University Research Corridor

University Research Corridor Presidents March 3, 2009 testimony
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education

Speakers:

Wayne State University President Jay Noren
Michigan State Universiy President Lou Anna Simon
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Colemam

Commitment to the Economy

NOREN:

On behalf of President Coleman, President Simon and our respective universities, I want to thank Rep. Bauer and other members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to speak to you this morning. This is my first time before the subcommittee, as I’m a newcomer just finishing my seventh month in Michigan. I have spent much of my career in Minnesota and Wisconsin, though I came to Michigan from Nebraska. And despite these difficult economic times I feel privileged to be in Michigan and participate with Mary Sue and Lou Anna in our universities’ collaboration in what we can contribute toward revitalization of Michigan’s economy.

As you know, the University of Michigan, Michigan State, and Wayne State are the only universities in Michigan classified by the Carnegie Foundation in the category “Very High Research Activity,” a designation assigned to only 3.6 percent of America’s higher education institutions. All three are in the top 50 public universities in research ranking. And here’s why…

The next slide shows another why to illustrate what very high research activity looks like.

We would like to address the commitment that our three universities make to Michigan on three issues we believe are very important to our state.

Economic Revitalization
Access to higher education for Michigan’s families
Major current and future challenges to Michigan

On the first issues, revitalizing Michigan’s economy and the importance of the state’s major research universities in meeting that challenge, we believe that when Michigan returns to economic health, it will be because we act now to build, nurture and attract knowledge-based economic ventures in such fields as information technology, the biomedical sciences, health care, alternative energy, hybrid vehicles, smart sensors, and creative management of innovative companies. To that goal, two years ago our three universities became partners in an alliance we call the Michigan University Research Corridor (URC for short). We took this action based on our belief in the extraordinary potential of Michigan as a world-class center of innovation, and on our commitment to work together to help realize that potential.

As you may know, each URC institution features complete graduate and undergraduate education, as well as professional degrees in medicine, business and the law. What you may not know is that our research laboratories produce a steady stream of patents and licenses that create new businesses, and our health science schools develop innovative medical treatments that save lives and produce patents and licenses of their own.

This URC partnership is very unusual nationally. There are only six other “clusters of innovation” among research universities like the URC in the United States, all in regions known as knowledge economy leaders. They are:

128 Corridor—Harvard /MIT and Tufts University;
Silicon Valley/Northern California—Stanford, University of California-Berkley and UC-San Francisco;
The Research Triangle—University of North Carolina, Duke University and N.C. State University
Chicago and Illinois—University of Chicago, Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
Southern California—UCLA, USC and UC-San Diego; and
Pennsylvania—Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon.

So our Michigan URC is in impressive company.

A recent study by the Anderson Economic Group measured our URC universities against their competition in those six research consortia and found that we are already ahead of half the competition in R&D expenditures, number of patents and number of technology licenses. The fact that we were immediately competitive is a credit to Michigan’s historical investment in higher education.

The US map on the screen shows just how competitive we are compared to other research consortia. This should not be a best kept secret about the state of Michigan; rather, we believe this complements the profile of Michigan. The URC is in this position despite past reductions in state support. However, the next slide shows that state investment must increase, otherwise we stand to lose a lot of ground.

Let me give you a few facts about the URC. In 2007 the URC partners generated 69,285 jobs, educated more students than any of the six research university consortia, and produced $13.3 billion in economic impact -- according to an Anderson Economic Group report. The three universities continue to work on a long list of academic-private-governmental projects that pack an economic punch and could generate thousands more jobs. Several of these projects came to fruition only after long advocacy by all three universities, no matter which one will preside over the results:

The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded $550 million to MSU for the nation’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. The project will create 400 permanent jobs. Both U of M and Wayne State advocated vigorously on behalf of MSU in the intense national competition for this award.
The University of Michigan bought Pfizer's vacant 174-acre Ann Arbor research complex to create a new research campus that could generate 2,000 jobs.
Massachusetts-based A123 Systems, a battery designer that partners with the URC, plans to build a manufacturing plant in southeast Michigan to supply batteries for Detroit automakers. The company says it hopes to create 14,000 jobs supplying batteries for hybrid and plug-in vehicles.
The URC has invested $900,000 of its own resources in seed grants to joint faculty teams to speed up the development of "revolutionary but feasible" alternative energy research. We have funded two joint faculty collaborations, one examining thermoelectric materials for environmentally friendly heating and cooling, the other applying nanotechnology to ethanol production from cellulose derived from switch grass and corn stalks, products of no value otherwise.
Additionally, the URC institutions have a major role in the National Institutes of Health’s National Children’s Study, the most extensive children's health research project in history, funded by a $57 million grant.

