IPAGE FIGHT
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TUESDAY. AtTGUST 29,
Research Activities Bring Increased Know
'le e
By ROBERT JOHNSTON
and MARK LEVIN
Research of all shapes and sizes
has become an integral part of
the educational process at almost
all of America's colleges and uni-
versities. Competition for the lim-
ited supply of research funds pro-
vided by the federal government
and the huge private foundations
is intense. Extensive staffs of
highly skilled technicians devoted
entirely to procuring the necessary
financial support can be found
working feverishly on college
campuses throughout the nation.
The achievements of research
conducted here at the University
in the social and physical sciences
are numerous, significant and ex-
citing. The permanent research in-
stitutes established here since
World War II continue to bring
fame and literally fortune to this
rapidly expanding educational
complex. Much of the University's
expansionsin the past 20 years -
new buildings, laboratories, com-
puters, reactors - are direct re-
sults of the major research com-
mitment it has made.
Vast Commitment
Last year, the University receiv-
ed. the second largest amount of
federal research funds alloted to
any educational institution. H.)w-
ever, the vast commitment to re-
search which the University has
developed may be seen not only in
the sheer volume of research ex-
penditures, but also in the many
specialized research facilities on
campus and the number of re-
'searchers involved.
The development of the Univer-
sity as a resear :h-education insti-
tution was spa rked by the emer-
gency conditions of World War II.
Teams of engineers and scientists
were specifically assembled at the
University, supported by federally
sponsored war research develop-
ment projects, to help the war ef-
Fort.
Recognizing the connection be-
tween research and a progressive
academic program, the University
kept these research groups togeth-
er after the war as the federal gov-
ernment provided continuing sup-
port for space and technology or-
iented projects.
Today working on their own
sponcred grants with su ervision,
Dr assisting a faculty member or
researcher, one out of nine Uni-
versity students is involved in re-
search.
Sprawling Computer Centers Aid Social Scientific
Analysis of Human Behavior
In the hiring of new faculty,
"teacher-scholar" orientation is
maintained throughout the Uni-
versity.. The professor is expected
to give his prime attention to
teaching, but in many depart-
ments interest in research activ-
ities has been the major prerequis-
ite for advancement.
Currently about 1300 graduate
students at the University are in-
volved in research projects in their
field of study. This is seen as a
prime reason behind the fact that
an American Council on Education
study last year ranked ten of the
University's graduate departments
among the top ten in the county.
There is little doubt among most,
administrators and faculty mem-
bers that the principal beneficiar-
ies of the federal largess are the
graduate students and faculty
themselves. Research money al-
lows the faculty to draw high
compensation for non-teaching
work .Research, however leaves
less time in the classroom.
At the same time, th mgh much
)f the research money that cones
nto the University is tied into
graduate work in some way. A pro-
fessor's research projects often
provide a fertile ground for thesis
;rojectS among his students. They
also provide fairly lucrative work
for both graduate and undergrad-
aate students.
Of course, research has spawned
many problems. Once underway
;maller projects become consoli-
dated into large programs that of-
ten tend to acquire a great deal of
nomentum. Equipment is pur-
:hased, building space is filled, of-
n new administrative units
spring up, in practice if not in or-
;anization charts, and persorinel
are hired. The University msav soon
ind itself with an ongoing pro-
gress that doesn't re
an overall researchl
that creates faculty g
try, or other imbalance
The old department
tion is also severely tes
ways. Chairmen, draw
faculty, must become
ministrators. Large p
almost impossible to
old structure. Faculty
their loyalties to th
first and to their depa
cond as they see moa
of their money co
Washington or a four
However, superimpo
million research progra
ted exciting new poss
may make , the ad
problems worth it in t
certainly the discipli
partmental system w
the same.
Interdisciplinary a:
centers and institutes
programs have prolil
may have the most te
lationships to any of
ments connected wit]
The largest and int
cohesive unit at theI
the Medical Center,e
in this case the term r
graphical arrangemen
administrative organiz
Even so, the Medic
often more of a coh
structured unit capab
taking a variety of r
than are most adminis
to which the term "ce
plied.
Presided over by Sch
tine Dean William H
Medical Center oper
autonomously from th
University.
