Every few months, the compost
bins from the University of Michi-
gan dining halls get picked clean
— not by a family of raccoons, but
by a team of researchers in the Civil
and Environmental Engineering
department.
Engineering professor Lutgarde
Raskin and her research team have
been gathering samples of food
waste from U-M students for their
research. The team is working on a
$6.8 million dollar project aiming
to develop biodigesters inspired by
cows with a goal goal to create an
efficient and cost-effective way to
extract energy from organic waste.
According to Mechanical Engi-
neering professor Steve Skerlos, a
co-investigator on the project, the
bioreactor is inspired by the cow
stomach’s efficient digestion of
tough organic materials.
“A cow just grows on grass, and
we’re kind of harnessing this bio-
inspired design, which is pretty
clever and fairly simple,” Skerlos
said.
Renisha Karki, CEE doctoral
pre-candidate on the team, says
the food waste “smoothie” is fed
to bacteria growing inside the bio-
reactor, a complex series of tubs
and tubes stacked on top of tables
in the corner of the lab. A single
eraser-sized metal box measures
the flow rate of the biogas — a mix-
ture of methane and carbon diox-
ide — produced from the system.
At the same time, Raskin’s collabo-
rators outside the University are
researching methods to convert
biogas into renewable natural gas.
Organic material is broken
down inside the bioreactor using
anaerobic digestion, meaning that
the bacteria digesting the organic
material do not need oxygen to sur-
vive, Tim Fairley-Wax, a research
lab specialist and CEE alum, said.
Fairley-Wax
said
anaerobic
technology is useful because it can
break down tougher materials like
sewage sludge or food waste. Cur-
rently, much of the organic waste
in the United States is thrown into
landfills or compost piles, where it
emits large amounts of methane
into the atmosphere as it decom-
poses.
“We’re very inefficient in deal-
ing with our waste, we just bury
and forget about it,” Kuang Zhu, a
CEE postdoctoral researcher on
the team, said.
Despite the potential usefulness
of anaerobic technology in deal-
ing with organic waste, Zhu said
anaerobic technology is not widely
implemented.
“It’s costly,” Zhu said. “It’s
expensive to build and it’s also
very demanding to operate. There
is also a slow reaction happening
within the reactor. The anaerobic
process takes days to weeks. So this
means that the organic waste just
spends a lot of time in the reactor.”
As such, Fairly-Wax said only
the wealthiest investors have the
means to implement anaerobic
technologies.
“Chevron and Exxon Mobil
have financed these anaerobic
digesters at some Michigan farms,”
Fairley-Wax said. “But right now
that technology has to be done
with a huge investor because it’s
relatively extremely expensive.”
To solve this problem, Zhu said
the group hopes to make cost-
effective anaerobic technology for
widespread use at large industrial
facilities as well as smaller opera-
tions.
“We can hopefully use this
technology (to) reduce the costs
so that smaller-scale users can uti-
lize them … for a variety of waste
streams, not limited to just waste-
water sludge,” Zhu said. “It could
be food waste, could be manure,
could be a lot of organic waste
streams.”
Raskin’s group is collaborat-
ing with researchers at Argonne
National Laboratory and North-
western University who are look-
ing into how biogas can be turned
into high-purity methane, a renew-
able natural gas that can be used to
heat homes.
Heating homes with high-
purity methane still emits carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, Sker-
los noted, making this research a
necessary “short-term win” until
a future with no greenhouse gas
emissions can be reached.
“It’s not a perfect win. A perfect
win is when you take that methane,
and you emit no carbon dioxide
to the atmosphere,” Skerlos said.
“(But) carbon dioxide has 50 times
less greenhouse gas potential than
methane.”
Meanwhile, the group said that
their first project outside the lab
is to retrofit current wastewater
treatment plants with their biore-
actor system in order to extract and
utilize energy from food waste.
Skerlos said wastewater treat-
ment accounts for roughly 4% of
the electricity used in the United
States. A large part of energy
expenditure at wastewater treat-
ment plants is on the sterilization
of the material generated while
treating the water, Pedro Puente,
a CEE doctoral candidate and a
member of Raskin’s team, added.
