8A - Monday, December 13, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com I Forward Carl Hagelin (front) walks into Michigan Stadium for the Big Chill at the Big House on Saturday. FLOREK From Page 1A on the biggest stage possible. The largest crowd ever to watch a NCAA sporting event, 113,411 saw the Spartans dominated by the same team that upset them twice at home to knock them out of the playoffs lastyear. They witnessed their rivals completely upstage their own outdoor game in every way. Why not give them another chance? With the established interest in outdoor games and huge advances in ice-rink technology, if the Michigan State athletic depart- ment can switch Spartan Stadium back to field turf like it was in 2001 for the Cold War (a big'if', but it is possible), the conditions are basically met for a chance at redemption. Don't tell me it wouldn't sell out. Spartan Stadium's record capacity is 80,401. That's 33,010 fewer than were in attendance Saturday. Michigan State coach Rick Comley said this week that playing outdoor hockey never gets old. Neither does watching it. So do it, Michigan State. In a few years, try to beat the Michigan goal-scoring, firework-exploding, headline-grabbing extravaganza that was The Big Chill in the Big House. It helps everybody. You geta chance to take back the idea you started, make up for your lackluster performance on the ice at Michigan Stadium, and bathe in the revenue gained from ticket and apparel sales. New players get to play in a game they dream about. Fans get to see outdoor hockey. And Michigan's athletic department gets to try to top it again a few years after. It can't be done every year. If a game eventually comes to Michi- gan Stadium again, it won't beas special as the Big Chill. But stu- dents graduate and new ones come in who didn't have the opportu- nity to be one of the dancing fools during the second intermission in the North endzone. "That's not something you do every year," Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon said after the game. "You got to make it special. I could see us potentially maybe getting in to an every-four- year cycle. Timing situated that every student-athlete who played hockey here could get a chance to participate in something like this, and keep it special and unique enough that our fans would turn out the way they did tonight." And I agree - make it cyclical. One school puts on an outdoor game, the other school does it two years later. That way every player and student from these institu- tions gets to experience an out- door hockey game in front of their home crowd. As the athletic departments try to out-do themselves, the events will look increasingly more like an action movie. I can't wait until 2030 when the Michigan head coach parachutes in just before the opening faceoff. Everybody wins from that. But that's a long way off And after that spectacle on Saturday afternoon, Michigan State, it's your move. - Florek can be reached at florekmi@umich.edu. GOOGLE From Page1A new collaborative system. "The IT Council was very impressed with the thoroughness of the Unit IT Steering Committee in formulating its recommenda- tion," Atkins said. "While we are very excited at the prospects of moving forward with this major enhancement of the U-M col- laboration environment, we know there are important challenges - especially in the areas of user sup- port, privacy and security - that we need to plan for carefully." In the same release, Lynn John- INVASIONS From Page 1A said. Blackwell did notknow the exact location of where the man was apprehended, but said the arrest occurred in the area of Washtenaw and North University avenues. According to Blackwell, the man is in his early 20s. Blackwell did not know if the man is a University stu- dent. The AAPD will be contacting the victims of the home invasions to see if they can identify the man. STIMULUS From Page 1A LSA Dean of Budget James Penner-Hahn wrote in an e-mail interview that the majority of fed- eral stimulus funds LSA received came from the National Science Foundation and the National Insti- tutes of Health. The stimulus money allowed LSA to hire more undergraduate and graduate students to conduct research, according to Penner- Hahn. "These funds also supported the purchase of equipment, which has improved our research capabilities and thus indirectly impacted our students," he wrote. He added that the process to get funding from LSA is very competi- tive and most funds were granted for new faculty projects based on applications submitted by faculty members. However, some funds were given to projects that were already in place, Penner-Hahn explained. In 2009 and 2010, the College of Engineering was awarded six grants that totaled $50 million in federal stimulus funds, said Jon Kinsey, director of government and foundations relations for the College of Engineering. The funds that the College of Engineering received came from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Kinsey said the college used the stimulus funds to study alternative energy, climate change, education, health and nanotechnology proj- ects. In addition, the Energy Fron- tier Research Center received $19.5 million in April 2009. The center, which is housed in the Col- lege of Engineering, is devoted to researching new materials to more efficiently convert solar energy to electricity, Kinsey explained. "Students benefit in many ways including the funding of gradu- ate students, (the) use (of) new equipment purchased through