EIT THE MICHIGAN DAILY TU
?esearch Activities Bring Increased Knowl
JESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1967
? dge,
By ROBERT JOHNSTON
and MARK LEVIN
esearch of all shapes and sizes
become an integral part of
educational process at almost
of America's colleges and uni-
ities. Competition for the lim-
t supply of research funds pro-
d by the federal government
the huge private foundations
intense. Extensive staffs of
aly skilled technicians devoted
rely to procuring the necessary
incial support can be found
'king feverishly on college
npuses throughout the nation.
he achievements of research
ducted here at the University
he social and physical sciences
numerous, significant and ex-
ng. The permanent research in-
ltes established here since
rld War II continue to bring
ie and literally fortune to this
idly expanding educational
iplex. Much of the University's
ansion in the past 20 years -
v buildings, laboratories, com-
ers, reactors - are direct re-
s of the major research com-
ment it has made.
Vast Commitment
Last year, the University receiv-
the second largest amount of
eral research funds alloted to
7 educational institution. Hw-
r, the vast commitment to re-
rch which the University has
eloped may be seen not only in
sheer volume of research ex-
iditures, but also in the many
cialized research facilities on
'pus and the number of re-
rchers involved.
.he development of the Univer-
7 as a resear yh-education insti-
Lon was spa rked by the emer-
icy conditionis of World War II.
ams of engineers and scientists
e specifically assembled at the
iversity, supported by federally
nsored war research develop-
r1 projects, to help the war ef-
recognizingthe connection be-
yen research and a progressive
demic program, the University
>t these research groups togeth-
after the war as the federal gov-
iment provided continuing sup-
't for space and technology or-
ted projects.
'oday working on their own
,nfred grants with suoervision,
assisting a faculty member or
earcher, one out of nine Uni-
'sity students is involved in re-
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 iq 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. Stroke, 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.
nto The Willow Run Labs were add-
or ed on to IST in 1960, in hopes of
al- some sort of mutual benefit which
hasn't really materialized yet,
za- though there are still hopes. Wil-
any low Run work is very defense or-
the iented and is usually classified.
ad- There is a minimum of relation-
are ships with either faculty or stu-
the dents from the University, most of
ose the work being done by profession-
sity al researchers.
Most programs in the fields of3
science and tech ioiogv are more
easily fitted to olW deoartmnntalI
and Prof. Ralph Gerard is in neu-
rophysiology.
Altogether the academic staff
with PhD's numbers about 60. Re-
search at MHRI delves into every
aspect of information systems,
biological systems and social sys-
tems, from artificial models to hu-
man subjects. "Theory," often ex-
pressed in some sort of mathema-
tical modeling of the essential
elements of a real system, is a
common word-game theory, com-
munications theory of urban
growth and others.
As with ISR, the excitment
generated by the critical mass of
researchers working at MHRI has search Lab, the Propulsion Lab
spilled over into many departments and the Wind Tunnel Labs.
and schools, serving to attract good
students and faculty, generate Stu- (The engineering college has a
dents for a Democratic Society and penchant for organizing endless
teach-ins, and generally to throw- numbers of "labs," of which these
ng of sark in grat anyare some of the larger. They arise
ing 'off sparks in a great many- as one or two faculty in a particu-
directions., a aa + ,,-
It was in the engineering college
that research at the University
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
Sapce Administration and the Air
Force. Myriad projects are organi-
zed into the Space Physics Re-
search Lab, the High Altitude Re-
ia~r 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.>
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-
w
I
Sprawling Computer Centers Aid Social Scientific
Analysis of Human Behavior
In the hiring of new faculty, compensation for non-teaching gress that doesn't really fit it
"teacher-scholar" orientation is work .Research, however leaves an overall research program
maintained throughout the Uni- less time in the classroom. that creates faculty: graduate, s
versity. The professor is expected At the same time, tho.gh much try, or other imbalances.
to give his prime attention to >f the research money th'tt comes The old departmental orgaini
teaching, but in many depart- nto the University is tied into tion is also severely tested in ma
ments interest in research activ- graduate work in some way. A pro- ways. Chairmen, drawn from1
ities has been the major prerequis- fessor's research projects often faculty, must become expert
ite for advancement. provide a fertile ground for thesis ministrators. Large programs;
Currently about 1300 graduate ;rojects among his students. They almost impossible to fit into1
students at the University are in- also provide fairly lucrative work old structure. Faculty tend to 1
volved in research projects in their for both graduate and undergrad- their loyalties to the Univer,
field of study. This is seen as a uate students. - first and to their departments s
prime reason behind the fact that Of course, research has spawned codtheiremosee mce and
an American Council on Education many problems. Once underway Washington or a foundation
study last year ranked ten of the -,maller projects become consoli-W
University's graduate departments dated into large programs that of- However, superimposing a
among the top ten in the county. ten tend to acquire a great deal of million research program has cr
There is little doubt among most nomentum. Equipment is pur- ted exciting new possibilities t
administrators and faculty mem- .hased, building space is filled, of- may make the administrat
bers that the principal beneficiar- m new administrative units problems worth it in the end. E
ies of the federal largess are the spring up, in practice if not in or- certainly the disciplined old
graduate students and faculty ;anization charts, and personnel partmental system will never
themselves. Research money al- are hired. The University may soon the same.
