David 
Blaauw 
and 
Dennis 
Sylvester, 
electrical 
engineering 
and 
computer 
science 
professors 
at 
the 
University of Michigan, are 
this year’s recipients of the 
2019 Distinguished University 
Innovator Award, an honor 
given to University faculty 
who have both developed and 
marketed innovative ideas or 
technologies.
The two professors will 
be recognized on Oct. 22 
at Celebrate Invention, an 
event 
honoring 
inventions 
and 
entrepreneurship 
from 
University staff members.
Blaauw and Sylvester first 
began doing research together 
at the University in 2001, 
focusing on the development of 
low power integrated circuits. 
Blaauw said the award is an 
appreciated acknowledgement 
of the work the researchers 
have done and recognized 
students as a major factor in 
moving the research forward.
“We 
don’t 
think 
about 
awards very much,” Blaauw 
said. “It’s nice because we’ve 
been working for a long time 
together … It’s a nice milestone 
to mark, and I can reflect on all 
the work that (our) students 
have done.”

Sylvester also echoed the 
importance of students in 
transformative 
research. 
He said he has worked with 
multiple students who believe 
in a technology and have the 
ability to take it to the market. 
Though he and Blaauw play 
a role, Sylvester said, the 
students become the key driver 
in the success of the product.
“It’s a testament to the 
area of work that I’ve been 
investing a lot of my time and 
career into, Sylvester said. 
“Between David and I, we’ve 
worked with probably 100 
Ph.D. and master’s students 
over the last 15 to 16 years on 
these topics. All of them play 
a role in moving the research 
forward and eventually getting 
into commercialization and 
impact and industry.”
When they first began 
working 
together, 
Blaauw 
and Sylvester focused on 
computer-aided 
design 
which generated software to 
create computer chips. They 
later decided to design and 
build the chips themselves 
and 
have 
been 
working 
closely ever since, Sylvester 
said.

Hundreds 
of 
students, 
faculty and local community 
members gathered in Rackham 
Auditorium Friday to hear former 
United States Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice discuss life, 
career and her reflections on 
several specific points of policy. 
Rice served as Secretary of 
State under President George 
Bush from 2005 to 2009. She was 
the first Black woman to hold 
the position, after working as 
Bush’s national security advisor 
from 2001 to 2005. Currently, 
she is the Denning Professor in 
Global Business and Economy at 
the Stanford Graduate School of 
Business.
The 
event 
was 
held 
in 
conjunction with then opening 
of the Weiser Diplomacy Center. 

The 
Center 
was 
established 
with funding from University 
of Michigan Regent Ron Weiser 
(R) and his wife Eileen Weiser 
in order to institute a leading 
school of international policy in 
the Midwest. Since its launch, 
the center has been committed 
to bringing in speakers from the 
world of international diplomacy 
within a wide range of viewpoints.
University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel introduced Rice and 
pointed out her unique position 
as a figure both in the worlds of 
policy and academia.
“It would be hard to imagine 
someone 
who 
typifies 
the 
confluence 
of 
academia 
and 
international affairs better that 
Secretary 
Condoleezza 
Rice,” 
Schlissel said. “Her extraordinary 
career has furthered both, always 
fueled by her deep commitment to 
public service.” 
Rice began her undergraduate 

career as a student at the 
University of Denver with the 
intention of becoming a classical 
pianist. After attending the Aspen 
Music Festival the summer after 
her sophomore year, she realized 
she was underprepared compared 
to her classmates. As a result, 
she happened to take a course in 
international politics at the end of 
her junior year, and immediately 
felt a calling to a new career path. 
 “I wandered into my course 
at the end of my junior year in 
international politics that was 
taught by a man named Josef 
Korbel — who happened to be 
Madeleine Albright’s father,” Rice 
said. “He opened up this world of 
diplomacy to me ... and I knew all 
of a sudden what I wanted to be.” 
 
LSA 
senior 
Kate 
Westa, 
co-president of WeListen, an 
organization aimed to foster 
bipartisan 
conversation 
on 
political 
topics 
attended 
the 

event. She explained to The 
Daily that while she had always 
looked up to Rice, she specifically 
appreciated 
the 
ideological 
diversity of the speakers the 
Weiser Center brings, as it 
allowed 
her 
to 
understand 
diplomacy in a comprehensive 
way.
“I 
have 
looked 
up 
to 
Condoleezza Rice since I was 
probably 8 years old—I used to 
write to the White House about 
her,” Westa said. “I think hearing 
all aspects of the foreign services 
and everything related to foreign 
policy is very important—we’ll 
hear 
from 
former 
Secretary 
(Hillary) Clinton as well. I 
think it’s so important to hear 
the different aspects of the job 
and the different perspectives 
because there is so much going on 
in international relations.”

