The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, April 13, 1983-Page 3

Michigan reaches for high-tech

(Continued from Page 1)
he said.
At the top of his list is Michigan's "stone
*age" Product Liability Law, which
makes firms liable for their machinery
regardless of its age.
Wallace also thinks the state's Single
Business Tax should be changed; "for
companies in trouble, it just pushes
them into more trouble," he says.
THE STATE legislature hasn't sat
idly by, though. The state has opened up
$375 million in pension fund money for
high-risk, high-return, high-tech com-
panies. Under a directive from former
Gov. William Milliken, the legislature
also approved a $25 million develop-
ment fund last year to spur growth in
robotics and biotechnology.
The funds have been used to found a
Molecular Biology Institute at
Michigan State Univesity and an In-
dustrial Technology Institute in Ann
Arbor. Both institutes hope to join
university researchers and industry to
create new jobs.
Using universities to spawn high-
technology firms is nothing new - it
was the brain power at schools such as
Stanford and MIT that give birth to the
high-tech boomtowns of Silicon Valley
and Boston's Route 128. It is this same
brainpower that state officials are

trying to tap in order to turn Michigan
around.
IN EAST Lansing, Pat Oriel, interim
director of the Molecular Biology In-
stitute mulls over research proposals
from across the state and tries to down-
play competition between the univer-
sitites in favor of cooperation.
The institute's focus is
"agricultural," but its work could have
wide-ranging application. This type of
agriculture may bring about rows of
identical cloned pine trees, or entirely
new chemicals from a substance in
wood called lignin, researchers say.
"It's an area that there has not been a
stampede towards . . . we're not
trying to reinvent the wheel by working
on interferon," Oriel said..
A UNIVERSITY of Michigan project
on protein design by Microbiology Prof.
Ronald Olsen may be one of the first
efforts funded by the Institute.
Olsen said that once scientists know
more about how proteins are made, the
applications will be swift in coming.
"In fact some of these proteins may be
taking the place of microchips,"
because they have a greater memory
capacity, he saidl..
Increasingly scientists may be able to
free themselves from the long and iffy
process of relying on bacteria to

produce products such as interferon,
Olsen said.
As proteins are understood better, "It
literally will be possible to sit down and
design a protein for a specific task," he
said.
BUT INVESTORS are more choosy
now than in the frantic boom of several
years ago when biotechnology films like
Genentech of San Francisco first began
selling stock.
"The initial enthusiasm with which
those companies were received waxed
and waned when investors saw a
product wasn't coming out soon," said
Thomas McKearn, research and
development vice-president for
Cytogen Corp. in New Jersey.
But McKearn said the field is far
from being locked up by anyone yet.
"People are limited by their
imagination only . . . you will see
sustained growth over the next several
decades," he said.
THE STATE also is banking on
sustained growth in its-other high-tech
front - robotics.
A study by the W. E. Upjohn Institute
for Employment Research estimates
there are currently 6,800 industrial
robots in the United States, and predic-
ts that number will swell to between
50,000 and 100,000 by 1990. Michigan is
predicted to have between 20 percent
and 40 percent of the market, according
to the study.
But robotics is just part of the factory
of the future, says Arch Naylor, acting
director of the Ann Arbor-based In-
dustrial Technology Institute. More
important than the robots, he says, are
the computers which will tell them
what to do and reprogram them for new
tasks.
NAYLOR expects the institute to be a
"spawner of entrepreneurs," so he
doesn't expect the 20 or 30 researchers
working there now to stay too long.
He says the institute will also serve as
a magnet for firms that supply software
and robotics equipment.
"The level of interest is very high. Of
all the things I have doubts about that's
not one of the things I think will go
wrong. I think it will attract new firms
for Michigan."
House pan

DESPITE THE fact that Michigan
robotics firms are closest to the auto
industry, the market is an international
one, and dominance may be hard to
come by.
"I've read of Michigan setting itself
up as a capital of robotics and it seems
a little amusing," said Barry Spaeth, a
spokesman for Ohio's Cincinnatti
Milacron Co., which has one of the
largest robotics divisions in the nation.
"We aren't interested in going into
Michigan ... I'd say that there's a lot
more going on in robotics outside the
state rather than in the state. It doesn't
look to me like it's going to happen
because the major manufacturers just
aren't going to be there," he said.
HARLEY SHAIKEN, an MIT resear-
cher who explores the impact of
automation on workers, also questioned
whether Michigan might be a bit
presumptious in its quest for a "world
class" robotics center.
"Robotics is a very important in-
dustry, it's a technology of great
promise, but every state in the Midwest
can not be the robot capital of the
United States" he said.
To Naylor, the task of putting an en-
tire factory under computer control
presents a multitude of problems the
institute can help answer. And he
believes there is plenty of work to do to
make robots "smart," that is, able to
adapt to new situations and be
reprogrammable for new tasks.
David Birch, director of the Program
on Neighborhood and Regional Change
at MIT, is optimistic about the state's
chances in the robotics market. 'I don't
think Michigan is starting too late. The
physical robots are well along, but
making them smart is a huge industry,
a growing industry," he said.
But Birch echoed the concerns of
many by saying that Michigan must not
cling to high-technology as a cure-all
for the state's ills. ". . .It's so important
not to get mesmerized by silicon chips
and robot arms."
Tomorrow: Will high-tech jobs turn
Michigan around?

