Mac Hyde Scholarship Application Period Open

Minnesota Brownfields has begun accepting applications for the annual Mac Hyde Brownfield Scholarship, a $2,000 award to an enrolled undergraduate (junior or senior) or graduate student pursuing a field of study related to brownfield redevelopment. The range of fields this encompasses is diverse, including but not limited to engineering, earth or environmental sciences, government, public policy, law, business, real estate, public health, or economic development.

Scholarship Award

• $2,000 scholarship award
• Recognition at 2019 ReScape Awards
• Honorary student membership with Minnesota Brownfields for duration of time as a student
• Free registration to one Minnesota Brownfields educational forum

Eligibility Requirements

• Undergraduate or graduate student at an accredited Minnesota college or university; and/or a Minnesota resident
• Pursuing a field of study related to brownfields redevelopment, including:  engineering, earth/environmental sciences, government/public policy, law, business, real estate, public health, economic development
• Intended career in profession related to community revitalization, environmental quality, or remediation
• Minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0
• Winner commits to attend ReScape Awards Event in November 2019 to receive scholarship

Application instructions and forms are available here: https://mnbrownfields.org/mac-hyde-brownfield-scholarship-program/.

The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) has announced that Keith Rapp, PG, CPG will be honored with an AIPG Section Leadership Award at the AIPG Annual Meeting to be held in September in Burlington, Vermont. 

The AIPG Section Leadership Award was established by the National Executive Committee in 2013 to recognize one or more of our members who have demonstrated a long-term commitment and have been long-term contributors to AIPG at the section level. AIPG has many sections where one or more individuals have demonstrated exceptional leadership for their section and in many instances kept the section together and moving forward.  These individuals are commonly not known at the National level or by AIPG members outside of their sections, however, their contributions have been vital to their sections and they perform this work because of their commitment to our profession and AIPG. Conferring this award at the national meeting elevates their recognition.

Keith currently serves on the Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience and Interior Design (MN Board of AELSLAGID) as a Board member and the Complaint Committee Chair.

Keith has been, and continues to be, a dedicated advocate for geoscience and geoscience education for the Minnesota Section of AIPG. Congratulations Keith!

The Minnesota Section of AIPG Sponsorship Committee is pleased to announce we are now offering Section Sponsorships for the 2019 calendar year. This annual sponsorship will be $250 per year, and will provide the following benefits to sponsors:

• Company or individual name/logo featured on a continuous loop PowerPoint display for approximately 30 minutes before/during the announcements at the beginning of each monthly meeting.
• Company or individual name/logo featured on each monthly meeting agenda.
• Company or individual name/logo featured on the AIPG Minnesota Section website.
• Two free lunch meeting attendances to be used at any time during the calendar year (cannot be carried over to later years). Two voucher credits will be added to your membership account and will be visible when you login and register for a meeting on to the Minnesota Section website.
• Option to give a 3-5 minute presentation at a monthly meeting (coordinate in advance with the Section President) 

The AIPG Minnesota Section is one of the most active sections in the country because of the participation of our members. A large part of the participation in the Minnesota Section is the monthly meetings. Please consider becoming a Section Sponsor to help us continue to be able to offer low cost monthly meetings to all.

If you would like to become a Minnesota Section Sponsor or have questions about the sponsorship, please contact us at sponsorship@aipgmn.org or paula.berger@wsp.com. 

You can "order" your 2019 Section Sponsorship on our website here!

You are welcome to mail your sponsorship check instead: Jeff Neisse, AIPG MN Section Treasurer, 1827 20th Ave NW, New Brighton, MN 55112.

AIPG Minnesota Section,

We are looking for ‘testimonials’ on how people have used the county geologic atlases. We occasionally get requests to give presentations on the topic – “Just what are the County Geologic Atlas good for?” We also routinely get asked by legislators to provide examples at the local level of how they are used, and even what the economic advantages to having a county atlas are.

We know the CGA is used by a wide variety of stakeholders for many different applications and their availability often results in time and money savings on projects (high capacity wells, groundwater modeling, landfill siting, DOT uses them in structure work, counties use them for many zoning applications, and many more).

We are particularly interested to know about specific projects, but also find value in understanding in a more general sense the types of projects you use them for. Here are a couple shortened examples we have received:

Jim de Lambert, Senior Hydrogeologist, Carlson McCain, Inc: “For most projects the initial information sources include the County Geologic Atlas. For Minnesota well siting projects, the County Atlas Series will be my first source of information to help define the project area and to give the area broad hydrogeologic context. This assists in identifying potential target aquifer(s). If the supplier is a Rural Water System, there is often considerable flexibility with well field location and this type of county and regional information can be invaluable.”

Heather Cunningham, Zoning and Environmental Services Administrator, Carlton County: “I would say that I use the atlas on a monthly basis. In the last 6 months, I have used it for the review of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), pollution sensitivity for a proposed mixed use development, groundwater contamination at our closed landfill, and in working with a lake association.”

Kristi Anderson, Hydrogeologist, Northwest AqwaTek Solutions: “The majority of what I do is working with the agricultural community for crop irrigation systems; I typically look to the County Geologic Atlas (CGA)….as the starting point for my work.”

Joe Hudak, Assistant Engineering Geologist, Minnesota Department of Transportation: “We typically use the county atlases for subsurface information prior to conducting any geophysical field work or drill rig borings/CPT soundings.”

Martin Larsen, Olmsted County Feedlot Technician, Landowner & Farmer, Olmsted County: “The County Geologic Atlas is an important tool for the Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District. It is used for animal feedlot permitting and nutrient management planning to locate sinkholes, depth to bedrock and first encountered bedrock. The springshed maps included in some Part B atlases are utilized for local education and outreach.”

If you have specific application examples that you could share it would be especially useful. Or, if you have any leads of others who might use the CGAs, we would be interested in getting those contacts so that we could learn more.

We are also very interested to get your ideas about how we can improve the end-product. Maybe there is a way we can make the CGA more valuable to you.

Thank-you for your help.
Barb Lusardi, Associate Director, Minnesota Geological Survey, lusar001@umn.edu
Paul Putzier, Supervisor DNR County Geologic Atlas Program, paul.putzier@state.mn.us

As a 2017 AIPG MN Section Sponsor, your personal AIPG MN member account has been credited with 2 Luncheon Vouchers.  You can use them for anyone you register using your member account during 2017.

When you get to the payment screen, you'll see a section where you can select to use a voucher: 

Please select how many vouchers you'd like to use and click on APPLY.  You'll proceed through the registration process with a $0 balance.  If you have questions or issues using the vouchers, please contact Shanna Schmitt at past-president@aipgmn.org or 651.757.2697.  Thank you for your sponsorship!

Students from the University of St. Thomas Geology Department recently formed an AIPG Student Chapter.  Thier bylaws were signed on 02/13/2015, and AIPG Headquarters recognized them on 03/30/2015. Congratulations!

Sara Nelson of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is the AIPG MN Section liason with the University of St. Thomas AIPG Student Chapter.