lows the faculty to draw high ind itself with an ongoing pro- Interdisciplinary appointme:
centers and institutes and sti
programs have proliferated,a
may have the most tenuous of
lationships to any of the depa
ments connected with them.
The largest and internally m
cohesive unit at the University
the Medical Center, even thoi
in this case the term refers to g
graphical arrangement and not
administrative organization.
Even so, the Medical Venter
often more of a cohesive, w
structured unit capable of und
taking a variety of related ta
Si r than are most administrative ur
to which the term "center" is
plied.
Presided over by School of Me
cine Dean William Hubbaed,
Medical Center operates alm
autonomously from the rest of
University.
Research in the biomed
sciences is growing faster than
e ~any other field. This fact, coup
with the tremendously high l
of financial support given to me
cine in general in the Uni
. .States makes research at the M
ical Center exciting, expandi
productive and expensive.
After the Medical Center the
stitute for Science and Technol
is the largest University resea
unit. Established in the late 19;
after the Sputnik spur to edu
tion, IST has never really got
}. ! off the ground as an organic
driving force for research ands
N.::.ucation largely because thereC
never enough thought given to
ictly how it would fit Into
University.
cE
ec Social Research
or The Institute for Social Re-
- search is probably the most spec-
tacularly successful of the inter-
$52 disciplinary operations. However,
'ea- this very success must be troubl
;hat ing to administrators because of
tive the unlikelihood of duplicating Scientists Explore Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Reactors at Phoenix Project
3ut, elsewhere within the University
de- the conditions that have made
be the ISR possible.
This institute is a product of the
nts, labor and genius of Rensis Likert,
udy Its director, who founded it in the
and early 1950's. ISR was started in
re- connection with the burgeoning
rt- pseudo-science of survey research.
From meager beginnings - the
ost University offered Likert and his
y is colleagues heat, light and space
ugh but no money for operations and y
eo- salaries - Likert built the insti-
t to tute into one of the greatest social
science operations in the world,
r is with some outstanding theorists,
oll- economists and assorted interdis-
er- ciplinary types on the staff. It was
sks one of the University's greatest
nits bargains.
ap- Even more important than ISR's
own research has been the stim-P obably wondered
Rdi- ulus it has provided to other parts
the of the University. The people that
ost work there have proved to be a
the powerful attraction to draw in new
programs in social science fields,
iicin along with excellent faculty anxSP
in ious to be a part of the "critica SDTO
led mass" of talent that- comprises
evel ISR. The economics and psycho-
di- logy departments have certainly are all about
ted benefitted, while the most spectac-ab
ed- ular "spin-off" has been the Men-
ng, tal Health Research Institute, var-
iously identified as a bastion of
In- systems theory ard a spawner of At Michigan there are five men's, five women's and one mar-
ogy radicalism.
rch InnocuousMHRI ried couple's co-ops which house about 240 students; an
50's MHRI's innocuous title masks additional 125 "boarders" take meals only.
ca- one of the most exciting and di-
ten verse centers of activity at the
zed, University. Prof. Anatol Rapoport W 1 OWNS AND RUNS THE CO-OPS? WE DO
ed- professes to be in a field called
was mathematical biology. Prof. Kon- In each house each member, new or old, shores equal responsibility for all decisions;
ex- stantin Scharenberg is in neuro- what to eat, how much to spend, how much to work ...
the pathology; Prof. Merrill Flood is The co-op houses are owned by the Inter-Cooperative Council (I.C.C.), a corporation
another mathematical biologist, 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 in 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.
ROOK S RV1// 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.
E SMALLEST "Guffing," our traditional between meal snacking, is one of our most cherished privileges.
RE IN TOWN 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?
GGEST Each house sets its own budget. Average costs for the past semester have been:
Week Semester
Room and Board $18.75 $300.00
USED TEXTBOOKS Bord only $12.25 $196.00
New members pay a $20 deposit when they join; it is refunded when they leave.
aper, ntebooks, supplies) 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. ,
.
Rats Just Can't Say No in Psychology Laboratories
..... _ ...............
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