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TOMORROW
University
researchers lauded
for work in science
and energy
By CAMY METWALLY
Daily Staff Reporter
While developments in science
and technology often appear in
news headlines or take place in
a lab seemingly a world away,
many examples of innovation
can also be seen here on campus.
Two members of the University
community were recognized for
their contributions to the science
community in the Forbes 30 Under
30 List earlier this week, both with
somewhat unorthodox paths to
their accomplishments.
Matt Gaidica
The brain may not differ too
greatly from an electrical circuit,
according to Rackham student
Matt Gaidica, a neuroscience Ph.D.
candidate.
Gaidica’s
previous
formal education in electrical
engineering inspired him to view
the brain in a new light, guiding his
current study in neuroscience.
Surrounded
by
companies
like Google and Apple in the hills
of San Francisco, Gaidica and
his best friend quickly joined
the innovative startup culture
associated with the Bay Area.
After receiving an undergraduate
degree in electrical engineering
from Kettering University, Gaidica
co-founded
a
small
software
company called Landr, which
developed an application that
altered media to make it work
on all devices. Through this
experience, he gained experience
in image analysis and software,
as
the
application
pioneered
innovative techniques for viewing
media on mobile devices. He and
his partner took the business to
Silicon Valley, where it evolved
into a technology that is now built
into other products used by CNN,
Craigslist, Airbnb, NHL and the
U.S. Army.
Following the sale of Landr,
Gaidica began working on another
startup — Syllabuster — which
focused on providing students
with more information about
their courses and connections
within the class. However, Gaidica
resigned
shortly
after
from
Syllabuster due to feeling like he
wasn’t contributing to society in a
way he wanted.
With the Pacific Ocean and
rising mountains growing smaller
in his rearview mirror, Gaidica
drove back to Michigan to begin
the next chapter of his life. As
an electrical engineer and coder,
he shifted gears, pondering the
functions of a kind of circuit that
existed before the development of
‘U’ study finds
financial burden can
impact treatment
effectiveness
By ALEXA ST. JOHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Only 55 percent of patients
employed at the time of a
medical diagnosis kept their
jobs after treatment ended,
according to the survey of
cancer patients conducted by
University reserachers.
The study, funded by the
American
Cancer
Society,
found that those who had paid
sick leave during treatment
were almost twice as likely
to keep their jobs than those
without paid sick leave. The
study focused on more than
1,300 patients with stage three
colorectal cancer, or cancer of
the colon or rectum.
Ultimately,
the
study
concluded
that
the
overall
financial burden for cancer
patients is greater for those
working
without
paid
sick
leave.
Surgery
Professor
Scott
Regenbogen, a co-author of the
study, said the most important
finding of the study was that
a patient’s ability to retain
their jobs and avoid personal
financial
burden
during
treatment was closely related to
the availability of job benefits.
“We know that both of those
things — retaining a job and
avoiding financial burden — are
also predictive of their ability
to
complete
their
therapy
successfully,
and
the
best
outcome from that therapy,”
Regenbogen said.
Christine Veenstra, clinical
lecturer in Internal Medicine
and
another
co-author
of
the study, said for working
patients, a cancer diagnosis
and subsequent treatment can
cause an additional burden of
having to take time off of work,
resulting in lost income or
employment.
“We
hypothesized
that
paid sick leave might reduce
patients’ need to take unpaid
time off of work while they are
getting cancer treatment and
might also help them retain
their jobs and reduce the
financial burden that they face
when they’re going through the
cancer treatment,” she said.
About 39 percent of American
workers do not have access to
paid sick leave, according to
General Motors
gives $230,000 to
support minority
representation
By LYDIA MURRAY
Daily Staff Reporter
In an effort to expand science,
technology,
engineering,
mathematics and business degrees,
as well as promote diversity,
the General Motors Foundation
awarded the University a $230,000
grant in December.
Jackie Parker, president of the
GM Foundation and director of GM
Global Philanthropy and Corporate
Giving,
wrote
in
an
e-mail
interview that the University was
chosen because of the high quality
of its STEM programs.