The URC institutions account for $1.38 billion in research expenditures and 94 percent of federal academic research dollars brought into Michigan; and as I mentioned all three are among the top 50 of more than 600 U.S. research universities. So already our three universities are making a substantial contribution to the state’s economic renewal. We have a common vision to attract knowledge-economy businesses, educate a highly skilled, technologically savvy workforce and nurture the revolutionary new industries of tomorrow.

Additionally, our URC universities are promoting the entrepreneurial culture required for the development of globally competitive businesses through technology parks and business incubators. For example we collaborate on business incubators and technology parks with these kinds of enterprises associated with each campus-- Ann Arbor Sparks, Prima Civitas in East Lansing and TechTown in Detroit. I’ll illustrate this effort with Wayne State’s Center, TechTown.

TechTown, hosts more than 70 companies, having added almost 30 in the past year. We’re planning for 300. TechTown also will soon be home to Michigan’s first stem cell commercialization lab. The Wayne County Stem Cell Commercialization Center has the full support of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, who announced the initiative in his recent State of the County address. He said, “Wayne State and its University Research Corridor partners … are the greatest medical research assets we have in Michigan, and now we have a chance to share that brainpower with the rest of the world.”
Through its SmartStart program, TechTown is helping high-tech startup businesses grow through 24 months of mentoring on business plans, sales, operations and customer relations. The park’s “Soft Landings” program helps foreign companies explore business opportunities in Michigan through support services such as interpreters, office functions onsite from which international businesses can explore the entire market. TechTown has partnerships with the Mexican government that led to 25 Mexican companies coming on site last fall.

Thanks again for the chance to speak—President Coleman will continue.

COLEMAN:

Thank you for today’s opportunity to tell you about the URC.
Individually and as a consortium, we are excited about the difference we make in our great state.
I want to offer three examples of how the University of Michigan is contributing to improving our state’s economic health.
Each shows our work at different levels of the University.
First, our students … showcasing commitment to a new economy through their entrepreneurial spirit.
1,000 Pitches competition … campus-wide initiative by student group called MPowered…
Hoped for 1,000 new business proposals from students eager to share their ideas and discoveries … worried about whether we would reach goal.
In fact, received 1,044 … hundreds of proposals for new businesses … inventions … and non-profit organizations … all pulled together in three months’ time … posted on YouTube.
Just as important … competition was sponsored by several venture capital firms specifically interested in growing new companies in Michigan and the Midwest.
This was an engaging demonstration of students’ creativity and potential to innovate … essential skills that are paramount when entering job market.
Second is the work of our faculty … we’re accelerating our technology transfer efforts … to encourage and reward professors who move inventions and innovations … from the lab to the marketplace.
In the past five years, our faculty have generated nearly 50 start-up companies – one new business opening its doors every five weeks.
One of our most promising spinoffs is NanoBio Corporation … Dr. James Baker … biopharmaceutical company.
The company is developing products and treatments for ailments ranging from cold sores and acne to cystic fibrosis.
NanoBio is three years old ... headquarters, laboratory, and 20 employees based in Ann Arbor.
Last month, NanoBio secured $12 million in private backing, bringing its total amount of venture capital funding to $80 million.
It is this kind of research and business spin-off that leads to a third example of U-of-M’s eagerness to re-shape the state’s economy … our purchase of former Pfizer headquarters in Ann Arbor.
This site comprises nearly 174 acres … almost 2 million square feet of laboratory and administrative space … in 30 buildings – many ready to use now.
Over time, this expansion of our research facilities will allow us to bring millions of dollars of additional research into the state … and lead to 2,000 new high-paying jobs.
Will be one of the largest expansions of the U-of-M in more than a half-century.
Will allow us not only to broaden contributions as a research university … but also stimulate new business in region.
From undergraduates to established faculty, U-of-M is investing in stem cell research, new forms of energy, biomedicine, and nano-science.
We believe this is our future as a state and a region.

