Education

Backyard Brains turns $450K grant, sales into new jobs

By Newsroom

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June 15, 2011

Backyard Brains has been busy over the last year, scoring its first sale, two new hires and a $450,000 federal grant.The educational materials provider has now sold nearly 500 teaching kits that shows how the brain works. Its customers range from a few dozen high schools to universities to countries."We're pretty proud that we have real sales and real customers," says Tim Marzullo, executive director of Backyard Brains. Marzullo and his partner Greg Gage, both neuroscientists, started the company as a way to provide a cost-effective product that teaches grade-school students the workings of neurons in the brain. Its Robo Roach allows them to control insects via antennas. Backyard Brains plans to upgrade its educational materials to include software and data analysis. Other plans include a marketing upgrade so it can score sales in the 13 states where it doesn't yet have a presence. Marzullo also plans to expand staffing from four to six people this summer.Source: Tim Marzullo, executive director of Backyard BrainsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Latest in Education

Summers-Knoll to move into bigger, greener school in Ann Arbor

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Development News

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May 11, 2011

Summers-Knoll School, the K-5 alternative Ann Arbor school that was founded by Ruth Knoll, wife of Photoshop creator Paul Knoll, is moving into a new (and bigger) set of digs.Leaving behind their 2,400-square-foot building on Manchester Road, the school of 42 students is relocating to Platt Road, where they have purchased a building and two wooded parcels. The new school, which will be just a stone's throw from County Farm Park, will be 20,000 square feet, allowing classrooms to accommodate 60 students next year and add three more grades, covering K-8. Summer-Knoll's five-year goal is to more than double enrollment to 130 students."We are considering options such as an energy playground, sustainable energy sources such as solar or wind energy, and a continued exploration of the benefits of providing a community hub for children outside of school hours," says Joanna Hastings, head of the school. "We plan to take our Green School certification to a new level through sustainable design and construction." Summers-Knoll became the first certified Michigan Green School in Ann Arbor in 2007.By increasing their space nearly ten-fold, Summers-Knoll sees opportunities for more dedicated learning spaces -- like science labs and performing art facilities. The building will also feature an internal open-air courtyard. Hastings particularly likes the school's proximity to a major bus route, woodland and wetland features in the nearby park, and the Meri Lou Rec Center, which is right across the street.Summers-Knoll centers its curriculum around project-based learning, focusing students on themes that allow contextual exploration, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. They hope to open their new space and resources to the community-at-large with weekend and after-hours courses and educational opportunities."This new building represents a new way of thinking about independent schools and their role in the community, as a space of convening, of idea sharing, of learning and of curiosity for many kids instead of just the ones enrolled during class time," says Fran Loosen, a member of the school's board.Summers-Knoll School hopes to move into its new facility by the start of the school year but has secured an alternative space as a security net should construction take them into the end of 2011.Full disclosure: IMG co-founder Paul Schutt is a member of the Summers-Knoll board of directors.Source: Head Of School Joanna Hastings; Fran Loosen, Summers-Knoll School board memberWriter: Jeff Meyers

SPECIALIZE DESIGNS creates new toys for blind and sighted kids

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Community Development

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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.

Rudolf Steiner Schools go solar, get energy efficiency audits

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Development News

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April 20, 2011

You can say that this spring, students will graduate from Rudolf Steiner High School with green distinction. The high school and Lower School are the only ones in Ann Arbor thus far to receive grants from Energy Works' Michigan Renewable Schools Program for both a renewable energy project and energy efficiency upgrades. At the end of May, Rudolf Steiner High School will be installing a 10kW photovoltaic solar panel system on its roof. The $85,000 system cost was covered through a $42,500 grant from Energy Works, $24,000 in rebates from DTE Energy, and the school paying the remaining $18,500 balance, according to Katrina Klaphake, development director at the Rudolf Steiner School. As part of the grant, science teachers attended a workshop on how to integrate the renewable energy system into their curriculum, and there will be opportunities to bring speakers in to discuss careers in the renewable energy field with students.The solar panel installation is in line with the high school's eco-friendly ethos, which includes a Conservation Club that has preserved an acre of hardwood forest and planted another with prairie flowers. Students have made field trips to a working organic farm and also run recycling and composting programs.And the Lower School recently received a $5,000 Energy Works grant to conduct an energy efficiency audit. The school has implemented most of the recommendations, including a new boiler installation and replacement of all lightbulbs and ballasts with compact florescent reflector flood lamps and screw-in lamps, Klaphake says.One piece of anecdotal evidence of energy savings at the Lower School over the last few months, Klaphake says, is that DTE Energy sent service people out to check on the electric meter. "So they actually thought the meter wasn't working because it looked like we hadn't been using as much energy as we had in the past at the same time during the year."Cost savings factors into the schools' eco-conscious model, Klaphake says, "but it also shows our students and educates our families on how solar energy works and what you can do with it."Source: Katrina Klaphake, development director, Rudolf Steiner SchoolWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

