The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 3A
THURNAU
From Page 1A
In middle school, McNeil
developed a passion for chemis-
try. During her job in a library,
she frequently picked up science-
related books and began to devel-
op a specific interest in chemistry.
As a curious individual, she said
she thought she enjoyed the sub-
ject because it could answer the
fundamental question of why
things were the way they were.
"Just learning that concept
that everything gets its proper-
ties just from the chemistry that's
behind it - how atoms are bonded
together - is just what really kills
me," McNeil said. "Everything
can be explained just by under-
standing how the atoms connect
to each other, what they are, what
their identity is."
After completing her educa-
tion, McNeil began her research
to further understand atoms and
their properties. She specialized
in organic materials and how
their properties change when
arranged in different forma-
tions.
One of her current research
projects focuses on finding ways
to stabilize organic solar cells,
which could be used commer-
cially as efficient solar panels that
do not lose their properties over
time. Another project deals with
sensors that can detect harmful
substances in the environment
such as water pollutants.
Though she is certainly inter-
ested in finding practical purpos-
es for her research, McNeil said
she enjoys simply experimenting
with different configurations of
materials to learn what happens
and why. She said even if she fails
to develop a commercial product
through her findings, the new
understanding of the molecules
she worked will provide enough
satisfaction.
"In principle, if you change
the application, the stuff you've
learned along the way will still
be useful," she said. "So if you
want to target something else,
what we've learned about struc-
ture and how that influences how
these things assemble, the rela-
tionship between the structure
of the molecule and how it will
interact with another molecule,
learning that is independent of
the application."
McNeil's research has earned
numerous awards, such as the
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foun-
dation Teacher-Scholar Award,
the Alfred P. Sloan Research
Fellowship and the Presidential
Early Career Award in Scientists
and Engineering, for which she
met President Barack Obama.
Though research is impor-
tant to McNeil, she does not let
it distract her from being a help-
ful teacher to her students. LSA
junior Sarah Cunningham, who
took McNeil's course in Organic
Chemistry, said she appreciated
McNeil's constant effort to give
priority to teaching.
"She really takes her time to
get to know her students," Cun-
ningham said. "She's not just one
of those professors who focuses
on their research and teaching is
secondary."
Though the bulk of her teach-
ing is in a lecture setting, McNeil
does her best to retain her stu-
dents' attention and keep them
receptive. She said she "brings
order to chaos" with structured
outlines displayed at the begin-
ning of every lecture. With these
outlines, she strives to make her
lectures as clear as possible while
conveying how the topics covered
correlate with one another.
Another one of McNeil's tech-
niques is to remind students often
of how the material they learn
relates to previously covered top-
ics, as well as real world concepts.
She uses demonstrations and You-
Tube clips to bring the theories
and concepts into action. Her goal
is to help her students see "how it
all fits together."
"I'll try to use real world exam-
ples whenever possible so they
can just enjoy the fact that they're
learning something about the
world around them and not just
some abstract concepts," McNeil
said. "I try to connect it to reality
and their lives as much as pos-
sible."
This organized, thoughtful
teaching style has not gone unno-
ticedbyher colleagues inthe same
department. Chemistry Prof.
Brian Coppola, who was named
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in
2001, lauded McNeil's enthusiasm
and her genuine desire for her
students to succeed in her class.
"She is friendly and supportive
to students, while pushing them
to achieve the highest standard
of success," Coppola said. "She
doesn't simply teach students
how to take tests, but instead she
teaches people how to think about
chemistry and how to appreciate
why the discipline is so fascinat-
ing."
Students have said McNeil's
love for the topics she teaches and
for helping her students under-
stand the coursework and apply it
to their lives makes her a unique
and memorable instructor.
"You can tell she's always so
prepared for class and wants to
do her very, very best job," Cun-
ningham said. "I think she's one
of the best professors I've ever
had in this University in terms
of explaining things so well and
organizing things so well"
BUILDING
From Page 1A
be alleviated by the construction
of a new $261 million building
on Central Campus, slated for
completion in 2019. The project
was approved by the University's
Board of Regents in February.
Biology Prof. Robert Denver
said he has experienced multiple
issues due to the Kraus Build-
ing's failing infrastructure.
"I've had my lab flooded a few
times from water leaks on the
floor above me, which destroyed
equipment," he said. "Also, water
accumulating in the ceilings led
to a large mold problem that we
had recently where we had to
essentially decontaminate the
entire building."
Biology Prof. Deborah Gold-
berg said the upgrades necessary
to prepare spaces for new faculty
members have become exces-
sive.
"It's just not a modern sci-
ence building," she said. "Every
time we get a new faculty mem-
ber, we need to update their lab.
And it costs a ridiculous amount
of money just to get it ready for
somebody to do work in."
DIVESTMENT
From Page 1A
and continue to have dialogue."
