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Research spending at the University of Michigan in 2008-09 exceeded $1 billion for the first time, a milestone that highlights the university’s role as an economic resource benefitting the entire state.
In the midst of the most severe recession since the Great Depression, research spending at the university rose 9.4 percent over the previous fiscal year, totaling $1.02 billion. The federal government provided 64.4 percent of the funds, and federal research spending at the UM rose 7.1 percent over 2007-08, UM announced.
That spending is important because UM research has paid dividends to the state's economy and to the world of science, the university says. Over the last five years, UM has has launched 49 startup companies, more than 70 percent of which are located in Michigan. And in fiscal year 2009 alone, researchers disclosed 350 new discoveries.
UM consistently ranks among the nation’s top five research universities, based on R&D expenditure statistics compiled by the National Science Foundation.
The National Institutes of Health provides more research funds to the university than any other federal agency. In FY 2009, NIH spending rose 7.2 percent to $421.5 million, accounting for 41.5 percent of the UM’s total research expenditures. Some of the larger NIH grants to the UM Medical School are funding studies of new anti-cancer drugs, brain tumors, heart disease, prostate cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, hearing loss, and infant heart transplants.
Among other federal agencies, National Science Foundation spending rose 3.8 percent to $67.3 million in FY 2009; Department of Defense funding increased 8.4 percent to $64.4 million; and Department of Energy funding grew 24.4 percent to $21.7 million.
Spending of research funds provided by the state of Michigan and local Michigan authorities declined 10.6 percent to $4.6 million.
About $130,000 of the $1.02 billion came from federal stimulus-package awards. UM researchers have been awarded more than $90 million in stimulus grants so far, but the bulk of those funds will be spent in the current and next fiscal years.
Stimulus awards will boost the UM research effort in the current fiscal year, but a slow-down in federal research funding is expected to follow. To maintain growth in the future, the university will rely increasingly on research to be conducted at the North Campus Research Complex, the 30-building, 174-acre former Pfizer pharmaceutical research facility purchased in June, the university says.
 Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land last week said Michigan residents once again will get the chance to donate nonperishable food items at local Secretary of State branch offices.
The effort is part of the Michigan Harvest Gathering, the Food Bank Council of Michigan's 19th annual campaign to raise food and funds to support Michigan's food banks and feed hungry families.
Donated items can be dropped off at any Secretary of State branch through Friday, Dec. 11.
The campaign is coordinated by the Food Bank Council, which supplies the state's regional food banks through donations of food and money. The regional food banks serve food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in every Michigan county.
People are asked to donate food items such as canned meats, dry beans, soups, beef stew, pasta products, peanut butter and tuna. Envelopes will be available for mailing cash donations, which are used to cover the cost of collecting and distributing the food. Donations may also be made online to Harvest Gathering's "Fill Michigan's Fridge" food drive at www.feedmichigan.org.
In 2008, Michigan Harvest Gathering collected more than 242,000 pounds of food and $679,000. The 2009 goal is 300,000 pounds of food and $650,000.
For more information about Michigan Harvest Gathering, click here.
 Michigan State University on Sept. 10 celebrated the opening of its new Surplus Store and Recycling Center .
The $13 million facility will accommodate three times the amount of materials as the former MSU recycling facility. A comprehensive recycling program, coupled with the facility, will allow the university to expand recycling collection in 553 buildings on campus. The five target materials are white paper, mixed office paper, newspaper, cardboard and plastics.
"The facility emphasizes the reuse and recycling functions that are critical to keeping waste out of the landfill," said Ruth Daoust, the manager of the facility.
The 74,000-square-foot center will house the MSU Surplus Store; recycling operations, offices and education center; storage areas for compost and metal scrap; a truck scale and space for roll-off and semi-trailer storage containers.
The facility has been submitted for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver certification.
While the center is being constructed to help the university reduce, reuse and recycle, the building construction itself incorporates several “green” features.
An MSU alumnus who owns a glass recycling company has donated a recycled green glass table to be used in the center’s conference room and a counter top in the Education Center.
Additionally, concrete around the building includes recycled green glass within the mix, replacing 15 percent of the original cement. This substitution strengthens the concrete and allows for a more energy-efficient production process.
Other green features include:
- Rainwater collection tanks on the roof of the building that will provide water for toilets, urinals and power washers.