The Ross School of Business
was ranked by U.S. News as the
fourth best undergraduate business
school in the nation, and the
College of Engineering ranks sixth.
Rankings for science and math are
unavailable.
“The grant is intended as a
philanthropic effort to increase
access to excellent curriculum
and opportunities in STEM,” she
State rep. and
University profs.
talk firearm laws
and safety, health
By LYDIA MURRAY
Daily Staff Reporter
On Monday, President Barack
Obamaannounced
a
series
of executive actions that will
close loopholes in existing gun
regulation, moving beyond what
many state’s laws, including those
in Michigan, enforce.
Under the executive action,
proxy-business
private
sellers
now must use background checks
before selling firearms.
The original clause allowing
those sellers to skip background
checks
was
intended
for
individuals who are not selling
guns as a business and only sell
a few times in their lifetimes,
but it has since been used by
many groups of for-profit sellers
using proxy-businesses, such as
individuals who sell firearms at
gun shows.
The move was criticized by
several prominent gun rights
groups on the grounds that it
encroached on their rights. In a
statement Monday, Chris Cox,
executive director of the National
Rifle Association’s Institute for
Legislative Action, said the action
harassed and intimidated gun
owners.
“The
timing
of
this
announcement, in the eighth
and final year of his presidency,
demonstrates not only political
exploitation but a fundamental
lack of seriousness,” the statement
read. “The proposed executive
actions are ripe for abuse by the
Obama Administration, which
has made no secret of its contempt
for the Second Amendment.”
Law Prof. Julian Mortenson
said criticisms that the action
infringes on Second Amendment
rights are misfounded due to the
Supreme Court case District of
Columbia v. Heller. Heller upheld
Second Amendment rights for
individual owners, but included a
clause limiting the use of firearms
Clean Energy Plan
could impact city’s
push to reduce gas
emissions
By TANYA MADHANI
Daily Staff Reporter
The Ann Arbor District
Library hosted the first of
four planned public forums
focusing
on
sustainability
measures taken by the city
and the University Thursday
evening.
The forum, titled “Climate
and
Energy,”
featured
presentations by University
sustainability
representative
Anya Dale, Nathan Geisler, the
Ann Arbor Energy Programs
Analyst,
Wayne
Appleyard,
chair of the Ann Arbor Energy
Commission and Sean Reed,
Executive
Director
of
the
Clean Energy Coalition
Mike
Garfield,
executive
director of the Ecology Center,
introduced
the
forum
by
detailing the history of climate
change activism in the country
and the political challenges
that scientists and proponents
of clean energy have faced.
“But in the last five to six
years,
something
else
has
begun to happen and it gives
me a lot of hope,” he said.
“First, very slowly and then
increasingly
fast,
ordinary
people
around
the
world
have stood up and demanded
action.”
Garfield
said
the
development
of
local
and
independent solutions to create
a clean energy environment
has led to increased civilian
and
community
support
globally.
“In
short,
a
remarkable
global movement has emerged
to call for a clean energy future
before it’s too late,” he said.
In
Ann
Arbor,
those
solutions
have
taken
the
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Cecil S. Giscombe, writer and English professor at the University of California, Berkeley, reads poems from his books at the University of Michigan
Museum of Art on Thursday.
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Wayne Appleyard, chair of the Ann Arbor Energy Commission, discusses how to best approach sustainability with
Ann Arbor residents at the Ann Arbor Public Library Thursday.
See GUNS, Page 2
See FORBES, Page 3
See GRANT, Page 3
See STUDY, Page 3
See FORUM, Page 3
‘U’ scholars
featured in
Forbes 30
under 30
University to
receive grant
for STEM
departments
Without paid
leave, patients
further strained
Forum highlights federal,
local sustainability efforts
Exec. order to expand gun
requirements in Michigan
ACADEMICS
GOVERNMENT
RESEARCH
PHILANTHROPY
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 48
©2016 The Michigan Daily
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