LSA senior Yazan Kherallah,
the divestment chair of SAFE
- whose members wrote the
resolution with Rackham rep-
resentative Rae Scevers - was
upset by the assembly's deflec-
tion of the vote.
"We're angry," Kherallah said.
"Central Student Government
never gets this showing. Over
300 people showed up raising
concerns for how the University
invests in money."
The breakdown of the vote
to postpone the resolution was
21-15 with one abstention.
Some students held signs and
many wore pins and keffiyehs,
checkered black and white cloths
representing Palestinian nation-
alism.
However, some students who
attended opposed the resolution,
though substantially fewer made
a presence.
In the half-hour allotted for
community concerns - CSG's
public forum at meetings -
speakers traded three-minute
speeches advocating for and
against the resolution.
LSA junior Michele Freed,
Hillel chair, spoke against the
resolution, which she said would
heighten pre-existing tensions
on campus.
"I want multiple and diverse
narratives to come together
in peaceful and safe spaces on
campus," Freed said. "Where
all voices have a space and are
respected. This polarizing reso-
Goldberg said frequent issues
requiring extensive renovation
include strengthening floors
without the load-bearing capac-
ity to support equipment, electri-
cal and plumbing systems unable
to support the labs and air sys-
tems inadequately circulating air
containing the harsh chemicals
used in labs.
In addition to infrastructure
problems, the current designs of
Kraus and Ruthven keep labs iso-
lated from each other. The new
building's design will emphasize
an open-lab concept to foster a
sharing of ideas, resources and
methods by situating professors'
labs in "research neighborhoods"
based on overlapping interests.
"We don't have that serendip-
ity that comes because you run
into somebody, and all of a sud-
den you're drawing on the white-
board - there are no places to do
that," Goldberg said. "The cur-
rent buildings were designed in
a different era of science. Science
is now a much more collaborative
process."
Goldberg said the building
would not only have labs in the
new building, but there also
might be visible labs so students
and members of the public can
lution is bringing about just the
opposite."
Advocating for the resolu-
tion, LSA junior Sami Shalabi
spoke about his father's depar-
ture from Palestine following
the Six Day War in 1967 and his
belief that his time in the United
States would last no longer than
two years.
"I have been robbed of picking
pomegranates in the late sum-
mers, and swimming in the Dead
Sea from the real side," he said.
"Where is my reconnection?
Where is my birthright?"
When discussion of the divest-
ment came up on the formal
agenda, Law representative John
Lin motioned for postponement,
adding that the issue of divest-
ment is outside the scope of CSG.
LSA senior Chris Mays, an
LSA representative, echoed Lin's
sentiments.
"This is Central Student
Government. Not the United
Nations," Mays said.
Notingthe perennial nature of
this debate, he added, "We need
to bring this to a peaceful clo-
sure."
While Public Policy junior
Daniel Morales, a Public Policy
representative, acknowledged
that while some representatives
might be uncomfortable voting
on this resolution, he said post-
poning a vote would be disre-
spectful to those representatives
who wanted to speak out on the
issue.
LSA senior Tyler Mesman, an
LSA representative, said it would
be a disservice to the students
who elected the assembly to not
vote on an issue that drew so
get a glimpse of what research
looks like.
A large active-learning class-
room would'also help students
become more actively engaged in
their learning experience. Move-
able structures, group tables
instead of auditorium-style seat-
ing and technology that will
allow groups of students to share
their work with their classes
are all proposed measures to
improve the quality of teaching
and learning.
The new building will allow
these measures to be more fully
integrated with the depart-
ments that make up the Museum
of Natural History, such as the
Museums of Zoology and Pale-
ontology.
Amy Harris, director of the
Museum of Natural History,
cited the multipurpose nature of
the new building - as well as the
addition of air-conditioning - as
improvements sure to impact the
experience of museum guests.
"It'll be a fantastic and pretty
unique opportunity for muse-
um-goers not just to learn about
science and natural history, but
also to learn about the process
of research and discovery," she
said.
many to the meeting.
' "The issue was brought to us
so that we can discuss it," Mes-
man said. "We've been given the
power to vote ... we need to vote."
A representative granted
Khallerah time to speak dur-
ing debate and he implored the
assembly to vote on the resolu-
tion.
"I'm very disappointed. We're
not asking you to be the (United
Nations)," Khallerah said.
"Look at the crowd in front
of you," he added as he pointed
toward the hundreds of students
behind him as evidence that the
resolution was appropriate for
CSG.
LSA senior Suha Naj-
jar, another SAFE member, was
allotted time to speak during the
debate and decried a postpone-
ment of the vote.
"Time and time again I have
been silenced," she said. "We are
supposed to be given a platform
in this room and doors are being
shut in our face."
Throughout the meeting, LSA
sophomore Meagan Shokar, CSG
speaker, had to pound her gavel
and call for order following out-
bursts from the crowd.
