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Thursday, December 6, 2012 - 5A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycomThursday, December 6, 2D12 - SA

' alum urges students to
take risks to receive rewards

Jon Sobel address
students at Zell
Entrepreneurship
event
By ARIANA ASSAF
Daily StaffReporter
At an address Wednesday as
part of the Zell Entrepreneur-
ship and Law Program speaker
series, University alum Jon
Sobel urged students to take
risks in order to reap rewards.
Sobel spoke to an audience
of more than 50 Law and Busi-
ness students, professors and
administrators as part of the
speaker series, hosted by ZEAL
to connect speakers with back-
grounds in business and law
with current University Law
and Business students.
ZEAL was launched in fall
2011 and funded by Sam Zell,
who graduated from the Uni-
versity Law School in 1966
and founded Equity Group
Investments, a Chicago-based
investment company. The pro-
gram aims to connect business
students seeking legal advice
to law students looking for a
practical application of what
they learn in class, and offers
courses specific to law students
who are interested in entrepre-
neurship.
Sobel graduated from the
University Law School in 1990
* and has since worked for many

major companies, including
Yahoo, Tesla Motors and CBS.
He most recently became CEO
of Sight Machine, a company
that develops technology to
improve manufacturing.
Sobel's presentation, titled
"Risk: Frameworks for Law
and Life," focused on how
risk relates to entrepreneurial
thinking. Sobel encouraged his
audience to welcome risk, rath-
er than constantly try to fight it,
adding that it "is always dwell-
ing in the background ... but you
cannot create something unless
there's risk." ,
At the conclusion of his lec-
ture, Sobel discussed the risks
he took while working with
Tesla, a company that manu-
factures electric cars. He
described how at one point,
the company was losing.money
by spending more on the pro-
duction of cars than they were
earning from the sales, forcing
them to procure a government
loan.
He said the company's
actions sparked debates con-
cerning whether or not Tesla
would survive, but he point-
ed out that the company was
simply managing its risks and
seeking to "identify if a deci-
sion increases catastrophic
risk ... and plan for graceful
failure."
"Tesla is masterful at taking
risks intelligently," Sobel said.
Sobel also discussed his first
years working with Yahoo, dur-
ing which the company was

dealing with up to 40 lawsuits
at once. Some of these issues
were worth several million dol-
lars, whereas others were based
in reputational risks, he said.
Sobel advised attendees to rec-
ognize the importance of mone-
taryversus personal value when
dealing with lawsuits involving
high-profile businesses.
Sobel said communication
and presentation skills. are
essential for students looking to
go into business, stressing the
importance of strong commu-
nications skills not only in law
and business, but in life.
-He added that he wasn't quite
sure how going to law school
would help him at first, explain-
ing the common thought pro-
cess at the time was that being a
lawyer was a foolproof method
for success.
"I wrote off (my time in law
school) as a waste," Sobel said.
"But now I'm so glad that's
what I did."
He also cited the structured
thinking he learned to perfect
in law school as an important
tool for his success.
"That enabled all the other
stuff I did after (law school),
and I never would have expect-
ed it," Sobel said.
Sobel concluded his speech
with words of wisdom that
were met with a rousing round
of applause.
"Fight to win with every-
thingyou have," Sobel said. "It's
the only way you will continue
to grow."

PARTICLE
From Page 1A
even at the LHC. Only one in a
billion particles produced resem-
bles a Higgs particle. The large
numbers of undesired results
are referred to as "background"
events, which must be separated
before the data can be analyzed.
Additionally, the few Higgs
particles produced decay after
approximately one-billionth
of a second. The decayed par-
ticles take on three different
forms, requiring three unique
approaches by physicists to mea-
sure their presence.
Physics Prof. Gordon Kane,
the director emeritus of the
Michigan Center for Theoreti-
cal Physics, presented a gen-
eral background of the Higgs
research and its impact on the
Standard Model - an overarch-
ing set of principles that define
the majority of physical interac-
tions in the universe.
"The long term goal of par-
ticle physics is to understand
as well as we can the laws of
nature," Kane said. "The discov-
ery of the Higgs boson is the last
step in completing the Standard
Model."
An announcement this July
said a CERN lab had detected a
"Higgs-like particle," but more
analysis of the data is required
before a confirmed result can be
published.
In the 1980s, the Univer-
sity was a key proponent of a
U.S.-based supercollider, an

experimental device used to test
particle theory. The project was
initially approved by the Bush
administration, but halted in
1992 after funding was canceled.
Physics Prof. Homer Neal dis-
cussed the proposal and subse-
quent demise of the project.
"The supercollider is basically
just a big microscope," Neal said.
"We needed a machine in the
mid-80s when we were ready to
start working at smaller distanc-
es and higher energies."
Several of the panelists
expressed their belief that the
U.S.-based supercollider would
have made the discovery of the
Higgs particle long before the
recent discovery by the CERN
laboratory in France and Swit-
zerland.
"If it were on schedule, they
would have turned it on in 1996
and found it within the first
year," Kane said.
At the time of its discontinu-
ation, the project had already
spent $2 billon and constructed
15 miles of underground tunnels
in Texas. Neal said University
researchers, many of whom took
sabbaticals to help with the facil-
ity's design, were distraught at
the project's death.
"Most of our faculty were just
outraged that our country would
cancel the (supercollider)," Neal
said. "Many swore they would
not join a large project like this
again."
Through personal negotia-
tions and meetings, Neal said
many faculty members were
eventually convinced to return

