Wednesday, June 17, 1992 - The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly -15
Research and
education join
forces at '
by Hope Calati
Daily Staff Reporter
While the debate between research
and education rages on college cam-
puses,sorneUniversity facultymembers
have discovered ways to harness re-
search for education.
Projects range from studies of drug
abuse to environmental research. Re-
search efforts earned more than $324
million in 1991, according to the 1991
ResearchReport tothe Boardof Regents
from the Vice President for Research
William Kelly.
The money is spread among all
majorUniversity units, with the School
of Medicine and the College of Engi-
neering receiving the largest proportion.
Most of the money came from the fed-
eral Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) and the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF).
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space
Sciences Prof.Perry Samson's research
project will provide students with an
opportunity to directly interact with
University research. Samson is re-
working the Weather Underground
where terminals around the world will
have access to weather updates in real
time through the Michigan Terminal
System and the computer internet this
fall.
The NSF is funding this project
with the goal that this system will be
available to all secondary school stu-
dents in Michigan.
Samson said in order to receive
funding: "Come up with an idea you
think is good." He continued, "It is
partly amatterof doing yourhomework
and finding out what is important in
society: the environment and educa-
tion."
Samson is also researching ways to
deal with the problem of air pollution.
He is conducting a major study on air
pollution in Atlanta, Ga. to discover
how complex photo-chemical interac-
tions may lead to higher ozone levels.
The research focuses residential
emission of pollutants and greenhouse
gasses into the urban environment. The
project also involves testing computer
simulations of environmental activity.
The Georgia Institute of Technology is
funding $648,000 over a 17-month pe-
riod.
"You don't just do what they want.
You do what you do best and tailor it to
what they need most," Samson said.
Pharmacology researcher James
Woods received $750,000 from H1S
over three years to "evaluate the abuse
liability of drugs - opiates in particu-
lar ... If a drug is likely to be evaluated
in humans, we will evaluate it first to
see if it will be abused in humans."
Woods teaches medical students,
dental students and pharmacy graduate
students.
He said although he rarely incor-
porates his research into his teaching,
all kinds of students have access to his
research.
"The information is published in-
formation. They are free to read it at any
time," Woods said.
Margaret Creger, director of the
Great Lakes Trade Adjustment Assis-
tance Center, said this Business Ad-
ministration program offers students
experience in business, economics and
publicpolicy. "It gives themaflavor for
smaller manufacturing concerns."
$33 billion
and change
I was watching "Lifestyles of the
Rich and Famous" last week with
one of my housemates.
"Do you know the Sultan of
Brunei?" he asked. "It says he's got
$33 billion."
" watchinge
"Lifestyles" as
much as any-
f body With the
14 small amount of
TV I've been
watching lately,
E I could probably
find something
better, but
what'sonat6:30
on a Saturday
anyway?
People - myself included -
find it interesting to marvel in the
accumulated wealth of people like
the Sultan. But rarely do people stop
and consider exactly how much
money we're talking about.
The Sultan ofBruneiis worthS33
billion. That means he could give
five bucks and change to everybody
in the whole wide world, and still
come away with over $5 billion in
chumpechage.
Maybe it'sjustme, but that seems
a little bit off. I'm sure the Sultan
worked hard for his money, but still.
Sure, it's easy to sit and watch
this show and see such philanthropic
people as Adnan Khashoggi flaunt
their wealth in Middle East palaces
laden with solid gold ceilings and
marble floors.Itallowsmany todream
of that day in the future when they
might hit the lottery, or cash in on a
rally of porkbellies.
But all I can see in those palaces
ishowmanytents,refrigeratorboxes,
and makeshift newspaper domes
could fit inside.
I'm not saying someone should
take all of the Sultan 's money away
andgiveittothe peasants.Thatwould
be a nice gesture, but we both know
it isn't going to happen.
Abetterexamplecomesrighthre
at home. I've heard statisticsthrown
around for years about the distribu-
tion of wealth in America. Anyway,
it goes like this: the richest t perent
of people here control some ridicu-
lousproportionof America'swealth.
Some people say taxes on the richr
have to go up. Maybe. There have
been thousandsof"solutions"thrown
around to fix the distribution of
wealth.
But it'snot amoney problem.It's
an attitude problem. The very notion
of The American Dream deals with
getting enough money to be able to
exploit the very people who exploited
you before you had the money.
The attitude is a mixture of the
greed and power, combined with
conspicuousconsumptionand waste.
Why do people watch "Lifestyles?"
Because one day many people want
to be as rich and powerful as the
Sultan-and be able to show it off to
the neighbors.
But moderation has never been
an American characteristic.Untilthat
changes, the distributionof wealth in
America will never change.
Even Robin Leach would prob-
ably agree with that.
Gays bash back
About 20 people gathered outside the Nectarine dance club to protest what
they said is a recent increase in the incidents of gay bashing and alleged
mistreatment of gay employees.
Police brutality
Monday evening, a small group of
people concerned about police
brutality gathered at the Salvation
City site to listen to former Black
Panther Michael Zinzun.
A member of the Los Angeles
Coalition Against Police Abuse,
Zinzun spoke extensively about the
recent riots in Los Angeles, and how
they relate to Ann Arbor.
y