2009 – Page 21 of 98

Ann Arbor’s Current Motor Co delivers first electric scooters

By Newsroom

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October 7, 2009

John Harding was Current Motor Co. first customer before the business even existed.Harding wanted a sustainable electric scooter, but the only ones he could buy were powered by fossil fuels. So he and Erik Kauppi started Current Motor Co. last year on Ann Arbor's far west side."I wanted an electric vehicle," says John Harding, president of Current Motor Co. "I am motorcyclist as well and a two-wheeler makes a lot of sense."The company now employs 10 people from its headquarters on Jackson Road. There they put together scooters --mostly from stock parts-- while creating their own electric package. They even issue their own vehicle identification numbers. The company makes its first delivery of eight bikes to customers later this month."We're rolling out slowly," Harding says. "We're ramping up our marketing now that we have our first bikes out."The next shipment of bikes will be sold out of the firm's new dealership at its headquarters, 6241 Jackson Road, which is set to open by the end of the month. Current Motor Co. plans to product about 100-200 electric scooters within the next year. At the same time it plans to develop a national network of dealerships."2011 is when we want to grow that dealership network nationally and sell thousands of bikes," Harding says.Source: John Harding, president of Current Motor Co.Writer: Jon Zemke

U-M plans to fill creative gap with new Montage mag

By Newsroom

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Innovation News

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October 7, 2009

The smarty pants at the University of Michigan see a void in the coverage of what's going on at the university and is starting to cover it with its own webzine – Montage."We felt we had to get the story out there about the creative work people are doing here," says Frank Provenzano, a spokesman for the University of Michigan and former newspaper reporter.Montage is a website that will feature cultural news, faculty profiles, think pieces and student stories. The subjects will range from education to politics to art. The idea is to become a place for university creatives to share and comment using the latest social media. "We want to think of creativity that isn't unique to any one discipline," Provenzano says. There is definitely a lot of room for creativity in the Ann Arbor media landscape these days. The recent downfall of The Ann Arbor News has helped spur or empower a number of smaller, mostly web-based publications, including Concentrate. The result is a seismic shift in the local media landscape that is still sorting itself out."Everyone has to tell their story and traditional media isn't getting it done," Provenzano says.Source: Frank Provenzano, a spokesman for the University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Walk-on program big part of Michigan coach’s strategy

By Newsroom

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Healthy Communities

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October 7, 2009

Talent at the University of Michigan's football team is coming from new, untapped places.Excerpt:ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan's defensive coaches kept coming up to him on the sideline."Are you ready?" they asked.Jordan Kovacs never actually believed he needed to be ready. Sure, he had worked his way up the depth chart to the point where he was starter Mike Williams' primary backup at free safety.But he was a walk-on, and this was the Notre Dame game.Still, the leg cramp that was bothering Williams wouldn't go away."I blew them off, saying I'd be ready (but) thinking there was no way I was going to get in the game," Kovacs said. "Next thing I knew I was playing in front of 110,000 people at the Big House on national TV."And contributing at crunch time. Kovacs made three tackles in Michigan's come-from-behind 38-34 win on Sept. 12.The redshirt freshman from Curtice, Ohio, is one of a number of either current or former walk-ons who are seeing significant playing time for the undefeated and 22nd-ranked Wolverines this season.That's just fine with coach Rich Rodriguez, who walked on at West Virginia in the early 1980s, around the same time Kovacs' dad was a walk-on under coach Bo Schembechler at Michigan.Top scholarship athletes from across the nation have been coming to Ann Arbor for decades, lured by the winning tradition, winged helmet and six-digit crowds at Michigan Stadium. Rodriguez's starting 11 on offense alone boasts former prep stars from California and Washington on one coast to Florida and South Carolina on the other.Despite its reputation as a destination for blue-chip athletes, Michigan also wants to be known as a place where hardworking overachievers hoping for the chance to prove themselves can make the team — and thrive."The best guys play," Rodriguez said. "Whether you come out with a four-star or five-star ranking, or whether you're a school-start or tryout walk-on guy, if you're good enough and you prove yourself, you'll play."Read the rest of the story here.

U-M’s MFA hits topnotch status

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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October 7, 2009

Michigan's Masters in Fine Arts program has produced luminaries like Patrick O’Keefe and Uwem Akpan, and has the distinction of being considered second only to Iowa.Excerpt:In the basement of the newly remodeled University of Michigan Museum of Art, a sizable crowd has gathered in a sleek, sterile-looking auditorium. It's a Friday night in Ann Arbor, and you can almost hear the sound of cheap beers cracking open throughout the city. But for those sitting in UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium, the only sound that echoes is the voice of Kyle Booten, who is center-stage, reciting his ambitious, abstract brand of poetry.Booten — along with a large percentage of his audience — is a student in the University’s MFA program. The atmosphere is warm and congenial, and the sense of community among those assembled is akin to that of a congenial family reunion. As the night wears on, it becomes clear that the University's MFA students are unlike most other graduate students.Short for Master of Fine Arts, an MFA program is an often overlooked and misunderstood two-year graduate program in which students prepare for careers writing poetry, fiction or both. The MFA program was first introduced at the University of Iowa 70 years ago. Now MFA degrees are offered at more than 150 universities across the nation. Despite the success of the MFA movement, it's been surrounded by a fair degree of controversy.Most of the flak arises from the very nature of an MFA program. In essence, it attempts to teach something historically considered unteachable: creative writing.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor Nanosystems blooms thanks to green products