the funds, new curriculum and par- ticipation in the research itself," Kinsey said. Martin Philbert, who will become dean of the School of Public Health on Jan. 1, said the son, chair of the Unit IT Steering Committee and an assistant dean at the School of Dentistry, said a new, unified collaboration technol- ogy system would help eliminate duplicationof services and save the University substantial amounts of money. "High-quality collaboration is the hallmark of a global research institution like U-M," Johnson said. "Identifying new collabora- tive tools for adoption across cam- pus is just the first step in a larger initiative to improve the environ- ment for collaboration in learning, teaching and research." Despite the standardization efforts, some units at the Universi- If they identify him as the invader, Blackwell said the man would be charged. In a separate incident, two soror- ities on Hill Street - Alpha Phi and the Delta Delta Delta senior house - were broken into Saturday night. AAPD Sgt. Andrew Zazula said a male wandered into the houses, but nothing was reported as stolen from either property. He added that the man has not been caught. According to the AAPD, the sus- pect is described as a black male in his early 40s. At the time of the inci- dent, he was reported to be wearing a black - possibly leather - jacket, stimulus funds allocated to the University have impacted students in his school in a variety of ways. "Many of our students are engaged in research as part of their degree requirements or as part of a broader educational opportunity to gain relevant field experience," he said. "Research programs fund- ed by federal stimulus dollars have enabled the engagement and reten- tion of a larger number of students that might not have been possible without the (stimulus funds)." According the University's Office of the Vice President for Research, the School of Public Health received approximately $40 million in federal stimulus funds, primarily through the NSH. A Feb. 1, 2010 press release from the School of Public Health stated that the school received $17 million for diabetes research that focuses on people who are predisposed to the disease. The Institute for Social Research was also awarded signifi- cant funding through the stimulus. According to ISR Director James Jackson, the ISR received $47.5 million in grants and contracts from the NSF. He added that $14.8 million of the total amount is being used to build a fourth wing on Division Street for the ISR. The remainder of the money for ISF is going toward research. The Health and Retirement Survey - a bi-yearly survey that records changes in health of Americans over age 50 - will be using some of the funds to make the survey more detailed, including adding an ethnic and racial question, Jackson said. Jackson added that the ISR will add between 100 to 300 new staff and faculty members within the next 10 years because the expan- sion will-provide more opportuni- ties for researchers. By providingjobs now and in the future," the funds are having their intended impact," Jackson said. The Department of Public Safety was also granted $258,528 to install security camera sys- tems in high-risk areas like park- ing lots around sports venues and University libraries, according to DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown. DPS was also granted $30,000 in federal stimulus funds to upgrade evidence and tracking ty will still be allowed to use other software, like Microsoft Outlook, for e-mail services because of the nature of their business. For example, the University of , Michigan Health System is in the process ofimplementing Microsoft Outlook to replace the system they currently use called Groupwise. The transition is set tobe complet- ed by mid-2011. The LSA Student Govern- ment voted to endorse Google last month. The 11-0 vote, which had seven abstentions, came after representatives from Google and Microsoft visited campus to pitch their services to students, faculty and staff. gloves and a winter hat. According to Nursing senior Stephanie Conn, the Panhellenic 4 Association's vice president of public relations, the first break in occurred before 8 p.m. Conn said in an interview Sunday that the women did not encounter any dif- ficulties when they asked the man to leave and escorted him out. Conn added that other chapters have since been informed of the incident. "An e-mail was sent out yester- day just as a warning 'Oh look, this happened, but there was no prob- lem,' "she said. systems. "These grants allow us to fur- ther enhance our safety infrastruc- ture and make it more efficient," Brown said, adding that the grants allow DPS funding to continue to serve its current purpose like pay- ing employees. Without the funds, Brown said DPS would have had to consider cutting employees in order to fund new DPS expenses. In addition to University schools and divisions, city and county, agencies will also be using stimulus funds to upgrade existing programs and help fund new ones. Ellen Schulmeister, CEO of the Shelter Association of Washt- enaw County, said after the shel- ter received a $1.8 million grant, she was able to hire four people - three of whom were unemployed at their time of hire. She said the money has been split in half to fund the housing divisions of the shelter. These funds are being allocated to Washtenaw County citizens to help them afford an apartment so they won't be forced to live in a shelter or face eviction, Schulmeis- ter explained. Schlmeister