Category Archives: Education

2012 Plastino Scholars

Life-changing opportunities made possible by donor’s generosity

From working on solar-powered energy in India and conducting historic research on the Jewish community of Buenos Aires, to studying the world parrot crisis and examining music and dance in Bali, the four 2011 Plastino Scholars recounted their experiences at a dinner on Thursday, April 26, that celebrated their experiences and welcomed the incoming 2012 cohort. (more…)

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Not Your Parents’ Chem Labs

‘Greener’ and more engaging experiments draw students in

As a college student, Michelle Driessen had an all-too-typical experience.

“I hated general chemistry,” she says. “I thought it was terribly boring.”

She had plenty of company. Experiments were all laid out in advance, and the goal seemed to be to get to a predetermined result without blowing up the glassware.

In the old days, “very few students appreciated the point of most general chemistry labs,” adds Driessen. “With cookbook chemistry, you couldn’t have anything go wrong or deviate [from what’s supposed to happen], but I find those things to be the most interesting part of science.” (more…)

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Global Health: Students Build Wiki of Medical Devices Designed for Low-Income Countries

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— In parts of the world without reliable electricity, a pedal-powered nebulizer could provide life-saving asthma treatments. Small wax-filled sleeping bags could keep premature infants warm. A salad spinner centrifuge for blood samples could help clinicians diagnose anemia.

University of Michigan researchers have cataloged more than 100 such technologies in a new wiki of medical devices designed for resource-limited settings. The Global Health Medical Device Compendium, an open-source inventory, is hosted by the popular appropriate technology wiki Appropedia. It is expected to serve as an important communication vehicle for end users, non-governmental organizations, researchers and others to help advance such technologies. (more…)

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Preserving a Language

U launches groundbreaking new Ojibwe-English ‘talking’ dictionary

Eugene Stillday was born in Ponemah on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, where he grew up speaking Ojibwe. That is, until his public school teachers forbade him from the practice and punished him and his classmates for speaking the only language they knew. (more…)

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Power of Possibility

ARAMARK executive, industry experts share entrepreneurial lessons with students

Believe in the power of possibility. “Possibility for success, possibility to impact others, possibility to create jobs and contribute to your communities – the possibility of successful business ownership is real for you,” Christina Estrada told students in a keynote address at the sixth annual Hospitality and Entrepreneurship Summit held recently on the University of Delaware campus in Newark.

For Estrada, global chief diversity officer for ARAMARK, possibility is rooted in an entrepreneurial spirit that sparks creative thinking into diversification.

“As an aspiring entrepreneur you need creative thinking after the big idea,” said Estrada. “You need to understand your industry and know what your customers need that is unique, as well as what they want consistently and that is reliable. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to believe in the power of possibility.” (more…)

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