hand experience.
“When listening to a TED talk,
you’re trying to live vicariously
through the speaker, and you think
about what their experience was
like, but with an adventure you
really get to live that life yourself,”
French said.
The
event
began
with
an
explanation of dabke’s origin and
importance in Arab culture, and then
participants had an opportunity to
learn a choreographed dance taught
by Arabesque choreographers —
including LSA junior Maya Youness.
The evening ended with a lively
dabke free-style in which everyone
had a chance to let loose, and have
fun.
Youness reflected on the history
of dabke, and explained how it began
long ago with everyday workers and
today has spread to the larger Arab
community.
“Dabke started out a really long
time ago with men that would be
building roofs,” Youness said. “So
they would be stopping to try to
make it flat and smooth and it kind
of took on a rhythm and became
a dance and now everyone does it
at weddings and celebrations and
things like that.”
Youness has been dancing with
Arabesque since her freshman year.
She explained she joined because
dabke combined two of her passions,
and she stayed with the organization
because it brought her friendship.
“I joined because I really like
dancing and I really like Arabic
music, so it was a good mix of the
two, and now I’m in it because all of
my best friends are in it,” Youness
said.
LSA sophomore Hala Abbas
came to the event with the hope of
getting more involved with the Arab
community on campus. She also
talked about how TEDx Adventures
is important on campus because of
its ability to bring different groups
of people together.
“They’re important to have on
campus because they bring small
communities on campus like ours,
and people on the outside are able to
see the things that we have to offer,”
Abbas said. “I hope to see bigger
turnouts in the future so that more
people can we what we have as a
culture.”
French shared these sentiments
and explained it’s hard for some
students to try something new, and
hoped TEDx Adventures could help
them do just that.
“There
aren’t
a
lot
of
opportunities to really live an
experience other than your own at
U of M — not to speak for every other
group that exists,” French said. “But
I do think that’s a really cool thing
that adventures offer is the chance
to go somewhere that you would
never be able to go without the help
of an organization on campus.”
camera that takes advantage of a
technique called adaptive optics,
whereby we try to measure the
quality of the images that we
get — say many times per second
— and then we try to quantify
the distortions in those images
based on what we think an image
without the Earth’s atmosphere
in the way would look like,”
Meyer said.
Then, the astronomers try
to bend a deformable mirror
many times per second, Meyer
explained.
Astronomers
can
adjust the shape of the mirror to
take out distortions due to the
Earth’s atmosphere.
“So, we try to build instruments
on the ground that can take
advantage of adaptive optics and
give high-resolution images at
the theoretical limit of the what
the optics can give,” he said.
“(SPHERE) is a fancy camera that
takes advantage of that adaptive
optics technique, and it takes the
highest resolution images that
one can obtain at the VLT from a
single element telescope.”
Because of its involvement
in the creation of SPHERE, the
ETH’s institute was granted
what’s called Guaranteed Time
Observations — opportunities
to use the device. It was here
Meyer and other astronomers
discovered the new exoplanet.
“You’re given, in our case,
250 nights on the telescope …
to exploit the instrument over a
period of about five years, and we
decided to reserve 200 of those
nights for an exoplanet imaging
survey called SHINE (Sphere
Infrared survey for Exoplanets),
and we’ve been working on that
for about three years, and this is
our first confirmed discovery of
a planetary mass object around a
normal star,” Meyer said.
Meyer said if he examines
the ratio of the object — the
discovered mass to the star mass
— and compares it to the distance
of the object to the star, the object
is one of only a dozen or so that
appear to be planetary mass that
are close — but not too close — to
their stars.
Currently there are thousands
of known exoplanets as the
field continues to grow. Meyer
explained,
however,
the
technique used to find this
exoplanet is unique, and more
direct, compared to others.
The radial velocity technique,
or doppler spectroscopy, Meyer
explained, uses a technique to
measure the motion of the star in
response to its associated planet.
Astronomers would measure the
velocity of the star and then infer
a planet that would induce that
kind of motion — an “indirect”
way
of
inferring
a
planet,
according to Meyer.
The transit technique is used
when a planet passes between
the astronomers on Earth and
a distant star; the light from the
star diminishes by a very small
amount — producing an eclipse,
or transit.
Meyer said the radial velocity
technique has discovered many
hundreds of planets, while the
imaging technique that he and
dozens of other astronomers have
worked on found 12. However, he
explained, many astronomers are
wanting to use this technique to
take pictures of planets.
“So we’re the up-and-coming
technique, but it gets direct
information,” Meyer said. “We
measure the light from the planet
directly and that allows us to
estimate the luminosity of the
planet and the temperature of
the planet and to some extent we
can estimate the composition of
the atmospheres in the planet by
taking spectra and analyzing the
features of different molecules of
the atmospheres of the planets;
they gave rise to different dips
and wiggles in the spectrum, and
so we can try to constrain the
compositions of the planets.”
The importance of Meyer’s
discovery is multifold in the
astronomy field. Though there
are only eight planets in our solar
system, Meyer explained, there
are thousands of exoplanets.
“The goal, ultimately, is for us
to compare the statistics of our
discoveries of planetary systems
around other stars with the
architecture of our own known
system,” Meyer said.
The newly discovered planet,
Meyer said, is many times the
mass of Jupiter and is farther
from its star than Jupiter is
from our sun. It is different from
Jupiter but in the same class of
planets of gas giant planets.
Meyer worked with several
students and postdoctoral fellows
in Europe, mentoring them in
this project. However, Meyer said
the work he did is related to the
future work he is continuing at
the University. He said his team
has access to an adaptive optics
system on a telescope of which
the University is a special partner
called the Magellan Observatory
— also located in Chile.
“So we’re excited that this
discovery happened, but we’re
hoping to pursue very similar
work with the adaptive optics
cameras
on
the
Magellan
Observatory,
which
the
(University) has preferred access
to,” Meyer said.
Right now, Meyer said, he is
working with a graduate student
and
postdoctoral
fellows
to
interpret data from the Magellan
Observatory. They are looking
for gas giant planets like Jupiter
around one of the nearest stars to
the sun, Proxima Centauri.
“In the future, we hope to do
even larger surveys with that
facility and ultimately we would
like to be involved in building the
next generation of instruments
for even larger telescopes, (like
one) called the Giant Magellan
Telescope — that’s a future
facility plan for more than 10
years from now that we would
like to be involved with,” Meyer
said.
Alexandra Greenbaum is a
postdoctoral
researcher
who
began working with Meyer in
October 2016. Though she did
not work with SPHERE, she
works
with
the
instrument
Gemini Planet Imager, which,
like SPHERE, is in the southern
hemisphere in Chile; it is also used
to provide images of extrasolar
planets. She said the missions of
teams using both instruments are
similar, with their goals of doing
a census of young stars, looking
for big planets on wide orbits.
She said one of her roles at the
University involves supporting
preparations for James Webb
Space Telescope observations;
the James Webb Space Telescope
is part of a NASA program, set to
launch in spring 2019.
In
an
email
interview,
Greenbaum
explained
new
astronomical
discoveries
contribute
to
a
better
understanding
of
the
solar
system.
“From a broad perspective,
each discovery is a new piece
of the puzzle in trying to
understand how solar systems
form and evolve,” Greenbaum
wrote. “The results of big surveys
tell us about the frequency and
broad properties of planets in
the range of the instrument’s
sensitivity.”
She added that following single
objects, with more than one
instrument, helps astronomers
understand smaller details.
Greenbaum
explained
different
methods
of
planet
detection
provide
different
information and properties of
planets. She said it is interesting
to
see
how
technological
advances shape the field for the
different methods and noted the
imaging technique focuses on
young planets, which are still hot
and bright enough to be detected.
Greenbaum
also
echoed
Meyer’s thoughts on the field
of exoplanets, saying it was an
incredible time to be an early-
career researcher in the field.
“I have always been very
excited
by
technological
advancement,”
Greenbaum
wrote. “Technology has made
leaps and bounds since the first
exoplanet
discovery.
While
JWST, the largest infrared space
telescope to date, is nearing
launch, the community is already
busy planning the next big space
telescopes
and
working
on
concepts for future, even larger
space
observatories.
Bigger,
more sensitive telescopes bring
us closer to imaging planets, like
ones in our solar system, around
the nearest stars. I’ve come into
the field after over a decade of
hard work to establish the latest
suite of imaging instruments like
SPHERE and GPI, and I get to be
a part of the next generation.”
Felicity B. Hills, a Ph.D.
student studying physics at the
University, has a background in
cosmology; she switched from
working in a cosmology lab to
working with Meyer because she
wanted more of a background
in computer science and data
science.
Though
she
hasn’t
been
studying exoplanets for long,
she emphasized the growing
potential of the field. She said
she vaguely remembers the first
exoplanet was discovered when
she was about 5 years old.
Hills said it is extremely
valuable knowing how solar
systems and planets formed to
better understand how Earth
formed. She said it is interesting
to continue making discoveries in
the field of exoplanets.
“For me it’s fascinating to really
break down in understanding,
what do we know and how do we
know it,” Hills said. “They always
say with cosmology or with astro,
‘We can’t do experiments.’ But
there’s only one universe and it
only had one start time. When
it comes to exoplanets we can
keep finding planets and we can
keep finding systems that are
unlike anything we would have
imagined. I think that’s really
cool.”
Hills said it is exciting to
discover and learn the details of
planets through direct imaging;
in the future, Hills would like to
work on pushing such technology
forward to discover smaller,
dimmer planets around brighter
stars.
Greenbaum and Hills have
worked
with
the
Magellan
Observatory
directly
and
continue to work with the data.
Hills said she and Greenbaum
observed
Proxima
Centauri,
around which an Earth-like
planet was recently discovered
orbiting. She explained that since
then,
follow-up
observations
were conducted to rule out the
existence of a gas giant planet in
the Proxima system. However,
she said, it is possible this
research missed the existence of
a planet.
“We
did
a
follow-up
observation of Proxima to rule
out the existence of a gas giant
planet, and we’re still processing
the data right now,” Hills said.
Meyer
said
students
in
astronomy and those who take
interest in the subject can take
a lot away from his and similar
discoveries. He said astronomy is
a very valuable tool for learning
about the natural world and
noted many people are interested
in learning about life in the
universe.
“Philosophically,
that’s
generally a topic people gravitate
towards,” Meyer said. “A lot of
students gain some insight into
quantitative reasoning and look
at the natural world differently
and more quantitatively once
they’ve
studied
science
like
astronomy in that context.”
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, October 2, 2017 — 3A
ROBERT BUECHLER/Daily
A band plays at the Oktoberfest block party celebration hosted by the Ann Arbor Brewing
Company in downtown Ann Arbor Saturday.
OK TOBE RFEST
$450 million in awards for
biomedical research each year.
According
to
FFMI’s
managing
director,
Connie
Chang, though FFMI is based
in the Medical School, its goal
in encouraging research in
the medical field extends to
uniting academics and overall
entrepreneurship.
“We
like
to
think
of
innovation as something that for
a long time was something that
was to the side of what regular
academia would think about,”
Chang said. “But our mission is
really to try to make innovation
and entrepreneurship more of
a natural academic behavior,
even an expected behavior.”
FFMI
executive
director
Kevin Ward, a professor of
emergency medicine, echoed
Chang’s
statements
and
explained that while navigating
the world of entrepreneurship
may
seem
risky,
FFMI
is
available to provide resources
and advice to students about
how to commercialize their
ideas.
“Innovation
and
entrepreneurship
are
very
risky, opposed to the traditional
academic mission of getting
your grants and writing your
papers,” Ward said. “But at
any point in their idea, their
innovation roadmap, it can be
something as early as a sketch
on the back of a napkin or
something really advanced, our
program will have something
to offer them to bring value and
get them moving faster.”
Event host Daniel Orringer,
an
assistant
professor
of
neurological surgery, explained
how the process for creating a
successful medical device starts
with identifying an unmet need.
Following panelists discussed
how to take that idea from
realizing a need for a device to
producing that innovation and
commercializing it.
Panelists
highlighted
the
theme
that
medical
device
innovation
involves
more
people than just those in the
medical field. Creation of a
device itself involves engineers
and medical professionals.
“A medical device if you think
about it is one part engineering,
it’s one part clinical,” Chang
said. “You have to actually have
a technology that’s going to
actually create value or solve a
problem that people care about,
and those people are patients,
and providers, and doctors, and
nurses and so on.”
One
such
partnership
representing a union between
engineering and medicine is
the teamwork of postdoctoral
researcher Yang Liu and Jeff
Plott, a doctoral candidate in
mechanical engineering.
Liu and Plott created a device
which quickly reaches brain
clots and removes them without
causing further complications.
They submitted their medical
device for the poster showcase
and received first place.
Plott said the duo worked
closely
with
doctors
from
Michigan Medicine to create
this device. He elaborated that
he enjoys using his engineering
background
to
make
innovations in the medical
field.
“I like being able to put what
we
learned
in
engineering
school to use to design products
that directly help people,” Plott
said.
His interest in combining
engineering
with
medicine
captures
Chang’s
point:
medical
device
innovation
involves more than just medical
professionals.
Members of FFMI wanted
to
emphasize
that
beyond
engineering
and
medicine,
medical device innovation can
capture many other interests.
Organizers of the event hoped
to unite multiple disciplines
beyond the partnered schools
to the University.
FFMI emphasized how the
event was intended for all
members
of
the
University
community
and
how
their
work involves everyone from
undergraduates
who
have
bright ideas to senior faculty
members who have started
companies.
“The
problems
are
so
complex that no one person can
solve them, so some of the most
exciting technologies are these
collaborations across schools
and disciplines,” Ward said.
“The language of innovation
of entrepreneurship is sort of
uniting.”
MEDICINE
From Page 1A
DANCE
From Page 1A
PROFESSOR
From Page 1A
Our mission
is really to
try to make
innovation and
entrepreneurship
more of a natural
academic behavior