Coleman: Universities will lead in diversifying economy

Updated 11:00 AM March 6, 2006

Coleman: Universities will lead in diversifying economy

By Kevin Bergquist

As the State of Michigan struggles through a difficult economic transition, its public universities—especially research institutions such as U-M—will play a strong role in helping to diversify the economy through innovation and collaboration, President Mary Sue Coleman told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education Feb. 24.

Senate and House subcommittees currently are considering Gov. Jennifer Granholm's state budget proposal, which would increase funding to the state's three major research institutions—U-M, Michigan State University (MSU) and Wayne State University (WSU)—by 2 percent.

Testifying in Kalamazoo with leaders from Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University and Western Michigan University (WMU) on the importance of supporting higher education, Coleman said the United States is a leader in invention and scientific exploration, and that great ideas—including Hewlett-Packard, the artificial heart, the computer, iPod and Google—were born on college campuses.

"Collaboration is our future," Coleman said. "Whether pulling together scientists and researchers from opposite ends of our campus or from opposite sides of Michigan, we must call upon our best people to find solutions for our state and for our future. That is true leadership, and the University of Michigan will be at the forefront."

Coleman briefed the committee on U-M's Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences, where nanotechnology professor Dr. James Baker and colleagues in medicine, chemistry, physics, and engineering have designed a better way to treat cancer. The institute calls upon many disciplines, Coleman said. "That's how we have to approach science today, because the problems we need to solve are too complicated to be explained by a lone scientist in a solitary lab," she said.

Innovation will be accelerated, she said, by SPARK, an organization intent on doubling the number of technology companies and tripling the technology jobs in the region by 2010. U-M has committed $1 million to SPARK over five years.

Coleman said Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County could be a model for economic development in Michigan due to the University's research activities and collaboration with the state in the Life Sciences corridor. U-M is nearing $800 million in research expenditures for fiscal year 2006, research productivity that translates to economic power for Michigan, she said.

"Not only does that mean research and development to keep our state and nation competitive. It also draws new talent to Ann Arbor, Detroit and East Lansing as we recruit top faculty and graduate students from around the country and around the world," she said. "It means discovering knowledge critical for improving our lives, our society, and our understanding of the world."

An increased and diverse workforce in science and engineering will aid future discovery, Coleman said. She serves as the principal investigator of the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (MI-LSAMP), which is working to increase the number of underrepresented minorities earning bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.

"As educators, we know that America is not producing enough graduates right now to replace the scientists and engineers that will retire by the end of this decade," she said. "And the next generation of scientists and researchers must be as diverse as our nation. Our state and our country need many more minorities and women to join these ranks or we will be out-paced and out-performed in the global arena."

The state's research universities—which include MSU, WSU and WMU—hope to build a strong network of talent and resources to ensure that tomorrow's scientists, mathematicians and engineers look more like America, she said.

"Diversity in our workforce and among our scientific community is crucial for the country's future economic vitality," she said. "And that diversity will not happen in the workforce unless it happens at our universities. In particular, we must strengthen the pipeline to our exemplary graduate programs and the preparation they offer future scientists and professors."

It all starts by making college affordable to all, she said. Coleman gave details of the inaugural semester of the M-PACT program, which expands financial aid to the neediest of state undergraduates. She said students, who receive grants of up to $1,500 in addition to their other financial aid, are paying less than their peers did a year ago.

"We absolutely must widen our doors so that individuals from all backgrounds can take advantage of what we have to offer. I am absolutely committed to making certain that an undergraduate education at the University of Michigan is both accessible and of the highest academic quality."

Coleman: Universities will lead in diversifying economy

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