Research in the
sciences is growing fa
any other field. Thisf
with the tremendousl
of financial support gi'
cine in general in
States makes research;
ical Center exciting,
productive and expens
After the Medical Ce
stitute for Science and
is the largest Univers
unit. Established in th
after the Sputnik spu
tion, IST has neverr
off the ground as an
driving force for resea
ucation largely becaus
never enough thought;
tctly how it wouldf
University.
patterns than wrenched out and
placed in a separate institute with
other programs with which they
have very little in common.
It was thought for a while that
the insitute could fall back on a
program of aid and encouragement
for Michigan industry, but there
has never been much ir the Uni-
versity that could be related dir-
ectly to Michigan's economic de-
velopment.
iST does have a productive In-
dustrial Development Division, but
there isn't enough there to fill a
program on the scale set up for
the institute. So the director, Prof.
James T. Wilson, is left with a'
beautiful building and various
programs picked up from odd
places in the University, none of
which really fit together.
These include the Biophysics
Lab and the Electro-Optical Sci-
ences Lab, the only original prod-
ucts of the attempt to make IST
a real science institute. And the
Electro-Optical Sciences Lab has
in fact proved a tempest in a tea-
pot within the IST organization, as
Prof. George W. Strolbe, its head,
almost had a large part of the
University's research apparatus
in orbit before he was finally shif-
ted to the electrical engineering
department'and settled down with
some generous research grants.
Great Lakes Research
The other part of IST Is the
Great Lakes Research Division -
which existed long before IST and
still has a life of its own - and
the Willow Run Laboratories.
ally fit into The Willow Run Labs were add-
program or ed on to IST in 1960, in hopes of
raddate, sal- some sort of mutual benefit which
es. hasn't really materialized yet,
al orgainiza- though there are still hopes. Wil-
sted in many low Run work is very defense or-
wn from the iented and is usually classified.
expert ad- There is a minimum of relation-
rograms are ships with either faculty or stu-
fit into the dents from the University, most of
tend to lose the work being done by profession-
e University al researchers.
rtments sec- Social Research
e and more The Institute for Social Re-
)ming from search is probably the most spec-
idation tacularly successful of the inter-
sing a $52 disciplinary operations. However,
am has crea- this very success must be troubl-
ibilities that ing to administrators because of
Iministrative the unlikelihood of duplicating
he end. But, elsewhere within the University
ned old de- the conditions that have made
'ill never be the ISR possible.
This institute is a product of the
ppointments, labor and genius of Rensis Likert,
s and study its director, who founded it in the
ferated, and early 1950's. ISR was started in
nuous of re- connection with the burgeoning
the depart- pseudo-science of survey research.
h them. From meager beginnings - the
ernally most University offered Likert and his
University is colleagues' heat, light and space
even though but no money for operations and
efers to geo- salaries - Likert built the insti-
t and not to tute into one of the greatest social
zation. science operations in the world,
al Center is with some outstanding theorists,
hesive, well- economists and assorted interdis-
le of under- ciplinary types on the staff. It was
'elated tasks one of the University's greatest
trative units bargains.
nter" is ap- Even more important than ISR's
own research has been the stim-
ool of Medi- ulus it has provided to other parts
Iubbard, the of the University. The people that
'ates almost work there have proved to be a
e rest of the powerful attraction to draw in new
programs in social science fields,
biomedical along with excellent faculty anx--
ster than in ious to be a part of the "critical
fact, coupled mass" of talent that comprises
y high level ISR. The economics and psycho-
yen to medi- logy departments have certainly
the United benefitted, while the most spectac-
at the Med- ular "spin-off" has been the Men-
expanding, tal Health Research Institute, var-
sive. iously identified as a bastion of
nter the In- systems theory and a spawner of
3 Technology radicalism.
ity research Innocuous MHRI
e late 1950's MHRI's innocuous title masks
ir to educa- one of the most exciting and di-
really gotten verse centers of activity at the
n organized, University. Prof. Anatol Rapoport
rch and ed- professes to be in a field called
e there was mathematical biology. Prof. Kon-
given to ex- stantin Scharenberg is in neuro-
fit into the pathology; Prof. Merrill Flood is
another mathematical biologist,
5l
e,
a
r
u
5l
a
ti
e
'c
Most programs in the fields of
science and tech ioingv are more
easily fitted to old departtnmntal
md Prof. Ralph Gerard is in neu-
rophysiology.
