Rep. George Cushingberry Jr and Rep. Mike Lahti shown here in the research lab of Chandrashekhar Joshi in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences speaking about sustaianbility projects such as the Wood-to-Wheels (W2W) project

Jeffrey D. Naber of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics giving a tour of the Engine research labs.

John Sutherland of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics giving a presentation on the numerous sustainability programs at Michigan Tech such as the Sustainable Futures Institute.

Also toured was the Multi-Scale Technologies Institute led by Dr. Craig Friedrich in addition to other research sites.

Shown here, legislators met with the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) which serves as the Technology Transfer (T2) effort of the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Professional Development. explains their software, Roadsoft, which is a graphically designed, integrated roadway management system developed for Michigan's local agency engineers and managers to use in the analysis and reporting of roadway inventory, safety, and conditional data. Roadsoft uses the Michigan Accident Location Index (MALI) as a reference base.

Michigan Tech Research Labs visited by State Legislators

State Rep. Mike Lahti, who represents the western Upper Peninsula, and Rep. George Cushingberry Jr., chair of the Michigan House Appropriations Committee, toured several research labs on the Michigan Tech campus on Saturday morning, July 21.

They visited with Wood to Wheels researchers John Sutherland, Jeff Naber and David Shonnard. They also saw Craig Friedrich's nanotechnology lab and visited with Chandrashekhar Joshi in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences.

A press conference was held in the Atrium 100A conference room of the U.J. Noblet Building. Rep. Cushingberry discussed the budget crisis facing the state, suggest some possible solutions and respond to questions. He represents Legislative District 8, in Detroit.

David Shonnard of the Chemical Engineering Department is describing the Wood-to-Wheels (W2W) project, which is a Graduate Enterprise whose goal is to increase the overall efficiency of converting solar energy captured in forest and other biomass resources into products for transportation using ethanol, biodiesel, and green diesel as high energy-density carriers.