DEI
Climate Survey
results session
What progress has been made around the climate at U-M over
the last five years? Join us as we discuss the findings of our latest
university-wide climate survey from 2021.
RSVP to attend: myumi.ch/M9293
IN-PERSON SESSION:
Tuesday, Sept. 27 | 8:30-10 am
Michigan Union, Rogel Ballroom
Open to all students, faculty & staff
The session will also be livestreamed, recorded and
posted on the DEI website.
The
University
of
Michigan
Central
Student
Government
convened
Tuesday
evening
in
the Michigan Union’s Wolverine
Room to discuss the Executive
Committee’s plans for the fall
semester and CSG’s solidarity with
U-M nurses.
CSG President Noah Zimmerman,
an LSA senior, said he and CSG
vice president Jacqueline Hillman,
an LSA senior, are committed to
improving student life and presented
seven policymaking categories the
committee aims to focus on: sexual
misconduct
prevention,
campus
community, streamlining services,
lowering barriers for accessibility,
anti-racism,
sustainable
campus
and making sure the University is an
affordable place.
“So our administration has really
boiled down to trying to do direct-
to-student programming as much as
possible and trying to just improve
students’
lives
through
small
but effective policymaking and
programs and events,” Zimmerman
said.
Zimmerman
said
the
administration wants to roll out
orders and make progress on larger
projects such as wellbeing days,
dedicating
spaces
for
disabled
students and streamlining existing
services.
“(One
directive
a
week)
is
difficult, so we’re doing our best,”
Zimmerman said. “We expect a
lot of our executive team, and we
hope we can live up to it. We’re
also hoping to complete a lot of the
action items that we’ve had on our
campaign platform. That’s what
students elected us to do so we’re
hoping that we’re able to make a
difference.”
Following
the
presentation,
LSA
senior
Kareem
Rifai,
communications
director,
urged
members to use the communications
request form to submit material to
CSG social media outlets.
“I’ve
been
doing
interviews
on behalf of the CSG cabinet and
also trying to get the social media
running for fall, and I’m building
my team now,” Rifai said. “Our
capacities are getting widened, so
feel free to use the communications
request form. It’s there for us to use,
and I’m excited for the rest of the
semester.”
The assembly also discussed a
resolution in support of the Michigan
Nurses Association introduced by
CSG Speaker Karthik Pasupula,
an LSA sophomore. The nurses of
University of Michigan Professional
Nurse Council (UMPNC) authorized
a work stoppage in protest of the
University’s allegedly disingenuous
negotiations over a new contract.
The resolution authorizes CSG
to sign the petition in support of the
nurses, promises CSG will promote
picket lines and other solidarity
actions on its social media and says
CSG will post guides on how to safely
picket if a picket line does form. The
resolution
passed
unanimously,
confirming CSG’s support for the
UMPNC nurses.
LSA sophomore Jacob Amspaugh
also submitted a resolution for the
assembly to consider. He called for
the creation of an Internship and
Mentorship Program to create more
opportunities for students to get
involved with CSG. The resolution
states students can apply for an
internship at CSG and be mentored
by an assembly member. Interns
have the opportunity to receive
need-based compensation for at
most five hours of CSG work. This
resolution passed unanimously.
For nominations, Law School
student Tyler Watt was nominated
as Student General Counsel by the
Executive Nominations Committee.
The nomination was submitted
to
the
assembly
for
further
consideration.
Zimmerman
strongly
recommended Watt for the position,
citing his experience in student
government at the University.
“(Tyler)
has
a
humongous
background of student government
on Michigan’s campus, and someone
who would be better qualified for
the position would be very difficult
to find,” Zimmerman said.
It’s not unheard of for Michigan
football-goers to have experienced
questionable ticket exchanges and,
among the worst of cases, ticket
scams. To address this phenomenon,
four U-M undergraduate students
recently
launched
a
platform
called DealDog, designed for U-M
community
members
to
trade
football tickets without fear of being
scammed.
Many students eager to attend
sporting events search for tickets on
various platforms, such as GroupMe,
Craigslist and the Facebook group
“Buying and Selling Tickets UMich.”
These methods can potentially leave
people vulnerable to ticket scams,
where students send money to a
seller but never receive their ticket.
DealDog was first launched at
the beginning of September by LSA
seniors Elizabeth Loeher and Noam
Jacobovitz, Business senior Dolan
Dworak and recent U-M alum Josh
Siegel. Their goal was simple: create
a platform where tickets could be
exchanged simply and securely.
“We realized that there is no
centralized organized place for
students to buy and sell items,”
Loeher said. “There’s so many items
that students need specifically that
the rest of the general population
doesn’t and there’s no app or
anything
that’s
even
remotely
organized for that.”
Jacobovitz said a goal for their
platform was to cater the app
towards college students, something
current buying and selling platforms
do not achieve.
“All these platforms, they’re not
really targeted to college students,
and so there’s a lot of clutter that gets
in the way,” Jacobovitz said.
Loeher said the app prevents
scams by requiring all users to be
verified as U-M students prior to
making a purchase on the platform.
