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Ann Arbor, Michigan
PUBLIC TRANSIT
City works
to improve
Washtenaw
Ave. safety

Thursday, December 6, 2012

michigandaily.com

OT1N9FOR A WTN

relmagine
Washtenaw
culmination of
4-year process
By TAYLOR WIZNER
Washtenaw Avenue, the 4.5-
milb road that stretches through
Ann Arbor, is known by most
students for its fast traffic, prox-
imity to fraternity houses and as
a straight-shot route to Whole
Foods Market.
However, the street has been
a thorn in the city's side for years
due to its precarious crossings
and transit options, as well as
inadequate sidewalks. After four
years studying the roadway, offi-
cials in Ann Arbor and surround-
ing communities have planned a
number of improvements to make
the road safer and more acces-
sible.
Nathan Voght - the project
manager for ReImagine Washt-
enaw, a regional study to evalu-
ate the road's condition - said
his first goal has been to look for
ways to improve safety.

"(Ann Arbor officials) wanted
to undertake a process of pub-
lic engagement to try to deter-
mine how the corridor could be
transformed into one that's more
attractive, that's safer, that's
something that will thrive and
encourage economic develop-
ment and really be a corridor that
will meet its potential," Voght
said.
Voght said pedestrian transit
developments such as foot and
bike paths are also a focus of the
study, adding that the community
has been frustrated that these
ideas have been ignored.
"(In the past) there's been very
little planning and coordination
to make sure that improvements
that are made really look at the
quality of life along the corridor
and access to the corridor and
other ways of transportation to
get around, specifically bikers,
etc.," Voght said. "This has been
something we are now looking
into."
Some projects have already
been completed in the area
between Pittsfield and Ypsilanti
Township, and others in Ann
Arbor are in the planning or con-
struction phases, Voght said.
See WASHTENAW, Page SA

A couple dances at Swing Ann Arbor's Vintage Holiday Formal Charity Ball on Wednesday in the Michigan Union.
UNiVERSITY ATH LETICS
AD:*'U'sponsored race,
could help bolster funds

Brandon speaks
out after event
cancellation
By HALEY GLATTHORN
Daily NewsEditor
The University's Athletic
Department withdrew from the
2013 Big House Big Heart char-

ity run because it would prefer
to host a similar event indepen-
dently in the future, Athletic
Director Dave Brandon said in
an interview on the 1290 WLBY
radio station Wednesday morn-
ing.
Brandon told WLBY that the
race is "a good idea," but mon-
etary donations to charitable
organizations can be increased
if the University's collaboration

with Champions for Charity, the
group that has organized the
event for the past six years, is
ended.
"If we can get more money
routed to the charities because
there isn't a profit motk, we're
always going to prefer to go that
route," he said.
He added that the Athletic
Department considers various
aspects of a charity's organiza-

tion when considering a part-
nership, including management,
finances and cooperation with
the department.
The Big House Big Heart race,
which was scheduled for April
14, offered participants 10-kilo-
meter, five-kilometer and one-
mile distances with all races
culminating at the Big House's
50-yard line.
See RACE, Page SA


TECHNOLOGY
Research
could
Increase
computer
speeds .
'U' physicists'
studying
supercomputers
By SAM GRINGLAS
Daily StaffReporter
While most students have
no clue what Dirac electrons,
quantum computers or copper-
doped bismuth selenide are, a
new breakthrough by Univer-
sity physicists could eventually
change that.
Physics Prof. Lu Li, along with
University doctoral student Ben-
jamin Lawson and Yew San Hor,
a professor at the Missouri Uni-
versity of Science and Technolo-
gy, have confirmed that material
copper-doped bismuth selenide
contains Dirac-like electrons,
which could prove significant in
increasing the speed and capa-
bilities of quantum computing:
In a typical computer, like
See COMPUTER, Page 5A

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
150 more professors
win MCubed grants

Physics professors speak about the discovery oftthe Higgs boson particle on Wednesday.
Physics professors analyze
dis cover of God Particle

$60,000 grants
aimed to promote
interdisciplinary
research activity
By TUI RADEMAKER
Daily StaffReporter
For faculty clamoring for to
fund research initiatives, they
now have the opportunity to
vie for 150 additional $60,000
research grants in the sec-
ond round of the University's
MCubed program.
MCubed is a new University-
run program that funds faculty
research projects through a
semi-random selection process.
Each faculty member is eligible
for $20,000, but must pair up
with two other researchers to
form a "cube" that covers at
least two different academic
disciplines.
The first round of funding
awards' were announced via
Twitter last month. Projects
that received funding included
research on environmental law,
lung cancer treatments, can-
cer stem cell.vaccination and a
possible pill that is thought to
mimic exercise.
Valerie Johnson, the pro-
gram's managing director, said

the $15-million project was
designed to award 200 grants
over the course of its two-year
pilot period. With the success
of the first round announced in
November, coordinators of the
program have decided to con-
tinue into the second phase to
provide maximum opportuni-
ties to interested faculty.
"We really want to enable
faculty members to get stu-
dents and other hires in place
for January," Johnson said.
"Because our first cubing phase
was so successful, we decided
to move quickly and distribute
the next batch of 150 cubes."
Johnson said it is difficult to
predict the number of faculty
members applying for grant
money for projects. In last
month's round of 50 grants,
MCubed received 127 applica-
tions. As of Wednesday, the
first day the program's website
was open to submitting applica-
tions, there were 72.
Unlike the announcement
of the first rounds on Twit-
ter, Johnson said this time the
selected projects will appear on
the MCubed website as soon as
possible after the application
process closes at noon on Dec.
17.
"We don't anticipate a Twit-
ter event this time because it
See MCUBED; Page SA

In panel talk,
professors discuss
state of national
research efforts
By IAN DILLINGHAM
Daily StaffReporter
The fourth-floor Rackham
Amphitheatre was filled to
capacity on Wednesday night

as panelists and the University's
physics community gathered
to discuss one of the greatest
unsolved mysteries of modern
physics: the Higgs boson.
Nicknamed the God Particle,
the Higgs Field, proposed by
Peter Higgs and other scien-
tists in the 1960s, provides an
explanation for why subatomic
particles, such as quarks and
electrons, have varying masses.
The theory states that particles
interact with the field in varying

degrees, leading to differences
in masses.
The particle was discovered
at the ATLAS lab of the Large
Hadron Collider near Geneva,
Switzerland last summer. The
LHC is part of the larger Euro-
pean Organization for Nuclear
Research, also known as CERN.
The Higgs boson is consid-
ered the smallest manifesta-
tion of the Higgs Field and is
extremely difficult to detect,
See PARTICLE, Page 5A


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