The University of Michigan
announced Google Drive storage
for students, faculty and staff will
be decreased to 250 GB following
Google’s decision to discontinue
unlimited storage for all non-
paying members. Alumni will
have their storage decreased
to 15 GB, the standard amount
provided to a Google account.
According to a statement from
Information
and
Technology
Services, the University decided
providing 250 GB to each user was
the best solution which balanced
cost, change and finite resources.
According to ITS, the change
affects less than 0.5% of students,
less than 3% of active faculty
and less than 10% of alumni and
retirees. Though the decreased
storage is projected to affect a
small number of students, some
are opposed to the change. LSA
sophomore Ashrith Bandla told
The Michigan Daily they feel the
decision arose from greed on the
part of Google.
“I honestly feel like this is a
modern-day story of corporate
greed in America,” Bandla said.
“I feel like it’s a real travesty and a
slap in the face to students. I think
it’s a horrible, horrible decision.”
In an email to The Daily, ITS
affirmed they had no choice when
Google discontinued unlimited
storage, explaining that unlimited
storage is a thing of the past.
“Unlimited
storage
began
in 2014, before Google offered
30GB per person,” ITS wrote. “As
business models in the tech world
evolve, users of the technology
adapt. The University of Michigan
is no exception. Currently, Google
no longer offers unlimited storage
to any of its education customers.”
LSA
freshman
Tawseef
Rahman told The Daily they
understand the necessity for the
change, and said they only use a
small amount of the allotted 250
GB.
“It doesn’t really affect me that
much, because I’m just writing
documents, making presentations
and working on sheets, with the
three core apps Google Docs,
Google Sheets and Google Slides,”
Rahman said. “But I’m not storing
like 500-page tax documents.”
In order to limit data usage, the
University changed the process of
creating shared drives on Jan. 3,
requiring users to use the shared
drive manager tool on the ITS
website
rather
than
allowing
creation directly within Google
Drive.
“(The change to shared drives)
was done to enable better data
lifecycle management, therefore
positioning the institution to be
better prepared to adapt to future
technology changes,” ITS wrote in
an email to The Daily.
According to the University’s
ITS website, shared drives are
used to store collaborative data
and “are not for personal data.”
The storage limit for U-M shared
drives was also decreased to 15 GB,
and most changes to shared drive
administrative settings must be
completed within the shared drive
manager tool.
While Google Drive storage has
been limited, other cloud storage
solutions for active U-M students,
faculty and staff include Microsoft
OneDrive and Dropbox. Though,
according to ITS, these options have
greater limitations on real-time
collaboration than Google Drive
does.
“Google Drive is recommended
for collaboration within the U-M
community,” ITS wrote. “It provides
a secure environment within which
to maintain or share the university’s
sensitive
unregulated
data,
as
well as some—but not all—types of
sensitive regulated data.”
As
storage
options
change,
students like Bandla view believe
Google’s
policies
are
trapping
universities into using Google Suite.
“I feel like (Google) kind of
trapped colleges into this mindset
(of using Google) over … OneDrive
by initially just keeping (unlimited
storage) free,” Bandla said. “I feel
like (Google) already had a plan to
switch into this limited storage tier.
It was just kind of like a gimmick
for colleges to … switch over to
Google Drive because (storage was)
unlimited.”
The
Daily’s
inaugural
lab
spotlight is the Laboratory of
Nutrigenomics, established and
led by Monica Dus, professor
of
Molecular,
Cellular,
and
Developmental Biology in LSA.
The lab’s primary focus is the
study of how interactions between
food, genes and the brain influence
health and disease.
The Lab
The
Laboratory
of
Nutrigenomics
is
bright
and
vibrant, perched on the fourth
floor of the Biological Sciences
Building. The lab’s glass walls
invite both sunlight and the
numerous
undergraduates,
graduate students, post-docs and
lab technicians to filter in and out
of the space.
Adjacent to the wet lab is Dus’
office, the door easily identifiable
by the presence of a paper unicorn.
Dus’
personality
and
passion
for her work is exemplified by
the pink, sparkly, sugar-themed
decorations sprawled across her
office walls. A framed photograph
features the original inspiration
for Dus’ research: her dogs.
“What led me to study food
was
my
two
dogs,
Cupcake
and Sprinkles,” Dus said in an
interview with The Daily. “When
I was in graduate school, they ate
10% of their body weight in chicken
jerky. I left a bag of chicken jerky
on top of the kitchen table. They’re
little dogs, I don’t know how they
got it, but they did, and they were
sort of passed out in a food coma.
That really struck me because I
started thinking: how is it possible
that these two little creatures
would eat so much, and make
themselves so sick with it? That
got me really interested in how the
brain perceives food.”
Dus
decided
to
apply
her
curiosity
regarding
her
dogs’
food-induced lethargy to humans
and founded the Laboratory of
Nutrigenomics at the University in
2015, focusing on the study of food
components as fuel for cells in the
body via genes.
“The
way
cells
receive
information
and
integrate
is
through genes,” Dus said. “That’s
how I eventually got into genomics,
the connection of food and the
brain and looking at what bridge
is, which is these nutrient sensitive
genes.”
Dus explained the subject of
nutrigenomics as the interaction
between
food
and
DNA,
specifically how nutrients within
food are catalysts for genetic
expression in the body.
“It turns out that nutrients
can essentially act on these little
switches (in your DNA),” Dus
said. “You can think of the genetic
switches of the switches in the
light switches in the room, only
that instead of being next to the
door, imagine they’re hidden under
the bed. And so you have to do a lot
of work to either turn them up or
down.”
Dus isn’t the only one calling the
lab home. A large research team
consisting of four post-doctoral
research fellows, one laboratory
technician, one master’s student
and five undergraduate research
assistants spoke with The Daily
on their work alongside Dus on the
lab’s many projects.
Post-doctoral research fellow
Daniel Wilinski said his role in the
lab is primarily concerned with
data collection and analysis.
“I
generate
lots
of
data,”
Wilinski said. “It takes a long time
to understand and generate (data)
and then I think that’s kind of an
undersold aspect of what we do.”
LSA senior Carina Yiu said her
experience in the lab is different
each day and can come with a wide
variety of responsibilities. When
analyzing data, she said some days
are more regular. However, when
she is running experiments, many
days can be chaotic.
“I would say there’s not really
a normal day in the lab,” Yiu said.
“I think when you’re doing data
analysis and just analyzing stuff
that you have, that (day) is maybe
more typical … but when you have
ongoing experiments, your day
completely revolves around them.
2 — Wednesday, February 8, 2023
News
January Lab Spotlight: Laboratory of Nutrigenomics
RESEARCH
UMich limits Google Drive storage
The Daily’s research beat presents their inaugural monthly lab spotlight
Following Google’s discontinuation of unlimited storage, the
University announced limits on Google Storage for students, faculty
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