A few University Police offi-
cers were present throughout
the meeting, which was delayed
by nearly an hour when CSG had
to change venues.
After the event, scores of sup-
porters of the resolution took to
the Union's steps outside to fur-
ther their efforts for divestment.
Throughout the event, students
voiced their opinions through
Twitter, using the hashtag
#UMDivest.
ENGLISH
From Page 1A
talks, and group discussions were
also facilitated among faculty and
students.
Miller, who is also the director
of undergraduate studies in the
English Department, said Tues-
day's event is only the beginning
of a broader objective to repair the
poor racial climate on campus. He
said the goal was to inform his
colleagues of the issues students
face inside the classroom and to
begin formulating solutions.
"It's a scary thing to hear
undergraduates tell you what
you're doing badly or what you
could do better in a class, espe-
cially when the stakes are as high
as they are with the issues that
were discussed today," Miller
said. "We felt like we hada choice
to either do nothing or to try to do
something."
Of the many issues addressed,
the two problems students consis-
tently brought to attention were
bias or underrepresentation of
minorities within the course cur-
riculum and poor facilitation of
classroominteraction by graduate
student instructors or professors.
Anonymous submissions from
students who had taken English
courses cited incidents in which
professors either made insensitive
comments or allowed students to
create unsafe environments.
Additionally, many submis-
sions commented on the cur-
riculum of most English classes,
saying many classes focus entire-
ly or primarily on white authors.
Participants also expressed
concern about the set of classes
required for English majors, say-
ing the classes focus on historical
periods during which minority
authors were non-existent or
lacked influence.
LSA senior Rayonna Andrews,
who identifies as Black, was one of
the English major undergraduates
to attend the discussion. She said
the English classes at the Univer-
sity often make her feel uncom-
fortable or unsafe to participate
in - a feeling that was echoed by
other minority students at Tues-
day's event.
She added that as an Inter-
group Relations facilitator, she
has seen examples of healthy dis-
cussions on difficult topics such
as race, but oftentimes observed
professors or GSIs failing to cre-
ate the proper environment and
safe space for such talks.
"Most people can't handle it,"
Andrews said. "They feel like
you're attacking them or it can
never be like this discussion we
had here. It can never be a dia-
logue type thing, it has to be like
a debate or there has to be some
type of winner or somebody has
to be belittled in the process."
The group discussion por-
tion of Tuesday's event produced
a number of possible solutions
for faculty to use. Most of the
ideas focused on creating a safe
classroom environment to bet-
ter facilitate discussion. Students
suggested that professors be more
candid in their ignorance of cer-
tain cultures and admit possible
discomfort rather than try to nav-
igate an unfamiliar culture.
Students had varying opinions
about how to deal with tokeni-
zation in the classroom. Some
argued instructors should avoid
singling out the few students of
color for "minority perspective"
since it forces an unfair burden
of representing an entire culture
without any backup. Others said
they would welcome a dialogue
with teachers to help educate
them and ease tensions. Another
idea offered was for professors
to include extra readings in their
curricula to provide historical
context so students do not have
to be the spokespeople for their
lineage.
Students also proposed
instituting "trigger-warning
announcements," which would
give students prior warning in
the course guide or syllabus that
some readings may be racially,
sexually or offensive in some
way, and would let students
know what to expect. Several
students commented that they
often felt blindsided by racial
discussions and unprepared for
such taxing dialogue, which left
them feeling unsafe for future
discussions.
Megan Sweeney, associ-
ate professor of English and
Afroamerican and African Stud-
ies, academic program director
for the English Department and
director of DAAS undergradu-
ates, said she has found many of
these solutions to be helpful in
her many classes that deal with
race, and students were able to
feel safe. She said it was impor-
tant for professors to take on the
difficult task of tackling these
issues rather than shy away from
or try to avoid them.
"The point is not to rely on
students to do the work of moni-
toring or guiding these conver-
sations but, at the same time, to
recognize that students have alot
of knowledge and experience to
draw on," she said.
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TOURISM
From Page 2A
attracts many microbrew enthu-
siasts. However, Metro Detroit
remains the area with the most
tourists due to its concerts and
sporting events.
While the spring and summer
are the most popular, the colder
seasons attracts tourists as well.
Grinnell said winter sports and
fall colors are a huge magnet for
attracting tourists.
"Not everyone has fall colors
like we do here in Michigan,"
Grinnell said.
Grinnell said that Michigan's
latest TV marketing campaign
aims to target women in their late
twenties to early forties who typi-
cally make the traveling decisions
for their families.
"Our ads are really meant to
evoke an emotion and make peo-
ple say, 'Oh I remember when I
took family vacations to Michi-
gan when I was a kid growing up
and I want my kids to have those
same experiences,' " Grinnell
said, "Or, for people who may not
have been to Michigan before, to
evoke the types of experiences
and memories that Michigan can
create."
- Daily News Editor Rachel
Premack contributed to this
report.
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