10/6/11

UM-Flint Students and Faculty Research Grand Blanc’s History

From Mel Serow, University Relations:

If you live in an older house, you may have wondered who lived there before you moved in. UM-Flint students are currently working in the archives of the City of Grand Blanc Heritage Museum and older city neighborhoods, doing research that will identify who lived in or actually built some of the houses that date back to the 1800s.

The Grand Blanc Historic Resource Survey is a research project jointly conducted by Thomas Henthorn of the Department of History and Greg Rybarcyzk of Earth and Resource Sciences. In March 2011, the city of Grand Blanc hired Professors Henthorn and Rybarcyzk to conduct an investigation of historic structures in the city. The result of this investigation will be an inventory of historic properties and maps that detail the location of structures and historic neighborhoods. These types of surveys are used by local governments as a planning tool. By locating historic properties and places within a municipality, local governments are better prepared to protect historic places.

For the next year, students from UM-Flint will be in Grand Blanc conducting archival research and field work to trace the genealogy of the historic homes and structures.

“This is a great way to get research experience by being able to get out of the classroom and work closely with your classmates,” noted history major Renee Gonzales. “It’s a unique perspective on history, and definitely a unique class.”

History Major Jason Lorenz says he is doing something that matters, and the research will produce results that can be shared with many other people.

“So much of what we learn is from other people’s papers,” according to Lorenz. “When you do your own research, with each step you find something new, and you become more interested in it.”

“We are providing experiential learning opportunities for students in a number of ways,” remarked Henthorn.

Some students are being employed as student researchers through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program from the Office of Research. Other students are aiding in the survey through coursework such as the class assignment in Henthorn’s “Introduction to Historic Preservation.” In both cases, students visit a variety of archival repositories such as the Genesee County Register of Deeds, Grand Blanc Heritage Museum, or Flint Public Library. Students then conduct fieldwork to photograph properties and record their physical features.

Beginning in January, students from Earth and Resource Sciences will begin creating maps based on the research conducted in the fall.

The contract is being funded by a Community Foundation of Greater Flint Grant.

Source

Several of Dr. Henthorn’s students have been provided research funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.

09/28/11

IRB Reaccreditation

From the desk of Dr. Vahid Lotfi, Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Programs:

The University of Michigan-Flint Institutional Review Board (IRB) is pleased to announce that the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has granted the University of Michigan reaccreditation status, valid through March, 2016. Site visitors were particularly impressed by UM-Flint’s research partnerships with the greater Flint community. We are deeply appreciative of the expertise and ethical conduct of all faculty, students and staff who conduct human subjects research on our campus.

Special kudos go out to Psychology professor Dr. Marianne McGrath (IRB Chair), Mary Mandeville (Research Compliance Specialist, Sr.), and the entire IRB for your hard work during this reaccreditation process!

05/18/11

UM-Flint travels to Bad Axe

From the desk of Dr. Terry Van Allen, Director:

On May 3^rd, the Office of Research sponsored a tour of the Wind Park near Bad Axe, Michigan, where 48 wind turbines (each approximately the size of a football field) generate alternate energy for Michigan. Six faculty and staff, and ten engineering students toured the facility and met with representatives from Consumers Energy, Exelon Wind, and General Electric. The purpose of the trip was to educate students in wind energy and technology, and to build a collaboration between faculty and Consumers Energy engineers.

Dr. Van Allen facilitated the bus trip, discussions, and luncheon meeting with officials of the energy companies. Drs. Quamrul Mazumder, Olanrewaju Aluko, and Dale Tuttle, along with Deb White (Director of Extended Learning) and Greg Snyder (Purchasing Manager for contracts with Consumers Energy) participated in this event. Also included were several Engineering students: Anita Ainsworth, Pronab Biswas, Ed Howard, Andrew Johnston, Kerry Jones, Justin Ladd, Shawn Miller, Matthew Schneider, Saiful Siddique, and Evan Smith.

All energy officials and university participants believed that this was a highly successful meeting and that future collaborations will be developed between Consumers Energy and UM-Flint as a result of the discussions and tour. Christina Gipson of Consumers Energy is a graduate of the School of Management at UM-Flint, and Ms. Gipson organized this learning experience in partnership with Dr. Van Allen and the Office of Research. A future meeting is planned to discuss renewable energy courses and training between UM-Flint and Consumers Energy.

Click here to view photos from the event (Photos courtesy of Engineering student Saiful Siddique)

02/24/11

UM-Flint Student Creates Android Applications

From the M-Times:

Having trouble learning Mandarin? Do you have difficulty distinguishing colors? A UM-Flint student has created two Android Apps that help the user with these problems.

Dan Lamb, a senior majoring in business, has been programming for 15 years.

…

While at UM-Flint, Lamb studied Mandarin Chinese for two semesters. Eventually, he got tired of making flashcards, so he made an Android App to help him study. The App is called ChineseFlashcards and includes 20 units of vocabulary from “Cheng & Tsui Integrated Chinese, Level 1 Part 1 & 2.”

Lamb’s other Android App is Colorvision, a program that uses the phone’s camera to identify what color is in the on-screen crosshairs. It has a mode for either a simplified color palette, or a standard palette of 145 colors. Lamb’s inspiration for this application was his own red/green colorblindness.

