2010 – Page 59 of 78

U-M students turn Green Silane into award-winning start-up

By Newsroom

●

March 17, 2010

The student entrepreneurs aren't building an empire with Green Silane. They're building an acquisition.It's an idea that is commonly used in the advanced entrepreneurial ecosystems on the coasts, where entrepreneurs build their start-ups with the idea of hitting a big payday not from customers so much as competitors."In 5-6 years we would like to see the potential opportunity of acquisition by one of our competitors," says Matt Schaar, vice president of product development at Green Silane.Schaar, an MBA student at the University of Michigan, and two other university students started Green Silane in September. Since then they have taken the Erb Award for Sustainability at U-M's Ross School of Business' Michigan Business Competition and third place at the Clean Energy Prize, which is sponsored by U-M and DTE Energy. It has led to the acquisition of more than $10,000, which serves as both prize and seed money.Green Silane produces silane gas for customers on-site in a manner that is flexible, low-cost, and environmentally benign. "It compartmentalizes this so it only requires silicone and and hydrogen," Schaar says.Source: Matt Schaar, vice president of product development at Green SalineWriter: Jon Zemke

Adaptive Materials’ military contracts lead to Ann Arbor job creation

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

Military contracts are proving profitable for growing Adaptive Materials, allowing the Ann Arbor-based start-up to expand its capacity and staff.The innovative fuel cell firm just signed a $4.7 million contract with the U.S. Army to supply its signature fuel cells. That contract could grow to be worth $5.6 million and another significant multi-million dollar military contract is expected to be announced this spring. So far the company has scored $44 million worth of defense contracts. That will equal about 70 percent of its business in the first and second quarters of this year."Military has always been a key piece of our business plan," says Michelle Crumm, chief business officer for Adaptive Materials. "That will continue for us. It's a key piece of the puzzle."It's also what's driving the Adaptive Materials' growth. It's staff has hit 57 people and an intern. The company has nine job openings and another two internship opportunities. After those are filled, the company hopes to add another 5-10 people later this year.The 10-year-old company creates a fuel cell that turns fuels like propane into electricity instead of heat. That means its technology can convert a small propane tank used for camping into a generator that can keep a fridge going during a blackout. Think an emergency generator strong enough to power appliances but small enough to carry in your pocket.The firm, the brain child of University of Michigan alum Aaron Crumm, plans to put its products in every RV, boat, ambulance and, well, any place that can use a highly efficient fuel cell.Source: Michelle Crumm, chief business officer for Adaptive MaterialsWriter: Jon Zemke

Forbes ranks U-M as a top college sports town

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

There are many who see Ann Arbor as not only one of the top college sports towns in America, but the only one. Add Forbes magazine to that list.Excerpt:Ann Arbor, Mich., home to the University of Michigan, is a great choice. The town of 114,000 has it all: a top-notch public school system, a low crime rate and very affordable housing (the median price for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,200-square-foot is $148,000). Museums and good restaurants abound. And even though its high-profile football and basketball teams have struggled as of late, the school's other teams--like golf, rowing and softball--have excelled, so much so that Michigan finished fifth overall in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup last year, a ranking by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics of schools based on their performance in every sport.With its excellent mix of livability and sports, Ann Arbor leads our annual ranking of the Top College Sports Towns, besting Chapel Hill, N.C. (home of the University of North Carolina), and Norman, Okla. (home of the University of Oklahoma).Read the rest of the story here.

WSJ describes economy through Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Saline

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

How the economy is recovering, or at least trying to, can be easily illustrated through the stories of businesses in Ann Arbor, Saline and Ypsilanti.Excerpt:YPSILANTI, Mich.—Thomas Harrison, chief executive of Michigan Ladder Co., has a plan that would contribute to the U.S. economic recovery: Expand the 108-year-old company, adding at least 20 jobs in the process. His chances of getting the loan of $300,000 or more he needs to do so, though, depend in part on what happens to folks like home builder James Haeussler.Both are customers of the same community bank, the Bank of Ann Arbor. Mr. Haeussler is struggling to repay $8.3 million he and a partner borrowed to build a residential community in nearby Saline, Mich. In this economic environment, the bank doesn't want to take a chance on what it sees as a risky new loan to Mr. Harrison."In a world where Jim Haeussler makes it, Tom Harrison will make it," says Timothy Marshall, the bank's president. "But it's not prudent to do both loans at this point in time. We're in a more risk-averse mode."Read the rest of the story here.

The Village cashes in on co-op to condo switch in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

There's a new condo project in Ann Arbor, but it's not new construction. The Villages are making the leap from co-operative living to condominiums to help create more value in their living area.Excerpt:Buyers seeking a condominium in Ann Arbor can turn to one of the city’s vintage communities to find a new option on the market.The Village - long-known as Pittsfield Village - completed the conversion of its 422 units from cooperative to condominium in late 2009.Now owners and buyers will see the market set the price for the homes - which are again called Pittsfield Village after the transition."Over the next 18 months to 24 months, the Village is going to create its own value," said Hilary Ward, a Realtor with the Charles Reinhart Co. who has several listings in the community.Read the rest of the story here.