SIMON:

Mascoma Corp.: Plans to open the nation’s first large scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the Upper Peninsula (near Sault Ste. Marie in Chippewa County). MSU is partnered with Michigan Tech on this project in one of the state’s first Centers of Energy Excellence. The DOE has invested $26 million in the plant.

IBM Global Delivery Center: The Global Delivery Center, which will be located on the MSU campus, will be the first of its kind in the U.S. for IBM. The center will provide innovative application development and support services to modernize older and less efficient information technology (IT) systems for state and local government agencies and universities. The state estimates that the move by IBM to bring jobs and employees to Michigan as part of the new center will create up to 1,500 new direct and indirect jobs over the next five years, with 100 new direct jobs by June 2009.

Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (F-RIB): In December, the U.S. Department of Energy selected MSU as the site for the new $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams – or F-RIB. The facility is expected to bring $1 billion in economic activity and 400 jobs to Michigan, according to an analysis by the Anderson Economic Group, and will attract top researchers from around the world to conduct experiments in nuclear science, astrophysics and applications of isotopes to other fields.

F-RIB will build on the successes of MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory which has been the key driver for MSU’s leadership in nuclear science education and research. The lab has been recognized as a world leader in rare isotope science and has produced research that has led to important breakthroughs in medicine, materials research, national security, and physics.

Niowave: This company was founded by a faculty member from MSU’s Cyclotron, Terry Grimm. Dr. Grimm wanted to develop practical applications for the technology being developed at the NSCL. They fabricate niobium components for nuclear accelerators being constructed and used throughout the world.

In addition, Niowave can make neutron sources without a nuclear reactor and use those neutrons in research to study other materials such as isotope production for the medical community, high-energy x-rays, or a free-electron laser for the Navy. The Department of Homeland Security is interested in an application being developed by Niowave that will scan an entire ship – instead of individual cargo containers – to see if there are nuclear materials smuggled aboard.

And, the work is done right here in Lansing in a former school building, much of it by former automobile industry machinists. According to Dr. Grimm, Lansing has the perfect labor force to make his business successful: Niowave has hired and retrained experienced machinists who lost their jobs in the auto industry; recent grads in Computer Numerically Controlled – or CNC – machining from Lansing Community College; and grad students and nuclear engineers from MSU.

Niowave has grown 400 percent in the last year and doubled its workforce last year to a total of 50 employees.

Commitment to Michigan Families

COLEMAN:

Complementing our strong pledge to rebuilding the state economy … URC’s commitment to Michigan families … keep universities affordable and open … to students from all walks of life.
On each of our campuses, we are working to attract student from all socio-economic levels … because of what we can do for them … and, just as important, for what they can contribute to our universities and communities.
Last week … President Obama announced he wants USA to have the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
An admirable and ambitious goal … universities must be accessible and affordable.
When people ask what keeps me up at night as a university president … it is my concern for students and their ability to stay in school because of costs.
We know families are sitting around their kitchen tables … looking at budgets … determined to provide for their students … concerned about the bottom line.
Every year at this time, I call dozens of high school seniors … have been admitted to Michigan but haven’t decided to enroll.
When I talk with them and their parents, one of their first questions is: Can I afford this?
My answer: “Yes – and we will help you.”
U-of-M pledges to every student in this state: if you are admitted, and if you demonstrate financial need, we will provide financial aid to meet that need.
We will not turn you away – it just won’t happen.
Made possible with grants, campus jobs, loans … nearly 80 percent of U-of-M undergraduates who are Michigan residents receive some type of financial aid … on the average of $13,400.
In addition to federal aid programs such as Pell Grants, we support students through two major sources.
First is the General Fund … built with appropriations from Legislature, and tuition from students.
Second source … private support … donors have been extremely generous … want to provide an education to students who are challenged in this economy.
Two-and-and-half years ago, issued challenge to our donors: for every dollar they gave to support need-based aid, President’s Office would fully match.
Raised more than $70 million for undergraduates.
Overall, in our recently completed capital campaign, donors gave $272 million to establish 2,045 new scholarships for students.
This is endowed money ... will grow over the generations … and support more students than we can imagine.
I also want to touch on our partnerships with community colleges.
Michigan has an extraordinary system of community colleges … wonderful options for students.
Once students complete those studies … we want them to transfer to Michigan … to continue their educations.
We have strengthened our links with community colleges … created an in-depth orientation program for incoming students … as well as a peer mentorship program to smooth the transition for transfer students.
And across our campus, we have created new scholarships specifically for community college transfer students.
We know this aid makes a difference.
A year ago, we surveyed transfer students, and nearly 70 percent said that our offer of financial aid … was an important reason for their deciding to come to Michigan.
President Simon, I know you can add to this conversation.

SIMON:

Michigan State University has consistently increased its own financial aid dollars above the rate of tuition increases by an average of nearly 4.5% over the last five years. In the current year, MSU is paying out $71 million in student financial aid, with over half of that awarded solely on the basis of demonstrated financial need.

Pell Grant Information:

Additionally, over the past 15 years, about 18% of the undergraduates enrolling at MSU each year qualify for the federal Pell Grant program.

Just over 7,000 MSU students received $21 million in federal Pell Grants last year, an increase of 796 over 10 years. The stimulus package raises the maximum award for 2009-10 to $5,350 and the eligibility cutoff increases to $4,617. This should add an additional 352 MSU students to the eligible pool, for an expected increase of $4.2 million in federal aid dollars.

Also, it should be noted that the Higher Education Opportunity Act authorized “Year-Round Pell Grants”. Students are currently limited to 2 semesters of eligibility per year, but under the new rules can receive another full semester award if they attend in summer. An additional $1.5 million in Pell Grant funds are expected at MSU for Summer 2010, with the assumption that recipients will enroll only half time. This amount can increase to $3 million if students enroll full time.

In addition to the state and federal aid programs, MSU offers many other programs to assist families and students with tuition expenses:

Aid for Disabled Veterans:

MSU currently has just over 200 students receiving Veteran’s Benefits under the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. This act covers in-state tuition in full, as well as providing a housing and book stipend to those veterans who are fully eligible for the program. In addition to this program, MSU established a new program for disabled veterans for the fall of 2009, offering no-loan aid packages for in-state undergraduates who have a service-related disability. The program is estimated to cost $150,000 for the first year.

Adverse Economic Circumstances Fund:

Created in December 2008 in response to growing concerns about job loss and economic difficulties in Michigan businesses, MSU created this fund to assist families who have suffered severe hardships due to the downturn in the economy. All current MSU students were notified of the fund’s creation and thousands contacted the Office of Financial Aid to discuss their situations. Reported widely in state and national media, including the Chronicle of Higher Education, USA Today, and the NBC Today show, this program has already assisted many MSU students and families. A total of $500,000 has been set aside for this program.

Spartan Advantage:

Established in the fall of 2006, the Spartan Advantage program provides in grants and work programs the full direct costs (tuition, fees, room and board), plus books, for students from families with incomes below the poverty line. The program will fund over 1,400 students in 2009-10, at a cost of about $7 million. The benefit in recruitment and retention of high need students is significant. This program has been emulated at other universities, the most recent of which is Oakland University.

MSU Assistance Grant Program:

The MSU Assistance Grant Program targets students whose family income exceeds the Pell Grant expected family contribution cutoff, but whose need exceeds half of the cost of attendance. Begun in 2004-05, this program currently assists over 2,000 students with $2.7 million in need-based grants.

NOREN:

Wayne State University is committed to a strong financial assistance program for its students through grants, scholarships, student employment and loans. Approximately 27 cents of every tuition dollar we receive is returned to students in the form of grants and scholarships.

I was encouraged to learn last week that if President Obama’s budget passes, federal Pell grants, which provide need-based aid to low-income undergraduate and certain postgraduate students, will increase to a maximum of $5,550 for the 2010-2011 academic year. More important -- for the first time, future increases would be tied to the consumer price index plus 1 percent.

After years of sporadic growth, Pell grants recently increased to a maximum $5,350. Even so, their usefulness has steadily declined through the years because of a failure to keep up with inflation, so tying increases to the CPI is a major step forward.

Pell and other need-based grants play a critical role in our efforts to assist first-generation students and students from low-income families. Of the $262 million in aid we will disburse this year, $22 million comes from the Pell program and allows more than 7,800 students access to a Wayne State education.

One of our foremost goals for the immediate future is to increase our ability to fund both need-based and merit based scholarships. Scholarships keep the university affordable for future generations of students who otherwise could not afford to attend and also attract the most talented students to our schools and colleges, including our new Irvin D. Reid Honors College.

In fiscal year 2008-2009 we made 15,737 undergraduate scholarship offers, a figure equal to nearly 80 percent of our undergraduate population. The average scholarship awarded came to $9,026.

I was a first-generation college student, and scholarships and loans were critical to the degrees I earned. At Wayne State we feel that underwriting student scholarships is of such primary importance that we plan to dedicate a large part of our next capital campaign to raising funds specifically for that purpose. You will hear more about this effort in the next few months.

Determined as we are that no one should be denied higher education because they cannot afford it, we also are shifting some of our present institutional funds to assist students that are facing financial difficulties resulting from the nation’s current economic instability. We will significantly improve our financial aid awards for the 2009-10 school year with a one-time doubling of the need-based grants we offer to freshmen, as well as to sophomores, juniors and seniors who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or greater.

One of our merit programs, the Wayne State Scholarship, which provides funds to more than 1,500 of our top scholars each year, has been increased by $2,000 so that it now covers a full year of undergraduate tuition.

Merit scholarships are also critical to attracting top students to our university. Each February we invite over 1,200 top scholars to Scholars Day on our campus to compete for our Presidential Scholarships. More than 300 are selected to receive full tuition scholarships for four years. The rest of those invited receive a scholarship that covers one year of tuition. These scholarships are critical to enrolling and encouraging a community of high-achieving students on the Wayne State campus.

We know that finding funding for college and the financial aid process itself can be confusing for students and their families, so we have increased our outreach efforts to better assist them. Financial aid counselors will be available at numerous events we will be holding over the next several months. Plus, last fall we implemented a financial literacy program designed to help students manage their funds better while they are in college.

For us at Wayne State University, financial aid is a primary way to ensure that all qualified students have the opportunity for higher education that is their right. Stable, dependable financial aid packages are an investment in both our students’ personal futures and the future of Michigan.

Commitment to Michigan’s Future

SIMON:

The individual and collective commitment of our three institutions to Michigan’s economy and families really constitutes the singular mission that is at the heart of the URC – a commitment to Michigan’s future.
As we have highlighted for you this morning, each of our universities is actively engaged in economic development activities throughout the state, creating knowledge-economy jobs by working with existing Michigan businesses as well as attracting to the state organizations from throughout the country and around the world.
Each of our universities is focused on the industries and technologies that are driving the 21st century global economy; the industries that can make Michigan a leader once again: alternative energy, biotechnology, health care, information technology, and advanced automotive technologies.
When President Obama addressed the joint session of Congress and the American people last week he said, “The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and factories…” and he talked about investing in the areas that will grow our economy: energy, health care, and education.
These priorities are absolutely in sync with the priorities of the URC and they represent fundamental strengths of each of our institutions. These priorities also reinforce the role of top-ranked research universities in driving economic development activities at the state and national levels.
Collectively, we are expanding medical education in order to address the impending physician and current nursing shortages throughout the state. MSU’s community-based medical education programs in human and osteopathic medicine serve every major population center in the state – from Detroit and Macomb County to Grand Rapids and Traverse City.
All three of our institutions are partnering with the Big Three car manufacturers to develop revolutionary engine and battery technologies that will allow us to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels;
We are advancing stem cell research to find cures for some of the world’s most devastating illnesses; we are developing biofuels that don’t rely on food crops; we are maintaining access during these difficult times through innovative financial aid and scholarship programs; we are sending more students abroad in order to assure that the young people we graduate are better prepared to compete and succeed in the global marketplace.
And, we are carefully assessing our own campuses to find more ways to reduce expenses, be more efficient, and use less energy, while still maintaining the quality programs that make our universities some of the best in the world.
The commitment by the new administration in Washington to aggressively invest in the sciences is a good sign for research-intensive institutions like Wayne State, U of M, and MSU and a great sign for the state of Michigan.
Already our three institutions account for 94% of federal academic research funding brought into the state – nearly $1.4 billion annually.
In order to compete for the additional federal funds that will be available to fund the research that will help transform Michigan’s economy, however, we need the state to be our partner.
Major research universities are critical assets in developing the breakthrough technologies and the intellectual capital that drive economic growth.
The examples of our efforts that we have shared this morning strongly reinforce the work we are already doing to help create opportunities for Michigan’s workers, families, and students.
Before we wrap up and take your questions, we’d like to tell you just one more story from each of our campuses about what our faculty and students are doing to make a difference in Michigan.
Instead of focusing on the work of a particular faculty member or student, I would like to tell you about the work of two very important parts of the MSU team that have impact in every county in this state – MSU Extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
I know you heard from Tom Coon and Steve Pueppke last week in Kalamazoo so I don’t need to tell you again the significant negative impact the Governor’s proposed cuts to these programs will have on MSU and the state. The loss of $500 million in economic impact and an estimated 1,000 knowledge economy jobs would be devastating.
As you know, agriculture is one of the few industries in Michigan that is growing, experiencing 12% growth in 2007. It is the state’s second largest industry and represents $71 billion in economic activity. It is an industry that needs support and continued investment in order to fully leverage this enormous economic impact for Michigan.
The work of MAES and MSUE is driven by the needs of this state and its citizens; how their work is directly connected to needs of the communities they serve; how without them, we likely would not have been able to bring Mascoma to Michigan.
In 2005-06, MAES and MSUE surveyed 10,000 people throughout the state asking them to identify the most pressing issues that the two organizations’ research and educational programs could address. In turn, MAES and MSUE would use this information to define research and educational priorities for the future.
Those taking the survey asked for programs that will help them prepare their communities and businesses to compete in the expanding bioeconomy; programs that promote healthy lifestyles so their citizens will be healthier and rising health care costs might be mitigated for families and small businesses; programs that help develop entrepreneurs who can capitalize on the business opportunities afforded by the new economy.
MSUE is woven into the fabric of each county in the state and has been for nearly 100 years. Experiment stations have been around for more than 100 years – all in service to Michigan and its citizens.
They have adapted over the years to the changing needs of Michigan, focusing increasing resources on urban populations as the state’s demographics have changed and increasing resources on the emerging agricultural technologies that are leading the “green” revolution.
The role of MSUE and MAES in Michigan’s economic recovery is essential.
I’d like to turn it over now to Dr. Noren and Dr. Coleman for their comments.

NOREN:

The history and character of Wayne State University focuses on intensive engagement with the urban community. This history makes Wayne State distinctive because it ties our academic, research and service resources to issues of immediate significance to America’s great cities. It is what makes us the nation’s foremost urban research university (and the combination of urban and research is the key connection). There are many urban universities, but very few can bring the research power of Wayne State to the enterprise.

According to the National Science Foundation, Wayne State ranks among the nation’s top 50 public universities for research expenditures – at nearly $240 million per year. Wayne State is recognized as a research pioneer in the fields of alternative energy, hybrid vehicles, K-12 education, alternative energy, mass transit including light rail, nanotechnology, the biomedical sciences, workforce retooling, robotics and others – all areas of research and scholarship that will advance the rebuilding of the economies of Detroit and Michigan.

Our research enterprise, and our partnership with U of M and Michigan State through the University Research Corridor, is a major resource for economic development locally and regionally. But there are other major emphases Wayne State pursues and will continue in the years ahead. The university’s research, engagement and education resources, as well as its commitment to urban issues, gives us almost limitless power to make a difference in the quality of life in our city, region – and the state itself.

Wayne State is engaged in a new project with direct relevance to the city of Detroit—it’s called “CEO’s for Cities.” This is a national organization of major cities that we joined last fall. It involves a leadership team from each member city and our Detroit team (or cluster as it’s called) met in Chicago for the first time in early November with our counterpart clusters from Baltimore, Washington DC, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and others.