said the Shel- ter Association of Washtenaw County is able to prevent home- lessness - or quickly re-house people - because of the grant it received, adding that because of the funds, the shelter was able to help more than 450 families that were evicted. Chris White, manager of service development for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, said the AATA was allocated two grants that total $6.45 million. The first grant - approved in August 2009 - was used to pur- chase four hybrid buses, construct a Park & Ride lot on Plymouth Road and make improvements to bus lots in Ann Arbor. The second grant - approved in March - paid for a portion of the Central Campus Transit Center, additional bus storage facilities and bus stop improvements. Washtenaw County budget man- ager Jennifer Watson said the stim- ulus funds granted to the county have also been used for community E service projects, summer youth programs and job training for Washtenaw County residents. VISAS From Page 1A by the fact that he had to drive to Chicago to fill out the application. "You drive three or four hours and you are only there for 10 min- utes, and thenyou drive back,"Lang said. "It's a hassle." Lang said traveling to the con- sulate general, which processes the visas, could be an even bigger problem for out-of-state students who have to travel further to get to their region's consulate. "Every student had to individu- ally travel all the way to Chicago if they were from Michigan," Lang said. "If they were out of state, like from California, they had to fly all the way back to California just to pick up this visa." LSA junior Alison Oreh, who is planningto study abroad in Seville, Spain for six months starting this January, said she encountered many problems when applying for and receiving her visa but received little guidance from the Center for Global and Intercultural Study office during the application pro- cess. "It's completely on you to fig- ure out what you need to apply," Oreh said. "You need to travel to the Spanish Consulate General in Chicago to actually apply in per- son, and then you have to go back in person a second time to pick up your visa." Oreh said she was confused by the application process because she did not know what kind of visa she needed, and that it was difficult to fill out the application because she did not know where she would be living in Spain. "It was very frustrating for me because it felt like I was walking in the dark and there was no one to help me, soI kind of just did what I thought was right," Oreh said. Pardip Bolina, associate director at the CGIS, said though the center provides students with informa- tion about the visa process, stu- dents are responsible for obtaining the visas themselves. If a student encounters a prob- lem with the visa application process, Bolina said the center is limited in its aid because it is not affiliated with the government and, therefore, does not have the legal authority to help with the process. "It's up to the students to go ahead and follow through, apply, and if they have problems, then unfortunately we're just not a legal sort of entity or anything like that to be able to grant them a visa," Bolina said. "We would just try to work with them and see if we can help ask questions that they should be looking into." But Bolina said she believes there are only a few students each semester who actually encoun- ter difficulties when applying for a visa and that those students are often able to find a solution them- selves. "I am certain some students do experience challenges in obtaining visas, but they may resolve them on their own without us ever hearing about it," she said. Elizabeth Jurmu, an LSA senior and a peer adviser at the CGIS, studied in Sydney, Australia for five months. Jurmu said she didn't experi- ence any difficulties in the appli- cation process and was advised by CGIS to fill out an online applica- tion to expedite the process. Jurmu added that the application process might have been easier because she applied to study abroad in Austra- lia. "It was easier to do an appli- cation for Australia than it is for other countries," Jurmu said. Though Jurmu had a simple application process and received overnight approval for a visa, she said she has heard from other stu- dents who have experienced some problems. Jurmu added that the amountof difficulty students expe- rience is related to the country where they plan to study abroad. "From what I've heard from students as a peer adviser for the center, is that it's a longer process for specific countries," she said. "I know a lot of European countries typically have a longer application process." If she had known about the dif- ficulty involved in acquiring a visa, Oreh said she may have considered a study abroad program unaffili- ated with the University. "A lot of the other programs that my friends are going through out- side of the University of Michigan have a lot more guidance and plan- ning. It's not as up in the air," Oreh said. "I'm about to leave in less than a month and I feel completely unprepared and in the dark about what I should be doing." f _, I ---------,oupon ------------- ONLY $1 .99* From now until December 191 2010 wo SquaresTakeout com r " Scan this OR code with the barcode scanner app to find I us on the web! I *Cannot be combined with any other offer. Must present this coupon at time of purchase. Valid 11:30 am -9:00pm.Expires12/19/2010. Limitl1 per coupon. 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