to their work at the University.
Recently, U.S. involvement in
the European LHC is threatened
due to the recent closure of the
Tevatron Collider outside of Chi-
cago, also prompted by a lack of
funding. Historically, American
access to CERN has been contin-
gent upon equal European access
to this facility.
"A lot of Europeans use that
machine, so it was okay for us
to use the CERN facilities - we
presumed some sort of balance
there," Kane said. "It's a whole
new ballgame now."
Regardless of the lack of
U.S. funding, the panelists all
acknowledged the significance
of the discovery for the larger
physics community.
Jay Chapman, a professor
emeritus of physics, delivered
a portion of the presentation
titled "Physics in the Extremes,"
in which he discussed the large
scale implications of the project
and precise nature of the mea-
surements and findings.
"We'te looking for the small-
est things known to man with
the largest device ever built,"
Chapman said.
Chapman also noted the dif-
ficulty in organizing such a mas-
sive international project, with
contributions coming from 173
institutions in 40 different coun-
tries.
"We have to coordinate 3,000
people collectively and ina com-
mon direction," he said. "There
are a lot of very big egos, but
there's an immense amount of
talent."



WASHTENAW
From Page 1A
In September, officials broke
ground for the construction of
Arbor Hills Crossing, a 90,000
square-foot retail and professional
office space located across from
Whole Foods Market, which is
located at 3135 Washtenaw Ave.
The development will intro-
duce safe transit features like
new, wider sidewalks, a new Ann
Arbor Transportation Author-
ity bus stop, a traffic signal and
pedestrian crossing at Platt
Road.
Voght said while the study is
constantly developing projects
on the corridor, several improve-
ments to the road are still years
from completion. He said there
are also plans to redesign paths
between building and the road so
that they are more accessible for
pedestrians.
Former Ann Arbor City Coun-
cilmember Tony Derezinski, who
lives off of Washtenaw Avenue,
has been a proponent of work on
the road before the formation of
the initiative, which launched
shortly after he was elected to the
Council four years ago. He said,
living near the road, he always
felt it was something that needed
improvement.
"I've watched it get busier and
busier and more congested and
I felt very strongly that this was
a an urban issue that needed to
be addressed," Derezinski said.
"When I got elected to City Coun-
COMPUTER
From Page 1A
the ones students use daily to
post on Facebook and work on
class assignments, informa-
tion is stored in a binary format
as zeroes and ones, which are
called bits. Calculations are per-
formed as different sequences of
binary encoding information.
Quantum computers, how-
ever, can store these sequences
as zeroes and ones separately
like a traditional computer, but
can also store sequences with
both zeroes and ones at the same
time, called qubits.
Lawson, who assisted in con-
trasting the measurement meth-
ods and collected much of the
project's data, said the concept
could be easily explained by
visualizing a device with rows of
switches.
"You can think of it like this:
I am trying to convey a message
to you with a bunch of switch-
es," Lawson said. "In a classi-
cal computer, you look at the
switches which are all either
up or down and translate a mes-
sage. In a quantum computer,

cil it was one of the first things
which I indicated to the mayor I
wanted to work on and some peo-
ple were already getting together
to tryto share information."
Derezinski said so far the group
has dealt with the road's problems
well, addressing them in the "spir-
it of cooperation" with nearby
communities.
"It was time we really took a
look at it not just in the view of
Ann Arbor, but also in collabora-
tion with all the communities that
this avenue services," Derezinski
said.
Several nearby communities
have partnered with Ann Arbor
in the effort, including Pitts-
field Township, Ypsilanti and
Ypsilanti Township. Local orga-
nizations and governments -
including the AATA, Ann Arbor/
Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of
Commerce, Michigan Depart-
ment of Transportation, Washt-
enaw Area Transportation Study
and Washtenaw County - have
also been participating parties.
Derezinski said one project
currently in development would
ease non-motorized transporta-
tion on the road. The Michigan
Department of Transportation
is constructing paths on both
sides of Washtenaw Avenue
near US-23, which will allow
for pedestrians and bicyclists to
safely travel beneath the high-
waynoverpass.
"Right now we are partial-
ly completed with a walkway
underneath US-23 so you can
get there without fear of losing
all the switches are either up,
down, or a single switch could
be both up and down. With the
third option, I can encode much
more information with fewer
switches."
The idea of quantum comput-
ing is not new - Li said it's been
around for more than a decade.
But Li, Lawson and Hor's recent
discovery uncovered the cop-
per-doped bismuth selenide
that contains Dirac electrons, or
electrons that can outperform
regular electrons by allowing
"switches" to be up, down or
both at the same time.
Lawson compared the mate-
rial to silicon for classic com-
puters, and said it could be the
key building block for quantum
computers. Copper-doped bis-
muth selenide is considered a
topological superconductor,
meaning they conduct energy
indefinitely and have enough
energy to process classical and
quantum physics.
"That's the beauty of that
scheme," Li said.
Although Li and his team
were not the first researchers to
theorize copper-doped bismuth
selenide could contain the Dirac

