The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 10, 1999 - 5 Looking for a spot New Engineering team project center opens on North Campus By Sana Danish Daily Staff'Reporter Engineering students, their dean and the University president cut through a long line of duct tape, meant to symbolize the one handy tool engineers can't be without, to christen The Walter E. Wilson Student Team Project Center on North Campus yesterday. The center is part of the University's com- mitment to aid student teamwork and collab- oration in extracurricular Engineering pro- jects. Engineering Dean Stephen Director opened the ceremony with a welcoming speech, in which he explained how the cen- ter is unique. "The Wilson Student Team Project Center allows students to integrate technology across multiple disciplines," he said. Primarily Engineering students will utilize the center primarily, but other students can also use the center if they are working on projects they will enter in competitions. Engineering spokesperson Karl Bates said the construction of the center will help the University as a whole. "The Student Team Project Center improves the College of Engineering, which adds to the prestige and recognition of the University, Bates said. The idea for the center developed from a constant need to house student projects, and construction began in January 1998: The student-run facility covers 10,000 "The Student Team Project Center improves the College of Engineering, which adds prestige and recognition to the University." - Karl Bates College of Engineering Spokesperson square feet and is located behind the Francois- Xavier Bagnoud Building, adjacent to the Wave Field. It is open 24 hours a day all week long to students who are working on team projects. The two-level center includes design rooms with computers and electronic equip- ment, a machine shop and welding lab, a paint booth, a conference center and a stu- dent lounge. Engineering senior Jonathan Paul man- ages the Society of Automotive Engineers Baja Racing Team, which showcased its project in the new center. He said the cen- ter will enhance the team project experi- ence. "Before the center existed, we worked on our project cramped in an autolab and had to use old tools," Paul said, adding that all of the equipment the team needs is now located in once place. Engineering sophomore Patrick Goleski said he likes that the center accommodates stu- dents. "The hours here are better, since the center is open all the time, and it's more student friend- ly," he said. Treva Fisher, an Engineering senior and a new member on the Concrete Canoe team, said she decided to participate in a team project because it gave her the opportunity to work on something "hands-on." "I think my project will be a lot of fun, and give me a chance to apply things I've learned in my classes to something outside," she said. Jed Christiansen, who graduated from the. College of Engineering in May and is a mem- ber of the Solar Car Team, summed up the team project experience. "Joining a team project has truly made our U of M experience a great one," Christiansen, said. Wilson, for whom the center is named, was a 1933 Engineering graduate whose financial gift funded the center. DAVE ROCHKIND/Daily Students wait in line outside the Parking Services building on Thompson Street yesterday to obtain parking permits. Some slept on the sidewalk Wednesday night to be first in line. Thleves swlpe SCulptures fmdeceased artist's me BIRMINGHAM (AP) - Thieves have stolen four bronze sculptures from the home of noted sculptor Marshall M. Fredericks, two months after vandals defaced another of his works at a nearby church. The theft from the garden of the noted artist's lakefront home was discovered by a caretaker and reported Aug. 31. Police had not publicized the theft at the request of edericks' estate. A report was filed in the theft and the mat- ter remains under investigation," Police Cmdr. Peter Kauffman told The Detroit News for a story yesterday. He would not elaborate. Pamela Panghorn, who manages the artist's estate, declined to comment. The four missing statues, each weighing about 30 pounds, include a baboon and fish and part of the artist's "Wild Kingdom" collection. They were among more than a dozen larger sculptures which, decorated the garden of dericks' home. The stolen statues are conservatively valued at $32,000 but are considered irreplaceable. Fredericks, whose work graces numerous Detroit-area institutions, died April 4, 1998, at the age of 90. His wife, Rosalind, lives in Vermont and last visited the home in May, neighbors said. The sprawling English manor-style home was listed for S2.7 million several months ago and has been visited by several potential buy- ers. Fredericks taught sculpture during the 1930s and 1940s at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. Some of his better-known sculptures in Metro Detroit include the 26-foot tall "Spirit of Detroit" outside Detroit's City-County Building and the flying pterodactyls at the Detroit Zoo. In early July, someone defaced another one of Fredericks sculpture, a nine-foot tall obelisk topped with a stylized eagle, that was commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church. Associate Pastor Louise Westfall found spray- painted slogans such as "God is Dead" and "Pot Heads Rule" as she arrived to prepare for ser- vices. Police do not believe that incident is related to the recent theft. Bonior, HUD secretary say rate of minimum wage must increase WASHINGTON (AP) - A higher mini- mum wage would make housing affordable for many Americans who desperately need it, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said yesterday. Cuomo, Rep. David Bonior (D-Mt. Clemens) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) seized on a new report to urge at a press conference that Congress increase the min- imum wage. The report indicated that many people receiving the minimum wage of S5.15 an hour could not afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. Minimum wage earners in Michigan would have to work 87 hours a week to afford the rent on a two-bedroom apartment, according to the study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a group dedicated to affordable housing for Americans. Nationally, minimum wage earners would have to put in the equivalent of an 86-hour work week to afford the two-bedroom apart- ment. The coalition defines an affordable rental unit as one costing 30 percent of income. Michigan was roughly in the middle of the 50 states in terms of housing affordability. New York required 123 hours of work a week at minimum wage for the two-bedroom apartment's rent. A handful of southern states required 62 to 69 hours. Cuomo said the report "makes a very blunt, bold, accurate statement - which is that affordable housing is out of reach for many. Americans." The problem could be attacked by raising the minimum wage while also reducing the cost of housing, Cuomo said. "We have to do both," he said. "The minimum wage in this country does not work." Bonior has been leading the fight in the House to increase the minimum wage of S5.15 an hour by S I over the course of two years. Kennedy is leading the push in the Senate. "You can't put a decent roof over your head for 55.15 an hour," Bonior said. "A Michigan mother, working full time at the minimum wage, still lives 53,200 below the poverty line," he said. In 1996, Congress agreed to boost the fed- eral minimum wage by 90 cents, rejecting conservative Republicans' arguments that raising the minimum wage would price many entry-level jobs out of the market. It was a rare Democratic legislative victory during the first 20 months of Republican con- trol of Congress that came only with the help of GOP moderates. U. i ER3 6xperience lie lrac/b 0' 'CA TVS'4 I WWW.MICH IGANENSIAN.COM STATE STREET f CHURCH MAIN STREET STREET free coffee mugs & coffee f from the Michiganensian yearbook coffee will be provided by Amer's Delicatessens fishbowl September 13, 14 & 15 from 8:30am-1:30pm m~~ani inn I