By Newsroom

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In The News

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October 7, 2009

Ann Arbor-based, green-chem start-up Nanosystems doesn't look to stay small for much longer.Excerpt:In just four years, John Nanos has gone from teaching organic chemistry at the University of Michigan to building a multimillion-dollar company that's helping the environment.In 2005, the former adjunct professor launched a start-up company in Ann Arbor called Nanosystems Inc. after coming up with a greener way to make the polyurethane foam used in everything from the cores of surfboards to ear plugs and wound dressings.Nanos, who grew up in Dearborn as the son of a Ford Motor Co. engineer, developed chemicals for foam that are derived from soybeans, corn and other vegetables instead of oil. Today, Nanosystems produces these liquid building blocks for foam in Ann Arbor and Los Angeles, shipping them to dozens of customers around the country."You are essentially having a softer carbon footprint," said Nanos, who works out of a laboratory at the Michigan Research Institute in Ann Arbor.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor, the land that newspapers forgot

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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October 7, 2009

A correspondent from the New York Times recently came to the Ann Arbor area and found it's number of newspapers somewhat lacking.Excerpt:This past week, I visited a place that newspapers forgot, or was it the other way around? While working on an article about Time Inc.’s decision to parachute into Detroit for a year, I tried to get used to the fact that the newspapers there get delivered only three days a week and the other days, it is tough to find them. Too bad, because between a city where stories seem to lie around every corner and with such a really talented bunch of journalists on hand, it would be nice to have a newspaper plop into the middle of things more often. But as Richard Pérez-Peña points out, newspapers are deathly ill, no more so than in a place like Michigan where the implosion of the auto industry has created collateral damage in all sectors of the economy.And then I went to Ann Arbor over the weekend to watch Michigan take on Eastern Michigan at the Big House. Ann Arbor seems like a perfect newspaper town: a highly educated populace, abundant retail and a major university that would seem to be the source of endless town/gown stories. But the Ann Arbor News, which has come out under various names since 1835, shut down as a newspaper in July and was replaced by AnnArbor.com, a Web site with a print version that comes out twice a week.Read the rest of the story here.

U-M president, U vibrancy continues to grow

By Newsroom

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In The News

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October 7, 2009

The local economy may be down, but the University of Michigan continues to trend up, up and up, according to U-M President Mary Sue Coleman.Excerpt:Ann Arbor -- While other universities around the country lay off staff, halt construction projects and shutter programs, University of Michigan is expanding, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman said Monday during her State of the University speech."Whether in Ann Arbor, Flint or Dearborn, the University of Michigan is more vibrant than ever," Coleman said during a 35-minute talk at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, the $145 million building that opened in March and marks one of the major construction projects of Coleman's tenure. Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor Brewing’s Oktoberfests keep going strong after 10 years

By Newsroom

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Healthy Communities

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October 7, 2009

Ypsilanti's Corner Brewery and Ann Arbor Brewing Co. are gearing up for their biggest party of the year - Oktoberfest.Excerpt:Break out the bier stein and grab your lederhosen, it's time for Oktoberfest!Today is the first day of October and all around the world people are preparing for one of the most anticipated annual festivals. While the 176th Oktoberfest has been under way in Munich, Germany since mid-September; this weekend the celebration comes to the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti."We did our first Oktoberfest at Arbor Brewing Company 10 years ago," said Rene Greff, who owns Arbor Brewing Company with her husband Matt. "My husband and I actually went to Oktoberfest on our honeymoon, so we were big fans of Oktoberfest and we had interest in recreating that," she said.The Arbor Brewing Company Pub & Eatery opened in downtown Ann Arbor in 1995, and after a few years the business was steady enough to allow the Greffs to start their own version of Oktoberfest. In 2005 the company expanded with the Corner Brewery, which allowed them to bottle and distribute their own beer and gave them a larger space for holding events.In fact, with its own outdoor beer garden, the Corner Brewery might be the perfect place to celebrate Oktoberfest this side of the Atlantic. The festivities begin this Friday at the Corner Brewery and continue Saturday in Ann Arbor where Arbor Brewing will have a tent set up on a closed section of Washington Street.A good celebration requires good beer, and the Corner Brewery will be flowing with it this weekend, including their fall seasonal the Olde No. 22 German Alt-Bier, which was released earlier this week. Read the rest of the story here.

Video Small Company Innovation

By Keith Jefferies

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Economic Development

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September 30, 2009

U-M produces two very important things: Talent and research. The university's Small Company Innovation program connects the commercial to the academic by placing and subsidizing graduate research students in local firms.

U-M hosts design leaders with Future of Design conference

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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September 30, 2009

Famous architects and designers will converge on the University of Michigan next week for the university's Future of Design conference on Oct. 9-10.About 30 people who dabble in design in one way or another will talk about where design is heading in the near and long term at U-M's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Participants will include architects, landscape architects and designers in the interactive, industrial and interior industries. Attendees making presentations include the dean of Princeton's School of Architecture, managing director of Goldman Sachs, along with the editor and chief of Architect Magazine and Metropolis.The event is free and open to the public. The 15-minutes presentations will be recorded and put on YouTube as of Oct. 19. For information, click here.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke