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January 08, 2016 - Image 3

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, January 8, 2016 — 3

today’s high-tech innovations:
the brain.

“I wasn’t solving the world’s

problems, and I wanted to be
closer,” Gaidica said. “I had
talked about the brain much
before at this TEDxFlint talk,
and it makes a lot of sense for an
electrical engineer. The brain
runs on electricity, and so it kind
of just became this problem that
I really wanted to get into.”

Gaidica spent the next year

traveling and writing a book
about our brain’s asymmetries,
“Left:
A
History
of
the

Hemispheres.” In his research,
he documented the history and
science of the left and right sides
of the brain and explored the
question of why individuals are
right- or left-handed.

“This is a really interesting

question, not only in humans, but
through evolution,” Gaidica said.
“It’s really kind of a mysterious
thing.”

Though
Gaidica
has
a

background
in
engineering,

image
processing,
software

and hardware, he said studying
brain asymmetries allowed him
to begin using an engineering
approach to study neuroscience.

Despite his unconventional

path to the subject, Gaidica is
currently pursuing a Ph.D. in
neuroscience
and
conducts

Parkinson’s disease research at
the University, also working as
a graduate student instructor.
Gaidica uses his coding and
engineering skills to design
3D printed devices and circuit
boards, as well as write software
to analyze the data coming out
of brain imaging and neural
recordings.

“If we can understand the

circuit behind it and what’s
changing in the circuit, that then
leads us to the therapies and the
drugs, and the interventions, the
surgeries,” Gaidica said.

Forbes described Gaidica’s

path as “eclectic,” recognizing
his hard work and diverse
achievements.
Though
he

appreciated the praise, Gaidica
emphasized it just means he
has to continue working hard to
prove himself worthy.

“These recognitions are great,

and they’re useful tools to help
motivate you,” Gaidica said.
“But it doesn’t make the work
any easier. It doesn’t change the
number of hours that you have to
put in, and that’s the stuff that I
enjoy.”

Andrej Lenert

Inspired by the efficient use

of solar energy, postdoctoral
research fellow Andrej Lenert is
working to explore clean energy.

Lenert attended the University

of Iowa as an undergraduate,
receiving a degree in mechanical
engineering.
Following

graduation, he then went on to
obtain a master’s degree and
Ph.D. in mechanical engineering
at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Although he
launched
his
educational

career with a more traditional
mechanical
engineering

curriculum, he said the program
became more interdisciplinary
as he continued his graduate
studies.

Currently,
Lenert
is
a

postdoctoral researcher at the
University, working with the
Nanoscale Transport Lab. There,
he studies energy transport
across small-length scales and
materials with structures on the
nanometer scale.

The research he conducted for

his Ph.D. paved the way for his
work at the University. At MIT,
part of his research focused on
combining solar-thermal and
photovoltaic systems to reduce
waste.

“I really kind of identified the

biggest bottleneck in terms of
efficiency in that technology,”
Lenert said. “And that was
conversion of heat as thermal
radiation into electricity.

As a student, Lenert found

himself
drawn
to
topics

involving
energy,
utilization

and environmental engineering.
He
said
his
motivation
to

pursue mechanical engineering
stemmed from his interests in
solving problems related to clean
energy.

Noting
the
importance

of
clean
energy
and
the

contemporary
challenges
of

global warming, he said the
most fascinating aspect of clean
energy is the way it bridges
complex and interdisciplinary
topics in science.

“It starts off with the solar

system. How we get sunlight
as our natural resource really
depends on the solar system and
the nature of our earth rotating,”
Lenert said. “And the length-
scales shrink all the way down
to the atomic level where we’re
trying to engineer materials that
have new properties or have
new functionality. Then, there’s
everything in between.”

Lenert is now applying to

faculty positions, hoping to
mentor aspiring scientists and
continue to contribute to the
science community through his
research and discoveries.

FORBES
From Page 1

a 2015 news release from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Though paid sick leave could

help protect workers financially
should they develop a serious
illness,
Veenstra
noted
that

paid sick leave is not mandatory
under the Affordable Care Act
or the Family Medical Leave
Act, though access to benefits
differ among some occupational
groups.

She
also
said
researchers

found
patients
without
paid

sick leave hold a much higher
personal financial burden than
those with that benefit, even
when controlling for factors such
as the patient’s income, education
level and health insurance.

To determine what constitutes

a financial burden, the study
considered
factors
such
as

whether the patient had to
borrow money, had difficulties
paying off their credit cards
or had to reduce spending on
necessities and luxuries.

Veenstra said it was not just

the fact that patients retained
their jobs that led to the reduced
financial burden; rather, it was
crucial that patients maintained
an
income
during
cancer

treatment even if they needed
time away from work.

While the colorectal cancer

is an ideal model to look at
the impact of paid sick leave
on employment and financial
outcomes for cancer patients
— due to being one of the most
common cancers among men
and women — Veenstra said the
study’s findings would apply to
patients with other cancers.

She added that she and the

other authors of this study plan to
further their research by looking
into and how other job support
benefits aside from paid sick
leave impact patients’ long-term
financial burden.

“What we are hoping to

find out in our other studies
is whether there are other job
support benefits like disability or
extended time off or other things
like that,” she said. “They may be
helpful to alleviate some of the
burden that cancer patients face.”

Regenbogen said job benefits

that aid patients with cancer
in
receiving
appropriate

chemotherapy would not only
have
significant
financial

improvements for patients, but
could also improve their clinical
outcomes.

He added that said policy

advocacy — specifically, arguing
in favor of more availability for
job benefits — and understanding
how
cancer
therapies
are

designed could also help patients
with long-term illnesses.

“Patients face a trade-off to

complete their therapy and their
ability to support their families,”
Regenbogen
said.
“Time
off

without pay may not really be
time off at all for a patient who
cannot afford to take that time
off. For a lot of patients, there
really is a clear trade-off between
ability to complete therapy and
ability to support their families.
I think a lot of patients end
up choosing to complete their
therapy, but at real harm to their
financial well-being.”

STUDY
From Page 1

wrote. “While we evaluate many
factors, this grant was awarded
to U of M on the basis of the
school’s excellence in STEM and
in preparing students for careers
of the future.”

The grant will fund a variety

of programs within the College of
Engineering and the Ross School
of Business, specifically funding
programs that promote minority
groups in STEM fields such as the
Center for Engineering Diversity
and Outreach and the BBA Black
Business Students Association.

In an interview with the Daily,

Dean
of
Engineering
David

Munson said GM has had a long
standing relationship with the
University.

“GM has been a longtime

supporter of our programs in
engineering and the University
overall,” Munson said. “We have
a big research partnership with
them and in addition they support
other aspects of our programs.”

Parker echoed this sentiment,

citing the ways GM’s relationship
with the University extends
beyond this grant.

“Our partnership with the

University of Michigan runs
deep,” she wrote. “Not only do we
actively employ UM graduates,
but we remain a dedicated partner
in research and development and
in advancing education through
hundreds of thousands of dollars
in grants over the years.”

Munson said one of the

primary programs that will
receive
funding
from
this

grant will be the Center for
Engineering
Diversity
and

Outreach,
which
supports

minority students within the
College of Engineering.

“CEDO has many different

programs,”
he
said.
“They

work on making a welcoming

climate
for
underrepresented

minority students. They work
on summer camps for students.
They are involved in helping
create
academic
success
for

underrepresented
minority

students.”

Promoting STEM education

within
minority
groups
is

important,
Munson
added,

because for the country to remain
competitive in those fields, non-
white males will need to make up
a more significant portion of the
engineering workforce.

“People realize that within

just a few decades the current
minority in the country is going
to become the majority,” Munson
said. “If we get to that point in
time and we are drawing all
of our engineering talent from
what used to be the majority,
predominantly from white males,
then we are not going to remain
economically competitive.”

Both Parker and Munson

said the industry’s future will
be improved if today’s minority
students are better supported in
the STEM fields, such as through
grants like this one.

“Encouraging
minority

students to study STEM fuels the
workforce pipeline with educated
graduates that are prepared to
compete in a global industry,”
Parker wrote.

U.S.
Rep.
Debbie
Dingell

(D–Dearborn)
tweeted
after

the announcement to laud the
University for winning the grant

Munson said Dingell is right

— the grant will increase the
number of students who graduate
with STEM degrees.

“Whether
you’re
an

unrepresented minority student
or a woman student, I think you
are probably at a little bit of a
disadvantage,” he said. “These
students are looking around the
room and feeling out of place and
may be underestimating their
abilities.

GRANT
From Page 1

form
of
mechanisms
such

as the city’s Climate Action
Plan. Ann Arbor City Council
unanimously passed the plan
in 2012, with over 80 steps to
reduce the city’s cumulative gas
emissions by 25 percent by 2025
and 90 percent by 2050.

“Our plan, in spirit and in

content, is consistent with the
aims of the Paris agreement,”
Geisler said. “The plan does not
and could not articulate, from
2025 to 2050, how exactly we
get there. But there’s a lot of big
things that have to happen not
only in the city but also, more
broadly, throughout the state.”

On the federal level, in

August 2015 President Barack
Obama and the Environmental
Protection Agency introduced
the
Clean
Energy
Plan,

which aims to reduce carbon
emissions from power plants
by 32 percent by 2030 based on
levels in 2005.

Geisler said he expects the

CEP will have a significant
impact on the CAP’s goals. The
city experienced an increase
in overall emissions between
2010 and 2015 and called for a
community effort to improve
clean
energy,
according
to

Geisler.

“Over
98
percent
of

emissions in Ann Arbor and
community-wide are beyond
the control of the municipality,
so we really need a community-
wide effort to raise awareness
and build the kind of support
that’s necessary to make sure
that we’re doing our part in
helping to meet these goals,”
he said. “There will possibly
be an improvement, though we
don’t have all the data yet and
we don’t think we’ll see a large
increase, community-wide, in
overall reduction.”

The forum also touched on

international efforts, namely
the
December
2015
United

Nations
Climate
Change

Conference
in
Paris.
The

195
nations
who
attended

conference, including the U.S.,
adopted
several
measures

that would decrease carbon
emissions in their respective
countries.

“I would suggest this mostly

happened because people have
started to seriously mobilize,”
Garfield said. “However, while
the Paris commitments are
substantially verifiable, they
are neither enforceable nor
sufficient. I’d suggest here that
we’ll only succeed in stabilizing
global temperatures if people
continue to mobilize and if local
communities continue to act on
their own.”

In terms of the University —

which currently accounts for
30 percent of the city’s carbon
emissions — Dale highlighted
recent policies and goals aimed
at promoting sustainability on
campus.

She said one of the biggest

goals the University has set, in
compliance with the Climate
Action
Plan,
is
to
reduce

greenhouse gas emissions by 25
percent of what it was in 2006
by 2025.

“Unfortunately, in 2014 we

were a little bit higher than we
were in 2006 and that is largely
because of the way the goal was
set,” she said. “The goal does
not factor in how we’ve grown
as a university. Our energy use
is going down, but we keep
growing and growing. Overall,
our usage is not decreasing as
we would like to see.”

Some
further
actions

that
will
be
implemented

by
the
University,
Dale

said,
are
expanding
the

use of cogeneration at the
University’s
central
power

plant,
establishing
a
fund

for
renewable
energy

demonstration
projects,

expanding
current
energy

reduction
programs
such

as
Planet
Blue
Energy

Management
and
seeking

additional
methods
for

greenhouse gas emissions.

FORUM
From Page 1

what would happen if Asian carp is
introduced to the Great Lakes.”

Overall, the increase in species

could be minimal, Rutherford said.
In terms of a decline, most fish spe-
cies, including walleye, rainbow
trout, gizzard shad and emerald
shiner, could be affected according
to the study, from 25 percent for
most fish species, to 37 percent for a
few plankton-eating species.

“Although the decrease is not

as bad as other people thought, or
compared to what happened in the
Illinois River, it is not that bad — but
still, it is a very bad thing, especially
for the sport and commercial fish
species,” Zhang said.

The same research team is now

working to expand their research to
predict the impact of Asian carp in
the other Great Lakes, such as Lake
Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake
Ontario. They are also working on
a study of the regional economic
impacts stemming from Asian carp
in Lake Erie.

Zhang’s research This project

was funded by the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency through the
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
and the NOAA’s Center for Spon-

CARP
From Page 2

MATT VALLIENCOURT/Daily

Mike Garfield, director of the Ecology Center, discusses how to best approach sustainability with Ann Arbor residents at
the Ann Arbor Public Library on Thursday.

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