“The goal will be for the waste-
water treatment plants to include
food waste streams into the treat-
ment, so they can recover even
more energy,” Puente said. “They
can become energy neutral or even
generate their own electricity for
their operations.”
Skerlos said his team believes
their bioreactor can reduce costs of
treating sewage by 25% to 50%.
“What you’re getting is basi-
cally free power for the wastewa-
ter treatment,” Skerlos said. “And
you’re also creating free natural
gas that you can put in the pipeline
that you didn’t have to frack out
of the earth. You’re saving a lot of
money.”
The team at the University is
partnering with the Great Lakes
Water Authority to run a pilot
system at their water treatment
plant in Detroit. Skerlos hopes they
will have a demonstration project
launched in the next five years.
“We’re doing this with very cost-
effective technology that can be
deployed, not only in Detroit and in
industrialized rich countries, (but
also) in developing countries (or) in
very rural locations,” Skerlos said.
Zhu said he remembers being
shocked when he first learned how
waste is dealt with and empha-
sized the need for better methods
of waste disposal.
“We’re
getting
surrounded
more and more by trash,” Zhu said.
“Developing solutions to help us
have a better, more efficient man-
agement of our waste will help us
have a better relationship with our
society and our environment. So
we don’t leave this legacy to our
next generations.”
The researchers also empha-
sized the importance of recogniz-
ing the amount and type of waste
humans generate, particularly in
Ann Arbor where the collection of
waste is highly regulated.
“It’s just a matter of education
on how to separate your waste and
be responsible about it because the
waste that you generate is yours,”
Puente said. “So take advantage of
the programs that the city offers
because there are not a lot of places
that do this separate collection.”
Daily Staff Reporter Elissa Welle
can be reached at elissajw@umich.
edu.
In 2018, the U-M Ann Arbor cam-
pus launched the Go Blue Guaran-
tee program, which grants coverage
of full tuition for in-state students
whose families make $65,000 or
less. In the years since and follow-
ing student activists advocating for
its expansion, the program has been
brought to both satellite campuses
at Flint and Dearborn with an added
controversial GPA requirement,
mandating that incoming freshmen
must have a 3.5 GPA while returning
students must have a 3.0 GPA.
Recently,
however,
Schlissel
received backlash from the campus
community after releasing a survey
portraying expanded tuition assis-
tance to Flint and Dearborn as aca-
demic and financial burdens for the
Ann Arbor campus.
The University is the second-
largest provider of financial aid and
institutional grants to freshmen
among the nation’s public research
universities, offering about $256.9
million. The University budget also
saw a 6.4% increase in financial
aid allocation, about a $15.5 million
increase, according to the Record
article.
Brumfield said the University’s
recruitment efforts were adapted to
the COVID-19 pandemic world.
“From what I have learned, col-
laboration increased and partner-
ships were strengthened over the
past year as the campus united to
enroll the fall class of 2021,” Brum-
field said.
Daily Staff Reporter Navya Gupta
can be reached at itznavya@umich.
edu.
The University of Michigan Ford
School of Public Policy hosted a dis-
cussion with Dr. Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, director-general of
the World Health Organization,
on Oct. 20 in partnership with the
School of Public Health. Public
Health Dean F. Dubois Bowman
moderated the discussion, which
centered around global responses to
the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Before being elected into his
current position in 2017, Dr. Tedros
worked as Minister of Health for
Ethiopia’s federal government,
where he led a major comprehen-
sive reform of the country’s health
system, and as Minister of Foreign
Affairs, where he raised health as a
political issue globally.
Bowman
began
by
asking
Tedros how he and his team have
been able to make decisions during
the COVID-19 pandemic and in the
face of intense uncertainty.
“Public health has been politi-
cized during the pandemic in a way
we’ve never seen before,” Bowman
said. “Public health workers have
faced dangerous and life-threaten-
ing behavior.”
Tedros said health care leaders
had to ask themselves a variety of
complex questions in the face of
the pandemic, and he discussed
the questions that guide his team in
their decision-making.
“What
level
of
restrictions
should be imposed while preserv-
ing individual freedoms? How do
we allocate resources?” Tedros
said. “Many of these decisions are
made under intense pressure from
the public — the choice to invest in
primary healthcare and infrastruc-
ture, the choice to give trust to com-
munities through a strong social
contract.”
Tedros then discussed how the
politicization of public health has
led to vaccine inequity. He said
politicization does not position
COVID-19 as a common enemy,
while in reality, that is exactly what
it is.
“Politicians use the virus to
score points against their oppo-
nents and to politicize masks and
vaccination,” Tedros said. “Please
don’t politicize this, this is a com-
mon enemy; please use other things
against your opponents. Some will
follow their leaders and listen to
them saying not to wear a mask.
They will get exposed, and the virus
will continue to spread.”
Tedros emphasized the need for
vaccine equity, or equal distribu-
tion of the vaccine around the world
regardless of race or socioeconomic
status, to make sustainable change
in stopping the virus from spread-
ing and mutating. As an example to
show the inequity of the vaccine’s
distribution, he mentioned that only
5% of the entire population of Africa
is fully vaccinated.
“We are facing a two-track pan-
demic fueled by vaccine inequity,”
Tedros said. “This is economically
self-defeating, not only ethically
immoral; the longer vaccine ineq-
uity exists, the longer the virus can
mutate.”
LSA sophomore Caroline Dean
attended the talk and said she feels
strongly about the consequences
of making the pandemic a political
issue. She said she believes the loss of
lives due to COVID-19 is, at its core,
caused by the beliefs and actions pro-
moted by political leaders.
“Politicizing the COVID pan-
demic, in my opinion, is just as
bad as the pandemic itself,” Dean
said. “Now that we have a vaccine,
political incentives are doing the
killing — life and death should be
non-partisan, and if we want this
pandemic to pass with limited loss,
both sides of the political spectrum
must first acknowledge the virus
and its various scientific and public
health components.”
Daily News Contributor Chava
Makman-Levinson can be reached at
cmakman@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 — 3
Team works to develop sustainable biodigesters inspired by cows
CAMPUS LIFE
World Health Organization
director talks depoliticization of
the COVID-19 pandemic
CHAVA
MAKMAN-LEVINSON
Daily Staff Reporter
ELISSA WELLE
Daily Staff Reporter
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus discusses worldwide
vaccine inequity, recent treatment of healthcare workers
Design by Madison Grosvenor
“I congratulate the members of
the U-M Flint community on the
recent awarding of a $3.8 million
federal grant to build the Inno-
vation and Technology Center,”
Schlissel said. “This is an impor-
tant moment in the history of this
campus as it responds to the needs
of the region and the students it
serves.”
Chris Pearson, dean of the U-M
Flint College of Innovation and
Technology, gave a presentation
on the new Innovation and Tech-
nology Center. Pearson said the
new building will allow greater
interaction
and
collaboration
between U-M Flint and the greater
Flint community.
“The building … will facilitate
collaboration between academia
and community and business
partners,” Pearson said. “This new
facility will provide our students
and faculty with the resources
needed to address the global chal-
lenges of the future.”
Daily Staff Reporters Justin
O’Beirne and Julia Forrest can be
reached at justinob@umich.edu and
juforres@umich.edu.
ENROLLMENT
From Page 1
ENDOWMENT
From Page 1
University
President
Mark
Schlissel began the Oct. 21 Board of
Regents meeting by acknowledging
the survivors of former University
athletic doctor Robert Anderson,
who has been accused of over 2,000
incidents of sexual abuse.
One survivor, Jonathan Vaughn,
a former U-M running back, has
camped outside of Schlissel’s South
University residence since Oct. 8
to raise awareness of the situation
and demand accountability from
the University.He has said he will
continue to do so until Schlissel
and the Board of Regents agree to a
meeting with him.
“We’ve
heard
from
many
survivors of abuse by Dr. Robert
Anderson,”
Schlissel
said.
“We
thank them for coming forward and
sharing deeply personal and painful
stories, through public comment
sessions with investigators to news
media and demonstrations, including
the one on the Ann Arbor campus in
front of my house. The Regents and
I have heard them. We are listening
intently and encourage any survivors
to speak out.”
Following the Regents meeting,
Vaughn held a conference call outside
of Schlissel’s residence to respond
to his comments, saying Schlissel
has yet to speak directly with him
or other survivors that had been
camped outside his house for 13 days,
as of the Oct. 21 Regents meeting.