Altogether the academic staff
with PhD's numbers about 60. Re-
search at MHRI delves into every
ispect of information systems,
biological systems and social sys-
tems, from artificial models to hu-
nan subjects. "Theory," often ex-
pressed in some sort of mathema-
ical modeling of the essential
elements of a real system, is a
common word-game theory, com-
nunications theory of urban
growth and others.
As with ISR, the excitment
generated by the critical mass of
researchers working at MHRI has
spilled over into many departments
and schools, serving to attract good
students and faculty, generate Stu-
dents for a Democratic Society and
teach-ins, and generally to throw-
ing off sparks in a great many
directions.
It was in the engineering collegeI
that research at the, Universityj
first got started back before World
War II, and a great deal of the;
research program is still there.
The aerospace department, pre-
sides over a comfortable amount
of space research sponsored by
the National Aeronautics and
Sapee Administration and the Air
Force. Myriad projects are organi-
zed into the Space Physics Re-
search Lab, the High Altitude Re-
search Lab, the Propulsion Lab
and the Wind Tunnel Labs.
(The engineering college has a
penchant for organizing endless
numbers of "labs," of which these
are some of the larger. They arise
as one or two faculty in a particu-
lar area gather in considerable re-
search support and a graduate stu-
dent following. This is combined
with -lots of specialized equipment,
so a shingle over the door soon
follows.E
Engineering Research
Elsewhere in the engineering
college there is a lot of research
that falls on the line, between
basic and applied. This has put
the engineering faculty into a pos-
ition of continually having to de-
Scientists Explore Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Reactors at Phoenix Project
Probably wondered
what tihe
aF
ie
STUDENT CO-OPS'
are all about .. .
At Michigan there are five men's, five women's and one mar-
ried couple's co-ops which house about 240 students; an
additional 125 "boarders" take meals only.
WHO OWNS AND RUNS THE CO-OPS? WE DO
In each house each member, new or old,- shares equal responsibility for all decisions;
what to eat, how much to spend, how much to work.
The co-op houses are owned by the Inter-Cooperative Council (I.C.C.), a corporation
set up and run entirely by the students who live or eat in the houses.
WHO MAY JOIN THE CO-OPS?
Anyone beyond the freshman year or who is over 21 who agrees to participate ir running
the co-ops democratically is welcome. Members are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis,
without racial, religious or political discrimination. There is no pledge or initiation period.
WHAT ARE THE LIVING & EATING ARRANGEMENTS?
As a roomer, you are provided furnished living quarters as -well as social space and eating
privileges. As a boarder, you get 20 meals a week.
"Guffing" our traditional between meal snacking, is one of our most cherished privileges.
Everyone has free access at all times to milk, bread, butter, jam, and leftovers. Other items
are charged at cost.
Any member may invite guests. There are adequate laundry facilities. Co-ops stay open
during vacation periods and in the summer.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Each house sets its own budget. Average costs for the past semester have been:
Week Semester
Room and Board $18.75 $300.00
Board only :$12.25 $196.00
New members pay a $20 deposit when they join; it is refunded when they leave.
WHO DOES THE WORK? WE DO
All cooking, dishwashing, maintenance and management is done by the members' Any
member, new or old, can be elected officer: president, house manager, food purchaser,
accountant .. .
It takes from four to six hours a week per member to run a co-op. The exact work time
is decided by house vote.
*''
*1
0
Rats Just Can't Say No in Psychology Laboratories
Order
Your'
Subscription
All ame rand
uR u g M ak ing and
Needlepoint
Instruction Books,
Buttons, etc.
TUDENT BOOK SGRVICG
THE SMALLEST
STORE IN TOWN
THE BIGGEST
STOCK OF USED TEXTBOOKS
(also new books, paper, notebooks, supplies)
FOR ALL YOUR COURSES
4
r- 9.1 1 r-r_ -
ai11
11
I