The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, January14, 2009 - 7A BATTERIES From Page 1A In a University press release dis- tributed Monday, David Munson, dean of the College of Engineering, said he was happy with the part- nership and that he looks forward to the coalition's work. "The coalition comprises a unique industrial/university part- nership dedicated to the study of batteries for vehicles," he said. "We are extremely pleased to be in the position to speed realization of the vehicles that society needs." Ann Marie Sastry, Engineer- ing professor and co-director of the ABCD, echoed Coleman and Munson's comments, saying in the press release that the partner- ship would increase the project's impact. "Working with GM allows us to make an impact on large-scale pro- duction electric drive vehicles and develop regularized simulations and knowledge-based method- ologies for using batteries in drive- trains," she said. Sastry said batteries are the most important part of an electric drive- train, but few studies on automotive applications have been conducted due to the limited role of batteries in gas-powered vehicles. "Our shared ambition is to see electrified drivetrains in a large number of vehicle types and appli- cations," she said. The partnership was announced on the same day GM shared its plans to build a lithium-ion battery factory near Detroit. When the factory opens, it will employ more than100 people. GM also announced on Monday it will open a new 31,000-square- foot laboratory for battery testing and research in Warren. The University currently part- ners with GM on other initiatives, including the Energy Systems Engi- neering Program, which allows students to intern at GM and GM employees to enroll in classes at the University. "We are deliberately creat- ing linkages between educating knowledge works and developing the underpinning science and tech- nology," Sastry said. "We want to build this infrastructure so that we can produce meaningful tech- nical results that move quickly to application and make sure that the University plays its needed role in vehicle electrification research and education." Ash clean-up Members of the Michigan Student Assembly convene for their first meeting of the new semester. still unfinished Fm _Page 1A State of Tennessee demands answers for $1M a day mop up KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The state of Tennessee demanded answers and cooperation yesterday from the nation's largest public util- ity in the aftermath of a massive coal ash flood that is costing the utility $1 million a day to mop up. "I am committed to making sure this spill is cleaned up and doing everything we canto prevent any sim- ilar situation in the future," Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a statement. "I'm also committed to make sure Tennes- see taxpayers don't foot the bill." Bredesen promised greater state oversight when he visited the Ten- nessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant shortly after the Dec. 22 spill sent 1.1 billion gallons of ash and sludge into a rural neighbor- hood surrounding the plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville. Theenforcementorderannounced by Bredesen and Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke reaffirms and formalizes that process, Fyke spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said. "TVA has been cooperative up to this point and we are hopeful that continues under the order," Cala- brese-Benton said. The order requires the federal agency's full cooperation in assess- ing the mishap and developing a corrective action plan within 45 days to "ensure safe operations in the future." The order also says TVA will reimburse the state for overseeing the cleanup and could be subject to fines later. "TVA is committed to clean- ing up and restoring this site, and to managing all of its facilities in a manner that will prevent a simi- lar situation," according to state- ment from TVA, which operates 11 coal-fired plants, including eight in Tennessee. "TVA agrees with the (order's) priorities and is working hard to achieve them." In a second incident, about 10,000 gallons spilled from a gyp- sum waste pond at TVA's Widows Creek power station in northeast- ern Alabama on Friday. events transpiring in Gaza and what the assembly can do about it. LSA junior Andrew Dalack, co- chair of SAFE, urged the assembly to pass the resolution in the hope of contributing to a "peaceful reso- lution to the current situation in Gaza." He said that the issue was very emotional and contentious for many University students and members of the Ann Arbor com- munity,butthatpeople should con- tinue to learn about the situation. "At the very least, we can all take the time to take a step back, read a couple books and try to engage each other in meaning- ful and productive conversation," Dalack said. Rep. Andrew Chinsky said that MSA's actions related to the con- flict should be limited to educa- tional purposes, and that it was up to other student groups to take a position on the issue. Any political decisions, he said, were out of the assembly's boundaries. "This is what the United Nations does. This is what the United States State Department does," he said. Rachel Goldstein, the chair of AMI, who was present at the meet- ing but opted not to speak, agreed with Chinsky's sentiment in an e-mail to the Daily. "A resolution regarding an inter- national conflict has no place in the policies of our student govern- ment," she said. "A vote in favor of the proposed resolution demonizes one people and state over another in a conflict that is far too complex for a 'yes' or 'no' vote." Baydoun defended the prem- ise of the resolution, referencing many times in the history of the assembly, when MSA took bold positions on national and global issues. "I don't want us to be scared of what our potential is," he said. "And I also don't want us to be reckless." When it came time for local residents to give their input on the resolution, some of the speak- ers implored the assembly to take action against what they depicted as a humanitarian crisis in the region. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, who is a research fellow at the Univer- sity, appealed to the assembly to "boycott" Israel, although she did not elaborate on the details of such a boycott. "To continue to say 'peace' while we throw bombs atpeople is lunacy," she said. "Everybody in this world can see that we are lunatics. We are immoral, barbarian lunatics." The assembly plans to vote on the resolution at next week's meeting. Investigators call for closer look at. Great Lakes pollution POOL BEATY/AP Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks at a news conference in Chicago last Friday. 11. Gov. bested Dem. leadership Eight-year investigation reveals only 'sketchy' data TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Wrapping up an eight-year inves- tigation of possible links between industrial pollution and health risks in the Great Lakes region, federal researchers yesterday said information was too sketchy and called for more study. The Agency for Toxic Substanc- es and Disease Registry, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention, released the final version of a much-scrutinized report after drawing criticism from a scientific review panel and accusations of a cover-up from members of Congress. "The data we have, as good as it GUPTA From Page 1A an excellent student. During his senior year, Gupta participated in debate, theater and student leader- ship. He was named valedictorian of his class. Aware of his potential, his peers chose him as the Most Likely to Succeed in his senior year. "We certainly all feel it's a great honor to have one of our alumni recognized by the Obama adminis- tration," Lawrence said. GREEK HOUSES From Page 1A events, social events, and a mini- mum number of brothers in the colony before we will become a recognized chapter of Sigma Chi," Mathews said. Sigma Chi will be participat- ing in both this winter and next fall's recruitment along with all other IFC fraternities on campus. However, winter recruitment will be slightly more challenging since Sigma Chi don't have a house yet. Next fall, the fraternity plans on moving into the house that is cur- rently being used by Sigma Phi Epsilon. "It will be slightly difficult for us to recruit because we don't have the use of the house yet," Mathews said. "So we will be doing our recruiting from the is, isn't complete," said Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of ATSDR and the National Center for Environ- mental Health. "We hope we can focus researchers and decision makers on the need for targeted and careful data collection ... so we can get a more complete picture." The agency began its review in 2001 at the request of the Interna- tional Joint Commission, a U.S.- Canadian agency that advises the two nations on the Great Lakes and other boundary waters. The commission wanted an analysis of health hazards in 26 "areas of con- cern" - rivers, harbors, lakes and other locations severely degraded by toxic pollution. But the report said available data doesn't allow firm conclu- sions about cause-and-effect ties between pollution and illness in the region. Jim Hanson, Gupta's Advanced Placement chemistry teacher in high school, said Gupta was one of the best students he has encoun- tered in his 41 years of teaching. "You could tell that Sanjay had high level achievement goals, and he applied himself to the fullest in reaching these goals," Hanson said in an e-mail interview. "He was never afraid to do that little extra to be successful." While studying at the Univer- sity, Gupta wrote opinion pieces for The Michigan Daily about public health policies. He later Union, Pamner Commons, and the recreation buildings on campus." As for ATO, the other frater- nity returning to campus, this semester will be spent expanding and participating in winter rush. Their housing situation is still yet to be determined as well. Mary Beth Seiler, director of the Office of Greek Life, said before sororities are invited back to campus, the Panhellenic Asso- ciation works with chapters indi- vidually to figure out the details of their return. Seiler said Alpha Epsilon Phi completed this process last year and is now recruiting new mem- bers. "Alpha Epsilon Phi is consid- ered a full chapter in the Panhel- lenic Association," Seiler said. "They did their process this fall and they are just continuing to recruit to bfild the chapter." Statistics on problems such as cancer and birth defects cannot be matched with pollution data because of differences in location and timing, it said. Earlier drafts had attempted to do so, correlating countywide health figures with environmen- tal measurements from larger or smaller areas. CDC officials dropped such linkages from the final report, saying they were flawed. "Good science matters," Frum- kin said in a written statement, saying the early versions "could have led to incorrect conclusions." The Institute of Medicine, an independent scientific panel, raised the same concern last Sep- tember in a critical review of the preliminary drafts. Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce returned to the University to attend graduate school, Gupta met his wife Rebecca Olson. Today they have two daughters: Sage and Skye. After writing a series of articles concerning health sys- tems that were published in The Economist, Gupta received a White House Fellowship dur- ing the Clinton administration. Throughout the year-long fel- lowship he wrote speeches about health care for First Lady Hillary Clinton. Besides reporting for CNN, Alpha Epsilon Phi didn't par- ticipate in recruitment last fall because it is still going through the process of returning to cam- pus. Next fall the chapter will be able to participate in formal recruitment and will be moving back into their house on Church Street, which is currently occu- pied by the Alpha Epsilon Pi fra- ternity. The Zeta Tau Alpha sorority is just now beginning the process for its scheduled return in the fall. Seiler said the details of Zeta Tau Alpha's return have yet to be determined, but the sorority is definitely coming back to campus. "I met with some of their National Executive Directors in December and they are going to be sending some representatives to campus to meet with the Pan- hellenic councils and we will work out the detailsf she said. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, began looking into the CDC's handling of the report last year. In a statement Tuesday, he contended it was reasonable to link the region's pollution and health problems. "It doesn't take a scientist to tell you thatthetoxinsdiscussed inthis report are detrimental to human health and need to be cleaned up," said Stupak, a Michigan Democrat. "It is almost as though CDC is try- ing harder to protect the polluters than the victims." The study presented other chal- lenges thathelp explain why it took so long, Frumkin said. ATSDR had evaluated 146 haz- ardous waste sites around the Great Lakes. But they were not identical to the 26 "areas of con- cern," although there was some overlapping, Frumkin said. Gupta serves as a correspondent for CBS, writes a column for Time magazine and has published Chas- ing Light, a New York Times best- selling book about immortality. He is also an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine. Upon learning about Gupta's potential appointment as surgeon general, CNN released a state- ment that read in part, "his on-air reporting has been on health and wellness matters and not on health care policy or any matters involv- ing the new administration." Stephenie Lazarus, Panhel's Vice President of public relations, said now is the perfect time for the chapters to be returning to campus. "It lessens the load for other chapters and allows them to con- tinue to provide a quality experi- ence in a smaller, more intimate environment for their members that they otherwise might not be able to do if the number of mem- bers they had was larger," she said. Lazarus added that bring- ing the chapters back provides a chance for the campus to be as diverse as possible. "We really want to make our campus more diversified, to bring out as many chapters as we can sustain and now we have the ability to do thatbecause of the amount of girls interesting in going through recruitment in the fall," she said. Despite uphill battle, Blagojevich's pick eventually seated SPRINGFIELD, Iii. (AP) - On one side stood the president- elect, 50 Democratic senators on Capitol Hill and just about every politician in Illinois. On the other side was Gov. Rod Blagojevich, criminal defendant and national punchline. Guess who won? Blagojevich outfoxed everyone who had warned him no to try to fill the Senate seat he is charged with trying to sell. Despite the scandal around him, the governor got his way by star- ing down his opponents with the perfect pick: Roland Burris, a black politician who, had an unblemished reputation and big ambitions, guar- anteeing he would fight tirelessly for the seat. Blagojevich also had Illinois law on his side. Moreover, his choice put Democrats in the sticky posi- tion of trying to d*ay entry to the man who would become the cham- ber's only black member - in the seat that last belonged to Barack Obama, no less. "it did take a kind of perfect storm, of a governor who is incapa- ble of having scruples and a nomi- nee incapable of shame, to go ahead with it," said Mike Munger, chair- man of political science at Duke University. "This was the last card Blagojevich had to play. At least he gets to do something and thumb his nose." In the end, the Blagojevich-Bur- ris combination proved to be such a distraction that Obama himself reversed course and signaled to Senate leaders that they should seat Burris. Finally, on Monday, they said they would. Exactly whyiBlagojevich appoint- ed someone and what he hoped to accomplish are something of a mys- tery to some political observers. The Democratic governor still faces federal corruption charges. And he has been impeached and faces a state Senate trial later this month that could get him thrown him out of office,