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 ,. ° -s vr. f:<'": " 1 iT _.. ; : Y ,. + a. { a y k 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, S14 .4' I 8 3 2 1 9 9 4 3 2 8 7 9 21 3 8 17,4 11 6 2 83 3 2 7 274 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. See LASER, Page 6 COULD YOU CREATE THIS PAGE? Have a better idea? Join the Daily Design Staff! Email design@michigandaily.com for more details! HARD1 SA. *1 S I I