Education

Coverage of schools from kindergarten through higher education, including trade and online training, and childcare.

U-M Solar Car team hoping to cross Australian finish line first

By Newsroom

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May 11, 2011

No solar car building team in America has won the World Solar Challenge since the race's 1987 debut. U-M's Quantum --the U's 11th car-- is out to reclaim the trophy 24 years later. Excerpt: "Only two things matter when building a race car powered by the sun: maximizing efficiency and minimizing weight. Everything else is secondary when the goal is crossing a continent using just enough energy to power a hair dryer. All the top teams in the esoteric sport of solar racing embrace this “less is more” ethos to a degree that would please Colin Chapman. But the University of Michigan, arguably America’s best team, has taken it to fanatical levels in a relentless drive to win the World Solar Challenge in October. The biennial sprint across Australia is the oldest and most prestigious race of its kind, the Daytona 500 or Monaco Grand Prix of solar racing." Read the rest of the story here.

Latest in Education

Blue Goes Green

By Kim North Shine

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Education

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May 4, 2011

As the region's top employer, biggest institution, and largest land owner, the University of Michigan's local influence can't be understated. So too with its green practices. From creating greater energy efficiency to shrinking its carbon footprint, Team Planet Blue is pushing forward the U's plans to make sustainability and conservation a matter of course.

Wind energy firm Accio Energy scores $1.9M in angel funds

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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May 4, 2011

Accio Energy closed its first round of fundraising, a Series A angel round, and is now richer by $1.9 million and three new members on the board of directors.The alternative energy firm, developer of a novel way to harness wind energy, took in $1.4 million in cash from a combination of angel investors and small venture capital firms, such as Ann Arbor-based Resonant Venture Partners. The other $500,000 comes from convertible debt."It's a big round for an angel round," says Jen Baird, CEO of Accio Energy. The firm also welcomed three more high-profile names to its board of directors. The new additions include retired DTE Energy President & COO Bob Buckler, University of Michigan Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Executive Director Tom Kinnear and Resonant Venture Partner Managing Director Michael Godwin. "The bottom line is about two things," Baird says. "One, we have more capital. Two, we have a bigger, stronger board. Both of those things are important for small companies."The Ann Arbor-based start-up is spinning out University of Michigan technology that basically reinvents the wind turbine without the moving parts. Accio Energy's technology utilizes a system of aerovolatic panels (similar to a car radiator) that harness the wind's energy through a water mist and static electricity.Baird expects most of the capital raised will go toward continued development of that technology by the start-up's staff of eight employees and a handful of independent contractors and partners.Baird came on as Accio Energy's CEO last year after building fellow Ann Arbor-based start-up Accuri Cytometers into Ann Arbor's hot entrepreneurial commodity. She raised $30 million from angel investors and venture capital firms over five years. The company was acquired for more than $200 million earlier this year. Source: Jen Baird, CEO of Accio EnergyWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M start-up ReGenerate raises nearly $200K in seed capital

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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May 4, 2011

ReGenerate is the newest of the promising start-ups spinning out of the University of Michigan. The two-year-old alternative energy firm has won a number of business plan competitions, securing nearly $200,000 in seed capital over the last year.ReGenerate is developing an on-site anaerobic digester for food service operators. The idea is to divert more organic waste from creating harmful greenhouse gases and towards creating alternative energy. "We saw this as an opportunity for the way waste is handled, specifically organic gases," says Hunt Briggs, director of marketing & finance for ReGenerate. "Most of the organic waste goes into landfills and creates greenhouse gases, like methane. We want to design a system to divert that waste from the landfills and generate energy from that."The Ann Arbor-based firm calls the TechArb home. It most recently won the "Think Green" investment prize from the Rice University Business Plan Competition, beating out dozens of other student-led start-ups competing in the prestigious national event. The $100,000 award is one of seven major investment awards and goes to the best plan in the green technology sector.Briggs hopes to use that money to continue development of the firm's prototype anaerobic digester. Commercialization could come as soon as 2012, along with an expansion of the start-up's staff of five employees and 1-2 summer interns.Source: Hunt Briggs, director of marketing & finance for ReGenerateWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Pratt Block restoration is a “Queen Anne front with a Mary Ann behind”

