1 ~ Thursday, May 23, 2013
10 1 Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
In postseason, Driesenga emerges as Michigan's ace
31
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
By ERIN LENNON of the Week five times. The left- playing time. Her ERA was a full
Daily Sports Writer hander's performance aided the run higher at 2.58.
No. 7 Michigan softball team to a A natural pick for the Big Ten
This was supposed to be Haylie regional final - in which she won first team last year, Wagner was
Wagner's stage. all three games - and earned her named to the all-conference sec-
Nearly four months ago, the- Big Ten Freshman and Pitcher of and team this year.
sophomore left hander, Wagner, the Year honors. Enter sophomore right-hander
was named to the selected to the And with four years experi- Sara Driesenga.
2013 USA Softball National Colle- ence dating back to high school An ace on nearly any other
giate Player of the Year preseason with sophomore catcher Lauren pitching staff, Driesenga was No.
watch list as one of eight sopho- Sweet, Wagner was supposed to 2 in Michigan's 1-2-punch in the
mores and the sole Big Ten player be lights-out. circle during the duo's freshman
represented. But plagued by a back injury, season. She started 42 games,
In her freshman season, Wag- Wagner did not make her season but split time between designat-
ner won 32 games and threw 28 debut until the Wolverines' third ed hitter and pitcher. Driesenga
complete games - for the third trip to Florida - 22 games into pitched in 28 games and started
highest winning percentage in the season - during non-con- 23 during the regular season with
program history - and appeared ference play. Wagner made just a 2.53 ERA and a 9-10 record last
in a record-setting 50 games as 27 appearances and started just year.
a pitcher with a 1.53 ERA. Wag- 20, while allowing 11 home runs This year, Driesenga has had
ner was named Big Ten Pitcher and only 80 fewer hits in half the more opportunities to pitch. And
she's reaping the benefits.
In the absence of Wagner,
As University of Michigan A/umni Driesenga contributed her first
We've been supporting theD
UM Community since 1939... career no-hitter and double-dig-
it complete games. During that
time, Driesenga was instructed to
be a leader and, more importantly,
to pitch well enough for the high-
-- By Appointment -.-- powered offense to score enough
304 1/2S. STATE ST. to win games.
Above Ben & Jerry's "Like coach said, I needed to
734 668 9329 ;j step up," Driesenga said after her
-- --no-hitter against Hofstra on Feb.
WWWDASCOLABARBERS.COM 23. "My job isto keep runners off-
WALK-INS WELCOME! base. Each person has a part to
play, and that's my contribution
to this team. We're all about the
WEU W UEUSE win. Whether we get that or not,
j j jajM everybody has to do their part."
The sophomore finished the
Transportation
summit discusses
future of vehicles
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Sophomore right-hander Sara Driesenga pitched 21 consecutive innings in the first
round of the NCAA Tournament last weekend and will be called upon this weekend.
UMTRI announces
construction of new
research center
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
Last week was busy for the
University's Transportation
Research Institute, which
announced the creation of the
MichiganMobilityTransformation
Center in the midst of its three-
day long symposium on connected
vehicles and infrastructure.
The conference discussed a
wide range of topics, including
the environment, mass transit,
energy and other issues involved
in making cars and the streets they
drive on safer, more efficient and
more practical.
Francine Romine, UMTRI's
director of marketing and com-
munications, said the event, held
at the Rackham Graduate School,
was incredibly productive.
"The conference was an amazing
success. We had over 200 people
from around the world that came
together to talk specifically about
connected vehicle and infrastruc-
ture technology," Romine said.
Stephen Forrest,the University's
vice president for research, said
the MTC will engage with students
from all kinds of educational
backgrounds.
"It stretches all the way from
information technology, energy
technology to policy and so on,"
Forrest said. "It's very, very
interdisciplinary and we expect to
have lots of students working on
the research projects that will be
coming out of the center."
Forrest said a hypothetical proj-
ect of the MTC could be develop-
ing a system to actively reroute
drivers to less trafficked routes.
Such a program would require
information from cars and streets
to be shared in real-time, but could
potentially reduce time spent in
traffic, make driving more efficient
and driving conditions safer.
Forrest added that the historical
dominance that Michigan,
particularly in the southeast, has
had in the automobile business.
The ideas and potential changes
that accompany connected
vehicles and infrastructure can
substantially change a system that
has existed for roughly the past
century, and this is an opportunity
to take charge in pursuing the
future of transportation.
About 140 people, including
staff and researchers, work at the
UMTRI with anywhere from 15
to 30 students working there as
well, depending on the semester.
Romine said the institute also
works with students from the Col-
lege of Engineering, the Taubman
College of Architecture and Urban
Planning and other schools and
colleges on specific projects.
Despite the more than 100
students and staff working within
UMTRI, and the importance of the
work it produces, Romine noted its
low profile, which she attributed to
its nondescript locale, tucked away
on North Campus.