- Rooftop solar array panels that will produce 10 percent of the electricity for the building.
- Broad use of day lighting throughout the facility through large numbers of windows.
- Motion sensors to control lights within high-traffic areas.
- Low-flow fixtures in restrooms.
- Recycled green-glass counter tops.
The new facility is located on MSU’s campus off Service Road, just east of the T.B. Simon Power Plant. To fnd the Surplus Store and Recycling Center, from Harrison Road, take Service Road to Recycling Road east of the T.B. Simon Power Plant. Volunteers will guide travelers to parking. To learn more about MSU’s recycling initiatives and programs, visit
www.bespartangreen.msu.edu.
Global paint shops in India, Romania, Mexico and China are in the process of rolling out a Ford-exclusive paint technology that will not only save the shops time and money, but will lessen their environmental footprint and result in a high-quality product, the company says.
Ford, meanwhile, is getting ready to launch the process at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne.
Ford's 3-Wet paint technology is a combination of process and product that has allowed Ford to restructure its paint shops on a global scale. Leading the way is a new paint formulation developed by Ford and its suppliers. Ford sayd the process produces fewer emissions than current waterborne and solvent-borne paints, yet allows Ford to maintain long-term paint durability.
An automated application process eliminates the prep stage in a paint shop, allowing the three layers of paint - primer, base and enamel - to be applied one after another without manual intervention and while each layer is still wet. The result is a superior product that offers a savings in time - about a 20 to 25 percent reduction in process time - along with a leadership position in sustainability.
Ford was the first auto manufacturer to implement the technology with its pilot launch at Ohio Assembly Plant. There, plant personnel monitored the durability of the technology used on 200 Ford Econoline vehicles - which logged 400,000 miles in their first month on the road as U-Haul trucks.
Ford says the benefits expand beyond just the product. Because of the differences in technique - including robotic processing, elimination of equipment and associated pollutants, and increased line speed - there are 6,000 metric tons fewer CO2 emissions per year compared to waterborne systems and 8,000 metric tons fewer CO2 emissions per year compared to conventional high-solvent-borne systems. There also is a volatile organic compounds emissions savings of 5 percent related to processing.
The company will use the process at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, which now is being retooled for small car production. Additionally, the more environmentally friendly paint process will be launched in Ford paint facilities in manufacturing sites in India; Craiova, Romania; Cuautitlan, Mexico; and China.
 Anyone who has ever purchased disposable baby diapers knows two things: They are expensive and babies use a lot of them. So, what happens when there is no money to buy more? You don't want to know.
A new nonprofit organization is working to help other agencies meet that basic need for low-income families in southeastern Michigan. The Detroit Area Diaper Bank, formed in April, already has delivered more than 3,000 diapers to needy families and hopes to make a sizeable dent in what it calls a "forgotten and critical need in our community."
Marybeth Levine, founder of the Diaper Bank, says many people do not realize that government programs for the poor, such as Medicare and food-assistance programs, typically do not cover the cost of diapers for children or incontinent adults. As a result, buying diapers can be a real burden for families, leading to practices that put their hygiene, health and independence at risk.
For example, Levine said, poor mothers sometimes try to stretch their diaper supplies by cleaning and re-using disposable diapers, or simply not changing their children as often as they should. In some households, that can mean using only one or two diapers per day, instead of the 12 usually required for an infant. And for low-income elderly citizens, a lack of adult diapers can lead them to be less mobile and self-sufficient than they could be – simply because they don't dare leave home unprotected.
"I have no doubt that Detroit needs this," Levine said. And, in the economic climate we face now, the demand is bound to grow.
How much need is there in Michigan? Nobody really knows, but the experience of other diaper banks around the country provides a clue. The Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona – the model and inspiration for Levine's effort and other diaper banks – estimates the need in the Tucson Metropolitan area alone is more than 2 million diapers annually. The Bay Area Diaper Bank in Milpitas, Calif., says it has delivered almost 250,000 diapers since it was started distributing them in April 2008.
For now, Levine is running the Detroit Area Diaper Bank from her home and is starting small. On May 4, she made her first delivery – 3,107 diapers to Starfish Family Services, a human service agency in Inkster.
"They were all gone the next day," Levine said.
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