The Detroit team comprises Professor Robin Boyle, an expert on urban planning, and me from Wayne State, as well as executives from Hudson-Webber Foundation, Kresge, Detroit Renaissance, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, DTE, Henry Ford, DMC, Michigan Municipal League, and others. Several presidents of major urban universities serve on CEOs for Cities, so there is much opportunity to share ideas for the part that powerful research universities like Wayne State can play.

We believe strongly in the promotion and renewal of Midtown Detroit, especially along the Woodward Avenue corridor, the city’s major thoroughfare. Last summer we and our development partners completed work on South University Village, a $50 million, mixed-use residential apartment housing and retail complex, supported by a Wayne State public parking structure, on Woodward south of our main campus.

Working especially with foundations, the Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health System, we have initiated a series of projects to improve life for Detroit residents in the Midtown and Downtown areas. We are exploring a number of possibilities for collaboration that involve programs through which our students work at the medical center and at Henry Ford – with the objective of educating a work force invested in what Midtown Detroit has to offer. Ultimately we’d like to see that cohort of new professionals be inspired to work and live in Midtown and Detroit proper.

At the same time, we are mobilizing our faculty for increased positive involvement in our community through a Center for Engagement in Research and Education. This Center will support further faculty, staff and student engagement in a range of research and educational projects focused on Southeastern Michigan’s urban challenges and opportunities.

We also are working with the University Cultural Center Association to coordinate greenway projects and revitalized streetscapes for our neighborhood, and to promote further residential and retail development. We are committed to rebuilding the city of Detroit, and especially the Midtown area that depends so heavily on us, and we are actively seeking additional partnerships to help us do so.

K-12 education is clearly a major challenge to many great cities, and Detroit is no exception. One of the areas in which we have had the most spectacular success as a pioneer in finding K-12 solutions is teaching methodology. I’d like to share one story of which we’re especially proud.

In 1991, faculty and students in Wayne State’s mathematics department started Math Corps, then an after-school tutoring program for middle school students in the Detroit Public Schools. In 1992, with funding from the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, Math Corps was made a summer camp. Since 1995, when a Saturday component was added, funding has been primarily from Detroit Public Schools and Wayne State.

Math Corps has proven effective in promoting both academic success and personal growth among at-risk students. It works by creating a supportive, cheerful environment in which students are held to well-defined standards of excellence by adult professional instructors and their own peer mentors. The results have been astounding: The average math ACT score for students who have partipated in Math Corps for three summers or more is 21, the state average. The DPS average is less than 16. And since 1995, an estimated 90 percent of Math Corps students have graduated from high school and 80 percent have gone on to college. That 90 percent graduation rate compares to less than 50 percent among Detroit Public Schools students overall.

We believe the success of Math Corps can be replicated in other urban public school systems struggling to meet the educational needs of their students in the face of what may seem like insurmountable economic, social and cultural obstacles.

In sum, Wayne State University is an acknowledged leader in exploring and resolving the urgent problems of our great cities, combining research expertise with good citizenship to change lives for the better and drive the economic growth of Detroit and Michigan.

COLEMAN:

These are wonderful examples of individuals who embody what our universities contribute … I want to share one story from Ann Arbor.
Engineering Professor Ann Marie Sastry … focused on alternative forms of energy .... expertise is battery technologies … how best to power the plug-in cars and trucks we need to distance ourselves from foreign oil.
Her work with students: Created a graduate-level program to train tomorrow’s engineers in new energy systems ... instills the value of being creative about transportation power and being leaders in clean energy technologies.
Her commitment to the economy: Founder and CEO of Sakti3 … designated by the state of Michigan as a Center of Energy Excellence … it is viewed as a focal point for spurring alternative energy R&D in our region.
As a state we want to become the advanced battery capital of the world … Professor Sastry’s company will help drive us there.
Finally, her commitment to partnerships: General Motors is collaborating with her to establish the Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains – ABCD – on our campus.
Is a multi-million-dollar investment … to test and design advanced batteries … and train dozens of GM engineers to develop the next generation of electric cars.
Two of our state’s top institutions … one private, one public … tackling an incredibly complex problem … it’s very exciting and very promising.
We appreciate the opportunity to share our stories with you today.
For our numerous accomplishments, the URC is still in its infancy … we are hopeful about its future, and about our future as a state.
To close our testimony, we would like to show a short video that tells you more about our aspirations.