ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, February 13, 2014
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RESEARCH
Scientists appeal to public for more funds Crowdfunding push aims to raise money to continue study of heart defects
wish to support. Although this is the first attempt by Herron’s lab, crowdsourcing is growing in popularity within the scientific community given the need for alternative funding sources. “It’s becoming more difficult to obtain federal funding for any kind of biomedical research,” Herron said. “We’re having to turn to other sources of funding and this was one avenue that we thought might be fruitful.” Largely because of federal sequestration, professors at the University face ever-increasing challenges to secure funding for research projects. Congress outlined these automatic 5- to 7-percent budget cuts in an effort to reduce the deficit by about $1 trillion per year, but require acrossthe-board cuts to the federal agencies that fund the majority of university-based research. In the 2013 fiscal year, 62 percent of the University’s $1.33 billion research expenditures came from federal sources, such as the National Institute of Health and See CROWDFUNDING, Page 3A
By IAN DILLINGHAM Daily News Editor
With major decreases in federal funding for research, a University professor is asking the public for help. Todd Herron, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, and his team of researchers at the University’s Center for Arrhythmia Research plan to use an innovative form of fundraising, known as crowdfunding, to support their research into inherited cardiac arrhythmia diseases — a disorder passed from one generation to the next that causes the heart to beat irregularly. Crowdfunding is a relatively new method of fundraising that relies on individuals to contribute to projects or initiatives they
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
NYU associate professor of sociology Patrick Sharkey speaks at a seminar on the effects of violence in urban life in Lane Auditorium Wednesday.
Lecture examines violence NYU prof. finds children exposed to murder have lower test scores By TOM MCBRIEN and AMIA DAVIS Daily Staff Reporters
New York University professor Patrick Sharkey spoke about his research concerning urban violence and its effect on childhood development Wednesday at the School of Public Health. During the speech, Sharkey explained how exposure to homi-
cide in a child’s neighborhood could negatively affect their academic abilities. In one of his studies, children exposed to violence took a test and scored significantly lower in the days following the event. Vocabulary scores were also substantially lower after exposure to violence. Sharkey hypothesized that the children were distracted for periods of days or weeks after the violence, causing their scores to be lower. “Violence is a presence within the community,” Sharkey said. “It effects everyone within that environment.” Despite the demonstrated
Start up creates innovative visual display device Avegant’s ‘Glyph’ sends signal directly to viewer’s retina By TOM MCBRIEN Daily Staff Reporter VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Jordan Rich and sophomore Meredith Starkman perform in “The Play About the Baby” by Edward Albee and directed by senior Michaela Byrne in the Walgreen Drama Center Wednesday.
ADMINISTRATION
Faculty, staff rework severe weather policy By YARDAIN AMRON Daily Staff Reporter
As the University recovers from winter’s ravages, the administration continues work
on its snow policy with the help of a new committee. After the now-infamous polar vortex disrupted many students’ return travels to school in early January, some hoped classes would be delayed, but the semester began as scheduled. During a subsequent Senate Advisory Committee for University Affairs meeting in which faculty expressed discontent over school remaining
open, University Provost Martha Pollack said the administration lacked appropriate mechanisms to close the University even if they wanted to. “That said, after this was all over, I and some of the other executive officers really strongly believe that we ... need to revisit this policy,” Pollack said. In response, the University’s Committee on Emergency Closure Procedures Specific to See WEATHER, Page 3A
As the winter months keep students indoors, the threat of screen-induced eyestrain grows. Seeking a solution, a startup founded by University alums is promising a new mobile device that will bypass screens altogether, projecting images straight onto the human retina. The device, called “Glyph,” looks like a pair of Beats by Dre headphones, except that the headband can flip down in front of the eyes to provide the user with an experience equivalent to watching an 80-inch T.V. eight feet away. Avegant, a company co-founded by Engineering alums Edward Tang and Allan Evans, produces the innovative video device. Evans cited the University as being a strong influence on the product. “The technology could have been done by anyone,” Evans, the chief technology officer of Aveg-
hear about violence so much, but you never realize that in actuality it has decreased so dramatically,” she said. According to Sharkey, the correlation between school performance and crime rates follows this trend, as the states where crime has dropped the most have seen the largest improvements in academic achievement over the same time frame. “I think we are now at a point where we can make efforts that were impossible in the 1990s,” Sharkey said, referring to a sense of optimism about urban policy for the future. See LECTURE, Page 3A
ACADEMICS
BUSINESS
LOOKING UP
Provost-sponsored committee looks to update antiquated emergency plan
negative effects on the mental activities of children exposed to violence, Sharkey said the net effect in the population is likely improving due to the falling rate of overall violence. “The most peaceful time in the last hundred years is right now,” Sharkey said, citing that the poorest in society have a lower violence rate today than the richest level of society did in 1993. LSA sophomore Manvir Mangat, who attended the lecture, said she was surprised violence has actually declined to a historic low. “I guess with social media, you
ant, said. “But the path of product development was strongly influenced by our experience at Michigan.” Evans said coming from the Midwest gave the company a fundamental grounding. “It gives you a strong understanding of what general people want and will respond to,” he said. “Coming out of Michigan, we could look to the forefront of technology and what’s cool, but also bring it back to something that’s going to work for a normal person.” Avegant has been raising funds to develop the product using the online crowdfunding website Kickstarter, where users can donate a preset amount of money to win a prize, such as the first generation Glyph. Avegant has been asking for a $499 donation for pre-sales of the Glyph. The company made waves in the tech world when they smashed their original goal of raising $250,000 during the first four hours of pre-sale. They have now raised about $1,250,000 and have a week left to go in their fundraising efforts. Combined with noise-cancelling audio and the ability to conSee INNOVATION, Page 3A
University joins plan to reform education School of Education picked to help pilot new teacher and student programs By PAULA FREDRICH Daily Staff Reporter
Two University School of Education projects, TeachingWorks and LessonSketch, have been invited to take part in 100kin10, an initiative to help educate 100,000 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers in 10 years. Deborah Ball, dean of the School of Education, said TeachingWorks was invited to offer an elementary math lab program at the University in the summer. Students who are struggling in math attend a camp to focus on improving their skillset in that area, while administrators who train teachers watch and also learn. “They spend two weeks watching the children learning and then in the afternoons being See EDUCATION, Page 3A
Gamelan b-side A look why the University’s prestigious Gamelan program deserves to stay.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 66 ©2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A SUDOKU.....................2A OPINION.....................4A
CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A B-SIDE ....................1B