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Posts Tagged ‘Office of the Vice President for Research’
MbusinessLink: The Toy Man Cometh
Joshua Pokempner, a U-M alum and former architect-turned-toymaker as founder of gamebook publisher Giddy Up!, is co-sponsor of an interdisciplinary toy-design competition in conjunction with the Center for Entrepreneurship and the School of Art & Design. Ten student teams with the most creative design proposals will receive up to $200 each in funding to build a toy prototype. MbusinessLink reports that early next year, Pokempner and other members of a selection panel will pick the top three winners and award $5,000 in prize money. [Read more...]
MbusinessLink: Pathway To Discovery
At the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute (LSI), U-M scientists are working with corporate partners from Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, a leading pharmaceutical company, to develop new therapies for diabetes, inflammation and obesity. MbusinessLink, a publication of the U-M Business Engagement Center, reports that future breakthroughs stemming from this collaboration could help to improve the health and well-being of millions of patients worldwide. [Read more...]
U-M energy institute director tapped to help shape state’s wind future
Dennis Assanis, director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute at the University of Michigan, has been selected by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to help shape the state’s strategy to harness offshore wind energy. He will serve on the Great Lakes Wind Council, an advisory body within the Michigan Dept. of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth that provides citizens with a public forum to begin to identify where, in the Great Lakes, wind energy systems may be prudently sited. [Read more...]
Homicide rates correlate with traffic death rates
States with high homicide rates also tend to have higher rates of traffic deaths than other states, says a University of Michigan researcher. In a new study in the current issue of the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, Michael Sivak of the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) found that the homicide rate per 100,000 was 5.7 for the 25 states with the highest traffic fatality rates, but only 4.8 for the 25 states with the lowest traffic fatality rates and the District of Columbia. Excluding Washington, D.C., the homicide rate for the 25 states with the lowest traffic fatality rates was 3.8. "While it is important to note that this result should not be interpreted as implying that a significant fraction of traffic fatalities are homicides, it does suggest that the same aggressive tendencies that contribute to homicides also demonstrate themselves, to a certain degree, in interpersonal behaviors on the road," said Sivak. [Read more...]
U-M has received more than $200M in stimulus funds through October 2009
In data assembled by the U-M's Division of Research Development and Administration, the U-M has received funding for 342 projects through October, 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The total dollar value of these projects is $206.4M. To date, the five largest grants support solar energy research, diabetes research, an ongoing study of health and retirement issues in the U.S., the creation of a database to support genetic research in the behavioral and health sciences, and a study of pulmonary fibrosis. [Download table of project awards by U-M schools, colleges and other major units...]
U-M’s VP for Research says private sector will share ex-Pfizer research site
The University of Michigan will look for private-sector partners to share space at its newly acquired former Pfizer property in Ann Arbor, and U-M's vice president of research Stephen Forrest outlined some of the criteria the university will use to evaluate potential joint ventures. At a speech to a meeting of the Urban Land Institute on Wednesday, Nov. 12 in Ann Arbor, Forrest said private collaborators should have: Research synergies with the university; Workforce needs that can be satisfied by the university; Interest in technologies developed at the university, and; Interest in facilities where collaborative work can flourish. [Read more...]
Annual Report on technology transfer, industry research and economic development released
The Office of Technology Transfer, the Business Engagement Center, the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy, and the Division of Research Development and Administration are taking a leading role, not only at the University of Michigan but also among our peer institutions nationwide, to ensure that our faculty, staff and students are fully supported in their role in helping Michigan to realize its economic potential and leadership. In the 2009 annual report are examples of how U-M is engaged with its partners across the region and the U.S. [Read more...]
Deal of the Year - University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex
Pfizer departure paved the way for major university expansion
The 2008 departure of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer from its 174-acre campus in northern Ann Arbor was the single biggest blow to the region's economy in decades. But Pfizer's exodus, which displaced more than 2,100 workers, paves the way for the University of Michigan's biggest expansion in five decades. U-M, which acquired the site in June for $108 million, plans to hire 2,000 to 3,000 workers to populate the 2 million square feet of facilities over the next 10 years. The acquisition of the ex-Pfizer site, renamed the North Campus Research Complex, is AnnArbor.com Business Review's "Deal of the Year" for 2009. [Read more...]
ISR to conduct second survey of investigator experiences in human research
This fall the Institute for Social Research (ISR) will conduct the second online Survey of Investigator Experiences in Human Research. The results from the first survey, conducted in fall 2007, established a set of empirically based benchmarks describing experience with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) review and approval process, the usability of the eResearch system, access to and use of resources related to human subjects research, and attitudes towards research practices. The results also provided information to IRB administrators on the Ann Arbor campus about investigator experience with the regulatory system for conducting human subjects research. The surveys are being conducted in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research. ISR retains all data from the surveys and results are reported only in summary form. [Read more...]