your life," Derezinski said. "And
I think that is great for students
who live in this community."
While Derezinski was defeat-
ed in his run for second term on
City Council, he said he will con-
tinue to work on the initiative.
He still serves on the city's plan-
ning commission and oversees
the project development for the
ReImagine Washtenaw initia-
tive, and said he will continue to
inform councilmembers of plans
on Washtenaw Avenue.
Jim Kosteva, the University's
director of community rela-
tions, wrote in an e-mail that the
University is happily awaiting
improvements along the road.
"Although the University
does not have direct stake in the
ReImagine Washtenaw initia-
tive, we are supportive of the
improvements in mobility for
the entire community," Kosteva
wrote. "There are sustainability
benefits that we all share with
improved public transportation
and safe accommodation for
alternative modes."
Kosteva noted that the Uni-
versity is especially looking
forward to several services,
including increased bus service
in the corridor, expanded night-
time service and a park-and-ride
that will directly benefit Univer-
sity members.
"I'm confident that all of these
improvements will be used and
enjoyed by a large number of UM
faculty, students and staff who
live in this vicinity," Kosteva
wrote.
electrons needed for quantum
computation, they were the first
to actually detect them, thus
proving the theory correct.
But students shouldn't expect
to complete their CTools assign-
ments on a quantum computer
anytime soon. Lawson said stu-
dents don't interact with quan-
tum computers because they
don't yet work as efficiently as
classical computers.
Still, many students use classi-
cal computers to do complicated
calculations, which takes a long
time.
"Quantum computers hold the
promise of being able to do these
computations much faster," Law-
son said. "The technology is not
there yet, but there is a lot of
potential."
Lawson said further experi-
ments are necessary to ensure
potential topographical super-
conductors behave in ways the
initial research has shown. Fur-
ther research initiatives will
then attempt to find ways to
employ their properties in user-
friendly quantum computers.
"We are on the ground floor
of these materials," Lawson said.
"There is a long road ahead."

RACE
From Page 1A
Champions for Charity wrote
in an e-mail to Big House Big
Heart participants notifying
them of the cancellation that
it offered to yield the race to
the oversight of the Athletic
Department in exchange for use
of the stadium, but the depart-
ment was no longer interested
in holding the event.
According to the e-mail,
which was also posted on
the charity's website, Chrissi
Rawak, the senior assistant ath-
letic director for development,
and Rob ademacker, assistant
athletic director for facilities
and operation, told the char-
ity in a Nov. 30 meeting the
race doesn't fit into the Athletic
Department's plans.
The e-mail stated that
Rademacker and Rawak's deci-

sion was "based on a several
month long evaluation of. our
charitable work and relation-
ships and need to streamline
and organize those efforts."
The organizers of the race
said in the statement they were
unaware of the Athletic Depart-
ment's re-evaluation process.
They said they had agreed on
the date of the event and the
price for renting the stadium,
but were waiting for the "final
'OK"' from Brandon to open
registration, promote the race
and assist non-profits with fun-
draising.
After the race was cancelled
by the Athletic Department and
the organizers offered to hand
over control of the race, they
"made it clear how much the
race means to each participant,
volunteer, committee member
and the many charities," the
statement said.
The statement also thanked

participants and non-profit
organizations for their role in
the event's success over the
past six years and encouraged
charities to fundraise through
the 2013 Ann Arbor Marathon,
which the group also organizes.
It singled out a few key actors
in appreciation for their efforts,
including the University's ath-
letes and coaches, Ora Pescovitz,
the University's executive vice
president for medical affairs,
Timothy Slottow, the University's
chief financial officer, and Uni-
versity Provost Philip Hanlon.
"We know the extraordinary
race finish has always been
dependent on UM Athletics
allowing access to the stadium
and that priorities do change
with administration changes,"
the charity said in the state-
ment. "Our heartfelt thanks
goes out to the thousands of
people who were inspired by the
race."


MCUBED
From Page 1A
would take three hours - we
don't know that that would hold
a following for that time," John-
son said.
Johnson said she is excited
about the diversity of the topics
represented in this round's appli-
cations, noting there seemed to
be a trend of projects involving
research on sustainability and
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social networking.
"There are lots of interesting
projects (in this next round),"
Johnson said. "We're trying to
encourage people in the humani-
ties and social sciences especial-
ly to participate."
Among the array of unique
projects that faculty members
have submitted are an examina-
tion of architectural issues in

hospitals, elections in the Philip-
pines and the digital humanities,
Johnson said.
About $5 million of MCubbd's
$15 million in funding comes
from the University's Office of
the Provost, while the remain-
ing funding comes from faculty
participants and campus units,
which MCubed has divided by
academic category.

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