MTU awarded nearly $4.2 million
By Stacey Ashcraft DMG WriterHOUGHTON - Michigan Technological University has recently been awarded nearly $4.2 million from the National Science Foundation for research projects.
The grant will fund eight Michigan Tech programs, said David Reed, vice president for research.
Four of the projects' funds, totaling $3,131,019, come from federal stimulus money, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.
"The award will fund a whole variety of things across campus, a mix of research activities here," Reed said.
According to a press release from the office of Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, of the newly funded research money from the NSF, $300,000 will go toward sustainable fuel production from lactose, where principal investigator Joseph Holles, with the department of chemical engineering, will conduct research to improve bimetallic catalysts to allow for sustainable fuel production from lactose helping to improve the environment.
"The largest amount of money is going to the GK12 project," Reed said. "The project aims to get graduate students involved with public instruction in grade school."
The project, "New GK12 Global Watershed: integrating Rural and Global Perspectives with Research and Technological Advances," was awarded $2,499,351 and Alex Mayer, from geological and mining and engineering and sciences and includes co-principal investigators Nancy Auer from biological sciences, Linda Nagel from forest resources and environmental science and Bradley Baltensparger from social sciences.
The goal of the project is to expand traditional STEM graduate training, make this expand training a permanent fixture and Michigan Tech and enrich STEM learning and instruction at local K-12 schools, serving low-income and high Native American populations, according to a release from Stupak.
Other projects at Tech which were awarded include:
Wayne Weaver, of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $350,000 toward developing a new approach to energy control and management by studying the interactions of individual components of a power system.
Yun Hang Hu, of materials science and engineering, was awarded $302,650 toward using metal organic frameworks for potentially cost-effective hydrogen storage and bringing the technology of hydrogen-based energy into high school classrooms.
Zhi (Gerry) Tian, of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $232,919 toward research leading to techniques that can improve wireless networks and prepare students for 21st century engineering challenges.
Lynn Mazzoleni, of chemistry, was awarded $125,437 toward generation of data that can be incorporated into large-scale climate models that better predict the direct and indirect effects of aerosol, which are solid and liquid particles in the air.
Zhanping You, of civil and environmental engineering, was awarded $29,018 toward using nonmetals separated from electronic waste and waste plastic bags to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt materials.
Simon Carn, of geological and mining engineering and sciences, in collaboration with the State University of New York, Buffalo and the University of South Florida, toward integrating multi-disciplinary computational thinking into volcano research to develop appropriate models and data to help assess and reduce the risk of volcanic eruptions. The project will also recruit new students in the geosciences and computational sciences.
Reed said during the last school year, the university was awarded about $40 million federal dollars.
"We apply for them and is takes about six months for the panel of experts to make a decision," he said.
Stacey Ashcraft can be reached at sashcraft @mininggazette.com.
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buddy66
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09-19-09 1:48 PM
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maybe tech should see if they can get grant money to build skywalks over us41 so the student just dont walk out in front of veichels and people shouldn't stop either to let them cross..
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HCSD104
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09-19-09 9:45 AM
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Thank goodness for Michigan Tech, or this area would be just a dot on the map.
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BuddyBoy
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09-19-09 9:04 AM
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Awesome, congrats folks. Tech now can raise tuition to make up budget shortfalls.
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TruePatriot
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09-19-09 3:14 AM
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Another example of stimulus money well spent. Investing in education can never go wrong. Education and research are essential to our future.
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