CADcorporation poised to grow through Friends Learn 3-D video game arm

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Community Development

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April 6, 2011

Higher education has been a major inspiration in Bhargav Sri Prakash's business life. It inspired him to start CADcorporation and reinvent it with a potentially big video game spin-off, Friends Learn.Sri Prakash started CADcorporation in 2001 after taking a business class at the University of Michigan entitled, "Idea to Ideal in 14 Weeks." A little bit of seed capital and team work later, and the budding entrepreneur began to sink his business roots in Ann Arbor."The goal of the class wasn't just to work on a business plan but to start a company," Sri Prakash says. "That got me thinking about how I could do this for real."Today CADcorporation, a simulation technology firm, has 11 employees and six independent contractors and interns. It began experimenting with video games a few years ago and ended up helping the U-M Law School create 3-D video games, now commonly called Vmerse, to recruit students.That blossomed into Friends Learn, which is producing a line of 3-D video games that revolve around higher education. About 3-5 people at CADcorporation are working on its video game arm. Sri Prakash expects Friends Learn to develop four game titles with 200,000-500,000 users, while expanding the project team to a dozen people. It's part of his plan to spin Friends Learn out into its own company."It's poised to take off," Prakash says.Source: Bhargav Sri Prakash, CEO of CADcorporationWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A Hand Made Business

By Leia Menlove

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Arts and Culture

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February 16, 2011

Siobhan Lyle always wanted a place where artisans and crafters could gather, learn and share. So, she did what any good maker does: she made her own. The Blue House is Ann Arbor's go-to destination for hand-crafted hipness, building a community where do-it-yourself doesn't necessarily mean do it by yourself.

Edwards Brothers expands staff with new partnerships

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Economic Development

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February 2, 2011

The folks at Edward Brothers don't flinch when a recession blows through the local economy. The Ann Arbor-based company has survived more downturns that most in its 118 years.However, the company is a little more cautious after surviving the Great Recession. The downturn took a toll on its book stores, schools (text books) and professional publications. "Just being here is a victory after 2009," says John Edwards, president & CEO of Edwards Brothers. "It's been a rough couple of years. We used to say we don't participate in recessions. This last one nearly got us."That doesn't mean Edwards Brothers is licking its wounds today. The company is starting to grow its traditional customer bases again (textbooks only last so long) and is exploiting new growing areas, such as custom publication and digital printing. "What we're seeing is shorter runs more often," Edwards says.Edwards Brothers is also picking up competitors its has bested through acquisitions and partnerships. It added 40 people to its staff last year through acquisitions. It also just inked a partnership with Rockpoint Logistics to provide digital printing services out of its Illinois facility. Those moves have allowed Edwards Brothers to expand its printing facilities portfolio to nine buildings, including two factories that specialize in both traditional and digital printi. Edwards Brothers' staff has also grown to 700 people, including 420 in Ann Arbor. It hopes to add a few more in 2011 and it continues to gain ground after a close economic call.Source: John Edwards, president & CEO of Edwards BrothersWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