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, October 7, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

The Michigan Community 
Scholars Program celebrated 
its 20th anniversary at Palmer 
Commons on Friday night with a 
dinner, sing-alongs and remarks 
by community members. Over 50 
people attended the celebration. 
MCSP 
is 
a 
learning 
community founded within LSA 
in 1999, focused on community 
service and social justice. Like 
other 
living-and-learning 
environments at the University 
of Michigan, MCSP students live 
and take classes together in the 
West Quad Residence Hall. 
David Schoem, founder and 
director of MCSP, opened the 
event by welcoming everyone 
back to Ann Arbor. He explained 
he created MCSP to be a force of 
good among competing social 
tensions.
“The challenge facing MCSP, 
today and in 1999, is in the face 
of despair and violence and 
hate in the broader society, how 
can we embrace and put all our 
positive and good together in an 
educational setting?” Schoem 
said. “In a community that 

actually lives and breathes and 
learns the values of dialogue 
and diversity … this has been the 
great opportunity of MCSP.”
In 
his 
speech, 
Timothy 
McKay, LSA associate dean for 
undergraduate education, called 
MCSP one of the signature 

successes of LSA. According to 
McKay, the program exemplifies 
how 
higher 
education 
institutions 
should 
teach 
students the ability to engage in 
civic and public life. 
“The work of MCSP rests at 
the very heart of the purpose of 

liberal arts education,” McKay 
said. 
“It 
aims 
to 
cultivate 
precisely this kind of full-fledged 
participatory readiness … and it 
helps the rest of the college see 
how that might be done.”

NEWS BRIEF
Michigan Community Scholars Program 
hosts 20th anniversary celebration

Living Learning Community brings together alums from previous cohorts

CLAIRE HAO
Daily Staff Reporter

Michigan Business Women 
and Women Who Launch hosted 
a “Be a Boss” event, featuring five 
alumni from the Ross School of 
Business’s MBA program Friday 
night in Blau Hall. 
The panelists first discussed 
their backgrounds and their 
inspirations for their careers. 
Marlo Scott, an award-winning 
business leader recognized for 
innovation and a champion of 
small businesses, was inspired by 
developing a sense of community 
and spreading the depth of 
culture from her work with 
her previous company Sweet 
Revenge, a cupcake restaurant 
that paired sweets with wine and 
beer. 

Ross alumni 
share work 
experiences 
as women

BUSINESS

‘Be a Boss’ event features 
MBA graduates, who 
explain challenges in field

KRISTINA ZHENG 
For the Daily

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Community members gather to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Michigan Community Scholars Program at 
Palmer Commons Friday evening. 

“Masterpiece”
Michigan’s defense bails out 
listless offense as Wolverines 
top Iowa, 10-3, for second 
straight win.

 » Page 1B

On 
September 
30, 
U.S. 
District Court Judge David M. 
Lawson ordered the University 
of Michigan to lift previous 
punishments 
imposed 
upon 
a student accused of sexual 
misconduct. 
Previously, 
the 
accused student was found to 
have violated the University’s 
sexual misconduct policy and 
was told to either withdraw 
from the University or be 
expelled. 
According to court records, 
the 
accused 
student 
was 
found 
in 
violation 
of 
the 
sexual misconduct policy after 
having sex with an intoxicated 
freshman at a party hosted by 
his fraternity in January 2016. 

Student accused of sexual 
misconduct is no longer 
banished from campus

LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

‘U’ researchers 
receive honor 
for technology, 
development

Professors named 2019 Distinguished 
University Innovator Award recipients

Former Secretary of State talks 
foreign policy, career trajectory

Condoleezza Rice visits Rackham as part of Weiser Diplomacy Center Series

BARBARA COLLINS
Daily Staff Reporter
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, discusses her life, career and policies at Rackham Auditorium Friday morning. 

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 6
©2019 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CROSSWORD................6

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
michigandaily.com

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Follow The Daily 
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Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

U.S. District 
Court orders 
U-M to lift 
punishment 

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

JULIA FANZERES & 
MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN
Daily Staff Reporters 

See SECRETARY, Page 2A

See MCSP, Page 2A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

RESEARCH