"We sit over on Baxter Road in
this 1960s-era poured concrete
building and I don't think most
people know that some of the
most significant milestones in
transportation safety have come
out of here," she said, noting that
the UMTRI's research excellence
spans back to its 1960s seatbelt
research.
MAKLENE LAASSLE/aily
Rackham students prepare in the gowning room to process semiconductors within the Nanofabrication Research Facility.
''researchers fash ion
energy- efidcient laser
Work opens new Bhattacharya said the polariton say they occupy the seats in the
laser will spark more development lowest rows and then they are
possibilities for in the field, and the fact that he filled up and they go to the highest
and his team were the first to seat," Bhattacharya said. "Well
developments in create one is "a big deal." here, some of these polaritons,
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season as one of the Wolverines'
most reliable presences on the
field. Driesenga won 29 of 35
decisions with a 1.69 ERA. She
recorded 221 strikeouts in 226
innings pitched, including 23
complete games and seven shut-
outs - a year worth a second
first-team all-Big Ten honor and
one that put the ball in her hand
come playoffs.
Headed into the Big Ten tour-
nament, the question of who to
start in each single-game match-
up was still in the air, according
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins.
"Both of those girls are capable
of greatness, so I expect both of
them to pitch," Hutchins said.
"We don't have a set starter. At
game time, that's who we're going
with."
In the first inning of the Big
Ten tournament semifinal against
Wisconsin, Wagner allowed two
runs before loading the bases. A
home run to a Badger's pinch hit-
ter put the Wolverines in a 6-0
hole, effectively sealing a loss and
an early trip home from Lincoln,
Neb. Wagner was relieved by Dri-
esenga after the first inning.
It seems it was an inning
Hutchins has not yet forgotten.
Wagner has not stepped on the
field since.
Driesenga started all bthree
games of the regional final last
weekend, pitching 21 consecutive
innings and two straight match-
ups with No. 18 California. The
right-hander struck out 19 and
threw two shutouts in the week-
end en route to a super regional
berth for the Wolverines.
"We battled through it and
again behind the effort of Sara
in particular on the mound,"
Hutchins said after Sunday's 3-1
victory over Cal. "And I didn't
think she had her best stuff, but
she had her heart and that was
the most important thing we
needed. She was determined to
get it done."
Driesenga is expected to be the
starter on Friday when the Wol-
verines take on No. 21 Louisiana-
Laffayette in the best-of-three
super regional. In her first start
against the Ragin' Cajuns, Dri-
esenga pitched a complete game
and allowed one unearned run
in Michigan's 3-1 victory. As the
new-found star of the Michigan
defense, Driesenga may prove the
key in a potential first appearance
in the Women's College World
Series since 2005.
consumer electronics
By WILL GREENBERG
Daily StaffReporter
A University engineering proj-
ect has successfully demonstrated
the first polariton laser.
The laser is powered by
electricity, rather than light, and
has proven to be far more energy-
efficient than conventional lasers. It
has the potential to be used in areas
where lasers are currently housed
- including optical communication
for wired Internet. Because of
its ability to modulate, project
could make lasers useful in future
developments in the consumer
electronics field, a University press
release reported.
Engineering Prof. Pallab Bhat-
tacharya led a group of four stu-
dents working on the project. The
group has worked on the proj-
ect since September 2009, and
achieved their first successful test
in the summer of 2012 before pub-
lishing their paper in the fall.
"I think this is another
completely new kind of a coherent
light source with electric
injection," Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya discussed the
significance of the polariton laser,
saying the energy needed to power
the laser was "three orders of mag-
nitude lower than the conventional
laser." Though he's a "physicist at
heart," he hopes to see more engi-
neers get involved in the field to
achieve practical uses for the laser.
Although the laser cannot be
currently used for high power
applications, Bhattacharya said
there is a "multitude" of low
power applications, including
low power switches and low
power amplifiers, each requiring
a significantly lower input energy
than conventional lasers.
Bhattacharya explained that
the polariton laser is so efficient
because it requires a fewer number
of polaritons, and they are all able to
occupythesame energystate,called
degeneracy, takingup less room.
"Imagine in the football
stadium: As people come in, let's
they can all fit in the lowest level."
These grouped polaritons
then form a condensate, which is
coherent and emits coherent light
like a laser, Bhattacharya added.
The project reached its major
breakthrough with the implemen-
tation of a magnetic field, which
allowed the laser to work properly.
Rackham student Allan Xiao,
one of the students working on
the project, said even though the
laser is in its "infancy stage," it's
still a significant breakthrough in
laser technology.
"Although our device is only a
prototype which requires some
external means such as low
temperature and an external
magnetic field to help it operate it
is the first polariton laser that does
not require optical pumping with
another laser," Xiao said.
Both Bhattacharya and
Xiao said though it's currently
hard to tell the exact future
implications of the polariton laser,
it has reinvigorated the previously
stagnant field.
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