Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon resigns
(USA Today, October 31, 2014)
Dave Brandon’s tenure as the University of Michigan athletic director ended Friday, amid growing controversy over his attitude toward fans and Michigan’s traditions. University President Mark Schlissel announced at a news conference that Brandon had resigned.  More

U-M extends novel system of seed money for research
(Chronicle of Higher Education October 9, 2014)
U-M announces two-year extension of M-Cubed, a program that gives its faculty members microgrants for exploratory research after finding the project drew outside grants far in excess of the initial investment. More

10 brilliant “tweeple” you should follow
(The Economic Times, October 8, 2014)
If you have been tracking the same old names on Twitter, you are missing out. Start following these intellectuals — including U-M  economist Justin Wolfers — and get your ideas flowing. Wolfers interprets real-world events using economic research in ways regular people can (mostly) understand. What’s amazing about Wolfers — beyond that mane of his — is the way that he curates charts, tracking down graphics that make phrases like “health care price growth” make some sort of sense. More

U-M professor named one of “Brilliant 10” for building energy scavenging sensors 
(Michigan Radio, “Stateside,” October 7, 2014)
It’s not often you can say without a shadow of a doubt that someone is “brilliant.” But you can make a good case for Prabal Dutta. He’s an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at U-M. And he has been named one of Popular Science’s 2014 Brilliant Ten, a list saluting scientific innovators who are changing the world as we know it. More

Artifact from late 1800s unearthed during $400k move of 250-year-old oak tree on U-M campus
(annarbor.com, October 28, 2014)
Construction crews tend to find some interesting things when they dig through tons of earth that has been unmolested for decades.In the case of the 250-year-old, 700,000-pound bur oak tree transplant on the complex of U-M’s Ross School of Business, John Avendt’s crew made an interesting find near the base of the large tree, and it has some historic ties to the state of Michigan. More

A history of quarantine, from the Black Death to Typhoid Mary
(NPR, October 27, 2014)
The word quarantine comes from the Italian derived from quaranta or 40. In the context of disease, it goes back to the Middle Ages. It refers to the period of 40 days that a ship from a country stricken with bubonic plague would be prevented from entering Italian ports. But the practice of quarantining or isolating diseased people goes back way further than that. Dr. Howard Markel has written several books about epidemics and quarantine. He directs the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan.  More

Detroit’s exit from bankruptcy: Up to the judge
(CBS Money Watch, October 28, 2014)
Detroit’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, less than two years after it became the largest U.S. city to seek Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection, is coming down to the wire. On Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes heard closing arguments from city attorneys as to why he should approve the plan. Rhodes is expected to issue his ruling next week. More

Fracking’s unexpected benefit: U.S. manufacturing oversight, accountability
(Huffingon Post, October 7, 2014)
Although much public discussion has focused on the potential of competing uses for natural gas -− for example, electric power production and exports of compressed natural gas and gas liquids -− to cause higher gas prices and thereby reduce the advantage currently enjoyed by energy-intensive U.S. manufacturing industries, the scale and lead times associated with these are not likely to cause abrupt changes to markets. Disruption of supply, rather than competition for supplies, represents a potentially greater limitation to manufacturing investment and operations — a sentiment echoed by a wide range of participants at a U-M-led symposium titled, “Shale Gas: A Game-Changer for U.S. Manufacturing.” The group of experts identified various steps to responsibly guide the revitalization of domestic manufacturing. More