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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May 4, 2011

The Pratt Block building has shrugged off its damaged upper facade and now has a new front on Main Street. Detroit Cornice & Slate recently completed a restoration of the cornice on the building at 301-306 S. Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The circa-1896 building formerly housed Kline's department store and now has nine residential lofts and other businesses. The new cornice was fashioned from sheet metal and replaced 80 1-foot by 18-inch brackets removed when flat porcelain panels were installed on the facade. The cornice was then painted to give the appearance of being cast from stone, a common sight in towns with 1800s roots. In that era it was common to construct buildings with ornate facade fronts and unadorned common brick backsides. "Mark Twain referred to that as a Queen Anne front with a Mary Ann behind!" says Doneen Hesse, owner of Detroit Cornice & Slate.The 122-year-old business has also had a hand in many of the ornamental slate or copper roofs on the University of Michigan's academic buildings and dormitories. In 1995, the Lurie Engineering Building was topped with a copper roof – 30 tons' worth. And last year the company installed a full new slate roof and copper metalwork such as gutters, downspouts, and fascia, as part of the historical restoration of the Mosher Jordan dormitory. That project cost just over $1.5 million and used about 140,000 pieces of slate, Hesse says.Hesse ticks off a list of other work, including the installation of ornamental purple and grape green slate on the First Congregational Church as well as slate roofing for Stockwell Hall, Lorch Hall, Hutchens Hall, and fraternities and private Ann Arbor residences.Source: Doneen Hesse, owner of Detroit Cornice & SlateWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

Game Theory: A Q&A with Matt Toschlog

By Jeff Meyers

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Community Development

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April 27, 2011

The computer gaming industry rakes in nearly $9 billion each year. Michigan has only a very small sliver of that pie, and part of that sliver is Quantum Signal in Saline. Concentrate chats with Matt Toschlog, who heads up the company's simulation and gaming division. He weighs in on the state of the industry in Michigan, our film and video game incentive program, and the strategic advantage of having dreadlocks.

SPECIALIZE DESIGNS creates new toys for blind and sighted kids

By Newsroom

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Diversity & Equity

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April 27, 2011

Tiffany Huang hasn't spent a lot of time in the professional workforce, but she's been there long enough to know she would prefer to be her own boss.The University of Michigan Ross School of Business student spent a few months working at a major Metro Detroit-based automotive supplier last summer, and didn't like being a small fish in a big pond with no real decision-making ability. That inspired her to pursue her own start-up with some classmates from U-M this year: SPECIALIZE DESIGNS."It was so large I felt I had no say in what was being done," Huang, queen of operations for SPECIALIZE DESIGNS, says of her previous experience. "I wanted to have a say in something smaller."SPECIALIZE DESIGNS is that something smaller. The TechArb-based start-up (founded by Huang and Shaili Dasi) creates toys that can be used by both blind and sighted children. Its first toy is a cross between Simon and Bop It, is shaped like a plate, and requires its users to pay attention to noise and vibrations.Huang and Dasi (along with another U-M student who is no longer with the company) have noticed how the blind community is becoming more integrated with mainstream society. They hope this toy will help further integrate both. "We want to create a solution to bring children together in schools," Huang says.The partners are still working on the prototype and are planning to shop the concept around at toymaker trade shows this summer. Huang expects to bring the toy to market within the next year, with its main customer being schools. Source: Tiffany Huang, queen of operations for SPECIALIZE DESIGNSWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M student start-up, Are You a Human, wins $115K in Rice University Business Plan Competition