NY Times review praises novel about spiteful U-M academic

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

March 17, 2010

The new book "Next" goes from Ann Arbor to Austin and takes a few daring twists and turns along the way according to one The New York Times book editor.Excerpt:Kevin Quinn, the protagonist of James Hynes’s “Next,” is first seen on an airplane that is making its descent into Austin, Tex. He’s wondering whether one of those shoulder-launched missiles with the same name as a cocktail — a Stinger — will hit the plane, which itself reminds him of a can of chips. “A Pringles can with wings, packed full of defenseless Pringles,” is what Kevin sees.Some of Kevin’s paranoia is prompted by news reports of terrorist attacks. But most of it comes from the same wellspring of anxiety that led Virginia Woolf, in a 1915 diary entry cited by Mr. Hynes, to be jolted by the sound of a bursting tire into envisioning an attack from the sky. Woolf’s diary added that alongside our instinct to exaggerate such fears is our real if misplaced confidence that peril will leave us unscathed.As Kevin frets his way through the single day on which “Next” takes place, he envisions many different threats. But the true stealth attack in “Next” is the one launched at the reader by Mr. Hynes. This is a book that begins innocently and is careful not to tip its hand, even though there’s something very unusual at work. The title signals nothing. The cover art depicts an empty sky. Blurbs on the back allow four very different writers to skip the hosannas and cut to the chase. They find roundabout ways to say that “Next” took nerve to write, is much more potent than it may initially appear and has an ending that beggars description. That ending will not be given away here.Mr. Hynes encrypts so much foreshadowing into “Next” that there might as well be none at all. Little jabs are everywhere. Kevin’s fantasy life is activated by a surreptitious one-day trip from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Austin for a job interview. He is one of those spiteful academics about whom Mr. Hynes has written so well in earlier novels, “all of them as amiable and collegial as scorpions.”Read the rest of the story here.

EMU prof helps preserve Michigan’s only rock paintings

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

March 17, 2010

Eastern Michigan University is taking historic preservation to a whole new level by trying to figure out a way to save Michigan's only early man rock paintings.Excerpt:YPSILANTI - Eastern Michigan University Chemistry Professor Ruth Ann Armitage recently traded in her Nicaraguan spelunking helmet for a trash bag with arm holes in it.The 55-gallon trash bag was a good way to keep dry while hiking a rocky beach in cold, rainy weather on the shoreline of Big Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.“The rock paintings there are the only ones in the state of Michigan. They’re thought to be connected to the Ojibwe,” said Armitage, who took a student and went in search of the paintings.Read the rest of the story here.

Terumo capitalizes on MEDC tax credits in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

Many Ann Arbor-based companies receive state tax breaks to create jobs, but few are taking advantage of them as effectively as the rapidly growing, Tree Town-based Terumo.Excerpt:To those searching for snippets of some of the good things going on out there, I offer up Terumo.You may not have heard of Terumo, but lots of surgical patients have. Terumo products are used in cardiac and vascular surgeries in more than 1,000 cases a day worldwide.Capitalizing on the growth in the medical device market, the Ann Arbor company, which includes Terumo Cardiovascular Systems and Terumo Heart, won a $1-million tax credit from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority almost two years ago to keep operations here and bring in more jobs -- which it has done. The two firms together employ 500 people in Ann Arbor and are the 24th-largest company in Washtenaw County.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor adopts single-stream recycling program

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

March 17, 2010

Recycling in Ann Arbor is changing this week now that the Ann Arbor City Council has given the green light for single stream residential recycling.The time-honored tradition of sorting recyclables will soon be gone, allowing city residents to put out all of their recycling in one new container. The new system, set to begin in XXX, will supposedly allow residents to recycle even more materials in process called a single-stream.The recycled waste will be sorted out at the recycling plant, making the process more user-friendly. While some critics contend that contamination from mixed waste decreases the quality of recyclables, supporters say this loss is more than compensated for through increases in recycling rates. Ann Arbor officials hope the new system will bump up the city's 50 percent recycling average to 70 percent by 2012. Other cities have already made the jump to single-stream recycling, including Austin, Texas and Baltimore, MD.Ann Arbor will invest $3.5 million into upgrades at its recycling facility to accommodate this transition. The staff levels would stay the same with machines handling the extra sorting. The switch would also require new recycling containers, costing $1.3 million. Gone will be the green and brown bins. Replacing them will be one large container. Each of these containers will come with a bar code as part of the RecycleBank system, which rewards recyclers with coupons and prizes in proportion to how much they recycle. This system has helped significantly increase recycling efforts in both Rochester Hills and Westland, MI.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor Skatepark gets $400K match from Washtenaw County

By Newsroom

●

Arts & Culture

●

March 17, 2010

Washtenaw County is providing a potential cash infusion for the Ann Arbor's Skatepark plans, pledging to match up to $400,000 for the project."They're pretty confident they can raise this amount of money," says Bob Tetens, director of the Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation. "We couldn't fund the whole thing but we could serve as a catalyst for their efforts."Ann Arbor has been working to establish a skatepark for years, which is a bit out of character for a town that often sees itself as a leader in progressive causes and recreational offerings. Local volunteers and officials plan to build the city's first skatepark at Veterans Park near the corner of Maple and Miller roads on the city's northwest side. The cause has gained momentum in recent years."You want to invest money in successful programs," Tetens says. "There is clearly a groundswell of grass roots support for this project and a lot of institutional support."He sees the skatepark serving a regional draw that should make Veterans Park, with its baseball fields and sledding hill, an even more intensely used park. "I fully expect people to be driving 2-3 hours there to take advantage of it," Tetens says.Source: Bob Tetens, director of the Washtenaw County Parks & RecreationWriter: Jon Zemke