“I’ve never heard (Schlissel) speak
to any Anderson survivors,” Vaughn
said. “I was standing 100 feet from
him yesterday, I know he knew who
I was because we were standing
on the sidewalk as he was walking
toward his house, and he never spoke
a word.”
Vaughn
also
expressed
his
frustrations that Schlissel hasn’t
introduced himself to Vaughn and
other Anderson survivors.
“I’m not trying to resolve this case
in an interaction with the President
at his house. But, speak to me like
a human being — that has never
been done,” Vaughn said. “We’re
always referred to as either John
Does or victims. What would I like
him to say? How about just ‘Hello’?
Introduce yourself.”
Daily Staff Reporters Christian
Juliano and Justin O’Beirne can be
reached at julianoc@umich.edu and
justinob@umich.edu.
Schlissel responds to Anderson
survivors at Regents meeting
CHRISTIAN JULIANO &
JUSTIN O’BEIRNE
Daily Staff Reporters
Protesters outside President’s house frustrated with lack of acknowledgement
After dedicating much of his three
years at the University of Michigan
to telling his story and working
in disability advocacy, LSA senior
Vincent Pinti has been awarded this
year’s James T. Neubacher Award, a
recognition reserved for University
affiliates.
The
award
is
named
after
Neubacher, a University alum and
journalist for the Detroit Free Press,
who wrote a nationally recognized
column called “Disabled in Detroit”
shortly after he was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in 1979.
Pinti is the first undergraduate
to win in recent years and was
awarded in recognition of his work
through Central Student Government
to improve the accessibility for
students with disabilities on campus.
Students at the University have long
struggled to receive appropriate
disability
accommodations
with
their departments and Services for
Students with Disabilities, claiming
confusing
and
time-consuming
processes that hindered their ability
to receive accommodations.
After facing some challenges with
accessibility and accommodations
during his first year on campus, Pinti
dedicated himself to ensuring no
student with a disability has to suffer
through what he did. Pinti said he
has spinal-muscular atrophy, which
means he uses a wheelchair and was
born into what he called a “disabled
world.”
“I’ve always felt the need to
advocate because there are so many
people that have disabilities,but for
whatever reason might not be able to
share their lived experience and might
not be able to share the adversity that
they have to go through to get the
resources that they need,” Pinti said.
The
Neubacher
Award
is
presented annually during Disability
Community Month. The project
Pinti is being recognized for is his
work creating the Personal Assistant/
Personal Care Assistant (PA/PCA)
scholarship program.
PA/PCAs help people with chronic
illness or disabilities meet their daily
mental and physical health needs.
This scholarship, sponsored by CSG,
internally
provides
educational
funding for students working in this
field. Pinti said there is a dire need for
people working in these positions due
to understaffing in the field.
“It’s
hard
work,
oftentimes
manual labor, and there’s not a lot of
demand for it because they don’t get
compensated very much at all from
the state, so the students are going
above and beyond by doing this,” Pinti
said. “That’s why I decided to build
this scholarship.”
Pinti has also been involved
in numerous other initiatives on
campus, such as pushing for metal
straws in the dining halls, ensuring
environmental anti-plastic initiatives
don’t impact disabled students on
campus and helping design more
accessible
emergency
procedures
in campus buildings. He is also
currently working on developing a
PA/PCA database of student workers
to address the caregiver shortage in
Michigan.
“Students can play a role in this, U
of M can play a role in building this
database,” Pinti said. “So I would just
give a call to action that U of M needs
to build the PCA database now.”
Stephanie Rosen, chair of the
Council of Disability Concerns, said
the award honors those advocating on
behalf of disabled individuals just as
Neubacher did.
“He was an advocate for truth,
access for himself, and for the broader
disability communities,” Rosen said.
“This award was named in his honor,
as a memorial to his work and to
recognize work that carries on that
legacy.”
Vincent Pinti wins 2021 James T.
Neubacher Award for disability
advocacy for work on CSG
PAIGE HODDER
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior is first undergrad to recieve the recognition in recent years
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
UMich researchers convert
food waste into usable energy