Features

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October 31, 2011

Trick or treat?

The University Orchestras performed their annual Halloween concerts at Hill Auditorium to a packed house of ghosts, witches, ghouls, and princesses. A holiday favorite of young and old alike, the concert always includes a variety of spooky classical music combined with popular Halloween songs. Both the musicians and audience members come dressed in their favorite costumes.

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October 28, 2011

Welcome back!

U-M’s 2011 homecoming takes place this weekend. Thousands of faithful alumni are visiting campus to reminisce with former classmates and faculty at dinners, tours, and tailgates. Many have plans to cheer on the Wolverines when they face Purdue at noon on Saturday. With more than 500,000 living alumni, Michigan has one of the largest alumni bodies in the world. Go Blue!

Photo: Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services

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October 27, 2011

Student-built satellite

When the M-Cubed satellite built by U-M students in the Space Systems Fabrication Lab goes into orbit, it will become the first CubeSat to test a NASA instrument for major space missions. It is scheduled to launch on Oct. 28.

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October 26, 2011

For the little Wolverines

The new, state-of-the-art C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital opening this fall features an interactive, athletics-themed playroom on its eighth floor for patients and their families. The result of fundraising efforts by the U-M athletic department, the “Michigan Game Day Experience,” includes nine “zones” that capture the sights, sounds and energetic spirit of Michigan Stadium on a football Saturday.

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October 25, 2011

Detecting space vapor

U-M astronomy professor Ted Bergin is part of a team of astronomers that have detected a sprawling cloud of water vapor that could eventually deliver oceans to dry planets around a burgeoning solar system. The team discovered thousands of Earth-oceans’ worth of water within the planet-forming disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae, our closest solar-system-to-be.

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October 24, 2011

2011 Wallenberg Lecture

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate, is the recipient of the 21st U-M Wallenberg Medal. Due to concerns that she may not be allowed to return to Burma if she goes abroad, a videotaped lecture followed by a live Q&A session with her in Burma will be presented at Rackham Auditorium on Oct. 25.

Photo: Getty Images

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October 21, 2011

Invention convention

The recent 2011 Celebrate Invention event at the Michigan League Ballroom highlighted U-M inventions, startup companies and their creators. The gathering encouraged networking among U-M inventors and with community partners. The event’s sponsor, Tech Transfer, recently announced that more U-M technologies were licensed to companies in fiscal year 2011 than ever before—101 total—placing Michigan within the top 10 universities in tech transfer performance.

Photo: Peter Smith Photography

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October 20, 2011

Tranquil Cube

Sheena Shah, a U-M architecture student, recently won the "As I See It" photo competition with her entry “Tranquil Cube.” Arts at Michigan holds student photo competitions throughout the year. Entries are narrowed down by staff and finalists are voted on by the public in the Unions and online. The first theme of this school year was “Welcome to Michigan."

Photo: Sheena Shah, Architecture/Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

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October 19, 2011

Enriching the global experience

The Office of the Provost recently sponsored a Student International Affairs Forum at Palmer Commons to gather feedback from international students and American students who have studied abroad, on how to make the most of international experiences. The forum opened with an International Fair where students could talk with groups promoting study abroad and greater awareness of other countries.

Photo: Eric Bronson, U-M Photo Services

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October 18, 2011

Quantum down under

With a cutting-edge solar car named Quantum, an advanced strategy and a 16-student race crew, the U-M solar car team began its quest for the World Solar Challenge title on Sunday. The race from the northern to southern coasts of Australia covers 1,800 miles, mostly across the desert. Fans can follow Quantum's progress via real-time race coverage provided on the team’s Solar Control Panel.

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October 17, 2011

Responding to climate change

A 12-year study at an experimental forest in northeastern Wisconsin by U-M microbial ecologist Donald Zak and colleagues has revealed that North American forests have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than previously anticipated. As a result, they may help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought.

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October 14, 2011

Starting new traditions

First-Generation College Students @ Michigan, a student organization dedicated to recognizing, raising awareness of, and resolving the needs of first-generation college students at U-M, recently held its first meeting of the semester at Mason Hall. In addition to bi-weekly meetings, the group also offers special events and resources for undergraduate students who are the first members of their families to attend college.

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October 13, 2011

Clearing cosmic fog

The space between the galaxies wasn’t always transparent. In the earliest times, it was actually a dense fog. New observational evidence from U-M Department of Astronomy researchers is showing how high energy light from massive stars could have been responsible for evaporating the fog. These findings could help astronomers understand how the earliest galaxies affected the universe around them.

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October 12, 2011

Art everywhere

ArtPrize 2011, a sprawling competition in Grand Rapids, MI, just completed its third year. An estimated 500,000 visitors viewed and voted for their favorite works. There were 1,653 displays in the streets, restaurants, museums, colleges, inside buildings, outside of hotels, alongside convention centers and in public parks from artists around the world, including many U-M faculty and students.

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October 11, 2011

Catching a bubble

Scientists have long wondered why certain ocean-dwelling snails spend most of their lives floating upside down, attached to rafts of mucus bubbles and how this trait evolved. A Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate student and coauthors believe they’ve found an explanation. In a recently published paper, they show that bubble rafting evolved by way of modified egg masses.

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October 10, 2011

Hot blast

A solar wind is sandblasting the surface of Mercury at its poles, according to new data from a Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) made by U-M scientists that is on board NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. The FIPS has taken the first global measurements of Mercury’s exosphere and magnetosphere in an effort to better understand how the closest planet to the sun interacts with its fiery neighbor.

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October 7, 2011

Big House Big Heart

The Big House Big Heart 5K, 10K, and 1-mile run/walk takes over Michigan Stadium on Oct. 9. Participants wind around campus and then go through the Big House tunnel to finish at the 50-yard line. The event raises funds for U-M’s Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, the U-M Cardiovascular Center, C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital.

Photo: Scott C. Soderberg, U-M Photo Services

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October 6, 2011

Tennessee Williams @ 100

This year marks the centennial of the birth of Tennessee Williams—one of the most influential American playwrights of the 20th century. In celebration of Williams’ career, the U-M Department of Theatre and Drama is sponsoring a conference about Williams, Oct. 12-15, and a production of his rarely staged one-act play “Suddenly, Last Summer” (pictured), Oct. 6-16.

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October 5, 2011

Fresh and healthy oasis

A School of Public Health nutrition student checks out different kinds of squash at the MFarmers’ Market. Hosted by the Michigan Student Assembly and the University Unions, the next market takes place on the Michigan Union Patio on Oct. 6. It will feature produce from local farms, cooking demonstrations, samples, and information about healthy and sustainable living.

Photo: Mary Beth Lewis, School of Public Health

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October 4, 2011

Charting U-M’s future

President Mary Sue Coleman will be sharing her vision for the new academic year during the President’s Leadership Breakfast at 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 5. Her address, highlighting new academic initiatives and investments in innovation, will be delivered via a live webcast this year to give more people the opportunity to hear her plans for the university.

Photo: Scott C. Soderberg, U-M Photo Services

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October 3, 2011

Life on Mars?

A million-dollar NASA project led by Nilton Renno, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, plans to create Mars conditions in lab chambers and study how and when brines form and if microbes can survive and replicate in them. The project was inspired by beads of liquid brine that were photographed on the Phoenix Mars Lander three years ago.