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 27, 2011

Are You a Human is feeling a little superhuman these days after the Ann Arbor-based start-up recently won six figures' worth of prize money from the Rice University Business Plan Competition, the world's largest such graduate-level competition.The nearly 1-year-old start-up specializes in creating software that gives humans the upper hand over computer programs when it comes to ordering things like concert tickets online. The company won $115,000, taking second place overall and winning the Most Promising Start-Up award."It's all basically going to go toward development," says Reid Tatoris, co-founder of Are You a Human. "Over the next 3-4 months we're going to take our website, which is at an Alpha stage, and take it to a production release stage."Are You a Human is the brain child of Tatoris and Tyler Paxton, both students at the University of Michigan. The duo created a game-based human authentication tool (think Duck Hunt) that replaces the distorted text images known as CAPTCHAs that websites use to authentic a user is actually a person. Tatoris and Paxton now oversee a team of nine, mostly U-M students who work out of the TechArb. They hope to add 2-3 more developers and coders over the next few months as they prepare to commercialize their product later this year. They hope to grow their team to up to 15 people in a year and have 200-300 websites using their technology.Source: Reid Tatoris, co-founder of Are You a HumanWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Investors, entrepreneurs to mix at U-M’s Michigan Growth Capital Symposium

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 27, 2011

The Michigan Growth Capital Symposium is coming up soon and with the recent string of profitable exits by Ann Arbor-based companies, it's looking to attract a lot of attention.The symposium, in its 30th year, has become the gold standard for start-up investment in the Midwest. About 40 companies will make presentations to a vast array of deep pockets, ranging from angel investors, venture capitalists, corporate interests, and other assorted business interests. These companies regularly are looking for funding between $500,000 and $2 million, and often get it."Any of the harvests you have seen lately, such as Health Media and Accuri Cytometers, have made their appearances at the symposium early," says David Brophy, founder of the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium and a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. "We wouldn't go if there weren't great deals happening. They might not be perfect, but they're darn good deals." Over the last 10 years, 301 local companies have presented there. Of those companies, 71 percent have raised $1.7 billion in capital and 21 percent have recorded profitable exits.The Michigan Growth Capital Symposium will be held on May 10-11 at the Marriott in Ypsilanti. Source: David Brophy, founder of the Michigan Growth Capital SymposiumWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Smart irrigation system at U-M cuts costs and runoff

By Newsroom

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Development News

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April 27, 2011

A new computer-controlled irrigation system plying the grounds of the University of Michigan ensures that water will not go to waste. Since its installation in 2006, the $350,000 system has saved the university about $564,000 in watering charges. Annual savings equate to 22 million gallons of water, or $141,000 at current water rates, says Terry Alexander, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability at U-M. The Maxicom system now covers the academic and research portions of campus, with expansion to the medical campus and housing areas coming soon. The athletic areas are also targeted, Alexander says. U-M's plant, building and grounds department monitors the system, which is tied to a weather station on North Campus that keeps tabs on wind, rain, and temperature conditions and adjusts watering amounts accordingly. A network of irrigation sensors in the field send data to a central computer via phone line or wireless application. The smart system shuts off in the rain and can pinpoint the location of any leaks in the lines. "One of our missions is to help protect the natural environment of the area, protect the Huron River watershed, protect the resources that we have. And one of those resources is the groundwater and the river water that's used by the city for drinking purposes," Alexander says. "If we don't over-water we don't have a lot of runoff going to the river that carries the sediment off the streets and sidewalks that can impact on the river."And while it may seem counter-intuitive, even artificial athletic turf requires watering before games and practices so that balls roll properly, Alexander explains."The other positive benefit to this is is if we have a well-watered, well-maintained turf it cuts down on the amount of disease that we have to control, which means there's less chemicals that have to be applied...that could potentially run off to the river if they're over-applied."Indoor water conservation is also a priority for the university's Planet Blue operations teams, charged with implementing energy efficiency and resource conservation projects at U-M. For instance, Alexander says, U-M has installed chilled water systems in all laboratories to provide cool water for experiments. A new closed loop system recirculates chilled water instead of merely running it through equipment and then down the drains. An installation in the C.C. Little Building saves 1.1 million gallons a year.Source: Terry Alexander, director of the U-M Office of Campus SustainabilityWriter: Tanya Muzumdar