-HAPPENINGS
Highlight
The 1983 Hopwood awards will be presented today at 4 p.m. in the
Rackham Auditorium. Maxine Hong Kinston, author of "The Woman
Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts" and "China Men," will
deliver the ceremony's lecture.
Films
Cinema II -Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me, 7 & 9p.m., Lorch.
CFT - Performance, 7:30 p.m., Don't Look Now, 9:15, Michigan Theater.
Wolverine Films - Dirty Harry, 6:30, 8:20 & 10:10 p.m., Nat. Sci. Aud.
Hill St. - Pat and Mike, 7 & 9 p.m., Hill St.
Ethnographic Film Series - Jean Rouch and His Camera in the Heart of
Africa, and Les Maitres Fous, 7 p.m., MLB Lee. Rm. 2.
Latin American Solidarity Committee - Target Nicaragua: Inside Covert
War, 7:30 p.m., International Center.
Performances
Theatre & Drama Dept. - "Beggar on Horseback," 8 p.m., Power Center.
School of Music - University Philharmonia, Carl St. Clair, conductor, 8
p.m., Hill; opera workshop, Johan van der Merwe, director, 8 p.m.,
Rackham; piano chamber music recital,8 p.m., Recital Hall.
Minority Student Services - 2nd Annual Ethnic Theatre Festival, El
Teatro de la Esperanza, 1 p.m., Performance Network, 408 W. Washington.
Ann Arbor Council for Traditional Music and Dance - Cheryl Dawdy,
Julie Austin and friends, 8 p.m., 543 S. Fourth.
Pigs with Wings - "Going Hog Wild Week," street and fishbowl theater;
musical cafe, noon, Half-way Inn, East Quad.
Speakers
Politics - Hans Ehrbar, "Organized Labor in the United States," 7 p.m.,
447 Mason.
Oral Biology - Seminar, Syngcuk Kim, "Circulation in Pulp & Periodon-
tium in Health & Disease," 4 p.m., 1033 Kellogg.
Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature - Colloquium,
Julie Ellison, "The Structure of Romantic Hermeneutics," noon, 3050 Frieze.
Ind. & Oper. Eng. - Seminar, Larry Williams, "Organization," 4 p.m., 311
W. Eng.
Russian & E. European Studies - Brown bag, Peter Solomon, "Law as an
Instrument of Rule: The Revival of Legality Under Stalin," noon, Lane Hall
Commons Rm.
Collegiate Inst. for Values & Science - Gordon Kane, "Intepreting the
Recent History of Particle Physics," 7:30 p.m., Lee. Hall 120, Law School.
Chemistry - Analytical seminar, Forest MacKellar, "The Troops in the
Trenches & the Ivory Tower," 4 p.m., 1200 Chem.; Organic seminar, Sean
Bigelow, "Confirmation & Stereoselective Reaction of Medium-Sized-Ring
Compounds," 4 p.m., 1300 Chem.
Environmental Law Society, Law School Student Speakers Committee -
symposium, slide presentation, panel discussion, "Destiny of the Dunes,"
7:30 p.m., 150 Hutchins Hall.
Computing Center - Forrest Hartman, "Intro. to TELL-A-GRAF, II,"
3:30 p.m., 176 BSAD.
Statistics - Persi Diaconis, "Some Theory for Statistical Graphics," 4
p.m., 451 Mason Hall.
Engineering - John Paulos, "The Dynamic Behaviors of MOS Tran-
sistors, 9 a.m., 2076 E. Engin.
0 Meetings
Nursers' Christian Fellowship - 4 p.m., 2703 Furstenberg.
Michigan Gay Undergraduates - 9 p.m., Guild House, 802 Monroe.
Academic Alcoholics -1:30 p.m., Alano Club.
Science Fiction Club - "Stilyagi Air Corps," 8:15 p.m., Ground Floor Con-
ference Rm., Union.
Academic Women's Caucus - "Current Status of Primary Researchers at
the University," 12 p.m., Rms. 1 and 2, League.
Guild House - Brown Bag meeting, "Faculty Against Apartheid," noon,
802 Monroe.
Faculty Women's Club - Annual meeting & spring luncheon, 11:15 a.m.,
League Ballroom.
Cornerstone Christian Church - Worship, teaching, and fellowship.
2nd floor, Ann Arbor Inn. For info. call 434-1525.
Miscellaneous
CEW - "Assertiveness Training for Women Graduate Students," 3:15
p.m., 350 S. Thayer.
WCBN - "Radio Free Lawyer,"6 p.m., 88.3 FM.
Transcendental Meditation Program - An introductory session, 8 p.m.,
528 W. Liberty.
Tau Beta Pi Association - Free tutoring to all students in freshman and
* sophomore level science, math, engineering courses, 7-11 p.m., 307 UGLi; 7-
11 p.m., Alice Lloyd Music Rm.; 8-10 p.m., 2332 Bursley.
Student Wood & Crafts Shop - Power Tools Safety, 6 p.m., 537 SAB.
Free Income Tax Assistance -11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 3909 Union.
Museum of Art - Art Break, "Forest, Prairie, & Plains; Native American
Art," Christa Janecke, 12:10 p.m., W. Galery.
Washtenaw Community College - Eric Woodard on coping with the
diagnosis of epilepsy and mainstreaming the epileptic into society, noon,
board room, Student Center Building.
Center for Afroamerican and African Studies - Colloquium, "African-
Afroamerican Relations: New Directions, Chances and Challenges," noon,
926 Tnrch

