The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 7C
SMOKE FREE
From Page 2C
But smoke-free policies are
not welcomed by all, including
George Koodray, New Jersey state
coordinator for The Smoker's Club
of the Citizens Freedom Alliance.
Koodray said banning smoking
on college campuses is part of a
growing trend to punish people for
non-obtrusive, legal behavior.
"We don't understand why in
America the law should penalize
people for a practice that's not
offensive to anyone," Koodray
said. "This kind of a ban on the
consumption of a legal product
doesn't have adverse affects on
anyone. We just can't understand
where this policy is coming from."
Koodray said everyone,
including nonsmokers should be
worried about the implementation
of this policy, as it could lead to
bans on other legal substances.
"A lot of people may not object
to this kind of policy because they
don't smoke," Koodray said. "But
downthe road, it's a slippery slope,
where we see this taking form to
other prohibitions in the future
that people don't approve of but
are completely legal."
Engineering freshman Chris
Pike, a smoker, said although he
thinks the University shouldn't be
able to conduct students' personal
behavior, it is still a good thing
they are trying to implement.
"I guess they can tell us what
to do; it's a public university,"
Pike said. "But we pay to go here.
They should be giving us some
freedoms."
GREEN
From Page 3C
"When people are more aware
of what the impact is that they can
have on carbon dioxide emissions
and costs, they are more willing to
participate in solutions," Kolevar
said. "We're really involving people
in the building because they know
how the building is used all day
long."
Richard Robben, director of
Plant Operations, said Planet Blue
used the results of the study to
shape other aspects of how the pilot
initiative reached out to University
employees, including making sure
they have support from high-level
administrators for Planet Blue
projects.
"We make a point of reaching
out the deans and chairman of
the department," he said. "The
study also encouraged the idea of
reinforcement, occupant education
on projects and telling people what
is in it for them."
Anuja Mudali, a Planet Blue
spokeswoman, said one of the goals
was to instill an energy efficient
mentality that would last long after
Planet Blue's three-year run.
"It's a matter of convenience for
most people," she said adding that
people will be more likely to recycle
if bins are located in the room they
happen to be in at the time.
Besides trying to persuade people
to make some of the more difficult
changes in lifestyles - like walking
downstairs to recycle paper -
Mudali said they would also strive
to make energy-efficient behaviors
more convenient.
But the outreach program does
not target undergraduates because
they're only on campus for four
years.
"Faculty and staff, graduate
students - they're static," Kolevar
said.
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NIH CANDIDATE
From Page 3C
NIH, including the ability to
put the right people together to
solve a problem or work out and
issue. This is especially valuable
since he will be "taking the helm
(of the NIH) at a complicated
time," she said.
Gumucio said the last eight
years under the Bush adminis-
tration diminished the value of
science, meaning Collins will
need to lobby the Obama admin-
istration the need for science.
"Collins is a very motivation-
al person who will be able to ...
convey to (the new administra-
tion) how important science is,"
she said.
Gelehrter also praised Col-
lins's ability to motivate and
rally people together to solve
problems and accomplish goals
- a vital skill that will help Col-
lins encourage Capitol Hill and
other political powers to fight
for science's presence in the
political ring.
"He's a terrific cheerleader,"
Gelehrter said. "Now that's part
of his job."
Gelehrter said that he believes
these motivational and commu-
nicative skills will help Collins
lead NIH, especially because
of the success Collins found
in leading the Human Genome
Project. Gelehrter added that
one of the most "stunning"
accomplishments of his job as
project director was bringing
people together and fostering
international cooperation on a
big science project.
There are some criticisms that
can be made of Collins, though
Gumucio and Gelehrter aren't
concerned about them.
One issue, religion, has been
largely pushed aside by critics
due to Collins's support of some
stem cell research measures. A
self-proclaimed Christian, Col-
lins wrote a book in 2006, "The
Language of God: A Scientist
Presents Evidence for Belief,"
about the relationship between
God and science.
Though, some still take issue
with Collins's beliefs, Gumu-
cio said that, "in practice, he's
a scientist," and that his belief
structures did not interfere with
work in the lab.
Additionally, Gelehrter and
Gumucio recognized Collins'
background working with big
science, referring to projects
involvinglarger groups of people
working toward a big goal such
as the Human Genome proj-
ect. When allocating funding,
Collins will have to determine
how much goes to big science
versus little science, individual
labs doing projects and making
advances that aren't on such a
large scale but are still impor-
tant.
"I think he's already proven
he's very adept at working with
big science," Gumucio said, add-
ing that Collins must advocate
little science too.
Gelehrter said little science
has been enormously successful
in research as of late, and that all
the institutes that make up the
National Institutes of Health -
along with grant seekers - will
be vying for funding.
"Even though NIH has a lot
of money, there isn't enough to
support the good science that
could be done," Gelehrter said.
With the crumbling state
of the economy, science fund-
ing was improved through the
stimulus. As such, Gumucio said
there is some stability but that it
won't last.
The NIH received $8.2 billion
in stimulus money as part of the
American Recovery and Rein-
vestment Act signed by Obama
last February. The extra money
will only last about two years.
Gumucio said this is a ques-
tion Collins will have to address
early: "What is the model two
years from now when all the
stimulus money goes away?"
The NIH is the largest fed-
eral or non-federal fund source
for University research. Accord-
ing to the January 2009 Report
on Research and Scholarship
released by the Office of the Vice
President for Research, the NIH
granted $387,738,690 in fund-
ing for fiscal year 2007, totaling
41.7 percent of research funds.
In fiscal year 2008, NIH fund-
ing increased to $393,033,824
or 44.9 percent of all research
funding.
The report also recognized
the impact of the lack of sci-
ence funding in the last decade,
revealing that NIH expenditures
grew by 14.5 percent between fis-
cal years 1999 and 2000, though
the total "has been nearly flat"
since fiscal year 2006, increas-
ing by only 1.2 percent.
One of Collins's most recent
University honors came in 2007
when he received an honorary
degree as winter commencement
speaker. When asked this week
about why Collins was chosen
as the speaker, University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman praised
Collins's scientific and personal
characteristics.
"Francis Collins is a world-
renowned scientist - the
description of him as a rock star
of science is pretty accurate
- who is a warm and funny
speaker," she said. "I thought he
was a wonderful and important
role model for students."
MOJO
From Page 4C
"I think two things students
will notice is that Mosher-
Jordan has central air-condi-
tioning throughout, and it has
wireless Internet throughout,"
he said.
Logan said removing the old
dining area and kitchen out of
Mosher-Jordanopenedupspace
for more community areas.
The residence hall also fea-
tures two new livingroomswith
full kitchens. The most notable
difference in Mosher-Jordan's
individual rooms is the modu-
lar furniture - an upgrade that
most other dorms have had for
years.
LSA sophomore Matt Hillyer
said the renovated Mosher-
Jordan has a "classier" feel
than Couzens, where he lives.
"Everything being updated, it
looked really nice," he said. "It
seemed nicer, not like a regular
dorm."
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