At EMU’s new planetarium, the sky is the limit

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Community Development

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January 12, 2011

It's Cassiopeia on the ceiling and Aries overhead as Eastern Michigan University as astronomy students take seats under the stars in the university's new planetarium.The planetarium classroom, opened last week, is part of the $90 million Mark Jefferson Science Complex -- the largest single construction project in EMU's history, according to the university. The capital project includes renovation of the 180,000-square-foot Mark Jefferson building, together with an 80,000-square-foot, five-story, LEED Silver-certified addition that will house the psychology, biology, chemistry, geography and geology, and physics and astronomy departments. That addition is topped by the planetarium, viewable from a ground-floor atrium. The planetarium is 30 feet in diameter with a 25-foot high dome, and seating for 37, says Dr. Jim Carroll, head of the physics and astronomy department at EMU. The facility will serve as an astronomy classroom Monday through Thursday, be open to K-12 students on Fridays, and offer shows for the community on weekends. Carroll expects the planetarium portion will be up and running by February after installation of the projector and the purchase of some shows. The space's most unique feature is its spherical shape, Carroll says. The seats are arranged in arcs all pointing towards the front of the room; in a typical planetarium, seats are arranged in concentric circles. The department raised over $60,000 from alumni and friends to fund a full digital projector, which will enable complete rotation of sky views. "Whereas in a traditional planetarium, the orientation of the sky is fixed based on how the projector was oriented," he explains.As EMU is a teaching center, one major purpose for the facility is to educate the next generation of science instructors. "...It turns out there are a lot of schools in the area that have planetariums but nobody knows how to use them," Carroll observes. "We thought this will be a great opportunity for us to take future science teachers and train them to use a facility like this one so that if they go out into their high school and there's [a planetarium], it doesn't have to sit mothballed. They can jump right into it and start using it." No word yet as to whether there will be Pink Floyd laser rock shows.Source: Dr. Jim Carroll, head of the physics and astronomy department at EMUWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

Safe Routes to School program promotes walking and biking

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Community Development

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January 12, 2011

In this era of suburban sprawl and parents bypassing the bus to drive their progeny to school, a new wind is blowing. The desire for walkable communities with fitter populations is now being bred at a tender age via the federal Safe Routes to School program. Last December the Michigan Dept of Transportation announced that 10 Michigan schools will receive $1.4 million in federal Safe Routes to School funds, including a grant totaling $160,840 to Ann Arbor's Thurston Elementary School. The funds are to be used for capital and educational projects to facilitate walking and biking to school."It is both a federal program by which Thurston Elementary School and 70-plus other schools in Michigan have received funding, and it's a movement to challenge the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of students and families with regard to travel to and from school," explains Lee Kokinakis, senior director of Safe Routes to School. The Thurston Elementary School project will include, among other things, installing pedestrian refuge islands on Green Road; improving crosswalks and pedestrian accessibility on Green Road at its points of intersection with Gettysburg Road and Burbank Drive; and implementing pedestrian and bicycle safety programs at the school.Other schools, too, are laying their groundwork. As of December 20 last year, 496 Michigan schools – 26 of which were in Washtenaw County – had registered with the program, according to the Safe Routes to School team. Registration is not the same as submitting a funding application, Kokinakis emphasizes, but it is the initial step a school takes to indicate interest in planning for a safe route to school. "In cases where the distance is reasonable and where the routes are safe, walking and bicycling [to school] is a very viable alternative," Kokinakis says. "It has many benefits in that it's a very similar alternative to the general walkable community principle."Source: Lee Kokinakis, senior director of Safe Routes to SchoolWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

ProQuest acquires ebrary, LexisNexis lines, adds 100 jobs

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Economic Development

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January 12, 2011

Plenty of Ann Arbor's companies have been acquisition targets in recent months, but Proquest has been on the other end of the deals this year. The firm has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, including two more purchases in the last two months.Its acquisitions of e-book pioneer ebrary and the Congressional Information Service and University Publications of America product lines from LexisNexis have allowed it to notch double-digit growth in the last four years, after becoming a subsidiary of the Cambridge Information Group. ProQuest has grown its Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti staffs by 100 people, to reach a headcount of 585."Our growth has been extraordinary," says Elliot Forsyth, senior vice president of human resources for ProQuest. "We have grown in excess of 60 percent."ProQuest focuses on offering specialized information electronically, which it sells to researchers at every level, from grade school to commercial. The ebrary and LexisNexis-line acquisitions are expected to strengthen its product line for researchers."Our vision is to become central to researchers around the world," Forsyth says. "Our strength has been in journals, dissertations, and newspapers." Source: Elliot Forsyth, senior vice president of human resources for ProQuestWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.