Films program. Both events are free.
_______________
Frank W. Hale Jr., an expert on implementing diversity in academia, will give a talk to the university community on Monday, April 4, at 5 p.m. in Dow 641.
Hale has be instrumental in attracting nearly $15 million in graduate fellowship awards to 1,200 minority students at Ohio State University. The university's Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center was named in his honor, as was an endowed scholarship.
He has authored a number of books, including "What Makes Racial Diversity Work in Higher Education," and dozens of articles.
Hale earned AB and MA degrees from the University of Nebraska and a PhD in Speech and Political Science from OSU.
For more information, contact Betty Chavis, 487-2920.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS News | Entertainment & Enrichment | Seminars and Workshops | Regular Features | Calendar |
Professor John Texter from Eastern Michigan University will present a seminar entitled "Nanocomposite Materials from Microemulsions and Mesophases" on Thursday, March 24, from 10 to 11 a.m. in MEEM 610. The seminar is part of the John Towers Distinguished Lecture Series.
_______________
Professor William P. King from Georgia Institute of Technology will present a seminar entitled “Thermal Processing and Thermal Measurements at Extremely Small Scales: 10 Nanometers to 50 Micrometers” on Thursday, March 24, from 3 to 4 p.m. in MEEM 112.
_______________
Ralph H. Scheicher from the Ångström Laboratory of the Uppsala University, Sweden, will present a physics colloquium, “The Many Uses of DNA: Examples from Biophysics and Nanotechnology,” on Thursday, March 31, at 4 p.m. in Fisher 139.
DNA is an extremely versatile molecule. “Designed” by nature, this polymer plays a central role in biology, carrying the genetic instructions for the development of all cellular forms of life. It has been speculated that the pi-stacking interaction between the bases of DNA could potentially be exploited in molecular electronic devices. In this talk, Scheicher will give an overview of this field, reviewing selected results from both experimental and theoretical/computational studies. He is currently working as a senior research scientist in the Condensed Matter Theory Group. Scheicher received his PhD in Physics from the State University of New York at Albany in 2004. His current research interests lie in the ab initio studies of various systems involving DNA and hydrogen storage materials. For more information, contact Yoke Khin Yap (ykyap@mtu.edu, 487-2900) or Ranjit Pati (patir@mtu.edu, 487-3193).
_______________
Associate Professor Ching-Kuang Shene (Computer Science) will present a seminar entitled "The Beauty of Computational Theory: When Mathematics and Computer Science Meet" on Friday, March 25, at 3 p.m. in Rekhi Hall 214.
| REGULAR
FEATURES News | Entertainment & Enrichment | Seminars and Workshops | Regular Features | Calendar |
Professor Alan Brokaw is the recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant for the second year in a row. He will be traveling to Estonia to teach marketing management education.
_______________
Tammy Haut Donahue has received a $219,645 grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for her research, “Structure and Function of Meniscal Horn Attachments.”
Julia King has received a $299,950 grant from the National Science Foundation for her research, “GOALI: Development and Modeling of Highly Conductive Carbon-Filled Thermoplastic Resins for Fuel Cell Bipolar Plate Applications.”
_______________
Jon Oman has joined University Communications/Athletics as assistant director of athletic communications and marketing. He was previously employed at Bemidji State University as a graduate assistant sports information director. Oman obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Communication at Concordia College. He enjoys backpacking, waterskiing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. He and his wife, Elissa, live in Houghton.
Melissa Childs has joined Admissions as an admission representative. She was previously employed at Drake University as the assistant director of admissions. Childs has received a BA in English/Creative Writing from Drake University and is currently pursuing an MA in Community Counseling. She enjoys working out and is currently coaching track for Concordia University. Childs lives in Berwyn, Ill. and will be marrying Stanley Patton this coming October.
Keith Troesch has joined the biological sciences and social sciences departments as the system administrator. He was previously employed as a design engineer for Computer Network Technology. Troesch obtained a BSEE from Michigan Tech. He lives in Dollar Bay with his wife, Valorie.
Mary Frances Lawver has joined the Seaman Mineral Museum as museum assistant. She was previously employed at Warner Electric as a business systems analyst. Lawver received a BA in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She enjoys fishing, reading, canoeing, painting, quilting, knitting and spinning. She and her husband, Darrell, live in Laurium.
Julie Chandonais has joined the J. R. Van Pelt Library as office assistant 4. She was previously employed by the WUPDHD. as an environmental health clerk. She has medical and food service experience as well. Chandonais holds an associate degree in business as well as a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Finlandia University. She enjoys raising and breeding Appaloosa horses for showing and is also an avid deer hunter. Chandonais has a daughter, Cassy, and husband, Brian. They reside in Lake Linden.
Haihua Li has joined the JRVP Library as a web services librarian. Li was previously a graduate teaching assistant for Michigan Tech and has experience as an audio visual editor. Li holds a Master of Science in Mathematics (Statistics) from Michigan Tech, as well as a Master of Information Science. Li is married to Haiying. They have two children, Grace and Stephen, and live in Houghton. Li enjoys swimming, volleyball, ping pong, playing piano and reading.
_______________
24--Thursday
all day--Mary Peters’ birthday--Everywhere
11 a.m.--Don Smith, Entrepreneruship Talk--M&M U115
10-11 a.m.--John Texter, “Nanocomposite Materials from Microemulsions and Mesophases”--MEEM 610
noon--Lunch and Learn, “Tennis Anyone?”--Memorial Union Ballroom A
noon-1 p.m.--Niku Arbabi, filmmaking discussion--Memorial Union Ballroom
3-4 p.m.--William P. King, “Thermal Processing and Thermal Measurements at Extremely Small Scales: 10 Nanometers to 50 Micrometers”--MEEM 112
7 p.m.--Ms. Films program viewing--Memorial Union Ballroom
25--Friday
5:30/7:30 p.m.--International Night dinner/performances--Memorial Union Ballroom/Rozsa Center
26--Saturday
10 a.m.--Men’s tennis, Lake Superior State at MTU--Gates Tennis Center
31--Thursday
4 p.m.--Ralph H. Scheicher, “The Many Uses of DNA: Examples from Biophysics and Nanotechnology”--Fisher 139
APRIL
2--Saturday
2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.--Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie--Rozsa Center
4--Monday
5 p.m.--Frank W. Hale, lecture on diversity in universities--Dow 641
6--Wednesday
6 p.m.--Documentary, “The Greatest Good”--Noblet G002
7--Thursday
6 p.m.--Documentary, “The Greatest Good”--Noblet G002
_______________
Job descriptions are normally available at 1 p.m. on Friday. You can visit the Human Resources Office, call 487-2280, e-mail <JOBS@MTU.EDU> or go to http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings .
The following positions will be posted Friday, March 25, at 1 p.m. through Monday, April 4, at noon in the Human Resources Office.
Custodian--Residential Services/Facilities, (AFSCME internal posting only)
Systems Administrator--System Administration Services Group
Applicants from the recall pool will be given first consideration for non-bargaining-unit positions only. Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.
_______________
Major Donor Stewardship and Special Events Coordinator
Application deadline is April 8. For a job description, contact Janice Henkel, jrhenkel@mtu.edu, 487-3626.
News | Entertainment and Enrichment | Seminars and Workshops | Regular Features | Calendar | Top