Daily Photo by RENEE FREIER
Puppy Love
Eva Furrow holds her puppy, Jiuliana, in a precarious position at University
Neighborhood Park.
Former 'U'prof dies

el bans

support
WASHINGTON (AP)-Desp
assurances from the CIA that
seeking to overthrow the
Nicaraguan government, a Hou
voted yesterday to ban U.S. sup
any military actions inside or
Nicaragua.
The action came on a party-li
by the House Foreign Affairs s
mittee on Western Hemispherea
THE PROPOSAL, sponsord
subcommittee's chairman,
Michael Barnes (D-Md.), wasc
ced by a State Department off
"one more disincentive" for Nic
not to make peace with its neigh
M'SA to hr
computer

to Nicaragu a
ite new CIA Director William Casey assured
it is not the Senate Intelligence 'Committee
leftist earlier yesterday that the United States
se panel is not seeking to overthrow the
pport for Nicaraguan government and thus is
against abiding by a congressional restriction
passed late last year.
ine vote Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), the
ubcom- committee chairman, said Casey and
yffairs. other top CIA officials had convinced
b Rehe him that the spy agency is complying
denoun- with the Boland amendment, which
denoun-a prohibits the CIA from aiding
icial as Nicaraguan rebels for the purpose of
iaragua overthrowing the leftist Sandinista
bors. government.
The amendment, named for its spon-
sor, Rep. Edward Boland (D-Mass.),
ty the House Intelligence Committee
I chairman, was approved by Congress
amid mounting concern about press
reports that the CIA was arming and
training anti-Sandinista rebels.

Law School professor L. Hart Wright
died Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Hospital in Baltimore while un-
dergoing treatment for lung cancer. He
was 65.
Wright, an expert in the fields of U.S.
and European tax laws, taught at the
University from 1946 until recently.
IN ADDITION to his position at the
law school, Wright served the Univer-
sity in several other capacities. He was
chairman of. the Board for Student
Publications, and a member of the
faculty Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs.
In 1968 Wright received the Univer-
sity's Distinguished Faculty Award. He
was named the Paul Kauper Professor
of Law in 1979.
Wright was a recipient of the Civilian
Meritorious Service Award conferred
by the U.S. Treasury Department. It is
the highest civilian award given by the
government.

A NATIVE of Oklahoma, Wright
received bachelor of arts and a
bachelor of law degrees from the
University of Oklahoma. He received a
master of law degree from the
Michigan in 1942.
Wright authored and edited more
than a dozen books while serving as a
consultant for the Internal Revenue
Service.
He also drafted state tax laws, par-
ticipated in training IRS personnel, and
worked for the state Civil Service
Commission.
Wright is survived by his wife Phyllis
and two daughters, Robin and Jana.

(Continued from Page 1)
personnel, and basic financial aid
requirements, print letters and ex-
pedite record keeping. Also, the MSA
News and Course Evaluations Guide
can be word-processed insteadofethe
more expensive typesetting method
now used.
To pay for the computer, $4,095 will
be drawn from the assembly's invest-
ment pool and the remainder will come
from a University loan to be repaid by
four future assemblies.
Flaum expects the computer to be in-
stalled and operational in six weeks.
He, former MSA treasurer Michael
Heckler, and Michael Gross, a business
administration senior, will install the
computer.
A IM H IGH
We're assembling the
team now to carry the Air
Force into the frontier of
space with leading edge
technology and the officer
leaders to keep us on
course.
Consider your future as
an officer on our team!
With our undergraduate
conversion program you
could become an engineer
or weather officer or you
may wish to experience
the thrill of flying as a pilot
or navigator in today's
finest aircraft-the wings
of America. Whatever your
specialty, you'll find a
good income and excellent
advanced education op-
portunities as an officer.

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