Lamb is currently working on several games for the Android when he has extra time, which has not been often this semester.

Source

02/11/11

Research & Creative Activity Committee – Request for Proposals Winter 2011

The Office of Research and the Research Creative Activity Committee (RCAC) would like to announce the Winter 2011 Call for Proposals.

Proposals are due in the Office of Research by Friday, March 11, 2011 at 5:00 pm.

Proposals will be reviewed by the Research and Creative Activities Committee with funding decisions announced in mid-April. Please note that all proposals must be submitted in hard copy and electronically. Please follow the guidelines located at: http://www.umflint.edu/research/faculty_funding/RCAC_guidelines.htm.

Please review the guidelines carefully. If you have any questions or need assistance please feel free to contact the Office of Research, 762-3383.

01/27/11

Student Research Conference Registration Now Open

Registration is open for both the Meeting of Minds Undergraduate Research Conference and the UM-Flint Student Research Conference.

Meeting of Minds (MOM) is a collaborative event, co-sponsored by UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn, and Oakland University; with particular interest in undergraduate research and creative activity. Oppositely, the UM-Flint Student Research Conference (SRC) is a campus-only event showcasing research and creative activities from BOTH undergraduate and graduate students.

Both conferences provide students an opportunity to do oral presentations, poster presentations, performances, and demostrations. Additionally, students who present have the opportunity to have the papers they present published in the conference journal.

Oakland University is the site for this year’s MOM. The event will take place on Friday, May 13, 2011. The UM-Flint SRC will take place here at the University of Michigan-Flint on Friday, April 1, 2011. For more information, visit the following sites:

For Meeting of Minds: www.umflint.edu/research/MOM

For the UM-Flint Student Research Conference: www.umflint.edu/research/SRC

01/13/11

UM-Flint Students Help Preserve Buick’s History

From the Mel Serow, University Relations:

Sloan Museum’s Buick Gallery and Research Center houses the history of the once Flint-based Buick Motor Division. Each semester, the staff of the center welcome history students from the University of Michigan-Flint for a unique learning experience as Collections Management Interns. Interns receive supervised, hands-on experience working directly with the faculty and staff, curating the museum’s collection of records that chronicle the history of the carmaker.

Staff members provide the most direct supervision working with the interns on defined projects as part of the learning strategy developed by the interns’ faculty supervisor. Over the course of one semester, students complete 100 hours of supervised work, learning methods in museum practices and records management.

[…]

[UM-Flint History Professor Thomas] Henthorn hopes to use the Buick collections internship as a model for other community partnerships that will help the university expand its internship program and meet the learning needs of the student as well as the needs of the community.

Full article

01/10/11

Faculty and Staff Awards

Congratulations to the following faculty and staff for receiving funding awards:

Murali Mani, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, who recently received a grant from The National Science Foundation for the following project: SGER: Towards a Generic Provenance Metadata Management System: $ 58,619

Jonathan Jarosz, Interim Director of University Outreach, who recently received a grant from The Land Trust Alliance for the following project: Land Conservancies of Southeast Michigan: Phase 1- Southeast Michigan Green Plan: $6,450

Rajib Ganguly, Assistant Professor of Physics, who recently received a grant from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) for the following project: A Multivariate, Panchromatic Investigation of Outflows as a Function of Quasar Property: $31,039

12/21/10

Application Submission Changes for NSF

Effective for all new applications submitted to NSF on and after January 18th, 2011:

Data Management Plan: The PAPPG contains a clarification of NSF’s long standing data policy. All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing of the products of research, or assert the absence of the need for such plans. FastLane will not permit submission of a proposal that is missing a Data Management Plan. The Data Management Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts of the proposal, or both, as appropriate. Links to data management requirements and plans relevant to specific Directorates, Offices, Divisions, Programs, or other NSF units are available on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp. See Chapter II.C.2.j of the GPG for further information about the implementation of this requirement.

Cost Sharing has been revised to implement the National Science Board’s recommendations regarding cost sharing. Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited, Awardees are informed, however, that they remain subject to the OMB A-21 Clarification memo regarding committing and tracking faculty effort (see footnote 22). In order to assess the scope of the project, all organizational resources necessary for the project must be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section (II.C.2.i). The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. Mandatory cost sharing will only be required when explicitly authorized by the NSF Director.

12/20/10

Symposium Focuses on Nursing Research

From the desk of Mel Serow, University Relations:

Cultural competence in health care and care of underserved populations are two areas in nursing education receiving a lot of attention in the classroom. University of Michigan-Flint students in the Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) program have focused their research this year on these two areas.

Their work was recently presented at the first MSN Research Symposium that attracted more than 50 guests, including students, faculty and staff.

“The response to the research posters presented by the 27 MSN was hugely successful,” said Connie Creech, director of Nursing Graduate Programs. “This will be an annual event to showcase student research skills, and their contributions to health care in the community.”

Special guests at the symposium were David and Francine Zick, who are sponsors of several student research projects via the Francine Zick Student Research Scholarship.
The UM-Flint annual fund assisted with sponsorship of the event.

Source