Membership
Membership is open to any academic faculty, research faculty,
research staff, or outreach staff member of Michigan Tech who has
an interest in water-related fields or outreach activities. Prospective
members submit a simple statement of interest to the MTCWS Director.
Once approved, membership is reevaluated every five years. Undergraduate
and graduate students are offered student membership, which provides
eligibility for MTCWS student grants and fellowships. Student membership
is maintained until graduation or withdrawal from the university.
Focus
of Center for First Five Years
| • |
Develop
an identity for the MTCWS at Michigan Tech and beyond.
We will establish a web page to showcase water-related research, educational
and outreach efforts at Michigan Tech. We will establish a seminar series
which will have two critical missions: external speakers will give the
Michigan Tech community views from outside the university and will expose
those from outside the university to our efforts; internal speakers will
serve to educate ourselves as to the array of water related activities
on campus. |
| • |
Establish
Michigan Tech as the "think tank" for resolving
water issues in the state of Michigan.
We anticipate that the first efforts will include holding workshops at
Michigan Tech, involving individuals from Michigan Tech and invited experts.
The focus of these workshops will be producing white papers on the critical
water issues facing the state, including: continuing loss of wetlands
in Michigan; ongoing challenges of creating viable new wetlands to mitigate
wetland losses; effective ways to meet the economic needs of communities
that enhance rather than impact local water resources; storm water runoff
management; land use; watershed management; coastal zone management;
development of monitoring techniques that can easily be utilized by citizens
and local communities; and engaging the business community in promoting
sustainable water use and protection. |
| • |
Coalesce
and expand international activities at Michigan Tech
related to water issues;
by capitalizing on ongoing research on international water issues, the
Peace Corps/Master’s International programs, the Sustainable Futures
Institute, our ongoing work with the University of Sonora on water problems
in Sonora, Mexico, and other relevant educational, research and outreach
activities. A recent step is the submission of a preproposal to establish
an NSF IGERT program on international water and sanitation. |
| • |
Support and expand current
K-12 and community education/outreach water-related
activities at Michigan Tech;
especially activities of the Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics
and Environmental Education and the Center for Science and Environmental
Outreach. We will encourage research and educational activities with
a local focus, but also projects that focus on the Upper Peninsula,
the Lake Superior watershed, Michigan, and the entire Great Lakes region.
Our goal is to tie academic research to meeting the needs of pressing
resource management and land use issues, and to make research relevant
to meet the needs of K-12 students and teachers, local residents, and
local governmental agencies and NGOs concerned with water resources.
Our education and outreach efforts will include the production of curricula
and informational materials and the delivery of workshops and institutes
that will increase public understanding and involvement in water-related
decision-making.
|
| • |
Develop new degree programs
and coursework and emphasize existing, unique educational
offerings related to water.
The focus of these efforts is to enhance educational offerings related
to water issues and to promote these offerings to recruit undergraduate
and graduate students. We will seek to establish a new inter-departmental
PhD program in water resources management that recognizes the interdisciplinary
nature of water and requires students to take courses in at least two departments,
such as biological sciences and engineering, or education and engineering.
The program will encourage PhD dissertations that also address the multi-disciplinary
aspects of water resource management. We believe that this PhD program
could be developed as a program that is unique to the US and thus encourage
applications from a diverse pool of prospective students. This program
could include an international component that addresses the growing conflict
over water availability, ownership, and impacts on water quality due to
increasing industrial development in developing countries. We will also
seek to establish a new concentration in environmental and water resource
education that would focus on education communities, local decision-makers,
teachers, and non-formal educators about the hydrologic function, management,
and monitoring of groundwater, stream monitoring, wetlands, lake monitoring,
drinking water, wastewater treatment, threats from air pollutants, and
more. This year, we will introduce a perspectives course called “Water
and Society.” The intent of the course will be to encourage undergraduates
to consider the multi-disciplinary aspects of water issues. The course
also is intended to be established as a distribution course. |
Administration
Director
Alex S. Mayer
asmayer@mtu.edu |
Geological & Mining
Engineering & Science |
Administrative Assistant
Carol J. Asiala
cjasiala@mtu.edu |
Geological & Mining
Engineering & Science |
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