She said the platform has been in
the works for two years, but only
became an app this semester when it
launched on Sept. 1.
“We had a lot of organizational
meetings on and off throughout the
last few years but we really started
putting in the work and grinding
over the summer,” Loeher said.
Siegel said being in school full
time made the process of developing
the app and creating the business
more difficult.
“The biggest challenge is just
really taking the time to sit down
and grind for it,” Siegel said. “It’s
always great having an actual idea,
but without actual implementation
and just taking time, the effort to
sit down and actually do what’s
necessary is the real undertaking.”
In just the first few weeks since
the launch, Dworak said the initial
success of their platform was more
than they were expecting.
“At present, we have around 700
verified students, half of which use
the app daily, so that’s around 350,”
Dworak said. “We’ve processed
nearly 6000 (dollars) in tickets, so
that means $6,000 worth of tickets
have been sold between other users.”
University
of
Michigan
researchers
published
a
study
in
late
August
documenting
the effectiveness of their newly
developed
durable
disinfectant
coating.
The
disinfectant
kills
99.9%
of
microbes,
including
after durability tests, such as UV
exposure and continuous abrasion.
U-M alum Abhishek Dhyani,
a member of the research team,
said this new formula retains
the
advantages
of
typical
disinfectants, but also adds the
element of longevity to maximize
effectiveness.
“Today, what we do is we use
disinfectants, which are very good
at killing bacteria and viruses, but
they only last for a short period
of
time,”
Dhyani
said.
“They
essentially evaporate in minutes
after performing their function
which necessitates the reapplication
of disinfection. … What we have
developed is a coating that brings
the best of both worlds — so it’s
instant, it acts within minutes and
it is also persistent and durable.”
Rackham
student
Taylor
Repetto, another member of the
research team, explained the team’s
durability and effectiveness testing
process. She said after selecting the
microbes they sought to eliminate,
the team tested how well different
formulas could withstand continual
exposure to these pathogens.
“We
wanted
to
test
these
surfaces
against
a
variety
of
different bacteria, so we chose E.
coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and
MRSA, and those are common
bacteria responsible for infections,”
Repetto said. “When COVID hit, we
got super interested in testing the
surface against COVID and found
that it did indeed work very well,
so that was very exciting. And we
also tested the ability of the surface
to withstand re-inoculation, so
continually exposing the surface
to bacteria, and (we found) it could
continually provide that fast rate of
disinfection over a short amount of
time.”
Repetto added that in addition
to testing reexposure to various
pathogens, they also tested the
effectiveness
of
the
coating
over time. The team found their
formulation still killed 99.9% of
these pathogens after six months of
air exposure.
Engineering
professor
Anish
Tuteja, principal investigator for
the project, said the team also
subjected
the
surface
coating
to a variety of harsh chemical
and mechanical tests, including
repeatedly cleaning and abrading
the surface and exposing it to
ultraviolet light.
Dhyani said the team is looking
forward
to
implementing
this
technology on high-touch surfaces,
from high-density public areas to
individual possessions.
“We envision this to be applied
in surfaces that are prone to high
contact with humans,” Dhyani said.
“Think of doorknobs, airport kiosks,
inside of ride-sharing vehicles. Of
course, the hospital environment
(and) daycares being an important
one. Think of consumer devices,
like keyboards we type on, cell
phones that we use.”
Dhyani
said
the
University
has applied for a patent for this
technology,
which
remains
pending.
In
the
meantime,
Tuteja said two companies have
already licensed their product:
HygraTek, a membrane technology
manufacturer he co-founded, and
Prevada Medical, a medical device
company
co-founded
by
Scott
VanEpps, another member of the
research team.
HygraTek has expressed interest
in turning this coating into a stick-
on film that individuals can apply
to surfaces they want to keep
sanitary, such as their cell phone
screen. Prevada has licensed the
technology to create an orthodontic
foam
to
prevent
ventilator-
associated pneumonia in hospital
patients.
Tuteja
highlighted
that
all
11 authors on this project are
affiliated with the University. He
said this speaks to the variety of
perspectives and disciplines across
campus.
“One of the big things is this is
a completely U-M team,” Tuteja
said. “All of the members are U-M
(faculty), and it really highlights all
of the different things that can be
done within the University, from
coming up with new materials
all the way to actual real-world
testing.”
Daily Staff Reporter Samantha
Rich can be reached at sammrich@
umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 — 3
‘U’ researchers develop 99.9% effective
disinfectant
SAMANTHA RICH
Daily Staff Reporter
NEWS
CSG shares fall strategy, passes resolution supporting nurses
JOEY LIN
Daily Staff Reporter
ACADEMICS
Students launch DealDog
for safe ticket exchanges
EMMA MOORE
Daily Staff Reporter
Coating protects surfaces from COVID, MRSA for months
App verifies identities to prevent scams, has cleared
$6,000 in sales
Executive branch shares plans for rolling out campus programming
NEWS
Design by Kate Shen
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
GRACE BEAL/Daily