Features

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March 31, 2012

Slow snails, fast genes

When cone snails sink their harpoon-like teeth into their prey, they inject paralyzing venoms made from more than 100 different neurotoxins. Two U-M evolutionary biologists have reconstructed the evolutionary history of the genes that create cone-snail toxins to help explain their impressive diversity and rapid evolution over the last 11 million years.

Photo: Jeanette Johnson

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March 30, 2012

Foolin’ around town

The 6th annual FestiFools takes place in downtown Ann Arbor on April 1. Part of the U-M Lloyd Hall Scholars Program initiative, this lively parade and street party brings students and community together to create unique public art. As part of the festivities, a FoolMoon illuminated sculpture procession also takes place on March 30.

Photo: Myra Klarman

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March 29, 2012

Wrestling champ

U-M senior wrestler Kellen Russell recently captured his second straight 141-pound title at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. The Wolverine captain becomes the sixth U-M wrestler to earn multiple NCAA titles. He completed his collegiate career with a 134-12 record, earning a share of the eighth position among Michigan's all-time winningest wrestlers.

Photo: Tony Rotundo, U-M Photo Services

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March 28, 2012

Developing global perspectives

Graduate students from the Ford School of Public Policy visit with school children in Colombia as part of the International Economic Development Program. The IEDP is a student-initiated, three-credit class and trip that serves as a forum for students to discuss the challenges faced by developing economies. Past trips have explored Grenada, the Philippines and Senegal.

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March 27, 2012

Re-imagining film

The 50th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the longest running independent film festival in North America, presents documentaries, animation, short film and new media at the Michigan Theater through April 1. The festival includes a student film showcase on March 28 that features a selection of the best recent short films created by regional film students.

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March 26, 2012

Matched up

As part of U-M’s annual Match Day, 146 fourth-year medical students were given an envelope containing where they’ll be completing their residency training prior to becoming practicing physicians. Conducted by the National Resident Matching Program, the match is the primary system for pairing applicants with residency positions at teaching hospitals across the country.

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

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March 23, 2012

Groovin' this weather

A recent stretch of 80-degree weather transformed the Diag into a lively, summer scene in mid-March. Members of Groove, a U-M percussion ensemble that creates music out of found-object instruments, offered a free lunchtime performance to promote their "Scrap Metal Symphony" concert at the Michigan Theater on March 23.

Photo: Joel Johnson, U-M Photo Services

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March 22, 2012

Design for Change

Last fall, U-M’s first Design for Change class, a partnership between the School of Art & Design, the Center for Entrepreneurship and a community school in Detroit, generated hands-on projects linking public and civic action. Through interdisciplinary teams, students worked on projects addressing food, education, health care and income issues in the community.

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March 21, 2012

Surviving your thesis

A U-M architecture graduate student decided to design his own tent and then test it out in extreme weather conditions as part of his master's project. He slept in it as he climbed Aconcagua—the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere in Argentina—where climbers die every year from exposure to freezing temperatures and violent winds.

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March 20, 2012

Under the microscope

Donald R. Zak, the Burton V. Barnes Collegiate Professor of Ecology at SNRE, and his students are measuring the DNA signature of litter and soil samples from forests in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. The longest-running study of its kind, this research explores plant and microbial activity within terrestrial ecosystems and their response to environmental change.

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March 19, 2012

Great Lakes at the White House

More than 80 environmental, sustainability and academic leaders gathered at the White House Great Lakes Summit recently to discuss the future plans for these massive bodies of fresh water. Participants included Don Scavia, special counsel to the U-M president for sustainability, and Knute Nadelhoffer, a U-M professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Photo: Michigan Sea Grant

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March 16, 2012

Putting the wow in powwow

The 40th annual Dance for Mother Earth Powwow hosted by the U-M Native American Student Association takes place March 17-18 at Pioneer High School. It is one of the largest student-run powwows in the country and was named by USA Today Travel as one of “10 great places to be wowed by American Indian culture.”

Photo: Scott R. Galvin, U-M Photo Services

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March 15, 2012

Capturing North Campus

U-M’s Living Arts program recently organized a student photography competition to celebrate North Campus. Three judges from U-M and the Ann Arbor community evaluated 125 photographs on how well they represented North Campus and how aesthetically pleasing they were. The winning photographs are on display in the Duderstadt Connector Gallery through Friday, March 16.

Photo: Peter Shin

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March 14, 2012

Listening to solar storms

A sonification of recent solar storm activity created by Robert Alexander, a U-M design science doctoral student and NASA fellow, turns data from two spacecraft into sound. It uses measurements from the NASA SOHO spacecraft and U-M's Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury.

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March 13, 2012

A prisoner’s perspective

U-M’s Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) has been collaborating with incarcerated adults, incarcerated youth, urban youth and the formerly incarcerated since 1990 to strengthen our community through creative expression. PCAP’s 17th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners takes place March 20-April 4 at the Duderstadt Center Gallery on North Campus.

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March 12, 2012

It’s a gas?

A new litmus-like paper sensor developed at U-M could be a real life saver. It changes from blue to pink within 30 seconds of exposure to nerve gases which are colorless, odorless, tasteless and deadly. While today’s soldiers carry masks and protective gear, they currently don’t have reliable ways of knowing when they need them in time.

Photo: Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan CoE Multimedia Producer

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March 9, 2012

Saving U-M’s pumas

The original pumas installed in 1940 at the entrance of the U-M Ruthven Museums Building were made of terrazzo and painted black. After 60 years, they began cracking and having problems. To preserve the sculptures, molds were made and new pumas were cast in bronze and installed in 2007. The originals were restored and placed in storage.

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

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March 8, 2012

Big Ten title

The No. 10 Wolverines (23-8, 13-5) recently earned the title of Big Ten tri-champions, sharing the crown with No. 7 Ohio State and No. 8 Michigan State. They will open play in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, Ind., on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the Minnesota vs. Northwestern match. Go Blue!

Photo: Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services

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March 7, 2012

Giving kids a smile

The School of Dentistry’s Give Kids a Smile event recently provided dental services for 100 children as a part of the American Dental Association’s annual program. More than 120 U-M dental and dental hygiene students, faculty, residents, staff, and community dentists from the Washtenaw District Dental Society and Michigan Dental Association volunteered their time for this successful event.

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March 6, 2012

Out of Africa

School of Public Health student Priscila Bercea had a unique opportunity last summer to work with Global Hope Network International (GHNI), an NGO in the Isiolo District of Kenya, not far from the Somali border. As part of a summer internship, Bercea partnered with local public health officials to develop a Community Health Workers training of 30 women and men.

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March 5, 2012

The freshmen ’20s

A 109-page booklet “Advice to Freshmen by Freshmen” written by a group of U-M students in 1921 at the end of their first year on campus gives a revealing glimpse of student life at the start of the “Roaring Twenties.” It advised new students to respect class hierarchy, mind their appearance, be a good mixer and resist temptation.

Photo: Bentley Historical Library

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March 2, 2012

Creative Residency 2012

The Royal Shakespeare Company visits campus for 10 days beginning March 10. U-M students will get the opportunity to explore the creative possibilities of two plays being prepared for RSC’s upcoming fall season at its Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The public is also invited to attend a number of free workshops, readings and discussions.

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March 1, 2012

When continents collide

Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia forming the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. A U-M geomorphologist studying this region is challenging the current theory of plate tectonics by proposing it is the strength of the uppermost mantle beneath the mountains, not their height, that best explains the motions of the Indian plate.

Photo: Marin Clark