The Michigan Daily - michmigandaily.com

Thursday, September 8, 2011-- 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 8, 2011 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Three former Red
Wings die in plane
crash in Russia
Former Detroit Red Wings
assistant coach Brad McCrimmon,
player Ruslan Salei and prospect
Stefan Liv were among 43 people
killed when a Russian jet carry-
ing the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team
in Russia's Kontinental Hockey
League crashed yesterday near
the western city ofYaroslavl.
McCrimmon, 52, was a Detroit
assistant coach for the past three
seasons. He was a defenseman
who played 18 seasons (1979-1997)
in the NHL, including three with
Detroit (1990-93). McCrimmon
also played with the Boston Bru-
ins, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary
Flames, Hartford Whalers and
Phoenix Coyotes.
"I've known him a long time.
He was my defense partner when
I was a rookie (1991-92)," Red
Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom
said about McCrimmon, who was
hired in May as Lokomotiv's head
coach. "The defensemen learned
a lot from him.. We all wished
him well when we heard he was
leaving."
NEW YORK
Lawmakers want
cancer added to
Sept.11 disease list
A new medical study supports
the argument for including can-
cers on a list of World Trade Cen-
ter-linked diseases that qualify
for assistance under the national
Sept. 11 health program, federal
lawmakers said yesterday.
"The evidence is now com-
pelling," said U.S. Rep. Jerrold
Nadler, standing with colleagues
at the entrance to the subway
station at the trade center site in
lower Manhattan. "It's essential
that we do this."
But evidence of a cancer tie
is still largely lacking. The law-
makers - Nadler was joined
by U.S. Reps. Carolyn Malo-
ney, Charles Rangel and Nydia
Velazquez - were responding to
a study conducted by the city's
fire department that found no sig-
nificant increase in cancer rates
among nearly 9,000 firefighters
exposed to trade center dust.
BASTROP, Texas
Firefighters take
control of blaze
Firefighters gained ground
yesterday against one of the most
destructive wildfires in Texas
history even as the state said the
number of homes lost reached
almost 800, and an elite search
team set out to find any victims in
the smoking ruins.
Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile,
resumed his presidential cam-

paign after rushing home over the
weekend to deal with the crisis,
traveling to California to meet
his Republican rivals in his first
nationally televised debate.
The blaze has left at least two
people dead, blackened about 45
square miles around Bastrop and
cast a haze over Austin, 25 miles
to the west, where the air smelled
strongly of pine and cedar.
MANAMA, Bahrain
Over 100 prisoners
go on hunger strike
More than 100 jailed Bahraini
activists - including doctors who
treated injured protesters during
months of anti-government pro-
tests and crackdowns in the Gulf
kingdom - are on hunger strike,
an ;nternational panel said yes-
terd
? - Bahrain Commission of
Inc dry said in a statement that
84 opposition supporters are on
hunger strike in prison. In addi-
 tion, 17 detained activists have
been hospitalized by the Interior
Ministry for their refusal to eat.
Hundreds of activists have
been imprisoned since February
when Shiite-led demonstrations
for greater rights began in the
Sunni-ruled Bahrain, the home of
the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

RESEARCH
From Page 1A
its mechanisms and whether or
not it will be safe to develop for
human use.
"Before we can use the drug
in people or even animals, we
have to learn more about this
prototype," she explained. "It's
a prototype because we haven't
exactly designed a drug out of
it; it's something that's naturally
found in the human body."
Though Chen and her col-
leagues are still in the early
stages of their research, she said
their data has been promising
so far. The group will continue
studying the prototype this
semester in hopes of publishing
a paper on their findings next
year.
Calling her time in the lab
"exciting," Chen said she is
grateful for the opportunity to
conduct formal research and be
part of an ever-changing area of
study.
"(Research) is not a stagnant
field," Chen said. "There's so
much exchanging, and there's
always something new out there
to keep up on."
TRANSFORMING THE
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LANDSCAPE
In Rackham student Carl
Pfeiffer's engineering research
lab at the University, antennas
the size of quarters are being
mass-produced through a new
process that has the potential to
revolutionize the telecommuni-
cations industry.
Working under Stephen For-
rest, the University's vice presi-
dent for research and a professor
of engineering, and Anthony
Grbic, an associate professor
of engineering at the Univer-
sity, Pfeiffer spent his summer
developing an efficient method
to duplicate tiny antennae for
cell phones and other wireless
devices.
According to Pfeiffer, the
antenna's performance capabili-
ties are comparable to those of
larger ones, but the miniature
antennas can now be produced
more quickly and at a cheaper
cost. Antennae of this size have
been difficult to fabricate in the
past due to a process that was
painstaking and expensive.
"We wanted to develop a pro-
cess that would be attractive for
people in industry to use," Pfei-
ffer said.
The group's innovative pro-
cess of duplicating the anten-
nae involves techniques that are
similar to how computer pro-
cessers are produced, he added.
Once an antenna's desired shape
is determined, the engineers
stamp design patterns on the
base material through a proce-
dure called imprint processing.
Pfeiffer added that the use
of smaller antennas, which are
typically the largest component
in a wireless device, could allow
for a number of new applications
in wireless and cellular technol-
ogy.
"We now want to make things
that people haven't even consid-
ered before, since they haven't
had the ability to print these pat-
terns," he said.

sanitation. More than a decade
later, not much has changed, he
said.
Seeking to make possible the
seemingly impossible, Mwenesi
is one of a group of University
students that worked in Kenya
this summer to improve schools
for students.
E-MAGINE - the group
Mwenesi leads - plans and
implements solar-powered, sus-
tainable communications sys-
tems for rural and off-the-grid
communities. The systems allow
Kenyan teachers and students
to use the Internet and other
technologies to facilitate abetter
classroom experience.
"The teachers are familiar
with technology, but they are in
places where they have no access
whatsoever," Mwenesi said. "I
thought it was a no-brainer to
try totsupport these schools and
teachersbyprovidingthemwith
a means to access the Internet,
and ultimately, more education-
al resources."
To evaluate the need for
the communications systems,
Mwenesi spent his time in Kenya
researching sustainable devel-
opment techniques and seeking
funding from non-governmental
organizations. Having gained
support from a number of NGOs,
Mwenesi said E-MAGINE will
have the resources needed to
develop three to five communi-
cations systems during the next
two semesters. Once the systems
are functioning, the classroom
possibilities are endless, he said.
"I want to help kids have
the chance to realize their own
potential," Mwenesi said.
RESHAPING LIBERIAN
COMMUNITIES

GRANTA
From Page 1A
national tragedy and how lit-
erature has shifted in a post-9/11
world.
"We have an international
and writerly community here,
so it makes sense that this would
happen in Ann Arbor," event
moderator Jeremiah Chamber-
lin said in an interview prior
to the panel. Chamberlin is the
associate director of the English
Department Writing Program,
editor in chief of Fiction Writ-
ers Review and a former Granta
contributor.
"(The University) has a very
strong writing program, only
second in the country to Iowa,
and we have many local writ-
ers," he said. "I'm proud of the
fact that an international jour-
nal would come to us and say
that they think our community
is a great place to begin this dis-
cussion."
Last night, a rain-soaked
crowd of roughly 50 people
found coffee, conversation
and refuge in Nicola's Books.
Perched upon mismatched
chairs, couches and benches
that were fit snugly amongst
shelves and tables filled with
stacks of books, the audience of
students, writers and readers
eagerly awaited the event.
The evening began with read-
ings by Chamberlin and the
three other University writers
who comprised the panel. Fol-
lowing the readings, partici-
pants had a discussion about the
impact of Sept. 11 on the writing
community on a national and
international level.
"'Ten Years Later' takes a
really interesting approach to
this topic," Chamberlin told
the Daily. "Some of the stories
are very clearly related to 9/11.
There's a story called 'Deploy-
ment' about a U.S. Marine who

comes home from Iraq and has
to rehabilitate to living in the
United States, where he's not in
danger all the time."
Chamberlin noted other piec-
es written about Guantanamo
Bay, which also are connected
to 9/11.
"But then there's another
piece that is set in Paris and isn't
related directly to 9/11 except
that something related to mor-
tality is in play," he said.
Regardless of how each piece
relates to 9/11, themes that tie
the stories, essays and poems
together in "Ten Years Later"
include belonging, living in a
changed landscape and mortal-
ity.
According to Chamberlin,
"Ten Years Later" takes an
international snapshot of how
the world looks today, post-9/11,
from perspectives of those who
were directly affected, as well as
those who weren't.
"One of the things I most
admire about this particular
issue of Granta is that 'Ten Years
Later' reminds us that this expe-
rience is not ours alone and that
the ripple effect of it has trav-
eled around the entire globe,"
Chamberlin said.
Granta's issue also serves as
an example of how people use
writing to process what goes on
around them, especially when
caught in a crisis or tragedy like
the attacks on Sept 11.
"I think 9/11 was such a
national trauma in the United
States that many people turned
both to writing and reading
accounts of it," said Linda Gre-
gerson, a poet, professor of Eng-
lish and previous contributor
to Granta. "Writing is a crucial
way for human beings to process
what is otherwise impossible
to take in, in scope and conse-
quence."
According to Gregerson, writ-
ing as an art form is not only a

way to process experiences but
also is a way to experience trag-
edy in the lives of others.
"There's a lot of strength in
writing," Gregerson said. "It's
one of the ways we try to locate
our emotions. There's nothing
like language for its precision It
helps us to come to further clar-
ity about our experiences."
Megan Levad, assistant direc-
tor of the creative writing pro-
gram at the University, also
noted the key role writing took
on in post-9/11 culture.
"Writing has the ability to
articulate the way a person's
internal thought processes
work," Levad said. "It replicates
really personal experiences, and
because it does that, there's a
way in which writing can draw
upon the reader's empathy even
if the reader has never expe-
rienced what they're reading
about."
In today's world, grow-
ing up around TVs and com-
puter screens is accepted and
embraced, but when talking
about immensely traumatic
events like Sept. 11, Chamberlin
noted, written stories, memoirs
and essays still remain the most
powerful medium for sharing
experiences.
"We look at paintings, and
we watch films, but when you
read, you're literally inside a
character. That's what's unique
(about stories)," Chamberlin
-said. "When we're reading about
these challenging situations,
we're living a Marine's rede-
ployment, and we feel his fear as
he can't rid himself of the feel-
ing of walking through Fallujah
in Iraq - we feel that danger."
"Ten Years Later" recognizes
that citizens in the United States
will continue to remember Sept.
11 long after itsl10th anniversary,
but it also reminds us that this
tragedy is international and still
felt worldwide.

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